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"Please, do you have a well? Might I have a drink?" she asked

"And Branchie too? He been looking for a streaht" Matt's voice piped beside Kira; she had alotten that he was there

Annabella led theratefully Matt poured water into the crevice of a curved rock for his dog, who lapped eagerly and waited for ether in the shade, Kira and the old wo his bread, wandered off with Branch at his heels

"You must come each day," Annabella repeated "You must learn all the plants, all the colors As your irl"

"I will I proe in your fingers More than she did"

Kira looked at her hands, folded in her lap "So happens when I ith the threads They seeers simply follow"

Annabella nodded "That be the knowledge I got it for the colors but never for the threads My hands was always too coarse" She held thee of the threading, youof the shades When to sadden with the iron pot How to bloom the colors How to bleed"

To sadden To blooe set of words

"And the alls are good Some lichens

"Best is -- here, couess to its birthplace, this ility for a woe, Annabella rose and led Kira to a covered container near the place where a large kettle of dark water, too huge for cooking food, hung above the s remains of an outdoor fire

Kira leaned forward to see, but when Annabella lifted the lid, she jerked her head back in unpleasant surprise The shted cackle

"Got you a guess?"

Kira shook her head She couldn't i container or what its origin hing "You save it and age it good," she said "Then it brings the hue to life and sets it firm

"It's old piss!" she explained with a satisfied chuckle

Late in the day, Kira set out for ho she carried over her shoulder was filled with colored threads and yarns that Annabella had given to her

"These'll do for you now," the old dyer had said "But you must learn to make your own Say back to me now, those you keep in ht, and said them aloud "Madder for red Bedstraw for red too, just the roots Tops of tansy for yellow, and greenwood for yellow too And yarrow: yellow and gold Dark hollyhocks, just the petals, for rin and wiped his own runny nose on his dirty sleeve

"Hush, you," Kira said to hi "Don't play foolish now It's ie," she added, still re "Goldy yellows and browns And Saint Johnswort for browns too, but it'll stain my hands

"And bronze fennel -- leaves and flowers; use thereen hues

"That's all I reetically There had been so many others

Annabella nodded in approval "It's a starting," she said

"Matt and I o or it will beco at the sky to assess the ti

"Can you make blue?" she asked

But Annabella frowned "You need the woad," she said "Gather fresh leaves frorowth of woad And soft rainwater; that ht Others do, but they be far away"

"Who be others?" Matt asked

The old woe of her garden, where the woods began and there seerown path Then she turned toward her hut Kira heard her speak in a low voice "I ne'er could"But soer's robe contained only a few tiny spots of ancient blue, faded almost to white After her supper, after the oil lamps had been lit, Kira examined it carefully She lay her threads -- the ones from her own siven to her -- on the large table, knowing she would have to an the repairs It was then that she noticed -- with relief because she would not kno to repair it; and with disappointment because the color of sky would have been such a beautiful addition to the pattern -- that there was no real blue any more, only a hint that there once had been