The Market Quarter

The Market Quarter runs along Thornwall's main street from the market square to the south gate. Of the twenty-three permanent shops and stalls that once operated here, eleven stand completely shuttered — windows boarded or broken, awnings rotted to rags. Five more are occupied but selling reduced inventories at inflated prices. What remains functional: the apothecary, the cobbler, a bakery that operates two or three days a week when flour is available, a chandler, and a single dry-goods counter selling rope, nails, and imported cloth at prices that would have been outrageous a decade ago. The market square operates every Tenthday. In its prime it drew vendors from across the duchy and beyond. Now it draws perhaps a dozen stalls: one farmer selling root vegetables, one trader from Pensaris with bolted cloth, one woman who makes candles, and a scattering of individuals selling household goods they can no longer afford to keep.