Lost in thought, he hadn't paid much attention to his surroundings on the way here. Now, as he stopped to take it all in, he realized the vastness and clamor of Lan Central's Outer City far exceeded anything he had ever imagined.
The thoroughfare beneath his feet seemed endless, stretching to the limits of his vision where it converged with other avenues in the distance, forming an impossibly complex network of streets.
Buildings and shops lined both sides of the street, their signs and banners as dense as a forest. They sold everything imaginable: from common staples like rice, flour, and cloth, to swords, medicinal herbs, and sundries from every corner of the land, and even some strange and ingenious trinkets he couldn't possibly name.
The streams of people, horses, and carriages merged into a roiling torrent. The air was thick with the shouts of vendors, the haggling of customers, the clatter of wheels, the clip-clop of hooves, and the laughter of playing children...
