Her eyes narrowed against the sun, out for once in the typically dreary city. It was the kind of day that held the promise of adventure and of changing fortunes. Laying her hand out flat she pressed it to her brow while with her other she clutched at the full skirts of her dyed crimson wool dress.<br/><br/>Watching with an interest that never waned, her mouth popped open only further as the hulking gold ship drew in it's main mast and revealed the finely dressed man standing on her bow.<br/><br/>He was the sort of man that the authors of her favorite books wrote about. Dashing and handsome and probably unscrupulous as the day was long. Somehow, that thought did nothing to deter the plan that was slowly taking shape in her mind. No indeed, some long forgot romantic notion simply added to her determination.<br/><br/>But she could hardly stand there and gape as he disembarked from his golden throne. After all, it would be better if he didn't recognize her when he found her stowed away in his mighty vessel.<br/><br/>So, with the plan concrete in her mind, she turned away from the port and made her way past the fish mongers and apple sellers to the tiny clapboard apothecary shoppe.<br/><br/>It was a dismal place, the outside a facade of crumbling roof and dirty fogged over broken glass windows. Inside was no better, crammed floor to ceiling with herbs that were months past being any good and the smell of cat pee clinging to everything. But it was the only place in town that offered a fair price for the things she needed, so Maggie walked inside and rang the bell several times to alert the old half deaf shop keep to her presence