The closer we got to the gates separating Old Shinkotsu from New, the denser the foot traffic became, and by the time the wall itself was visible between the buildings ahead, the street had gone from the measured, unhurried flow of old money going about its afternoon to something considerably more chaotic and louder.
The gates were wide enough to accommodate three full-sized carriages side by side, and they were open fully today.
In front of them was a checkpoint that had not been there a couple of days ago. Knights in full gear were running two lines, one for carriages and one for foot traffic, checking papers, checking bags, checking faces against documents, moving people through at a pace that was in no way fast enough for the volume of people currently pressing toward it.
Most of them had the look of people who had packed what they could carry and then walked until they reached the capital.
"That wasn't there before," I said, looking at the checkpoint.
