What's the other book?
Plus I like the little quips that the two main characters have about the city

Actually it's a trilogy, though I can't remember if the place is mentioned before the third one. Anyway, it would be The Lord of the Rings, and specifically the white city of Gondor. Which always seemed like a marvelously implausible place to me, somehow.

And thanks!

WHAT?!
HOW DID I NOT CATCH THAT?!?!?!? T^T
and no problemo

Hehe I totally caught the LOTR reference in there - I believe you were reminded of Minis Tirith, right? ;)

That would be the one, yes! I've always liked the idea of that city, and who can read any modern fantasy story without being reminded of Tolkien's work at least a little? I kind of thought a shout out to him would be fun. I was sure you'd recognize it right away, too!

I've always liked this type of chapter, perhaps because I've tended to find them difficult to write myself. I mean those chapters that progress the story without all the flash and thunder of, for example, a big battle scene, but which give you more insight into the characters and -- perhaps especially -- their environment and the character of the world they inhabit. It's the little touches, almost asides, that really flesh out the world in this case. I noticed, for example, Ciara using "she" for the hypothetical merchant, followed immediately by the grey fox (unnamed throughout, which was interesting) using "he". Was that deliberate, I wonder?

I've always kind of liked them, too. I've always kind of thought of them as "strolling about town" chapters, just for the reasons you describe. Done well they can advance the plot and make the world a lot deeper, but since they're not particularly dramatic they can be fit in earlier in the book without interrupting the narrative flow. I normally have a lot of trouble with them, too. There can be a really fine balance between this sort of chapter and just a big block of text that tries to squeeze in the history of the last five hundred years without actually being useful for the story. This is actually one of the rare times I've managed to pull it off in a way I'm in any way satisfied with. So I'm really glad you liked this chapter, and thanks for mentioning all of the above. I think you're the first person to actually discuss this about my work, and it helps to know I got it right.

As for the he/she reference to the merchant, it was deliberate on my part and it kind of goes back to one of those little details that ultimately gets glossed over. In the world I've set up, certain species have matrilineal and/or matriarchal social structures. Swift foxes are, because swifts are female dominant in the real world. Rabbits are, just because I like the idea. But the foxes of Ciara's home city are used to a patriarchal society. I originally delved into this a lot more, and there are still a few hints of it left here and there. I cut out a lot to keep the story flowing, but Ciara is simply conditioned to use female examples for hypothetical or neutral examples, in the same way people in our world tend to use "he". In hindsight there are probably ways I could have kept a lot of this information and made it relevant to the book, but as this way my first attempt at anything like a novel it's full of holes like that. Those are things I hope to fill in with short stories as I go along.

Thanks again for reading and all your comments!