The Glass Market

The Market takes up almost the whole of the island that bears its name: a flat slab of basalt, in the old days less than two hand-spans above the water. Being low makes it the best square in the city, because boats can tie up anywhere, and it was also the first place to go underwater. Whoever enters Nocturna on foot enters through the Market, so the first thing a stranger sees of the city is people selling things.

Three streets of wooden and glass stalls with waxed awnings run end to end, with an open square in the middle. Many sellers use crates of old glass as counter, seat and display all at once. Stone arcades with glass shopfronts are lit by moonmoss lanterns “which gave a cold green light and smelled like a cellar”, and at the Eel Step fishermen sell their catch straight from the bow.

This is Nyra’s old square, where she made and sold dew lanterns, and where, on night 24, she refused to devour an Echo and froze the Market.