Change the Setting

   If the setting in Gathering Blue were to be changed to a desert instead of a forested area, much would change. The Field of Leaving would no longer be a field, Kira's father would most likely have died of thirst before he could be saved, and "the Ruin" song would have a different history.
   The Field of Leaving plays a key role in Gathering Blue. It is where Kira grieves for her mother in the beginning, where Annabella is taken after her suspicious death, and where Christopher, Kira's father, is left to die. If we changed the setting to a desert, the Field of Leaving would just be a dirt patch covered with dead, rotting bodies turned putrid by the heat.

This would be the new setting of Gathering Blue. Image courtesy of google.com

   There would be no river for Kira to have bathed in, and fewer plants to make dyes with. Woad, which creates a blue dye, doesn't grow well, if at all, in sandy soil, so the title might not have been realistic at all, had the setting been in a desert. 

   If "the Ruin" song were to accurately describe the history of their village in the desert, there might not have been any buildings that could fall and burn during, what I imagine, was an uprising or revolution. The history that was stitched on the robe and etched into the softened wood would be inaccurate, due to the completely  opposite climate that the new story would take place in. The change in weather and atmosphere would cause fewer plants to grow, water to evaporate at a faster pace, and buildings to shift and crumble in the unsteady dirt or sand.

   All these concepts put together spell tragedy for a desert village in Kira's world. The lack of food and water, combined with the hot climate, and lack of proper burial grounds spells out horrid smells, a lower life expectancy, and more deaths.