Goblin Market

Dallas was made into the commercial center that it is today through the intersection of the major north-south and east-west Texas railroad routes in the heart of the city. The arrival of the trains meant a soaring population, a boom of businesses and housing, and an epicenter of the markets for raw materials and commodity crops--as well as cementing Dallas as the "last chance" stop for supplies for people traveling west.
Today the trains aren't a part of day-to-day life for most residents of the metroplex. Sure, a train might stop you on the drive to school or work, but aside from such minor inconveniences the freight trains aren't on most peoples' minds--the humans have largely forgotten their heritage as a major trading focal point courtesy of the trains that brought goods and people to the area. 
But the local goblin market hasn't forgotten. 
==The Market==
Those who navigate the trods of the local hedge know to look for the broken remains of train tracks in the underbrush. These tracks seemingly spring from nowhere out of the thick growth, yet lead inexorably over tight twists and through dark tunnels to the center of the DFW hedge market. 
The market itself it based around the remains of an abandoned train, long immobile and looking as though it has begun to rot on the bone. Or perhaps--and it is hard to tell, given the uncertain lighting and deep, shifting shadows in the market--we should say trains, plural, given the size of the clearing and the sheer number of hollowed-out shells of freight compartments and sleeper cars. Dancing will-o-the-wisps, flickering candles, flaming torches, and captive aurorae borealis provide illumination in the dim twilight of the market. Animal stalls are housed out here in the open air, or in large freight cars that dot the edges of the clearing. 
Business is conducted in the gutted hulls of old train cars. Some cars are clustered together in the lines they might have approximated in younger days when the train could be imagined to run, others are isolated off to the side and nestled in thick hedge-growth. Seats and tables have been stripped out and replaced with stalls, for which there always seems to be enough room somehow. While many of the stalls are laid out in an open plan, some vendors prefer to hide their wares with mossy veils or silken curtains that are either just translucent enough to tantalise or opaque as a moonless night. The sleeper cars remain as they would have appeared in their heyday, and the business that takes place in these compartments tends to remain private. The restaurant car is similarly unchanged and serves a similar function, save that the bar also serves take-out; the barkeeper is an elderly goblin with one red eye and one glass eye--he is known to be willing to provide directions to lost and overwhelmed Changelings. 
Security and market laws are enforced by swarms of fierce goblin rats with forked tongues. When not restraining wrongdoers for judgment, individual rats can be seen keeping sharp yellowed eyes on customers or scurrying about on business of their own. The market leader and spokesgoblin is addressed as Madam Warden. The rats are her children, though they do not much resemble their parent; Madam Warden is taller than most men, has cow's ears and demon's horns, and her larynx is closer in form to a music box, with a resulting uncanny effect on her voice.
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Category:Goblin Market