Title: Hearts Aflame, 2/3

Rating: K+

Summary: When Calcifer lets an old lady into the castle, will he recognize her for who she is?

AN: Is anyone else having the problem I am with indentions disappearing when you upload files? I apologize for the formatting glitch; trust me when I say the paragraphs are indented in my file.

"Fire demons get no respect," Calcifer grunted as he moved the castle across the waste, as ordered. "I'm big, I'm powerful, and yet he forces me to do menial labor."

He was working himself into a good rant when he realized someone was trying to get into the castle. "Oh no you don't," he muttered, picking up the pace a little. "I do not get paid to let strangers in. Well, I don't get paid, period, but that's a different story. It's a point of pride, no one gets in."

But when he heard a woman's voice calling for him to make up his mind, he slowed. There was something… familiar about the presence he felt outside the door. It was like he'd met her before but… Then he realized what he recognized about her; the rapid beat of Howl's heart when she was near. His mouth widened into a feral grin. "I found her!" he crowed, slowing enough that she could make the leap onto the door step.

"I'm sure Howl won't eat the heart of a shriveled old lady like me," he heard her murmur. Calcifer frowned at what those words implied. Nothing Howl had told him the other night indicated that his mystery woman was elderly; in fact, he'd specifically called her a girl. Yet the woman walking up the stairs was definitely well past the first bloom of youth. If it hadn't been for the way Howl's heart was quick-stepping in his grasp, he would have thought he'd made a mistake—not that he'd ever admit it to anyone else.

There was no mistaking the fast thudding of Howl's heart however. This was definitely the same girl… woman… whatever… that he'd met just the day before. Calcifer watched her surreptitiously from the grate, observing the way she groaned when she took a seat, and the creaking of her old bones. When she stood back up to give him another log, he fell halfway in love with her himself.

He watched her for a few more minutes, trying to find the girl Howl had been so taken with in this old woman in front of him. He almost had it when she said, "Well, one nice thing about getting old is nothing frightens you." Something about the way she said "getting old" tipped him off, and he took a deeper look at her. Yes, there it was—a glimmer of a curse hiding her true age.

He rose from his logs slowly, not wanting to scare her (despite her earlier statement). If this was the girl, it wouldn't do for her to die of shock before she could free him and Howl from their contract. She was almost asleep, so he clicked his tongue to get her attention. "I don't envy you lady," he told her conspiratorially "That is one bad curse. Curses are tough, you're going to have a very hard time getting rid of that one."

Her eyes widened, and she said, "The fire spoke!"

Ignoring that statement of the obvious, Calcifer stayed on topic. If he was right, there might just be a way to break the spell after all. "Let me guess, the curse won't let you talk about it, right?" he asked, letting a few sparks go to show his disgust with the witch who'd done this to her.

The woman leaned forward in her chair, and if he squinted just a little, he could see the pretty girl underneath her wrinkled skin. Howl's really outdone himself this time, he thought admiringly.

Her next words were a bit of a surprise. "Are you Howl?" she asked innocently.

So she really didn't know she'd already met Howl! Oh, this could be fun. He straightened himself up and scowled at her. "No, I'm an extremely powerful fire demon named Calcifer!" An instant later he went back to his regular size. The point was to impress her, not scare her. "I just like to do that once in a while," he said matter-of-factly.

"A fire demon!" she said, leaning even farther forward. "Well then, you should be able to break my curse."

He crackled a little in devious glee—he had her! "Maybe, maybe not," he said, keeping his tone nonchalant. "Listen, you find a way to break the spell that's on me, then I'll break the spell that's on you. You got it?" he asked, laying out the proposal he'd been planning since he'd realized how well her predicament played into his hand.

"If you're a demon, how do I know I can trust you?" she asked, cocking her head to look at him with shrewd eyes. "Do you promise to help me if I help you?"

Calcifer stirred uneasily in the ashes, feeling a little put out that she hadn't jumped for his suggestion. Howl hadn't said anything about his girl wanting promises! He wondered briefly is his friend knew that about her before answering her question. "Eh, I don't know lady… Demons don't make promises," he said evasively, using the tone of voice he'd picked up from years with Howl.

To his chagrin, the woman in front of him gave him a full body shrug before slouching back in her chair. "Then go find someone else," she told him easily.

Someone else? He nearly sputtered in indignation. Didn't she know there was no one else, that there hadn't been anyone else for all the years he'd been with Howl? He hadn't met one person whom he'd even thought could break the spell. He had to convince her to help them somehow, without actually promising to help her… Promises made him nervous.

He flung two flames out as wide as he could in a gesture of appeal. "Come on, you should feel sorry for me," he pleaded. "That spell keeps me stuck in this castle and Howl treats me like I'm his slave, it burns me up!" In an instant, his earlier rant came back to him. "You gotta keep the water hot, the rooms warm, the castle moving…"

He was getting desperate. She was falling asleep, and she hadn't agreed yet. "Ooh, that's rough," she said, her voice gentle but noncommittal.

"Come on, you ever try to move a castle?" he prodded, sighing sparks when she didn't answer. She hadn't given in yet, so there was only one thing left to do. "If you can figure out how to break this… thing I'm in with Howl, then you can break my spell." He crackled a little before offering her what she wanted. "And for that, I can easily break the spell that's on you." There. That wasn't a promise, but hopefully it was close enough to make her happy.

Her eyes were drifting shut, but she managed to answer him. "All right, it's a deal," she said right before she fell asleep.

Despite all his efforts, she would not wake back up. Finally, he settled back into his grate and glared at her. "Some big help you're going to be," he told her, barely resisting the urge to stick his tongue out at her.

He groaned as one last thing occurred to him. "Do I have to tell Howl that his girl is now old enough to be his grandma?"

Disclaimer: Howl's Moving Castle belongs to several people—Diana Wynne Jones, Studio Ghibli, Disney/Pixar—none of whom are me. Any dialogue you recognize is taken directly from the movie, any you don't is mine.