Finally! The long awaited ending! The grand finale!
I myself even wondered why it took so long to write, but then I noticed that I was in such a dreary mood that writing the last chapter would destroy the ending in the current state I was in.
Alas, it took Christmas to make me jovial again. I really am sorry for the long wait. But if I had written it in such a hurry, I would have killed one character in irritation.
Read on! And, I almost forgot! Thank you for following through and enduring my strange syntax. Without you, my good friends, this story would not be successful.
Epilogue
Mari looked at her uncle with a bit of apprehension. Morgan and….Calcifer both seemed afraid by the fact that she and Mom had wandered in from ….Wales. Okay, maybe that was just an exaggeration but it seemed obvious to Mari that light green was not the natural color of Calcifer and Morgan never bit the inside of his cheek, especially when flirting with a girl.
Howl took one look at the intruders of his home and then shrugged. Morgan and Calcifer exchanged looks of relief. Howl just went on as though they weren't there. Only his curse when he entered showed that he noticed their presence.
Megan, on the other hand, wasn't used to Howls habits. They hadn't exactly had a civil conversation that lasted for ten minutes for the past few years. She was a frank and determined sort of lady. She only waited for a few minutes of this treatment and then she stood up.
"Howell, aren't you going to greet us?" she said in the most unnaturally strange voice she had ever used. It was the tone one used with a misbehaving child that one knew would never listen in the first place.
Howl pretended not to listen whilst Morgan coaxed Megan to sit down again. The tone in Morgan's voice made Megan obey.
"Do not," Morgan said in a way that made Megan and Mari feel as though he had done this before to someone else. "This is his Castle. He will notice you when he feels like it. Other than that, be happy he made you stay and didn't kick you out."
It was seen quite clearly that Megan did not think this was not making her happy, this cold treatment. However, though she seemed to dislike it even more, she saw the logic behind Morgan's words and sat on her chair obediently.
"But Morgan," Mari said in her gentle, pleasant voice. "Now that Uncle Howell is here, can we talk about what this place is?"
There was a clatter on Howls corner in the hearth. His writing pen had dropped. Slowly, the blond head turned and the green eyes seemed to stare at all of them but at the same time, it seemed as though he was looking each of them in the eye, appraising their reaction. Mari shivered.
"Uh, Howl? Cut that out." Calcifer said from the fireplace. "It's creepy if you're not used to it."
Calcifer seemed to break a trance. Howl shook his head, as though to clear it of something heavy, and then he smiled for the first time since he entered.
"Okay," he said in a tone Mother and daughter had not heard for a long time. "What do you want first? The nice parts of this world, or the other side of the tapestry?"
"Uhm…." Mari stuttered, still a little unnerved from the eye-stare attack.
"How about the nice ones first?" Megan suggested.
Howl seemed to know that that would be their choice. He drew a deep breath and then released it. But before he could speak, a very handsome young man banged open the door, looking very pissed and irritated.
"Shcliezah! What was with that, Calcifer? I just returned and found the doors locked. Is this revenge for wiping your logs with peanut butter and jam?" It was only at the end of this speech that he noticed the guests, their eyes wide with surprise.
"Megan, Mari, meet my helper. He comes here once a week. Clarence Grey, my relatives." Howl introduced smoothly.
Mari blushed and hid her mouth and her cheeks under a handkerchief. Megan greeted him stiffly.
"Clarence, the shop…" Howl trailed off. His eyes narrowed at the bruise Clarence had on his cheek. "Did you practice what I taught you?"
He shook his admirable dark mane. "Yes. But Wizard Howl, there has been so much interference with my magic lately. I cannot help but feel as if I am weakening."
Howl looked at him with concern. "It is the night of the full moon of Shiva's year, Clarence. It is the time wherein all Wizards are at their weakest. I have prepared a serum of immunity to this effect."
Clarence looked relieved and he nodded. He went to a discreet, unnoticed cupboard and vanished. Mari stared at his back with great interest.
"Okay," Howl said with a sigh. "Sorry about that. Shall I begin?"
This time, it was Morgan himself who interrupted Howl. "Wait, dad. Uncle Gareth and Neil aren't here. Do you want to repeat yourself?"
Howl was about to answer to that when Megan shook her head. "Do not bother."
Mari looked at her with surprise. Howl gave her a co-conspirators grin. Then, Howl started to describe Ingary. It was rather fascinating at first, like a land woven out of a fairy story. It had princesses and Kings. There was Magic, and superstitions that actually came true. It was a beautiful picture that Howl painted.
When Howl was finished with the good part, he stood up.
"Wait!" Mari complained. "You didn't finish yet. Tell us of Ingary's bad side."
Howl grabbed a frying pan and turned to her. "We need to eat. I have to cook. Are you staying for dinner?"
They had been so caught up in the magic and beauty that was present in the very air they breathed, they forgot that there was another world that they belonged to. Any minute from now, Gareth would come home from work and find out that there was no food at the table. He would search for Mari and find a half-finished painting.
Neil would be lost. He was just a kid.
