A Thousand Steps into Night

The color indigo is a persistent motif used throughout the narrative to support both the themes of Unconventional Acceptance in Liminality and The Makings of a Monster. Indigo has a double meaning within the world of Awara, as the narrative explains it is “the color of Amyunasa, the December God and first of the Lunar Gods to arise from the primordial waters, from which all things were created and to which all things ultimately returned. It was a color of both life and death, a color of divinity and mystery” (33). On inanimate objects, indigo is often used to bespell banners, homes, gates, and the like for protection against malevolent spirits—which is why Miuko can be warded against by her father and the priests.

On individuals, the meaning shifts and comes to represent the spirit world, as both Miuko and Afaina, the God of Stars, sport the color. But while Afaina’s indigo eye still retains the notion of divinity, Miuko’s indigo skin is deemed the opposite. For Miuko, the creeping indigo on her skin tracks the progression of her curse and is a visual marker of otherness. The indigo comes to be synonymous with demonhood and when it consumes her entire body, only Miuko’s retained humanity keeps her from destroying everything in her path—and enjoying it, too.