Messenger

Matty learns Forest entangled and killed Gatherer, a kind and gentle man. Ramon and Matty discuss this event while fishing. Matty tells Ramon that Gatherer must have overlooked a Warning, which is when Forest pokes or cuts someone who is traveling through to tell them that they are no longer welcome.

While Matty and Ramon fish, the young man called Leader looks out over the town. Leader came to Village as a young teen, and the red sled he arrived on is displayed in the village museum as a symbol of hope. The museum holds many relics which people brought with them. Most villagers came from cruel and hostile homelands, like Matty, and suffered from the ignorance of their people. Leader can see beyond what is ordinary, so from his window, he can see Matty and Ramon fishing and Gatherer’s widow grieving. He can also see that something is wrong in Forest, though he cannot tell what. The chapter ends with Leader seeing the little frog Matty healed.

Matty complains to Seer about having nothing to do. He wants to go to Trade Mart like Ramon. Seer claims that Matty is too young and that even just observing Trade Mart would be harmful. Seer has never attended Trade Mart and is proud of that. Matty doesn’t agree and wants to figure out what makes Trade Mart so special. First, though, he needs to figure out what happened with the frog. He still hasn’t told anyone about it, and he feels guilty because honesty is highly valued in the town. Leader had proposed a rule that the village be free of secrets, and everyone in the town voted to enact it. Everyone who lives in Village has come from cruel places, and Leader’s insistence that all villagers be well taught and care for one another sets Village apart.

Leader summons Matty to his home to pick up a message. Matt loves Leader’s home because of the number of books and the circular staircase. Leader received the books as a gift from the place he escaped from, which Leader took as a sign that even his homeland was changing and growing. Matty notes that the village he came from has changed, which is why he loves returning there to deliver messages, though he does so less frequently.

Matty reads the message to Seer. It says that Leader is calling a meeting to discuss a petition to close Village. Matty is shocked and is even more surprised to learn that the man who wrote it is his old schoolteacher, Mentor. Seer warns Matty that selfishness is creeping into their town. He then asks Matty if Mentor has ever traded at Trade Mart, but Matty doesn’t know.

A few days later, Matty runs into Mentor’s daughter, Jean. She is distraught because two of her newborn puppies have died and the third remaining puppy and the mother are ill. Matty follows her to where they lay and feels power surge through his body like lightning when he touches the sick dogs. Matty makes up a reason for Jean to leave him alone and then touches both dogs, willing them to live. Matty is physically exhausted, but both the mother and puppy are completely healed.

Now, Matty thinks about what happened with the frog and compares that experience to what happened with Jean’s dogs. Matty had found the frog apparently dead and planned to bury it. However, when he picked it up, his hand began to hurt with the same lighting-like energy he felt with the dogs, and the frog stuck to his hand. The frog then started moving and squirming. Since it was alive, Matty thought he could help by cutting off the frog’s wounded leg. Again, when he touched it, he felt that strange and painful energy connecting him to the frog. This frightened Matty and he backed away. The frog leaped away with two fully healed legs. This experience with the frog and the experience with Jean’s dogs confused and drained Matty. Matty stumbles home and cries until he falls asleep.