Sophie was just pouring her sixth circle of pancake batter onto the frying pan when she heard a commotion beginning upstairs. Markl came wandering down the stairs first, yawning adorably in his ankle-length white nightshirt, with Heen wheezing at his heels. The young boy looked sleepily around the kitchen, but when he saw Sophie, he grinned enormously in the way only a child can and sprinted up to her.
"Sophie!" he yelped, burying himself in the folds of her white apron. "You're getting married today! How come you're cooking? Shouldn't you be getting dressed?"
She smiled warmly down at him, ruffling his hair affectionately.
"The wedding isn't for hours, silly," she explained fondly, "And if I didn't cook breakfast for us, who would?"
"I would," said a resonant voice from the top of the stairs, and despite herself, Sophie's cheeks warmed to shade of rosy pink, and she turned her eyes to the pan beneath her. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Howl quickly descend the stairs, wickedly handsome even in his simple outfit of slim black pants and billowy white tunic.
"Here's your chance, Sophie," Calcifer whispered in a crackling voice from the hearth. "Tell him you'll stay, but you prefer your freedom, like me. There's no need for a marriage contract!"
"Look at you," Howl announced cheerily, approaching her and wrapping his arms around her shoulders from the back. The effect was that Sophie could no longer move to cook, and rather than stand awkwardly trapped, she was forced to turn around and look into his eyes. They were especially alive today, filled with tenderness and excitement.
"Working on your wedding day?" he whispered in her ear, drawing her away from the hearth. "We'll have none of that, now."
"Cooking isn't work," she stammered, but Howl, still cradling her with one arm, raised a finger at the pan, where the pancake flipped itself effortlessly.
"See?" he said in the same seductive whisper, all the while leading her toward the table. "I can handle this. You rest, and just sit there watching me. You look beautiful."
Sophie blushed further, apprehensive of the way he held her. She knew it was silly to be so affected by a dream – after all, this man was going to be her husband in just a few hours – but couldn't shake the warm shiver his touch sparked in her spine.
Calcifer seemed to resent this sudden change of chef.
"Sophie and I were just discussing the inherent cruelty of contracts," he said lowly, raising his flames high in Sophie's direction.
"A marriage isn't a binding magical contract like ours once was," Howl explained. The calmness of his voice surprised even Sophie, who might have been offended by a friend trying to stop her own wedding. "It's more like … a promise. A promise to be together. It's a symbol of that commitment."
Calcifer burned purple in his suspicion.
"Maybe between bland humans," he said, "But with a Wizard like you, Howl? I'm sure it becomes more complicated."
Howl chuckled, seemingly amused by all this. Sophie couldn't help but smile at his relentless cheer this morning, knowing in her heart that his joy was for her.
"I assure you," he stated firmly, pouring more batter into the pan, "I've done and will do nothing to keep Sophie near me against her will."
"You railroaded her out of cooking," the fire demon pointed out sulkily. "Look at her. She's dejected. She and I were enjoying ourselves, and here you walk in and force her to sit down. A woman ought to be able to do whatever she wants on her wedding day."
Sophie laughed a little at this, hiding her smile behind her hand. Calcifer had learned more about weddings from Sophie than Howl, who regarded the concept as a kind of special adventure of their own more than an established social institution. He'd gotten the idea that all humans paired up eventually, and that on said special day, the female was to be spoiled.
"Sophie is a better cook than you, anyhow," Markl pointed out, scratching Heen's ears absentmindedly.
"Don't be silly, Markl!" Sophie exclaimed, leaning toward him with a frown that seemed doubtful even in her own mind. "Howl is a … sensational cook! You oughtn't underestimate him."
Howl, pan in hand, frowned miserably.
"I'm offended," he said, sighing dramatically. "But I suppose you're right."
"Don't worry, Markl," Calcifer piped up. "Sophie made the batter, and I'll make sure it doesn't burn again."
"Again?" Howl asked, turning to Sophie with a devilish smile. "So it burned once before?"
