Inspired by her suspicions with the Council and with Jamison, and her contact with Jo, Kira begins to lose all interest in her art. When she thought that she was repairing the robe of her own free will, Kira was happy with her life in the Edifice—now, she sees that she’s a prisoner in a sense: she’s forced to work on an artistic project that she didn’t choose. Kira cries for the first time in months—once again, Lowry juxtaposes a moment of extreme pain and sadness with a moment of epiphany and personal growth. The novel suggests you can’t have one without the other.