"They are worse," Laura mutters, which is unfair of her. She does not dislike the children--but neither does she know what to say to them or which things she should expect them to be capable of doing. After a moment, pulling her cloak tighter around her shoulders, she asks, "Are all children like this?"

Incapable of defense but aware of things Laura only learned in the last few months, by turns desperate for attention and insistent that they want to do things for themselves. Every time she thinks she understands one, it turns out she is wrong.