Esther had never been trained to sing, but she was naturally gifted with a beautiful voice. Just recently turned eighteen, she had delicate, clear features and a slender frame. She'd had her first period only last month.
Esther and her grandfather, Buzz, sold the famous "Bowl of Brown" on the streets of Flea Bottom, the poorest district of King's Landing.
The name "Bowl of Brown" came from its murky brown color. It was basically a big pot into which all sorts of ingredients were tossed and boiled together. Bits of vegetable leaves, scraps of meat, shells, anything that could be found went in. They simmered it down into a thick, savory stew. Anything that couldn't be softened, like shells, was fished out. After straining and adding fresh water, the resulting rich broth was salted and seasoned to taste. It was surprisingly delicious.
For those who couldn't afford a proper meal, this soup was not only filling but packed with a variety of nutrients, all for just five copper coins.
Five copper coins, about fifty cents in Earth money.
Bowl of Brown was a hallmark of Flea Bottom street food.
Esther's family's Bowl of Brown sold well because it tasted fresher and cleaner than the other stalls. She and Grandpa Buzz had rigged a clever little mousetrap in their shack: a small bucket with some meat bait tied to a string connected to a stick. When a mouse went for the meat and tugged, the stick would release a metal lid, trapping the rodent inside.
Flea Bottom was infested with rats, and sometimes, if they were lucky, they caught some fat ones.
They'd skin and gut the rats, clean the meat thoroughly, and finely chop it before simmering it into the broth, giving the soup a rich, meaty flavor.
At night, Esther and Buzz went to the fish market at Mud Gate, scavenging the garbage piles for rotten fish and shells. They'd cut away the spoiled parts and salvage whatever edible meat and shellfish they could find, picking out all the bones before adding the scraps to the soup.
The discarded vegetables they found at the market were similarly sorted, rotten and blackened parts discarded, good edible pieces chopped into small chunks and boiled into the Bowl of Brown.
Theirs was a clean, fragrant broth, unlike the other vendors'.
The other sellers had larger chunks of meat in their soups, but their meat was questionable, no one wanted to think about where it really came from. Everyone tacitly knew it was probably from the dead.
Flea Bottom was rife with people who died from sickness, starvation, or street fights. The idea of "dead man's soup" was a grim unspoken truth everyone knew but never discussed.
Before Esther and Buzz set up their stall, customers drank the soup quietly, without asking questions about the meat. It was cheap, and a bowl could save a starving homeless person's life.
But ever since Esther and Buzz came, more and more people choose their stall because they themselves drank their soup every day, which gave customers peace of mind.
The other vendors never ate their own soup.
For five copper coins, you could stand on the street and drink a big bowl of Bowl of Brown that warmed your body, filled your stomach, and nourished you.
Grandpa Buzz used to work at the Mint as a master craftsman, making coin molds and polishing the minted coins until they shined. But because he'd slowed down with age, the officials there let him go without any retirement pay or even his last month's wages.
With no family to rely on, his son was a gambler who wasted his days in brothels and street fights, Buzz supported himself and his granddaughter Esther on his meager pension.
After being kicked out of the Mint, Buzz and Esther moved to Flea Bottom, where he rented a tiny shack. For three months, he camped outside the brothel of "Littlefinger", Petyr Baelish, the highest-ranking official in the Mint, hoping to get some retirement money.
Finally, one day, Baelish appeared. He didn't give Buzz a single coin but allowed him to sell Bowl of Brown on the streets of Flea Bottom.
From then on, among the dozen or so Bowl of Brown stalls in the district, the grandfather-and-granddaughter pair squeezed in.
Their soup's clean, fresh taste quickly outshone the competition. The other vendors only found success after Buzz and Esther sold out every day.
They never used rotten vegetables or the mysterious "meat" others tossed in. They broke the ugly cycle, proving Bowl of Brown could be clean, delicious, and safe to eat.
But this success wasn't without problems.
Buzz and Esther had clashed with the other vendors many times. Though nothing serious had happened yet, it was clear these people wouldn't let them have it easy.
Littlefinger had shown up only once on their first day but had never come back.
All the other Bowl of Brown vendors were tough characters, backed by gangs, mercenaries, or having connections with local petty officials. Buzz and Esther were the first to get a foothold here by the grace of a high-ranking minister.
With Baelish absent, it became obvious to many that the grandfather and granddaughter had no special protection.
The conflicts began.
Flea Bottom was the most chaotic place in the entire city.
At night, no outsider dared enter its narrow alleys.
King's Landing had the largest floating population of all seven kingdoms, far surpassing Oldtown in the south.
Even mercenaries from across the Narrow Sea avoided Flea Bottom streets after dark.
But during the day, though fights and brawls were common, the Bowl of Brown stalls generally remained safe, almost as if by some unwritten rule.
After all, it was a place where the homeless, the poor, and the sick could get a bowl of soup.
The poorest, most crowded places bred the most violence.
Due to cheap rent and strategic location, Flea Bottom was home to low-level mercenaries, as well as gangs and thieves who hid here after robbing wealthier parts of the city.
That morning, a mercenary came to drink Bowl of Brown at Esther and Buzz's stall.
He wasn't from the Seven Kingdoms but from across the Narrow Sea. Bald, wearing a thin shirt and pants, with a curved sword at his waist.
This bald man was a member of a notorious warrior group, a bloodthirsty mercenary band known as the Blood Circus.
Their mercenaries were mainly criminals and exiles from various regions of the continent of Essos.
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