The barter market was in the south quarter, three streets from the lodgings, in a section of Seorak that the current currency system had stopped reaching at some point and that had developed its own logic in the absence.
Mara found this interesting.
Not the barter itself — she had bartered in Oakhaven since she was seven, the exchange of things people had for things they needed with no reliable medium between them. The interesting part was the taxonomy. The Seorak market had a classification system built from the valley's pre-consolidation economy, and the system was visible in how the vendors arranged their stalls if you knew how to look at an arrangement.
She walked through it reading the layout.
Denro walked beside her with the open attention he brought to new places — genuinely taking things in, not performing curiosity. He stopped twice to look at stalls more carefully. Both times he was looking at the same thing without knowing he was looking at the same thing.
