Astrid was led then around every place that the child saw as worth showing. She did not pull the traveler girl forcefully along like she had last night, but simply always jogged a little bit ahead when they moved, eager to get to the next spot and the next! The city was at a closer look quite cozy looking in certain ways even if the forest was far away and houses so clumped together. Those narrow alleyways and routes through hidden back gardens were sort of like passageways through thick woods or shortcuts past bushes.<br/><br/>Most remarkably there were a lot of shops in the higher hills of the city. A whole little street packed with a dozen or more small houses each filled to brim with different kinds of merchandise be it clothes, food or some some strange trinkets. Kate explained that money was for those, that the people of that village gave coins to people who sold things in return for their goods. She could not quite explain why they did it, apparently it was something that was pretty much a given. "Even papa says that everywhere else you use coins too, though they might look different than the ones we have," Kate had added on that subject. To those coins was indeed related this town's main livelihood. On the very top of the hill was the inaccessible chief's mansion that the two could only peer from afar, but around it were numerous smithies, all puffing out black smoke into the sky. Many of the village men worked in those, tending to the big furnaces and large vats filled with strange orange hot liquid. Kate said that it was silver. They spied from one of the windows set high up close to the ceiling how the men below funneled that molten metal from container to container with grooves embed on stone. Kate could not help in explaining what was actually happening as she had very little knowledge of the intricate processes involved, but nonetheless she liked to watch. Even from afar the hot glow of silver felt warm on the skin. They had to take small pauses though as the brightness at times left black spots in the vision like when one has stared at the sun for too long. Eventually that liquid ended up in a variety of different molds. There was one whole room filled with stone tables that had little empty slots for coins carved on them, though the men weren't using that one today. It was all very different from how the elder who did blacksmithing back home handled things; the scale in comparison was here ten or hundred fold!<br/><br/>Astrid was also explained in length by Kate that most of that silver came from underneath the hill. There was one big mine. Some were also working down there, but it was a lot more dangerous so the kids weren't really allowed anywhere close and even Kate did not know of shortcuts to get there unnoticed. The entrance was right there in middle of the furnaces, a big tunnel opening into the side of the hill into a cave. Inside there was allegedly some sort of wooden elevator that helped raise the diggers and haul back up, but it could not be seen. It was not a very interesting sight to stare at for long though as only occasionally people would just come out with a big cart filled with rocks and then go back in with an empty one.<br/><br/>People were certainly a lot busier than back in hometown, but all in all they did seem pretty much the same. Some that worked in the same jobs had friendly quarrels, kids even smaller than Kate ran where they pleased on the streets. Maybe life in this kind of village wasn't so bad either. Everyone seemed to give the two girls smiles and sometimes waved when they passed. It could not be said though if the villagers were always this friendly, it was pretty obvious that everyone seemed quite fond of Kate which was not all that strange all things considered.<br/><br/>There were still many things to visit. Kate seemed to never run dry of ideas. Whether it was some fat black cat at certain old lady's backyard who was had just recently had had many kittens or some old man on the opposite side of the hill who would, on request, play songs on his his harmonica, Kate had just countless of things to show. However, midday caught them as did hunger. There was of course always some dried food at the hideout, but Kate herself yearned for some real food too. She also had a good idea where to get some. Having pulled Astrid to some dark alley  which supposedly hid them from curious eyes, Kate whispered, "I'll show you my awesome thieving skills now. Back at the smithy they have this big lunch cauldron. The men there eat a lot as you can see from their tummies, but the cook always makes too much. If we go up there and wait for good moment, I may be able to sneak a cup or two."