Prettyinpinkgal: Greetings, everyone! I hope you all had a very merry Christmas! I present to you yet another chapter of "Destiny". I'll attach another author's note at the bottom regarding my thought process for this chapter. Many thanks yet again to melliemellie for her editing, particularly during the holiday season.
On a different note, yes, a certain Tolkien reference was made out of anticipation for the new film, which I just saw and was delighted with. Since this is DWJ's world, however, hobbits do not look quite like Tolkien described. Okay, I'll admit it-"hobbit" is just a fun word, and I wanted to use it regardless of real relevance. ;)
Don't forget to leave a review!
Disclaimer: All proper characters and plots go to Diana Wynne Jones, except for Suliman's father-who belongs to me-and Mr. Collins-who belongs to Jane Austen. Hobbits belong to Tolkien.
DESTINY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: IN WHICH THERE ARE CHANGES SEEN AND UNSEEN
Howl was shoved back as Whoever It Was forced its way in.
"A hobbit?" Michael whispered aloud as Whoever It Was came into their line of sight.
"Too tall to be a hobbit, and perhaps not humanlike enough," Sophie whispered back, thinking of any offensive spells Howl had taught her. The creature certainly did not seem humanlike, hobbled as it was and covered with shawls and blankets.
"Is this Wizard Howl's castle?" the thing ventured, a voice raspy and slightly feminine said before hacking a cough.
Howl made his way from behind the door, closing it a little. "May I help you?"
"Hmph!" they heard the voice grunt, and Howl jumped away as a large stick swung in his direction. One of the shawls fell and revealed a very old lady, gnarled hands gripping the stick as she tottered in. "So you're Wizard Howl, are you?"
"I beg your pardon, madame, but I-"
"Don't play at that!" she shrieked, not unlike a banshee. "This is all your fault, anyhow!" Her eyes flashed something awful, and Howl closed his mouth with an almost audible clack. Sophie wondered if he was as reminded of Mrs. Pentstemmon as she was, although the late tutor was never so visibly emotional.
Nevertheless, irked old women could be rather intimidating.
The woman made her way through the room, and her eyes landed on Sophie. "There you are!" she cried. "I thought the spell was all wrong after all."
"Er," said Sophie, as the woman clasped her shoulders.
"You've always been so good at helping people, Sophie. Let me stay here a little while. I'm not speaking to him," the woman said, watery yellow eyes glaring at a bewildered Howl. "He dragged us all into his own mess. If I die of a heart attack, it's all his fault!"
"Um, all right?" Sophie said, a little too befuddled to make any inquiries.
"I-Do I smell food? I am hungry. I haven't eaten anything since last night. Everything's too hard for me. You'd be amazed at the troubles old women face."
"Make yourself at home," Sophie stuttered. "I'll make you some soup, the kind that's not weedkiller."
She looked towards Howl, but he had disappeared. He must have slithered out, Sophie thought, but that ought to mean that this woman's not a danger to us, though the way she's acting doesn't help her case.She feared the woman was...missing a few cards in the deck, as they say.
Michael helped the woman towards the hearth, the latter saying, "You're Martha's beau, aren't you? She's very fond of you. She's been disappointed that the both of you haven't been able to meet in a couple days. Treat her well, all right?"
Sophie was just about to follow them and ask how she knew Martha and herself when Howl entered the room again. His eyes flickered towards hers, and he said, "I just checked. It looks like the Witch hasn't followed her here. We should be safe. I don't understand what she's doing here, though. Most people run away from magic after they've been cursed. They rarely run to the house of a wizard with a notorious reputation."
"I'm not sure she's quite all here," she answered in a hushed voice, tapping her own head. "That was rather foolish of her, though. I-"
Someone knocked on the shop door, but the knocking was more like banging. Howl disappeared for a minute to open the door. Martha, Mrs. Fairfax, and the dog poured into the castle, saw Sophie, and quickly hugged her before saying, "Is she here?"
"What is going on?"
"Blast it!" panted Martha as the dog ran in, then Mrs. Fairfax. "We realized she was gone and we had to use a searching spell on her. She must have woken up at the crack of dawn. She's gotten more stupid with age! Can Wizard Howl take off the spell?"
"I-I don't know. Can you?" Sophie called to Howl, who was locking the door.
Martha whirled round, apparently oblivious to his presence before. The first thing she said was, leaning and whispering to Sophie, "Well, he is very handsome. I approve in that regard, dear Sophie." Then she said to Howl, "She's not at all herself, and I'm not talking about just physically, either. You must help her."
