By the time Mirabelle reached Steinstein, she had almost managed to push the Territory Core to the back of her mind.
Almost.
It helped that Steinstein seemed determined to overwhelm every single one of her senses at once.
The settlement had never looked like this before.
Mirabelle had always found its layout unusual compared to the towns she remembered from Earth. Steinstein wasn't packed tightly together behind narrow streets and rows of adjoining houses. Most homes stood roughly in the middle of long plots of land, their fronts facing the road while the property stretched considerably farther behind them.
There, families kept small fields, vegetable gardens, fruit trees, chickens, or whatever else helped supplement their income and feed the household.
Toward the street, many properties had another purpose.
Stalls.
Workshops.