"Calcifer and I were so engaged talking that I …" she began, trailing off to look down at her restless hands, her cheeks warm. First the dream, and now this – could her wedding day get any more embarrassing?
Howl laughed good-naturedly, flipping the pancake with a dash of his finger.
"You see," he said. "You shouldn't have been cooking in the first place!"
"She can do what she likes!" Calcifer roared, his flames licking the base of the chimney.
"I have a question," Markl piped up, seemingly out of nowhere, and everyone turned to him, a bit surprised at the interruption.
"Yes, Markl?" Howl asked, reaching for more batter.
"Where are you going to land the castle, Calcifer?" he asked, his eyes wide with curiosity. "You've got to land it somewhere, or else the whole thing will fall down when you leave for the ceremony."
"Very near Market Chipping," Sophie answered easily, reaching over to pat Markl's hand. He had seemed very concerned about the idea of them falling from the sky. "My sister Lettie will be meeting us just outside of town. She's made us the cake."
"What sort of cake did you choose?" he asked eagerly.
"Chocolate," Sophie replied, leaning toward him with an excited smile, "With buttercream frosting!"
"Yum!" Michael exclaimed.
"In fact, Calcifer," Howl began calmly from the hearth, "You should start descending now."
Calcifer flared up slightly, a bit offended.
"I know what I'm doing!" he crackled, but almost immediately, Sophie noticed the clouds outside the windows slipping upward.
She settled back in her chair, and within minutes Howl had set a plate of steaming, golden brown cakes in front of her, his head hidden just behind her shoulder.
"Eat, love," he whispered in the silky voice he seemed to reserve for her, and she closed her eyes happily as he planted a warm kiss on her cheek. She knew married life would never be this perfect, and she knew it would be far different from what Calcifer had prophesized (a lifetime of cleaning up after Howl), but either way, she was happy enough to venture into the unknown feeling as if it were the greatest fate she could hope for.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Sophie!" Lettie screamed as she opened the door to the rolling hills outside, running across the threshold to throw her arms around her sister's neck. She was finely dressed in a gorgeous pink silk gown with a lovely white hat hiding her golden curls, and all about her was the giddy happiness she had always associated with her sister.
"Ohh," she said warmly, "Ohh Sophie, look at you!"
She pushed back her shoulders, examining the starlight locks Sophie had since combed into neat curtains, one side pushed behind her ear.
"You're positively glowing!" she yelped. Beyond her sister's shoulder, Sophie could see two aproned men coming up the hill, carrying a large white cake on a platter between them.
"Lettie," Sophie said, smiling and trying her very best to be lovely and composed, "Thank you."
"I can't wait to see you in that dress," her sister gushed, hugging her again quickly before pulling her inside the house. "Now, where's that man of yours? Howl? Hooowl!"
"Lettie?" Howl replied with a smile, peering down curiously into the stairwell. "You can bring the cake on inside. Put it on the table. Pancake?"
"Oh, I haven't got time to eat," Lettie replied hurridly, still pulling Sophie along behind her. They were moving now toward Sophie's bedroom, where the dress had seemingly become some sort of magnet. "We've too much to do to prepare the bride. Come along, Sophie!"
And with that, Sophie found herself locked inside her own bedroom, disregarding her apron and nightgown and robe onto the bed and slipping instead between layers of fine silk, her sister smoothing every curve. She couldn't begin to imagine how long they spent crowded around her mirror, perfecting her eyes and lips, pinning her hair into a high bun with loose strands framing her face, tugging at every angle the dress fell on her body.
In the end, however, Sophie was stunning, radiant in the white gown that made her hair seem even more pure silver than usual. Lettie sat fanning herself on the bed, both resting and admiring her sister, finally satisfied.
"Well," she said with a contented sigh. "The wedding is still nearly an hour away. I'll go and see to the guests, of course, and you'll wait here until I come to fetch you. Oh, look at you, Sophie! I never dreamed you would be the first to be married! Our quiet Sophie – and to such an extravagant man! A wizard, even!"
Sophie smiled, not sure how to convey to her sister that Howl was really more vain than extravagant, and how that had changed considerably with the return of his heart.
