Hearts Mending Again
Disclaimer: I'm just borrowing these beloved characters from the incredible animated movie and novel Howl's Moving Castle!
Summary: Sophie does not understand how the dangerous wizard Howl Jenkins was able to recognize her. She's never recalled meeting him before, so why does he look at her with those sad eyes? Angst/Romance, with a touch of humor.
Sophie Hatter was a modest lady. Endowed with the most respectful- not timid of course, of manners and and an impossibly humble appearance, she would rather have liked to think that it would keep her out of any sort of troubling attention from the opposite gender. She was, after all, different than the other ladies of the city... Ladies who wore such scandalously tight corsets in the hopes of attracting the gaze of a very famous, and hopefully merely mythical, wizard (at least for the span of her undisturbed life).
Really, of all the men those women could swoon over without so much as endangering their lives, Sophie likes to wonder why they dedicate so much of their efforts for a chance to be stolen away by the wizard Howl. Has no one ever told them that said wizard like to eat the hearts of young women?
Such thoughts preoccupied Sophie Hatter's mind as she travelled through the brightly lit cobble footpaths of the trader's market in the evening. The night was unusually lively with people enjoying a wonderful, colorful array of tents and shops offering every sort of strange items imaginable from foreign lands. An aroma of delicious spices reached Sophie's nose, arousing her hunger. She was standing near what seems to be a busy corner of shops presenting delicious delicacies from faraway, however Sophie was not here to fill her appetite. Instead, she was hoping to find odd and curious trinkets as centerpieces for her new bonnets. Lately, exotic things were the topic of boasting for noblewoman with too much coins in their purses, and fortunately for Sophie, their un-satisfaction and fear of being ordinary was quickly becoming her hat shop's main source of income.
Now, Sophie was musing with herself on which beautiful pendant should she purchase this time when she heard a cacophony of exaggerated female sighs and squeals (and, goodness, was that the sound of legs failing and bodies falling?) farther along the street.
So Sophie turned around and indeed, the sight she saw was truly one to behold. There, standing handsomely in the middle of a crowd full of captivated young ladies, was the infamous Howl Jenkins.
Rarely does this occur, but Sophie surprised herself. She does know not how she was able to recognize the man in the crowd as wizard Howl. How could it felt almost instinctive? She had no clue, for she has no recollection of meeting him before. Having finding no reasonable explanation, she attributed it to his awfully flamboyant style of dressing. Who else would have worn such a dramatically girlish coat on a man? Not to mention, those sparkly sequins seriously offended her eyes.
Sophie was about move on and forget the offending scene when she saw an even more perilous sight. Was that her sister Lettie in the crowd?!
Worried for her sister, Sophie heroically rushed to the scene and tried to squish herself in between the bodies of young ladies to reach Lettie. After successfully grabbing a hold of her sister's arm, she moved to pull the youngest aside.
"Lettie! Have you lost your mind?", scolded Sophie, hoping to arouse any speck of sense left in her youngest sister, who looked positively over the moon.
"Oh Sophie darling! Whatever are you so worked up for? I was only trying to get a glimpse of wizard Howl.", sighed Lettie. The girl was clearly bewitched by the good-looking wizard, unwilling and unable to understand her sister's nagging. In Lettie's mind, she reasoned that aside from her prude sister, which lady hadn't fantasized the alluring blonde man as their prince charming at night!
"Lettie, wipe that nasty drool from your face! Does the prospect of a grizzly gruesome death no longer impress you?" Sophie asked.
Hearing her sister's question, Lettie could only let out an amused giggle. "Oh Sophie, do you really believe in that silly old wives' tale? Why I bet it was devised by a jealous woman who wanted to prevent us better-looking ladies from seducing wizard Howl and have him all for herself!"
Sophie, the more rationally minded of the two sisters, went forth to argue that said old wives' tale could not be that far from the truth if it was so dangerously famous among people. The eldest wanted Lettie to forget about her obsession with Howl Jenkins for she would not want any harm to come to her beloved little sister. So Sophie kept on arguing despite her realizing that she really must hurry and purchase some rare brooches before the market closes.
Unfortunately for Sophie, her sister seemed to have perceived Sophie's actions as a weird form of repressed romantic feelings from a late-bloomer.
"Sophie, you really do make me curious."
"Curious?"
"Why are you so passionately against a man you have never even spoken too before?", gushed Letty. The youngest was familiar with the reality that her oldest sister wasn't one who would get so lively easily, for Sophie was known to be a calm, reserved woman. Interestingly, that doesn't seem to be the case when she is exposed to the topic or person of Howl Jenkins. Unaware that it is her safety which Sophie is concerned for, she thought it might be that her sister is secretly affected by the wizard in the most romantic of notions, but doesn't quite know how to express it! Well, Lettie decided that it's time to do a little bit of button pushing. So Lettie grabbed a hold of Sophie's hands, ran towards the herd of bodies and pushed Sophie right into the middle of the crowd when she saw an opening.
There and oomph! Sophie landed on her bum from the force of Lettie's unexpectedly strong push (curse her baker's strength) and much to her horror, managed to land right in front of the man who moments ago she had just wished to remain a mythical creature.
Curse Lettie's schemes and curse her luck.
"What do we have here? A little mouse?"
Hearing such amusement coming from his voice, Sophie wanted to die from embarrassment right then and there. Painfully aware and yet choosing to ignore the extended hand which appeared before her, Sophie rose from her awkward position and dusted her skirt, wanting to escape from the humiliation and shut herself in her workspace for days.
Alas, fate does not seem to be on Sophie's side, for no one could have expected that the wizard decided he would like to stop this woman from running away.
Smiling affectionately, Howl uttered a string of words which resulted in many dramatic air inhaling from the young women encircling them.
"You are as beautiful as I remember, Sophie Hatter."
(A/N) Cliffhanger! Oops! And just when things were heating up right? (laughs) Thank you for reading my work. This is my first fan-fiction, which makes me super nervous. Tbh, I would be so happy if this short introductory piece made you laugh a bit or feel anything. :) There's loads more of Sophie and Howl interactions to come as the plot unfolds, so stay turned! I promise more angst and more romance, and yes, in that necessary order. xD Leave a comment and let me know what you think! I love suggestions and reviews. 3