"Very well," said Howl, which surprised Sophie. He was not a bad man, not really, but she had expected more whining or bargaining or resistance from him, or at least a witty comment. He must have been feeling very guilty indeed, if the woman's curse was truly a result of her connection with him.
Wait...
They all walked to the hearth, where the woman was wielding the poker at Calcifer, who shouted, "Not again!" The dog tried gently to lean on her to get her away from the annoyed fire demon, but he seemed nervous as to how much weight would send her toppling over.
"Lettie," Martha said carefully, "let's get Howl to take off your spell, all right?"
"No," the old woman snapped, sending them all into a state of surprise. "If you take off the spell, and I go out, the Witch'll see that I'm pretty-"
Lettie, you might want to work on your vanity, thought Sophie.
"-and will know that Howl removed my curse, and Howl and pretty girls is not a combination that makes the Witch happy. Look how she's been trying to get at poor Sophie!"
"Er, I'm not really that..." Sophie began, but most of the company was more amazed that this seemed such a logical argument, considering the state Lettie was in.
Howl frowned and said, "You can stay here, although it's no more safe than Mrs. Fairfax's home. We won't let her come at you again." He reached out and made a tugging motion.
Lettie's lips were firmly set and her spell remained on.
Howl tried another motion this time, and Lettie still kept the spell on.
After some time, Howl finally gave up, though he did say, "I can see your stubbornness does run in the family, Sophie dear."
"Lettie's always been bolder, but I've always been more set in my ways," Sophie replied, only slightly amused after the unseen tug-of-war.
Calcifer peeked out and looked at Lettie. "I don't like you," he said, "but we might as well try and get that curse off of you somewhat. Otherwise, you'll lose your head a little. Or, better yet, you'll get a heart attack and die."
Sophie and Martha shot each other alarmed looks, but the idea of Lettie dying of a heart attack still seemed far too odd a concept to infuse them with much terror.
"Oh, fine," Lettie humphed. "Just a few years off, though, or at least restore my health, because I-oof!"
She tilted back a bit as Howl gave one good yank, and her deeply-set wrinkles began to stop drooping quite as much, and her body grew a tad bit thicker and more sturdy. Lettie let out one very long sigh.
"I do feel better," she said, "and I thank you for it."
"You should be good as new now," Howl told her.
Now that the danger was gone, Martha fully relaxed and said, "You should have heard yourself, Lettie. You babbled on so much that I thought Mrs. Fairfax-oh," she cut herself off upon remembering that the woman stood at her right.
"What about me, dear?" Mrs. Fairfax asked, completely innocent.
"Nothing," Martha replied, but her thumbs were not spinning.
Sophie felt someone help her into a chair, realizing it was Howl when his voice, lighthearted and false, sounded near her ear. "Well, ladies, would you mind please explaining to us what's happened? I think Sophie is a little overwhelmed, and that takes a lot to do her in."
"I'm fine," she said as her remaining family looked at her. "I'm just a little, er, well, it's been one of those days."
"You haven't had 'one of those days' until you've felt your arthritis kicking in," Lettie replied, though she hobbled over and took a seat next to her once Howl moved out of the way. "But I can't imagine how surprising this must be for you, dear Sophie."
Martha wrapped her arms around Sophie. "It is so good to see you, Sophie! Please don't be too worried. We're all right now."
Sophie gripped onto her youngest sister while she held Lettie's hand gingerly, disturbed by the protruding veins and wrinkled flesh. "Tell me everything. Now. Please."
"I ran into the Witch last night outside of Mrs. Fairfax's," Lettie said, her mature, crackly voice impossible to get used to. "She wanted to use us-me, Martha, Mrs. Fairfax-to get to you. And by getting to you, it'd get to him."
Sophie flinched, whispering, "Howl?"
"She wouldn't want to get me head-on right now," Howl said loudly, announcing he had heard them. "I gave her a hard blow last time. She'd want to get me when I don't have my head straight."
Lettie gave no indication she'd heard him. "The others got me in the house before the Witch aged me so much I'd be nothing but bones. I shot a spell at her, you see, and it got her ire up. You wouldn't think it, but Mrs. Fairfax has very powerful defensive magic. She's been using jars upon jars of honey lately to keep us safe in her cottage. She did study with Mrs. Pentstemmon, I suppose, so she must be rather powerful in her own way. She's not good with offensive magic, though. Oh heavens, I am famished."
