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Chapter 1:
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In which there is crying over spilt milk
In the land of Ingary, with things such as fallen stars, moving castles and poor noblemen that becomes the amusement of bewitching wizards, anything is quite possible. However that is getting ahead of ourselves, let us start from the beginning. No let us back track a bit. As some of you might know Howl Pendragon was a brilliant wizard of Ingary, Slaying the Witch of the Waste, her fire demon and, rescuing Wizard Sullivan and Prince Justin in the process. However Howl, the womanizing vain wizard, surprisingly settled down.
The house was quite, Calcifer hardly flickered through his logs and the sun had not yet peeked through the windows. Morgan slept soundly in his room as his door creaked open silently.
"Morgan, Morgan?" The sleeping eight year old slowly rolled over at hearing his name and opened one heavy eyelid, abruptly closing it at the sight of his younger sister.
"Morgan! I had a bad dream! Can you get me some warm milk?" Juliet whispered loudly. She had wrapped a yellow blanket over her pink nightgown and draped it over her head like a hood. Staring at her brother with her big green eyes she waited in silence
"Fine!" Juliet snapped. Morgan ignored Juliet's anger and tried to fall asleep. Though Morgan had shut his eyes tight he could just feel her sad gaze staring at him.
Slowly Morgan opened his eye again and to his surprise his sister was gone. Morgan shot up in bed to see his room empty. Morgan rolled his eyes and looked up at the ceiling. He pleaded,
"Why me?" As Morgan crept down stairs he could hear someone rummaging around in the kitchen.
"Cups, cups, cups….Milk, milk, milk…fire, fire, fire…." When the words from Juliet's song registered in Morgan's head he practically fell down the stairs Just as Juliet walked out of the kitchen with two large glasses of milk and a frying pan. Juliet smiled over at Morgan as she poked Calcifer to wake up.
"Good morning dear brothers." Juliet said cheerfully, Calcifer only hissed,
"I'm not your brother, I'm tired!" Juliet didn't answer Calcifer's remark, but plopped the frying pan on top of him placing the glasses of milk on top. Morgan rolled his eyes,
"Jules, that is going to take for-"
"SHH!" Juliet placed a hand in front of Morgan's face and pulled up a chair to watch the milk.
"You wouldn't help me so I am doing it my own way brother." Juliet sat strait with her chin held high, her black ringlets escaping from underneath her blanket hood. Calcifer grumbled in a muffled voice,
"This is taking too long!" Juliet huffed at Calcifer's comment and dipped her finger into one of the glasses of milk. Morgan rolled his eyes, he couldn't go back to sleep and leave Juliet with Calcifer and he couldn't help her in order to go back to sleep, no options but to sit and watch. After about ten minuets both Calcifer and Morgan could no longer stand Juliet's humming.
"Jules is your milk warm enough yet?" Morgan pleaded pitifully; he wanted to sleep before he had to go to school. Juliet tucked a large charcoal ringlet behind her small ear and dipped her dainty finger inside the white liquid.
"All done!" Juliet announced proudly and a bit loud as if she had accomplished a great feet, but one must realize the smallest tasks are huge victories in the eyes of a four year old. Morgan jumped up from his seat to grab the glasses before Juliet, to prevent the milk from being spilled. This gentlemanly act however was seen as an insult in Juliet's eyes. She believed she could get the milk all by herself and Morgan needed to realize this.
"No Morgan, I can do it!" Juliet snatched one of the glasses of milk from Morgan without the least bit of gentleness, but between carrying the pan and the other glass Morgan couldn't hold onto it. Before Juliet could get a proper grasp on the glass it slipped through her tiny fingers and broke into a million pieces, leaving the floor and Juliet's bare feet covered in milk and glass shards.
"JULES!" Morgan yelled harshly while grabbing his sister's arm,
"Don't move!" Juliet yanked her arm away with tears streaming down her face,
"Let go of me Morgan!" it wasn't until then the crimson color caught Morgan's eye. The glass had practically landed on Juliet's foot and several pieces of glass punctured her bare feet. Calcifer had by now began to worry and yell,
"Howl, Howl, HOWL…SOPHIE…WAKE UP!" Morgan tried to calm his now balling sister, though it was more over her spilled milk that she mourned rather then her cuts. Howl came stumbling down the stairs first, his hair was messed, his chest bare and he wore only humble work pants.
"What? What happened?" Howl rushed to grab the crying, bleeding Juliet. Morgan stood at a loss for words, he knew what was coming, the blame would land on his head. Sophie ran down stairs with an emerald green robe tied tightly around her.
"Morgan what happened, sweetie?" Sophie immediately grabbed a towel to soak up the milk, but before Morgan could defend himself Juliet interrupted with words in between sobs,
"I-I had a–bad dream-and I wanted-I wanted warm-warm milk-but Morgan wouldn't help-me-and when he did- I dropped it on the floor." With the end of her sentence a new set of sobs erupted through the little girl. Morgan was just relieved she had said she dropped the glass.
"Ah, Howl, tears raining on me!" Calcifer wined placing two fiery little arms above his head, but Howl only ignored Calcifer while trying to dodge the broken glass shards on his way back to the kitchen. Morgan stood at a loss, while his mother cleaned up and his father healed his sister's wounds he felt lost. There the poor boy stood still with a glass of not-so-warm milk and the frying pan, at a complete loss of what to do. All he wanted was to get some sleep before he had to wake up again for school, but the sun had already risen and it didn't look like his want would be fulfilled. After sweeping up the glass and cleaning up the milk Sophie took the pan from Morgan and sat him down, with the milk still in his hand. Gently she stroked his head placing a kiss on it afterwards.
"Are you alright, honey?" Up to this point Morgan sat dazed staring at his milk. Morgan slowly nodded and took a big gulp of his milk, but a pit had formed in his stomach. Not once since Howl had come down had he noticed Morgan. Howl's attention seemed to be completely focused on "his little girl". Sophie watched Morgan as he in turn watched Howl's baby Juliet.
"You know he loves you don't you?" Sophie's voice was soft and sweet and seemed to coax Morgan away from his discontenting thoughts.
"Coarse I do Mother, but sometimes it feels like he loves Jules more." Morgan hung his head partially mad at himself for thinking such a thought. Sophie hugged Morgan tightly,
"Don't ever believe that, your father loves you very much." Pulling away Sophie looked into Morgan's soft blue eyes,
"Juliet is just younger, even at that age you weren't so difficult." Sophie lowered her voice to a whisper,
"Juliet has a lot of your father in her, she is just harder to handle then you, but that is no excuse for her getting more attention." Morgan nodded solemnly. Sophie smiled,
"That is my little man, now finish your milk and you can go get a bit more sleep before school." Those were the magic words and Morgan gulped down his milk and did just that.