Gathering Blue

Kira’s little scrap of threaded cloth, created as she sat next to her mother’s deathbed, becomes a kind of talisman for her. She feels that it speaks to her through her fingertips and she uses it to guide her choices. As the last thing that Katrina sees, the scrap is a symbol of Kira’s bond with her mother. As the first thing Kira makes that feels truly inspired—her fingers “followed where [the threads] led” (50) rather than directing them—it is also symbolic of her artistic genius.

The pendant that Matt saves from Kira’s cott is also symbolic of Kira’s connection to her mother, and of her parents’ commitment to each other too, as the pendant was a gift from her father to her mother. Because Christopher has his own pendant, with the other half of the stone that forms Katrina’s, Kira is able to recognize him before he tells her who he is. Also significant is the fact that the stone is purple, a color that Kira cannot make without blue.