gathering_blue_novel-2

6
The huge bell in the tower of the Council Edifice began to ring. The bell governed
the people's lives. It told them when to begin work and when to stop, when to
gather for meetings, when to prepare for a hunt, celebrate an event, or arm for
danger. Four bells — the third was resonating now — meant that the day's
business could end. For Kira, it meant the time to report to the Council of
Guardians. She hurried toward the central plaza through the crowds of people
leaving their workplaces.
Matt was waiting on the steps as he had promised. Branch, beside him, was
pawing excitedly at a large iridescent beetle, blocking its path again and again
with a paw as the beetle tried unsuccessfully to waddle by. The dog looked up
and wagged its crooked tail when Kira called a greeting.
"What you got?" Matt asked, looking at the small bundle Kira carried on her
back.
"Not much." She laughed ruefully. "But I had stored a few things in the
clearing so they missed the burning. My basket of threads, and some scraps of
cloth. And look at this, Matt." She reached into her pocket and held up a lumpy
oblong. "I found my soap where I left it on a rock. Good thing, because I don't
know how to make it, and I have no coins to buy any."
Then she laughed, realizing that Matt, grimy and unkempt, felt no need of
soap. She supposed Matt had a mother somewhere, and usually mothers scrubbed
their tykes now and then, but she had never known Matt clean.
"Here, I brung these." Matt indicated a pile of objects wrapped haphazardly in
a dirty woven cloth on the step near him. "Some things I took before the burning,
for you to have iffen they let you stay."
"Thank you, Matt." Kira wondered what he had chosen to rescue.
"But you'll not be carrying it because of your horrid gimp," he said, referring to
her crippled leg. "So I'll be your carrier, once they tells you where you're to be.
That way I'll know too."
Kira liked the idea of Matt coming with her and knowing where she would live.
It made everything seem less strange. "Wait here, then," she told him. "I must go
inside, and they'll show me where I'll be living. Then I'll come back for you. I have
to hurry, Matt, because the bells have finished, and they told me to come at four