“His imprint was so strong that is was like he still walked here, not knowing how to leave, stepping out of sight just as I turned around.”

“His imprint was so strong that is was like he still walked here, not knowing how to leave, stepping out of sight just as I turned around.” The quote underneath makes me think about what Noria said.

This section started off with Noria having her graduation tea ceremony with Niiramo who would evaluate her. The teacups Noria chose were simple with cracks in them. She deliberately chose the oldest cups in the tea master’s home. As she used the tea cups, she thought of “their imprint on the memory of the world.” Noria became a tea master, but Niiramo didn’t like that she chose old tea cups, opened a window, and is a girl. Noria had to take a oath which was as follows: “I am a watcher of water. I am a servant of tea. I am a nurturer of change. I shall not chain what grows. I shall not cling to what must crumble. The way of tea is my way.” Being a tea master is more than just a career; it is something that becomes your life and Noria is willing to take on this life.

After Noria goes with Sanja to celebrate Moonfeast, she comes home to a devastating sight. Her father was lying on the floor, “his face twisted with pain and his breathing labored.” Soon after, Noria’s father dies. She states “One day someone who doesn’t remember us will walk on our skin and flesh and bones, on the dust that remains of us.” This is hard to hear, yet very true. Eventually we will die and become dust and everyone will forget about us. At the funeral, the “people were strange” to Noria because she didn’t know them. She says, “I was alone among them.” She really is alone; she doesn’t have her mother, who is in another place and now her father is dead. The three lament women are odd to me; they go to funerals and grieve over people they don’t know. Why do they do this? Who would want to do this? Noria was still standing outside after the funeral ended, so Sanja came out to tell her to come inside. Noria responded with “I think he’d want me to stay a little longer, talking about her dad. Sanja replies with “The dead don’t need pleasing.” I was so taken aback by this comment. Noria just wants to stay with her father for the last time, and her best friend is basically saying “Oh it doesn’t matter, he is dead anyway.” Many people like to think that their deceased family members are still watching over them and protecting them and I think that they should be able to believe that if it makes them have more comfort. Even though Noria’s father is gone, she feels his presence. “His imprint was so strong that is was like he still walked here, not knowing how to leave, stepping out of sight just as I turned around.”

It made me so sad when people were begging for water. Water is a basic human necessity and the fact that people don’t have access to clean water is unacceptable. Noria felt terrible for the women and children outside that were begging for water, while she has a fresh water spring all to herself. It was this guilt that forced Noria to tell Sanja about the spring. Sanja was initially upset that Noria has this whole spring to herself, while others, including her family, are suffering over the scarce amount of water they have access to. She then realizes that Noria can’t tell anyone about this because if the water guards found out, there will be dire consequences. Now Noria is not alone in knowing about this secret; she is sharing this secret with her best friend.