In Ingary

Sophie woke up early that morning and in high spirits. It had been nearly a month since her curse had been lifted but she still found herself in high spirits whenever she woke up without a dozen joints cracking and popping into place. Humming a bit to herself, she walked to the hearth to see if Calcifer was awake. Upon approaching it became clear that he was, but that he wasn't about to join in Sophie's early morning cheer.

He grumbled as Sophie sat in front of him and gave her a fiery glare. "You know, I didn't try so hard to get my freedom just so I could start doing twice as much work."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"It's that flower shop of yours. You and Howl need fresh flowers for it every day and I'm the one who has to find a place where they're growing. It's not that hard in spring, but winter's coming up and now I have to walk this castle around for hours every day to find a decent batch. You two are working me to death."

Sophie smiled, "I'm sorry Calcifer, I hadn't thought of the strain we've been putting on you. You're right about winter; it's not very practical to expect to run a flower shop when there aren't any flowers to find. I think we can afford to close shop until spring though. I'll put up a sign today to let people know. We'll just sell whatever leftover flowers we have for a few days and that should be enough. Why don't you get some rest now?"

The fire demon sighed with relief. "Thank you Sophie, I'm exhausted. I was moving the castle all night." His flame quickly smoldered down as he went to sleep.

Sophie pulled a shawl around her as Calcifer's warmth left the room. She didn't know what she was going to do with herself if she wasn't going to be able to run the flower shop for several months. Maybe Howl would be able to start up another magic business, if nothing else it would be able to keep them all busy.

In the meantime, Sophie thought, there might still be some flowers she could bring in for that day. Sophie didn't have the heart to wake Calcifer up, but since she was plenty awake she didn't see the harm in going out to search for her.

Glad to have a plan of action, she hastily scrawled a note to tell the others where she was going and grabbed a new pair of seven-league boots from the closet. Soon she was zipping about the country-side.

After about an hour of zipping Sophie understood just how frustrated Calcifer must have been. It wasn't quite winter yet but a few early frosts had killed off almost all of the remaining flowers. Finally she decided to give up and go back home, she would just sell what was left from yesterday.

Sophie turned around and felt an anxiety come over her. Once again she hadn't thought things through and now she had no idea where she was. There wasn't anyone around her so she made the only choice she could: she picked a direction and took a step.

Sadly, it seemed that her bad luck as the eldest was still about for as she continued zipping from one place to another she only managed to get more lost. Soon it was almost noon and Sophie had to take a break. She hadn't eaten breakfast that morning and she was famished. Since there wasn't anything near-by to eat she decided that the next best thing for her would be to rest. She lay down in the tall grass and listened to the wind rustling around her. Sophie found it very soothing and despite her hunger she was soon fast asleep.

Still, her stomach couldn't stay dormant forever. Sophie woke up to fierce growling sounds coming from her belly. She groaned as she stood up, her back was very stiff from lying on the hard earth. She looked around and was shocked to see that the sun was beginning to set. It was true that the days were getting shorter as winter approached but she still must have been sleeping for quite a while.

Now Sophie was worried. By now Howl and the others must have been wondering what had happened to her for a while. Also, if Sophie wasn't able to get home soon she'd have to spend the night out here. Neither thought was very appealing and her panic levels started to rise.

Just then a welcome scent came to her. It smelled like someone was having a roast not too far from where she was. Sophie hastily took off her boots and headed in the direction of the smell. She didn't see anything until she crossed a small stream and then a town came into view. At first Sophie thought it was deserted as she entered it, but slowly people started to appear.

Sophie gasped, the people were appearing in a very literal sense. One moment there would be no one and then someone would gradually materialize. She hurried behind a near-by building and watched in amazement the town began to fill up. None of the creatures there seemed to be human but they all came in different forms so Sophie couldn't quite be sure what they were. Still, it seemed like it would be a good idea to not take chances with letting the creatures see her. Howl had told her about too many dangerous magical beings for Sophie to not be on her guard.

Being careful to stay in the shadows, she began to sneak back the way she had come. Sophie's stomach fought with her the whole way, it seemed silly to run away from people who had perfectly good food just because they looked a bit strange. Sophie was on the verge of changing her mind and heading back to the town when she got to the stream.

Her eyes widened, it seemed her decision had been made for her. Although she was sure she was in the right place the stream had disappeared, it had been replaced with a huge lake. Wherever Sophie was, it appeared that she was stuck there.

Sophie groaned, if she ever got back home she knew Howl would never let her hear the end of this.