Defeated by a child
Vandara doesn’t hesitate to come to Kira as soon as her mother died and to claim the plot of land where Kira used to life for the village. Vandara even threatens to kill Kira and other women in the village come with rocks in their hands, ready to cast Kira away. This scene creates the impression that Vandara is a powerful woman, not to be messed with, while Kira is a young and defenseless girl who can do nothing to protect herself. But Kira is anything but such because she has a brilliant mind that surpasses that of her attackers so she quickly thinks about a way out. Kira mentions a law that offers her protection and the women are left with no other choice but to let Kira live. Ironically, in this scene, the one who is forced to take a step back is not Kira but Vandara.
Building
Kira described in great detail the building where the Elders live and where disputes among the villagers and settled. From her description, one can reach the conclusion that the building was used as a church in the past and then was repurposed by the survivors. The fact that only the church survived is slightly ironic because Kira and none of the other characters mention that there is any type of belief system or religion in that society. Yet, they all seem to agree that the building is imposing and they respect it and the edifices inside it even though they do not know what they represent.
More like an adult
Matt notes that the reason that Vandara is so cruel is because she hurts on the inside and because she suffered in the past. Kira however notes that while she suffered as well because of her lame leg and because of the harsh life she had with her mother, she didn’t become crueler but a better person. This is presented in an ironic way to show that while adults may act in a negative way when they suffer, children are stronger and they learn and grow into better people because of the things they go through. In this sense, children behave in a more mature way than adults.
The future of society
Jamison tells Kira that the future of their society depends on her work and her ability to repair the Singer’s robe. Jamison’s statement is however ironic considering how bad children are treated and how insignificant they are considered. In fact, children are treated little better than livestock and are considered useless because of their age and lack of physical power.
Not so noble
Kira considers her talent as a weaver a gift from a greater being and so she considers her talent as being something noble. She soon finds however that her gift is not as noble as she thought and she finds that she must get her hands dirty to go search for plants to dye her thread or to use unusual substances to change the natural color of a thread. Among the subspaces used, old urine is mentioned and it marks the first time Kira finds just how dirty her work is going to be.
