I had the purse Sire Mattias had given me and his instructions. Eschewing my ritual gear, I wore nothing that would identify me as a Handmaiden. No, today required a simple dress and a hooded cloak. I looked the part of a governess or some merchant’s wife. A woman of moderate means. I could smell the wind off the ocean, even this far into the city. The fog seemed to portent a day where the sun might never pierce the mists. Typical in Stormhaven. The name Downmarket confused some newcomers to the city. Typically they sought it out near the docks, near where the water lapped at the feet of our fair city. They would scour the tiers of buildings rising into the surrounding mountains and think they were as ‘down’ as they could be. The lucky ones wandered into the Fishmarket, never to know the difference. No, the Downmarket was located on the northern side of Stormhaven, nestled at the base of the main road out of the city, the very base of Trade Road. It meandered out among the streets, creating tiny roads of its own, barely wide enough to squeeze through three abreast.
