[ They're going shopping, is what she told Prior before they left the house. They have no money, perhaps, or none that should be spent on anything other than food and shelter in their precarious financial position, and maybe no one wants to wander a market in the middle of an epidemic, but none of that seems to bother Max a whit, and she trusts Prior to go along with it. (If he's been— out of sorts these past few weeks, she doesn't mention it; she does charm a passing cart driver into giving them a lift most of the way there.)
There, as it turns out, isn't the Old City marketplace at all. It doesn't look like anything, just a turn between two old buildings into an alleyway that seemed certain to dead end on them, right up until a door revealed itself around the next bend. ]
Here we are, [ she beams.
Inside still isn't exactly bustling, but the number of shady-looking individuals increases exponentially. Max reaches to loop arms with Prior like they're a young couple on an outing and not a pair of penniless refugees waltzing into the worst of the worst part of town. If the gesture has the combined effect of keeping him close and encouraging others to keep their distance, so much the better. ]
Come, walk with me — and tell me, how did you make your way in the world before all of this?
[ This. El Nysa. The Storm. His illness, perhaps, though she doesn't like to make assumptions about that. ]
prior
There, as it turns out, isn't the Old City marketplace at all. It doesn't look like anything, just a turn between two old buildings into an alleyway that seemed certain to dead end on them, right up until a door revealed itself around the next bend. ]
Here we are, [ she beams.
Inside still isn't exactly bustling, but the number of shady-looking individuals increases exponentially. Max reaches to loop arms with Prior like they're a young couple on an outing and not a pair of penniless refugees waltzing into the worst of the worst part of town. If the gesture has the combined effect of keeping him close and encouraging others to keep their distance, so much the better. ]
Come, walk with me — and tell me, how did you make your way in the world before all of this?
[ This. El Nysa. The Storm. His illness, perhaps, though she doesn't like to make assumptions about that. ]