Chapters 20-23

In chapters 20-23, Kira, Thomas, and Jo listen to the Singer. While they are listening to the Song, Kira and Thomas see someone creeping around in the crowds, and they discover that it is Matt! Because the Song is so long, there is intermission. Kira and Thomas meet up with Matt and talk to him. Matt brought something blue! It was a small square of blue cloth. Matt said that the cloth the the little gift, and that the big gift was coming. Matt also said that there was no beasts in the woods. Matt, Thomas, Jo, and Kira headed back to the Gathering to hear the rest of the song. Right before the song started, Kira hear the strange clanking, grinding noise, and to her horror, for a second, caught a glimpse of it. When Kira goes back to her house, Matt presents his big gift: a blind man with a blue shirt. As Kira and the stranger eat dinner, they talk. And to Kira's surprise and delight, as the man pulls out the polished rock that matches her own, discovers that the blind stranger is her father, Christopher. Kira's father tells her that he was not hurt by beasts and that he was hurt by people. Actually, Jamison, the person who defended Kira, is the one who tried to kill him! Kira realizes that the reason that all the skilled people's parents are dead, is so that their skills would be captive. Kira does not know whether to leave the home she has always known, or leave with her father to go where they have blue yonder. Read to find her decision!

I was surprised to find out that Jamison is the person who tried to kill Kira's father, Christopher. I was surprised that Kira's father was alive and I did not expect him to come into the story. I was also surprised about what Kira saw at the Gathering (you have to read Gathering Blue to find out what it was! :) ). I think that it is interesting how Kira discovers that Thomas's, Jo's, an her skills are trying to be held captive. That is why Jamison tried to kill Kira's dad, and the "sickness" that Kira's mother got, was really poisoning. I think that it is cruel to kill the child's parents so that you can have their skill to use. I was surprised how there was so much lying about the beasts,  and how the "beasts" where actually people.