Martha left Sophie to go to an anxious but kindly unobtrusive Michael, letting him hold her as they whispered to each other. Mrs. Fairfax chattered on to Howl and, after getting past her shock at the fire demon, spoke to Calcifer as well as she made non-weedkiller soup. Calcifer seemed to like this. He had felt rather ignored lately.
Sophie did not notice this. She was holding on to Lettie's hands, saying, "I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry, Lettie."
"It's hardly your fault, Sophie," Lettie scoffed. "It's Howl's. He's the one who involved you-and then us-in this whole mess." The coldness in her voice was not one Sophie was accustomed to hearing from her sister.
"No," Sophie whispered quickly. "Believe me, I know you have a right to be angry, but Howl has had a hard time, too-"
"I did offer, Miss Hatter, a way to remove the curse," Howl said, and this time Sophie could not tell if he had heard her whispers or not. One thing she did notice was that he was not his usual self. It had been a long time since she had seen him fighting back anger.
"I shouldn't be cursed in the first place!" Lettie squawked. "And this is not just about what you've done to me! Martha and Mrs. Fairfax would have been done in too if we hadn't been keeping on our toes! Not to mention poor Fanny..."
Lettie did not cry. She was past the age of tears, though her heart broke all the same.
Mrs. Fairfax swooped in the second silence fell. "Now, dears, let us all calm ourselves. It's been a trying day."
"All of you, please make yourselves at home. And I do apologize for this, Miss Hatter," Howl said, bowing with a tight grin. "I should be back tomorrow morning."
Sophie stood and watched him go to the door. It opened to blackness that was not caused by night.
"Howl, no," she said.
"Don't worry, Miss Nose," he said with a wave of his hand, not bothering to look back. "Listen to Calcifer. He'll let you know if the Witch comes near."
He closed the door on them all.
Sophie stood for a minute before moving towards the door.
"Sophie, don't even bother going after him!" Lettie cried, creakily getting to her feet and grabbing her with trembling hands. "That heartless man doesn't care that he's taking us all down with him! We'll stay here since it's probably the safest option right now, but we'll all leave soon, all right? Stop being so nice! It's just pulling you down faster!"
"I'm not very nice to him at all," Sophie said in quiet surprise. "But I'm sorry, Lettie. You all should be safe in here, or at least as safe as you can be at the moment. I need to go to Howl."
She kissed her younger sister's weathered cheek before going into Wales.
Sophie had forgotten how much she disliked this world. Those deuced cars. Not to mention, she normally did not have pleasant things happen to her at night here, considering the last time she was alone in Wales.
But she was not alone. Howl was here, if she could catch up to him.
With the darkness of Rivendell, it was difficult, in the fading twilight, to see where he had gone. It was only when she heard snarled profanity that she managed to pinpoint that he was in the garage. There she found him, kicking some boxes out of the way as he hopped into his blasted car.
"Will you wait just a moment?" Sophie called, marching over to him.
"No," Howl snapped just as he shut the door. After a moment he jumped out again. "Sophie?"
"Yes?"
"What are you doing here?"
"Keeping an eye on you to make sure you don't do anything foolish, like become an incompetent drunk again."
He put his right hand over his heart and raised his left. "I solemnly swear that I will not beg Sophie Hatter, nor any other person residing in my home, to guide me up the stairs, care for my hangovers, make me food, or guide me to the bathroom when I get queasy. Happy? You can run along now."
"I'm not a bloody dog, Howl. I won't come and go at your beck and call."
"I know. Dogs aren't so bloody stubborn, either!"
"I understand why you'd be angry that Lettie said those things but-"
"What? Angry at Lettie?" Howl's hard look faded a little. "I'm not angry at her at all. I'm angry at-"
He cut himself off, moving to sit in the car again.
"I'm coming with you," Sophie said, moving to the other seat.
"You hate going for a drive."
"I believe I know that, thank you!"
"Then why come along?"
"Because someone needs to show you that they are aware of your little secret: That you do have a heart, even if you hide it most of the time, and it isn't quite where it ought to be."
He looked like he wanted to say something, but he only got into the car. Sophie went to the passenger door, but it was locked.
He started the car.
Frustrated at him and Lettie and furious at the Witch, Sophie found a good way to release her emotions: She went to the back, where she knew Howl would see her in the mirror, and kicked the car the best she could.
It did not work as she had hoped. There was hardly a dent and she felt her ankle crack slightly instead.
Howl jumped out of the car, not bothering to shut off the engine, shouting, "What the devil are you doing?"