Megan remembered everything and her heart turned to lead. "Could you bring Neil here? I don't want to talk to Gareth yet."
Howl gave her a look again but he grinned like a rogue. "You are a minx, Megan! I didn't know that honorable women hid things from their husbands."
Megan had the grace to blush. "I simply do not want to talk about this yet, Howell."
Howell let the subject go and twirled the pan between his fingers like a baton. "Calcifer, could you do the good lady a favour?"
Calcifer looked at Howl warily. "I feel two favours coming."
Howl clapped his hands together. "Quite right! My, I believe you did divination on this day. First request is, bring Neil here and then last request in to bend your head over so that I can cook our dinner."
Calcifer flared in protest. "That's not fair! Sophia already brought you a stove."
"But nothing can cook like a good fire" Howl pointed out. Nevertheless, he plopped the pan on top of the stove and began cooking a big piece of steak. "Morgan, could you tell them about witches and wizards and grudges?"
The boy nodded. "Do you want it sugar-coated?" he asked. "I may say it too bluntly."
Both ladies shook their heads. "Go on please." Mari said.
So Morgan told them that because of the grudging and spiteful nature of most wizards, there were many petty quarrels. Sometimes, civilians were involved.
"But not all wizards are bad, right?" Mari cut in. "Uncle Howell isn't, right?"
Megan started. "Mari, don't say that." To her mind, wizards were those that dabbled in the dark arts.
"But Mama," Mari insisted. "remember Uncle Howell's stories long ago? It's all about this place! I remember it again. And he told me that he was a wizard. Aunt Sophie was someone he cured from a curse."
Howl clenched the ladle tightly in his hand at the mention of Sophie. He breathed in and out quickly. Green slime was on the verge of coming out, but something made him stop.
Neil entered the door, black blob down. He seemed to be in a trance, walking slowly but surely. Mari got up from her chair and caught Neil.
"Neil!" she exclaimed.
"Oh, don't worry about him." Calcifer piped in. "He'll snap out of it. That's just an entrancing spell. I didn't want to risk a transport spell without the right materials."
Megan eyed Howl and Calcifer. "So in all these years, it just came out now that you're a wizard. Was your wife a witch?"
Morgan felt an argument coming. He neatly slithered out of the situation. "I have to visit Mrs. Fairfax. I promised her that I would tell her stuff." And then he went out of the door.
"Like father, like son." Calcifer muttered.
13 years into the past, Sophie smiled contentedly. Everything was well with her family.
It could be noticed that a few days after that encounter Howell Jenkins' relatives were infected with his oddities.
For one, his sister Megan, disappeared and appeared again at irregular intervals. She began to speak Welsh again. The latter was a surprise to her neighbors since it was Megan herself who said that Welsh was a barbarians language. The greater surprise was the fact that Megan and Gareth broke up. She had been a model to her little town when it came to perfect matrimony. The only conclusion they could draw from present evidence was that Gareth had been cheating. To think that Megan would cheat was something hardly comprehensible to them.
Mari, though still a perfectly sweet maiden, spoke strange words and acted odder than any in her family. She made strange stories and wrote them on pieces of paper. And if Megan vanished and appeared again, Mari would be gone for months at a time. This particularly discouraged her suitors. She had that permanently dazzled expression on her eyes that made her seem a little wild.
Neil was the greatest loss of the family, as far as the neighbors were concerned. He was a good boy, had good grades and had many women who loved him. He never returned to Wales. Rumors told the neighbors that he had been taken by Howell Jenkins and taught him terrible ways.
All these troubles made Sophia seem insignificant. She was just a girl that was taken by Howell Jenkins once on a date and then dumped. It was nothing new to them to hear that rumor. Thus, Sophia managed to return to Argentina without any trouble.
But Sophia did not really escape all the troubles when it came to associating with a wizard because strange things were happening to her.
It would probably take another chapter to explain all her troubles but we will just narrate the strangest day of Sophia's life; the 16th of September.
The night before the 16th, she would always dream about talking to a very handsome man, a very handsome boy and a blue flame. The very morning of the 16th, she had learned to expect the bouquet of roses that would always be laid on her bed. When she went down she had learned not to be shocked at the carpet of petals that would lead her way to the dining room. The petals would always be real and it was different kinds of flowers every year. On her dining table would be an array of different steaming dishes and in the very middle of this sumptuous delight, an evergreen. It was the plant of life and death.
And as Sophia would discover these every morning of the 16th of September, a pair of glassy green eyes would always watch her intently.
Hallen walking normally when something slams into her.
"What the hell?" She exclaims
It was Morgan, hugging the life out of her.
"I dont want you to go!" he cries.
"Technially, I'm not letting you go." Hallen says sheepishly.
"But you wont be thinking about me anymore." he hicupped.
"I always will, even if I'm gonna work on a new project. You are my creation after all."
Reviews, people! This is my first story that got completed, so the first person that reviews me for this chapter gets hugs and kisses! Uh, never mind the kisses, maybe the hugs.
Flowering,
Lady Hallen
P.S. Just edited it. Added a few phrases and cleared up that name bug.