Carlo had never been to this sector of the city. The tanners and butchers had established their shops near her centuries ago and the air was suffused with the stench of offal, alongside the ever present miasma of human sweat and waste. The buildings were short and squat, like they had to sit near to the ground or else they'd collapse under the weight of the meager thatching <?> on their roofs. The streets were full of people and livestock. He was bumped and pushed while he stood trying to get his orientation. Curses were spat at him. Irene's soft hand took his wrist and pulled him to an open doorway, up a small flight of stairs.
“It's a different world,” she said in her low voice. They watched the throng together, his vantage point affording him a different view than he'd had in the midst of the crowd. The faces were drawn and wrinkled. There were few smiles of greeting, but everyone walked with head down. He couldn't see how they avoided constant collision, but most slipped through the crowd like fish in a river. Their clothes were functional and practical. Some few had added jaunty accents in a patch of color or a loosely formed hat, but most wore much-stained cloth <look up what the peasantry wore back then>.
Still, there were patches of life <joy> even in the midst of this drudgery. Over there two young lovers embraced. She pressed herself to her love before she pulled away, giving one last glance over her shoulder while she pulled a shawl around her shoulders. She smiled and seemed to want to linger, but with one final wave she disappeared into the crowd and her love went his own way.
Children played. Even though they were dressed as sweeps or farmers or laborers, they still ran and jumped and created little impromptu games before settling back into their adult-before-their time bearings. Their high-pitched laughter carried over the bustle.
A mother nursed her baby in a window. She alternated between waving at the passerby, some of whom waved back, and staring at her baby in an <with> awestruck love. His wife had looked at Noemi the same way. Carlo bit back a surge of emotion. <Not necessary. Trust the reader. Show the emotion more if necessary>
Irene watched him closely as the fear and disgust turned into softer emotions on his countenance. “I know what you guild folk think of us. You certainly don't hide your opinions. You think we're all rude and barely more than <practically> animal. But we love and play just like you do. We have less. That doesn't make us less.”
She took him back into the street before he could respond. She led so he was one with the school of humanity, slipping through the streets with them, not blocking or leading, but of the group.