Susan fondly remembered warm nights spent in front of a crackling fireplace, poring through precious, ancient botanical volumes with her grandmother. She was fascinated by the often bizarre diagrams of long-extinct magical species, asking all sorts of questions. Agatha always seemed to know some little fact or other, even if the texts didn't. It was that fascination, that quest for understanding which had taken her to pursue a college degree in plant sciences after her grandmother's passing.
Amongst the precious books, seed stocks, growing and processing equipment, and a lifetime's general clutter she inherited when Agatha died, Susan had found something truly unusual. It looked like a fist-sized ball of black wax, sort of like some types of fancy cheese came wrapped in. However, attached
