It represents a metaphor for both physical and emotional experiences from ancient times that alludes to a futuristic perspective, which resonates with today's millennial context. That's my understanding.
The reported speech is: "Anne and Jack had had a chat on Skype".
A. The next to last sentence indicates that “...Susan and Claire felt that they wouldn’t perceive things similarly,” thus altering their viewpoints on how they will view situations differently from now on.