Sophie coughed at the fumes, but she gave him her best glare. "You ought to be happy I don't have that weedkiller, or else I'd throw it at you," she shouted.
"Go ahead! For God's sake, Sophie, stop being so nice and say what you really think-"
"You think I'm doing this because I'm too nice?" she screamed over the roar of the engine. "I could kill the Witch for what she did to my family! What she's done to all of us, and Mrs. Pentstemmon, and...everyone! I could kill her myself! But it's not as if you intentionally dragged us into this, so stop feeling so bloody sorry for yourself!"
The smoke made her cough again, as did all her screaming-it was hard to scream past the lump in her throat-and so Howl turned off the car before coming back to her. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, but at least he was listening.
"I..." She was still half-shouting, and so she started again, this time in a quieter voice. "If you have to feel so sorry for yourself, at least talkto someone about it."
Sophie paused then, but Howl didn't bother interrupting. As her embarrassment sank in yet again, making her all the more frustrated, this time she properly pushed her anger towards its rightful place-towards the thought of the Witch-so she could speak as calmly and properly as she could.
"I won't entirely complain if you speak to me about it," Sophie said loftily. "But in all seriousness, I can point this at myself and say all this was my fault-with my family-because I decided to go with you."
This time Howl did almost speak. Sophie continued before he could.
"But it's all the Witch's fault, really. There's no use pointing fingers anywhere else. I can't imagine what you're actually feeling, beneath all your outward stupidity. There's your family and maybe your friends to worry about, and then my family attacks you on top of everything. Then there's Wizard Suliman and the prince...Any normal person with their heart in the right place would snap. I'm surprised Calcifer never puttered out on you from a heart attack.
"So, what I suppose I'm saying is I'm sorry for what Lettie said, and, um, I don't blame you. Even if you do irritate me as an unclean slither-outer who can't speak truth to save his life."
Sophie kept glaring, although her gaze, to her exasperation, could not sufficiently stay on him. It was here that Howl finally spoke.
"And you're a busy, nosy, fool-hearted girl." His voice was odd, a bit like Lettie's new raspiness. "Now we both know each other's faults."
She managed to keep her eyes on him for more than two seconds, and saw that he was not about to leave again.
"I don't..." He paused. "I don't like getting angry. It's...not good. I thought I ought to go away. Before you all see it. I wasn't mad at your sister. I was mad at...her. And myself. I don't like talking about this. Did you want to go inside and get some coffee? I know where they hide the key."
His lighthearted look was back. Apparently she'd get no more out of him tonight, but she thought it was a start. "No, thank you. I ought to get back to my family."
"Of course."
She took a few steps, then gave him a look.
He laughed a little. "Don't worry. I'm coming. But answer one question first."
Her eyes narrowed with wariness. "What?"
"Of course you'd want to stay with your family, so why did you come after me?"
She rolled her eyes a little and gave a small smile as he offered his arm. "Because I'm too nice."
Prettyinpinkgal: How did you guys like this little twist? We know Lettie was the one who was originally supposed to be cursed, so I wanted to see what it would be like if she was cursed instead of Sophie. Old Lettie and Old Sophie became rather too similar, but then they are both described as strong-minded, so hopefully it's excusable.
I actually had a bit of a struggle writing this chapter. There was a lot that happened, but I feel it might be alienating to some readers, which is why I wanted to describe what my mindset is regarding certain parts. One of the things I really struggled with is Sophie and Howl's relationship. In my version (which admittedly is tainted by my romantic nature, though I think it has toned down over the years), Sophie is not hindered by apparent age nor a supposed significant romantic rival. The dynamic between Howl and her ought to be a lot less combative as a result. Going off of this, this story is growing a bit darker than HMC's narration really allowed, so I feel that emotional interaction is more important now than ever.
Tied in with this change in personality from the canon, Howl's curse in this AU is not specific, so he doesn't need to wait for a wind to be raised to be honest. He'll probably never be completely honest with Sophie, but today he made a bit of headway. Again, my reason in deciding to make him so openly truthful is because, as this story is more up-front about the dark moments in HMC (i. e. killing Mrs. Pentstemmon) and it has a few new twists towards the dark side (the more immediate danger of his and Sophie's families for example), that interaction feels necessary to me.
Do please leave a review with your thoughts! Hopefully, considering the above, my choices in the interaction between Sophie and Howl makes more sense. But if you feel there should still be a great deal more bickering/dishonesty in future chapters, tell me! I aim to please.