I can pick my own beginning. Perhaps I will pick my own end.
-- Narrator (chapter 1)

Importance: In the novel's prologue, Noria is situated in the narrative present: a temporal setting which the reader later learns is also the ending for the novel. This moment therefore gestures towards the narrative's overarching, circular structure. Noria's remarks also establish the author's interests in exploring the relationship between the past and the present, beginnings and endings, stories and autonomy.

Remember. This spring doesn't exist.
-- Mikoa (chapter 1)

Importance: Although Noria has been apprenticing with her father for some time, he does not tell her about the secret tea masters' spring until she is 17. When he tells her the spring does not exist, Mikoa is conveying the importance of keeping the spring a secret. Protecting the spring is a way for the characters to protect their own survival and safety. The moment also establishes the ways in which the spring and water...