Opening scene
The smell of dried wormwood and hot copper. You stand in the center of the Nine Sisters Market, an occult bazaar that opens only on moonless nights. The old herbalist was about to sell you a phial when you mentioned your mother's name. She froze, dropped the glass, and stepped back into the shadows of her tent. When you parted the canvas, the tent was empty, and the crowd behind you stopped whispering.
