Disclaimer: I do not own Howl's Moving Castle

Chapter Ten

For Ponyo is awesome

After she had walked out of ear shot Morgan turned back to Kain, who was still recovering from the excessive amount of laughing from Morgan's rejection. This made Morgan fume. No one ever turned him done. No one. However Morgan's explosions of rage resembled a hissy-fit from a 5-year-old who had his toys taken from him for a week. Kain finally looked up and there was a moment of silence between the two. Kain's eyes seemed to be dancing with amusement and Morgan's was stony and cold. His swiftly broke the intense moment by turning away dismissively.

"There are more fish in the sea."

Kain broke out in another boom of laughter again and looked like he was about to fall back into the fountain. Morgan scratched the back of his head, staring at his old friend in amazement he wasn't used to seeing Kain like this. He had never laughed this hard. Ever. In all the years he had known him he had never got to him to laugh like this. Then a knowing smile appeared on his lips when he realised the cause for such a miracle.

It's that girl. He thought. Ever since he met her...something has changed in him...

Kain was never the kind of man who would be expected to fall in love, or if he was to seek company it would not be of a young (somewhat attractive) studious, sorceress.

"I'm so glad that a woman's finally having a good affect on you, old friend."

Kain was rubbing tears of laughter from his eyes. He blinked at his friend in confusion however hysterical amusement was still hovering about in his expression.

"I'm sorry?"

"Well, no one has ever made you laugh that much, dear." He said slapping him on the back. "It seems to me that this girl is having...quite an affect on you."

Morgan knew it was going to be a bit of struggle to get the truth out of Kain but he knew it was going to be worth it since the teasing would be never ending. Just the thought of it, Kain the Dark and powerful Wizard of their generation in love with the most harmless looking, sweet-natured young sorceresses of their time.

Kain waved him off. "Nonsense. She's just more wittier than women her age. Than women in general for that matter. She's very intelligent and wise as well..."

Morgan smirked watching the expression on his face. He looked like a man in love not a man infatuated. He had to admit it was good seeing him like this. Not many people knew it but there was a good side to Kain Nightstar. He couldn't remember the last time he saw him, if he was to be honest but there were signs of him slowly emerging again.

"Ha ha! You're singing her praises now! Next you'll be writing poetry about her hair or how her eyes sparkle in the sun."

Kain glanced darkly over at his adoptive brother and clonked him on the head. "I thought that was your forte?"

"Oh...if its necessary. If you want I can help you with your first declaration...of love..."

Kain glared up at Morgan, silently thinking, dreaming of ways to torture and hurt the pompous fool. The expression of Morgan's face was so ridiculous he might as well had had a rose in his hand and crying up to some girl on a balcony.

He was, Kain thought, the stupidest person to ever walk on the face of the earth. He was a good liar, no doubt about that. But most certainly, a real idiot...

~ (***) ~

Daniella breathlessly fell back onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling with a blind smile on her face. She was moving closer and closer to the future she had dreamed of for so many years, days, hours, minutes, seconds. It was all coming together now. Like the pieces of the puzzle were finally making sense and she knew now what she had to do in order to complete it.

She didn't forget though, that she had got onto the list. She could celebrate this triumph but she hadn't achieved the victory. Not yet.

The door swung open and Daniella graceful propped herself up on her elbow and found that it was Ananea. She scanned the room for Daniella and when he eyes found hers she threw her things onto her bed and jumped onto Daniella's. She leaned in so far their noses were almost touching.

"Daniella is it true that you were talking to Kain Nightstar by the fountain?"

The worried expression on Ananea's face seemed so funny to Daniella that she couldn't hold back the laugh inside her and nodded madly.

"Yes, I did." She answered. "What of it?"

"Don't you think that's dangerous, Daniella?" She hissed fearfully.

She smiled at her friends naivety thinking that this was what she could only look like only a few years ago. It was strange finally being in the position of the 'all knowing one'.

"Oh I hardly think so." She replied knowingly. "We're old friends."

Ananea pulled a face which was mixed with shock and puzzlement. "Really? With him? He's a bit...unconventional don't you think?"

"Don't you think that unconventional is much more interesting than conventional, Ananea?"

Daniella leaned her back against the wall and looked up again, trying to drift away from the conversation completely. She didn't need to hear this. She knew that Ananea would be unable to understand. She didn't tell her about Lady Belladonna and she didn't tell her about Kain. But it was a different reason as to why she didn't tell Zola or Ellie. It was because Ananea was too fragile. She had such a sheltered life and the first time she was introduced to reality was when she left for the Academy. If had told Ananea everything it would break her heart and shattered everything that she knew.

When she first met her the first thing that she did was congratulate Lady Belladonna on her tireless efforts to fight the Biro disease. Ananea went on and on about her for so long, it was clear that Lady Belladonna was her hero. And it would break her heart if Daniella revealed to her completely different side to her idol. It would break her heart to. She found that she had loved her too much. She wanted to be the mother Ananea had lost in her early, delicate years. She smiled at that sometimes, because it was as if she was taking to role Zola played in their relationship. It seemed so long ago now, when it was only really a year.

They still kept in touch, but Zola's efforts at a mountain hospital made it difficult for them to correspond regularly. The most Daniella could expect was a letter once every two months. She missed Zola.

"Besides, we shouldn't see people just from the outside. It's like a geode. They look like hunks of rock on the outside nothing special but on the inside are gems. Beautiful, priceless gems. That's what people are like, Ananea. Something completely different on the inside to what they seem on the exterior."

Ananea looked troubled. She looked away for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts and process what Daniella had just told her. After a while she returned to her and had a look of indifference and certainty in her eyes.

"What about Lady Belladonna?" She questioned.

Here we go...

"What about her?"

She sighed. Ananea Blackfall tilted her head and gazed up at her like a little girl on her birthday or upon the first day of snow in winter. There was something about the way she looked at her which told her, like many young sorceresses, that Lady Belladonna was her personal hero. It was a sad thing to break the dream of a girl as delicate as Ananea. She knew she had to handle this carefully. She always had to be careful about what she said. It was even enough for her to say something to others about her friendship with Kain Nightstar.

"Well she's made many outcries against Dark magic, quite rightly too. It's selfish, it's dangerous and it's destructive. No wonder she protests against it. It's harmful against society and against those who trifle with it. You may say people are completely different to what they seem on the exterior.

But perhaps you should practice what you preach."

Daniella frowned and tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

It sounded like she was accusing her of something terrible. Something which she wasn't sure she really wanted to know. She was never this assertive, especially to accuse her of anything terrible.

"I mean he could be making out that he is harmless when really...he could be quite dangerous."

"You don't know him." She replied defensively. "You don't know what he's like. How can you...?"

Daniella stopped knowing that there were many good reasons to not carry on. First, it was useless trying to convince her that she was right. She was too much of a loyal follower of Lady Belladonna. And secondly, if she carried on, the truth would slip out. That would ruin the plan. Only for a few more months or years and then it would be alright. Then it would be safe to speak openly. To live freely.