Still on the Quest

Written for: Ashcat in the Yuletide 2008 Challenge



Love didn't make breakfast, Sophie already knew, and it certainly didn't clean houses (or castles!) So she extracted herself carefully from Howl's arms and found her dressing gown, and went down to the kitchen pump to wash her face and get ready for the day. But as Calcifer cooked the bacon (and noisily consumed the rind) and Markl and the Witch of the Waste (who must have another name) wandered sleepily in the direction of the table, she wondered if it was only her nights that would be different now.

Then Howl woke up and decided to teach her Magic.

Old

The best thing about being old, as far as Sophie was concerned, was the way it let you speak your mind about things. Second best was the way it let you see what youngsters were really after: she'd had no trouble with Calcifer worth mentioning once she'd learned how much he loved the bacon rinds. Third best was being able to look fierce without trying – her eyebrows even frightened her sometimes.

She tried not to think about the worst thing, but it haunted her dreams. How many years had she lost forever? Who would take care of him, of them afterwards?

Calcifer Fretting

First of all, and let me make this perfectly clear, fire demons do not Fall in Love. I tried falling to my doom once already, and if I'd liked the experience in the first place I wouldn't be in this mess, now would I? It's nothing but a contract between me and Howl, a deal, that's all. It's not him I'm worried about when he drags in at night. Doused is doused, you know, and I know what will happen if my flame goes out. Imagine what would happen if he went under for the third time.

Keep burning, Howl.

Unfamiliar

Marco barely remembered falling asleep on Howl's doorstep. He was sick when he woke up, sick with the same fever that had taken his mother and father, but Howl had made him drink something hot, and Calcifer had kept him company while he was too weak to get up from the pallet by the hearth, and when he did get strong enough there was nowhere else to go so he stayed and never knew that he was Howl's apprentice until he overheard the wizard say so to one of the King's messengers.

It was better than no home at all.

Familiar

Howl was a wonderful wizard, but a terrible provider, and the first time he went off without a word Marco nearly died of fright. If it hadn't been for Calcifer's grumbles about the diminishing stock of firewood he might have curled up in a corner and hid. But he'd learned the hard way about taking care of things when the grownups weren't able to, and Calcifer was his friend.

Howl didn't scold him for stealing, just gave him charge of the purse, and cut down the cloak of disguise so he wouldn't trip on it when he dealt with customers.

Family

He wasn't sure who was in charge after Sophie came. She was old, and nosy, but she could make Calcifer bow down his head, and Howl didn't tell Marco to stop her cleaning at all, although how Marco was meant to stop her once she started he didn't know. But she liked Star Lake, and her hand was warm against his shoulder.

He didn't much like helping with all the washing, but his bed smelled like a memory that night and he woke up without worrying about what needed to be done for the first time in a long time.

This one's from Howl's Moving Castle bookverse, although I love the movie too. Apologies to Diana Wynne Jones, whose universe this properly is, and thanks too! Thanks as well to Hayao Miyazaki, for filling my head with asthmatic dogs and a jackdaw's nest of wizardly delights as well as Sophie, Calcifer, and Howl.

(And it's for fictualities who I think might be enough of my own generation to remember the song!)

Sung By Heart

Calcifer hated the song, of course, but it kept coming back to Howl at odd moments, and he'd find himself humming it, or singing the words. He didn't even remember where he'd learned it first, although he knew it wasn't Ingary. The flickering light he associated with the tune had come from a television set and not a fireplace, from a time before he knew that magic was real.

"Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket,
Save it for a rainy day
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket
Never let it get away."