"I couldn't be happier," she said instead, and meant it.
Lettie smiled for a long moment, but then, as if she had suddenly noticed something in her sister that she had forgotten, her smile slipped away, and her eyes widened slightly with apprehension.
"What is it?" Sophie asked worriedly. "Has my hair come loose?"
"No, no," she assured her quietly. Now Sophie was truly concerned; for Lettie to be serious usually meant a frightening situation, indeed. "I was just thinking what Mother would say, if she could have been here. I mean to ask you …"
Sophie pursed her lips, twirling her bouquet in her hand as she waited.
"I mean to ask if you and Howl have been wanting children?" she asked in a rush, her blue eyes widening as she leaned forward, watching as her sister's face flushed red.
"Well," Sophie stammered, wishing to the gods she wasn't required to look perfect at the moment and she might collapse into a chair, "We … Howl and I … haven't discussed … and we have Markl, already."
"You haven't discussed …?" Lettie asked softly, and she realized with a horrible wave of realization that she was meant to go on.
"We haven't discussed adding to the family," Sophie continued in a way she hoped was confident and poised. "But I imagine that someday, certainly, we might."
Lettie smiled a little distantly, her cheeks pink themselves, but her eyes amused at the businesslike tone her sister's voice had taken on.
"Well," she continued, "I'm sure Howl's taken care of the precautions."
"The precautions?" Sophie stammered quietly, her knees suddenly weak under her.
"Absolutely," Lettie assured her, nodding her head to herself. "Wizards can do all those sorts of things, can't they? I know they can. You're probably under some kind of spell right now, to make sure that tonight you don't … you know."
Sophie suddenly wasn't sure she did know. To make sure she didn't refuse him?
"What?" she asked in an uncontrollable whisper.
"Conceive," Lettie said, her eyes widened in concern for the panic she was now seeing in her sister.
Sophie bit her lip. Suddenly the word seemed the dirtiest in the language, and forgetting that the wind of it might mess her hair, she forgot Lettie for the moment and began pacing the length of her bed.
It was humiliating to think that Howl had been not only thinking of their wedding night, but planning it! She was shocked he hadn't mentioned a thing to her about his ability to control her becoming pregnant. Shouldn't he have asked first?
Sophie was no fool. It was impossible to pretend Howl didn't have certain desires for her, the way he had been pulling her into his embrace, whispering in her ear about how beautiful she was to him. But to imagine him actually planning out a spell .. !
"Sophie?" Lettie asked urgently, standing.
"I'm fine, Lettie," she gasped, taking in deep, slow breaths.
"Are you nervous about the wedding?"
"Oh no, no, Lettie," she let out, wringing her bouquet in her hands. "I love Howl, the wedding is going to be perfect, it's just …"
"A lot of brides get cold feet just before their wedding, dear. It's a big step! Are you sure you don't want to sit down?"
"It's not the wedding I'm worried about!" Sophie exclaimed, her lips and hands trembling. "It's the part afterwards!"
"Do you mean the … oh."
Sophie took in more long, deep breaths, now obsessively patting her hair into place as well. Her manhandled bouquet was now dropping loose petals all around the bedroom, and Lettie had come to her, rubbing her hand soothingly up and down her sister's shoulder.
"Don't worry," she said softly. "If Howl loves you as much as I think he does, I know he'll be very gentle."
Sophie's eyes widened and she blushed deeply, the horror of any other possibility completely overcoming her senses. The shame and fear and anticipation and the incredible wanting all swirled in her stomach like poorly matched foods, and Sophie wondered why it had taken her all this time to fully realize how frightened she was of a life with Howl with more than kisses.
"I hope so," she gasped, dropping her bouquet onto the floor as darkness fell around her.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Eleven reviews! Oh snap!
I realize this chapter was a little fluffy despite that being what I'm trying to distinguish myself from in this genre, but it's hard to pull much more than that between a couple on their wedding day. The next chapter ought to be better!
So if you want more, review. This isn't a free show, you know.