"Fountain Square is the only sizeable open space in the neighbourhood. It is surrounded by the Tonelays speciality, imposing black mansion houses which have been converted into tenement blocks. Unlike elsewhere, though, the buildings don't loom precipitously over people but stand back respectfully. The eponymous fountain lies in the centre of the square, an ornament which by Tonelays standards is decorative beyond belief. Its central column is shaped like a huge squid, stood on its rear end. Water rushes from its tentacles and cascades down three levels of tilted bowls to finally drip into the lower basin. The fountain is a relic of the long-lost years when the Tonelays was a high-class district; before those with money fled to Jalkin's north-west corner and the Torguns moved in. The residents of the square say the fountain's constant dripping during the night can prompt a happy slide towards insanity, but it is an integral part of the neighbourhood.
"A permanent market is held in Fountain Square (it is actually only licensed for two days a week, a fact which even the local Guards seemed oblivious to) and is the shopping centre for Tonelays women. The atmosphere during daytime mirrors the architecture. It is relaxed rather than watchful, welcoming not suspicious, the one part of the Tonelays which outsiders can enter without getting muttered about. One of Jalkin's oh-so open minded and liberal writers once described the square as "a precious pot-hole of daylight in the caverns of the troglodytes". Gellina, biased in the other direction, was reminded why she preferred markets to shops, and why the Fountain Square market had always been her special favourite. Even in late winter, even in the Tonelays, markets have an element of the carnival about them. Several vendors always discard pragmatic functions entirely and devote themselves to little novelties. Today a youth was offering truant children the chance to roll pennies down a wooden board to win prizes; a stunted man was engraving people's names onto their bracelets while they waited. Gellina remembered past visits to Fountain Square, when she had been entranced by wrestlers, fire-eaters, archers, jugglers, dancing dogs, dancing pigs and a host of other curiosities."
(from A Shining Light)