The Mark of the Dragonfly

“People in town say you’re weird with the machines. You’re like a healer with them. Only, when the healer treats a bad cut, it always leaves a scar. When you fix the machines, it doesn’t leave a mark.”

Micah is commenting on Piper’s uncanny ability with machines. At this point in the story, she dismisses his observation as nonsense. In part, she goes into denial for fear of having her skills appear remarkable to her neighbors. Standing out in a crowd is never a good thing to Piper’s way of thinking. It will take the rest of the book for her to fully embrace her uniqueness.

“Many of the scrappers were nomads by nature, and superstitious. If they didn’t have any luck scavenging in their first few months in a scrap town, they moved on to the next one. […] Piper figured they all eventually ended up back where they started, with no better luck than when they’d begun.”

Most scrappers believe that changing their location will change their luck. Piper is more pragmatic, or perhaps more fatalistic, in believing that bad luck will follow wherever one goes. Ironically, she doesn’t recognize that she’s about to follow the same pattern. By leaving the scrap town, she assumes that she will find good fortune in Noveen.

“See what we can scavenge off of you. You make us animals, clawing at each other, killing ourselves for food down here in the scrap heaps, so let’s see what we can take from you.”

Piper is raiding the caravan wagons for any salvageable supplies. Her comment indicates the rage and bitterness she harbors toward those who are better off. The rich merchants care little for the suffering of the poor. This attitude ripples down from the top of government, where the rulers of both kingdoms are only concerned with gaining more wealth and power for themselves.