The marketplace

The marketplace was one of Marys favourite places ever, she soon discovered. It was a sensory overload with bright colours, people from all over the world, talking in different languages and the air was filled with the aroma of spices and food being cooked.

The market was located in an open part of the city. Tenac told her that it had originally been an open square. But now parts of a roof had been added to some places. In other places there were cloth hanging overhead. Tenac told her that in the summer it was to protect from the heat, in the other seasons it served as protection from rain and snow.

Still there were places where you could see the sky. It was a strange place. Mary tried to take it all in but was overwhelmed by it all and didn’t know where to begin.

“Have you ever had coffee?” Tenac asked her. Mary shook her head no.

“Let me buy you a cup and we can have a break and decide where you want to start looking” he said with a smile.

“Okay, thank you” she said.

He led her over to a vendor that had what looked like a large metal table in front of him. When they got closer, Mary saw that the table was filled with fine sand. In the sand three large ports with high necks were sitting.

“Two cups please, one with honey” Tenac told the man, giving him some coins. The man poured dark brown liquid from one of the pots in to two metal mugs. Into one he added honey and let a small piece of honeycomb float in the mug.

Tenac took the cups from the man and nodded to Mary in a direction. Mary saw some benches in that direction and went over to them, followed by Tenac.

“Thank you” she said as he handed her the cup with the honeycomb. She smelled the liquid. It smelled like nothing she had smelled before. A bitter, rich, smell with a hint of honey. She sipped it and couldn’t quite decide if she liked it or not.

“It can take some getting used to, it’s a special taste” Tenac said as he watched her.

“It’s not unpleasant” she said.

“My grandfather always put cardamom in when he brews it. It enhances the flavour. But I have yet to find a vendor that uses it in his coffee” he said and looked surprised, as if he hadn’t meant to tell her any of it.

“I can imagine that cardamom would go with this” Mary said, continuing to sip on the coffee. “Why did you ask him to add honey to mine?”

“When you drink it the first time it can taste too bitter. Some honey takes away some of the bitterness. That’s how we serve it to children, some never stop using honey in their coffee even as adults” he explained.

Mary had to ask about some of he word he had used, when he had explained them, they changed subject and talked about where Mary wanted to start exploring the market. She asked him if he needed to get something from the market, but he said he didn’t.

“Is there somewhere around here I could get some basic wax seals to use on letters?” Mary asked, having to use the Common word for wax seals.

“There are some places in the east part of the market that should have things like that” Tenac told her after teaching her the correct word. “We’ll start there and work our way towards the south entrance where we came in” he said, and Mary nodded.

They handed their now emptied cups to the vendor and Mary once again took a hold on Tenacs arm as he guided her to the stalls she wanted to visit. There were three stalls, it turned out, that had the equipment needed for wax seals.

There was of course the custom-made stamps, that held a personal crust or mark. But then there were the generic patterns. There were so many that Mary had a hard time choosing. Then, in the las stall she saw one with a stencilled rose on it. That’s the one she wanted.

“Tenac” she said in a low voice, not to draw attention to herself from the vendor.

“Yes Mary” he said, bending down a bit.

“I, eh, I don’t know what the appropriate amount to pay for that is, and I can’t tell which coin is which” she confessed, feeling stupid. In Dermes she knew exactly how much she would be willing to pay, but she had no idea how much her new money was worth.

“Of course, I should have though about that, I’m sorry” he said. “Will you let me handle this transaction for you and then I can teach you?”

Mary nodded and handed over the pouch Bettina had given her. She watched as Tenac haggled with the vendor and she learned a lot from it. After a couple of minutes, the vendor handed the wax and the stamp over to Tenac, he handed it to Mary along with the pouch.

“Thank you” she said.

“My pleasure. Now, to the coins. The large one with the moon on one side and the sun on the other is a salir, the smaller one with the five-pointed star on both sides are a merch. One hundred merch are one salir. The smallest one with the circle with the arrow on one side and the circle with the cross on the other side is a tivs, ten tivs makes one merch” Tenac explained. Mary nodded.

They were walking by stalls that held artisan goods and Tenac explained that it was usual for new artisans that had finished their training to set up a stall on the marketplace to earn enough to buy a permanent shop in the city. Mary looked at the different crafts and saw a man working on a silver ring.

“Can we watch for a while?” she asked Tenac.

“Sure” he said, stopping in front of the silver smith.

It had been a long time since she had seen anyone working with silver. The man in front of her were just a couple of years older than her. She could tell from his work and the way he hammered the ring that he still had a lot to learn.

“He’s going to break the ring” she whispered to Tenac. A couple of hits with the hammer later and the band of the ring split, causing the young man to swear. At least Mary thought he did, she didn’t know the words, but it sounded like a swear word.

“How did you know?” Tenac asked surprised.

“My father was a silversmith, I used to spend hours watching him work” Mary said. It had been a long time since she had thought about that part of her childhood, and even longer since she had spoken about it.

Tenac didn’t say anything, he just nodded and continued looking at the silversmith working. As the silversmith reached for a new tool, to try and repair the ring, he noticed them watching him.

“Good day, can I interest you in something. Maybe a piece of jewellery for the beautiful lady?” he said and gave them a smile.

“No thank you, but it was interesting to watch you work” Mary said, indicating to Tenac she was ready to leave. Tenac just nodded at the man and started guiding Mary to the next stall.

They slowly made their way back to the south entrance. Mary realized that they needed to leave if they were to make it home by supper. As Tenac guided her toward the booth to get her knife back, someone called his name. They both turned toward the voice and saw a couple of riders walking towards them.