Normal days were all that she was seeing now. The first few months with Howl in his now-flying castle were full of delightful surprises, but by now everything was something that she had seen already and none of it excited her like it used to.

She spent three weeks convincing Howl that she needed to go shopping and that it was absolutely necessary for her to do it in her old hometown. He spent two more weeks pussy-footing around before he finally landed in the wastes so she could go to her morning market.

As soon as she stepped into the market street, she knew she was home. While she was shopping, something—or, rather, someone—caught her attention. There was nothing extraordinary about the woman's appearance, only that she had the glow of magic surrounding her.

Now the reader is probably wondering why she would be able to tell that the woman had magic, and that is a good question. Sophie had been training herself. Two weeks after she had moved into the new castle, she had begun to notice slight tingles whenever someone in the household used magic. Calcifer was a constant glow, but his was different from human magic. She helped Markl with his lessons and observed Howl while he performed routine magic around the house.

Now, six months later, she could identify almost any kind of magic around her, and this woman's glow was brighter than any human's, and nearly as bright as Howl's own glow.

She immediately noticed when the woman's basket was knocked from her hands, for she had been watching her out of the corner of her eye, and bent to help her retrieve the scattered vegetables.

When the woman looked up at her and gasped, she smiled and tried to introduce herself. Her friendly greeting was shattered when the woman dashed off into the alleyways. So, of course, Sophie followed.

"Wait! I just wanted to talk to you for a moment!"

The woman paid her no heed, only moved from her faster. She rushed to keep up with her brisk pace, and was starting to get confused as the woman went in constant circles. After a while, she saw the bright glow of an unconcealed portal. The woman dashed through it, and Sophie threw herself in after her.

Now, dear readers, is what you've been waiting for.

Arina landed on the other side of her portal and set off for the small hut that she shared with her children. She was oblivious of the girl behind her trying as hard as she could to not be detected…yet.

She opened the wooden door and sat her basket on the floor. Natalie and Jon ran to her, hugging her tightly.

"Mommy, mommy, you were gone so long!"

"Me and Jon were scared that you weren't gonna come back this time!"

"Hush, babies, Mommy's back. I bought some potatoes for dinner tonight."

The children cheered and ran over to check out the basket. Jon froze with his hand hovering above the basket.

Their intruder had been discovered.

There is your update, and now I'm going to go crash and burn…I'm so tired.

I hope you all like it.

Sayonara for now,

Starlett