It's a bad insult. It means someone who is an outcast, unloved. Someone who shouldn't exist.”
-- Rowan (chapter 1)

Importance: Rowan still believes she is Yarrow at this point. Pearl and the others are teasing her and Pearl says Rowan's boyfriend is “a second child.” Rowan's stomach tenses and she takes the slur more seriously than she really should because her personality is still inside her, though Yarrow's personality has been inserted on top of it. She has no memories of living as a second child, but her reaction shows that she has some deep-rooted feelings about second children.

This can't be all that remains, I rage inwardly. The Earth is huge! There are forests, deer, grasses.”
-- Rowan (chapter 2)

Importance: Rowan is in the temple and has just discovered that the priests have a small bowl of dirt on a pedestal, as if it is a holy religious artifact. Rowan still believes she is Yarrow at this...