Lysa took him to the Underbazaar on a rest day.
"You can't understand the kingdom from the Academy," she said, walking at the pace of someone who'd grown up in a city and had calibrated her stride to navigate crowds without slowing down. Ryn, who'd grown up in a village of eighty-three people where the biggest crowd was a family dinner, followed in her wake like a dinghy behind a warship. "Books tell you structure. The market tells you function."
The Underbazaar occupied the underground level of the Market Hall — the vast, barrel-vaulted building on the west side of Anvil Square. Above ground, the Market Hall was organized, regulated, taxed. Licensed merchants in designated stalls selling inspected goods at prices posted on stamped boards. The Ministry of Coin's inspectors patrolled the aisles with the regularity of tides.
Below ground, the rules were softer.
