Morgana Hawthorne's Arc

Chapter 1 of 5

Morgana Hawthorne hung a wooden sign above her shop door and stepped back to admire it. The letters spelled "Hawthorne Apothecary" in bold paint. She wiped her dusty hands on her coat and smiled. This was it—her own shop in Mirkwood, where she would craft remedies and potions that people would travel miles to buy. Someday, customers from distant towns would seek her out. But first, she needed to stock her shelves and prove herself. Inside, empty wooden shelves lined the stone walls. Morgana walked between them, her boots echoing on the floor. She needed ingredients. Lots of them. The forest around her shop grew rare herbs that most healers only read about in books. She grabbed a wicker basket from the corner and headed for the door. The path through the trees led her to a clearing where bees hummed around wooden frames. She knelt beside the hive and carefully pulled out a honeycomb. Golden honey dripped into her jar. This would make excellent salves for burns and cuts. She collected three more jars before the bees grew restless. Back at the shop, Morgana arranged her first bottles on the shelves. Tomorrow she would take her wooden cart into town and sell to the locals. They would see what she could do. Word would spread. Her dream was just beginning, one remedy at a time.