NEXT FAMILY

THE CHRONICLES OF HOUSE THORNVALE

"Every Remedy Bears a Thorn."

CHAPTER I — The Valley That Fed on Poison (1184–1226)

The earliest confirmed mention of House Thornvale appears in 1184, in the records of the Abbey of Saint Alder, where a small farming settlement named Bracken Hollow suffered repeated crop failures.

The valley was fertile, yet strangely feared.

Wild foxglove, hemlock, wolfsbane, belladonna, yew, and other poisonous plants covered the hillsides more densely than ordinary crops.

Livestock wandered into the fields and died.

Children were forbidden from entering the forests.

Travelers referred to the area simply as "The Poison Valley."

Most families abandoned it.

One family remained.

The First Thornvale

The settlement records mention a farmer and herbal gatherer named Rowan Thornvale.

Unlike everyone else, Rowan did not burn poisonous plants or cut them down.

He studied them.

He noticed that the same plants responsible for deaths could also relieve pain, stop bleeding, calm fevers, or induce sleep—if prepared correctly and given in precise amounts.

There were no written manuals.

Only years of observation.

Mistakes were costly.

Rowan buried his failures beside his successes.

Every grave became another lesson.

The Garden of Stones

By 1196, Rowan had transformed part of his farmland into a carefully organized botanical garden.

Every dangerous species was planted separately.

Each bed was marked with carved stone tablets instead of wooden signs, because wood decayed too quickly.

The stones recorded:

where each plant grew best,

which season it became most dangerous,

which parts were useful,

and which combinations proved fatal.

As decades passed, the garden expanded.

Visitors expected flowers.

Instead they found rows of plants capable of healing—or killing—with equal precision.

The Thornvales called it simply:

The Garden of Stones.

The Great Fever of 1208

In the spring of 1208, an unfamiliar fever spread through nearby villages.

The local physicians exhausted their supplies within weeks.

Many fled.

The Thornvales did not.

Using preparations refined over years of experimentation, they produced infusions that reduced pain, lowered fever, and eased breathing.

Not every patient survived.

Many did.

The abbey's records note that the family accepted no payment during the outbreak.

When asked why, Rowan's eldest daughter replied:

"A cure loses its worth the moment only the wealthy can afford it."

That statement would later become one of the family's guiding principles.

The Birth of Suspicion

Success brought attention.

Attention brought fear.

If the Thornvales knew how to cure poison...

surely they also knew how to make it.

Whenever a noble died unexpectedly, whispers followed.

Whenever livestock perished, villagers looked toward Bracken Hollow.

No accusation was ever proven.

Yet the family slowly became isolated.

Children from neighboring villages stopped visiting.

Merchants avoided shaking their hands.

People accepted medicine from the Thornvales—

but rarely accepted invitations into their home.

The Family Tradition

Every child born into House Thornvale received a small patch of soil on their seventh birthday.

Nothing was planted for them.

Instead, each child spent years choosing a single plant to cultivate and study.

Some chose lavender.

Others chose foxglove.

Some chose roses.

A few chose deadly nightshade.

The choice was permanent.

Throughout life, that plant became the symbol of the individual's character and expertise.

When a Thornvale died, the plant was transplanted into the family's ancestral garden, where it continued growing among those of generations before.

No statues marked the dead.

Only living plants.

To outsiders, the garden looked beautiful.

To the Thornvales, it was their family history written in roots, leaves, flowers, and thorns.

Thus, House Thornvale earned its enduring reputation—not as sorcerers or poisoners, but as botanists, healers, and toxicologists centuries ahead of their time. Their greatest burden was that the same knowledge that saved countless lives also ensured they would forever be viewed with suspicion.

THEIR RESIDENCE

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