The Quite Ordinary and Utterly Unremarkable Guide to Charming Glass

by velvet-sometimes

It is quite a thing, to be the eldest of three. And Sophie Hatter had contented herself with her perfectly 'lovely' and ordinary existence in Market Chipping. But giving in to the temptation of a dusty old tome opens the way to a dangerous journey, where beauty is in the eye of the beholder - and the greatest adventure is learning how to 'see'.

3. Comely

Disclaimer: I don't own Howls Moving Castle (the book or the movie, sadly), no matter how much i do love both versions so. I'm also not making a cent of profit from this; this is a fanbased work, merely for improving my own writing, and playing with themes.

Comely

She continued on with her search, giving out a soft noise of pleasure when she finally came across the proper box, which did indeed contain the comely paperback she had been searching for.

She lifted a single copy from the box, bringing it forward so she could run reverent fingers across it's uncreased spine, before carefully opening it so she could smell the pages; enjoying the crisp sound that accompanied the covers being opened for the first time. Oh how she loved the scent of freshly printed ink. It always reminded her of sitting on her fathers knee as a child, and curious fingertips following the lines of prose as he carefully sounded out words for her to mimic.

"Sophie, dearie!" Came the voice of Mrs. Smith from the front of the shop, breaking her from her revery. "Have you found it yet?"

"Oh my! Yes ma'am, Just now in fact." She called back in reply, setting the book down atop another box so she could move others back into their proper places before taking it in hand again and moving toward the store proper.

Her eyes only strayed to the mystery package and it's ominous note for a brief moment before she flipped the curtain open with a flick of her wrist and set The Proper Guide To Cooking down upon the counter before Mrs. Smith with a flourish.

"Here we are ma'am, that will be Ninety-Two cents."

"My, how expensive!"

Note: I hope you darlings have been having a lovely day thusfar! Not to worry; I've already 32 chapters of this piece completed, edited, and waiting to be posted for your enjoyment! And for you new readers who are less familiar with how I run things here, as long as I've buffer chapters in waiting and am not laid up for some reason or another, I work with daily updates, as I feel it's rather silly to wait an entire week for a mere 200 word drabble.