Sophie was sleeping. Or it felt like sleeping. It felt like warm water washing over her, warm sand cradling her from below. It felt like a secure place. No one could hurt her here.

But something was coming. The smoky voice, for it had to belong to someone, had materialized. In the courtyard stood a colorless creature. Eyes of smoke and skin of ash, It was neither male nor female.

In the deathly chill of the courtyard, It stood naked. Its flesh, pocked with strange black spots of decay. Its hands and feet were rippled with scars, as though It had suffered burns to its extremities.

For teeth It had dagger nubs, sunk like jagged pebbles in thick, grey gums. All about the creature was ugly. It breathed evil. It fed on beauty and love. It was hungry.

Still, Sophie slept soundly. Her dreams were vivid nothingness, colors and shapes that man could never name. She heard no words, felt nothing. There was no sadness in this strange, sleepy world she had entered.

From a distance, the Greyness watched a figure approach. She was veiled in light fabrics, blown by a strange breeze. Throwing back both long-sleeve arms, she was blown into the garden within seconds. It seemed as though her patience had worn out.

Now, close enough, the Greyness could see the woman clearly. She wasn't human, no more human than It was.

Her clothing was from somewhere else, possibly somewhere that didn't exist in this world. Still, were her dressing compared to anything it would be that of the Orient. Her clothing was all silks, bright and layered. Mythical beasts reared and curled and basked on her arms, near her feet, and across her back. Her sleeves and hems were gardens of bright, undying flowers.

She was very old and very young. She was beautiful and sad. The Greyness feared her and loathed her and wished to be her.

This was whom Sophie had sought out, who she had risked her life to find. It all seemed so simple, would seem so simple, if only Sophie could awaken.

This woman was ancient and powerful, and if any could help Sophie it would be her.

She was like a shattered, colorful bauble. She was strangely beautiful but somehow dangerous. Something about the shape of her hands, perhaps the sharpness of her eyes, said quite clearly, 'keep away.'

The feet that walked so far from the garden to the courtyard stepped lighter than should be possible. The feet were bare, with long toes and pale flesh.

Still, they walked, carrying a gracefully great weight of power. It was a walk moved by a legacy of goodness.

Sophie slept. In this warm world, how could anything bad happen? No one could die here; there would be no words for tears or pain or sadness, death and illness. There was no evil and no goodness still. There was just the feeling of your heartbeat, the colors of dreaming and the warm, comfort of the cocoon, slowly rocking in its impossible wind.

But soon, Sophie heard the Greyness, the smoky voice, call to her. It sounded, in her dreamworld, like Howl. But it was not Howl. It was something sinister, with a full set of sharp teeth.

"Here for me you'll rest so still

Upon my food you did feast

I am a thing that can't be killed

By magic, nor man nor beast"

And the bare feet walked further on. A voice like honey and snowflakes answered the smoky one.

"Sophie wake so gentle now

So much to do with little time

Together we will easy that brow

You're still his, you're never mine"

Sophie fought to stay asleep. Here in this warm, dark world no one could see her. She didn't have to work; she never woke to feel the oldness (the curse still haunting her), in her bones. She was never reminded of how her mother left, her father died, she didn't feel pretty enough. She didn't have to worry in this dry, dark place. In her dreams, all was so clean and so unfailingly bright.

"Sophie does as Sophie wants

She is mine forevermore

She heard the don'ts and the can'ts

And she'll leave here nevermore"

A pipe sounded reedily across the courtyard. She was much closer now. It nearly echoed off the mosaics. Still around her, the darkness gathered. The walls twisted as she took her careful steps into the courtyard, just as it had twisted to trap Sophie.

If she had ran, she could have made it, could have passed the maze, entwining and closing in, trying to catch her like a fly in a web. But she couldn't run. Running attracted its attention, and she still attempted to lull it into distraction.

"She is but one silly girl

Nothing special you must see

Not a diamond or precious pearl

Why not just give the lass to me?"

The woman gently rubbed her hands together, over and over. Soon, they parted. In one palm lay a perfect, vividly white pearl. She placed her lips on it, giving it a bright pink shade. It shimmered like wildfire.

The Greyness stood before her. It looked at Sophie with its colorless eyes. It was cold and vast.

"I despise my lonely nights

This little girl would give me life

But I cannot win this fight

You are a sharp and cold knife.

You think your beauty hides you well

Fine of figure and of face

But your pain is a secret none can tell

Empty and alone and full of grace

Take this Sophie far from me

Treat her well, for her heart thrives

She is not mine or yours you see

She is one half of a pair of lives."

For a very long time, the woman's voice made no reply.

"Sleep now, Greyness

The time to end this game has come

You never will feel happiness

The evils past cannot be undone."

"Sophie, the time has come to wake

Open your eyes to see the lights

Yours is a life that none can take

Without bringing death and endless night."

Sophie felt as though she had died and been resurrected, suddenly submerged in iced water. She had to get out, out of the prison of cloth and back home. That was where she belonged. With Howl and Markl and even the Witch of the Wastes and Suliman's wheezy old dog.

She was alone and she was going to die. Howl and Markl and the Witch and the dog! They still needed her, and she still needed them!

"Please let me go! I'm so scared. I don't want to die, please!"

Sophie felt the air all around her. Whatever had spelled her was gone. The tears on her face were cool in the breeze that whistled through the courtyard.

"Hello?" she called. She wanted to thank the mysterious voice that had called to her and saved her.

"Hello Sophie."

"How do you know my name?"

The thing, the woman, before her smiled a strange, sad smile.

Sophie knew that the answer didn't matter any more. She had found her.

"You're the Beauty Witch."

"In a manner, yes. But I'm no witch."

"Then how do you do what you do? Pardon me, I meant, how do you change people?"

"Changing a face, a nose, an eye color, is not difficult. What I do is not magic. It just is."

"I don't understand." Sophie paused, so used to apologizing. "But I don't need to understand this. It's un-understandable, isn't it?"

Beauty blinked slowly, processing Sophie's words.

"Well, you do understand then, don't you?"

Sophie smiled politely. She wasn't sure, but that didn't matter.

"Shall we?"

"Shall we what?"

"Ah, you must forgive me. I've not spoken to a mortal in some times. Shall we return to my home?"

"You won't harm me, will you?"

The woman looked at her with deadly conviction.

"I can do no harm. However, the creatures of the night, here more than anywhere else are not under the same obligation."

"What creatures?"

"Things without names and with poison teeth. Sophie, we must leave now."

"Alright," she said, preparing to run.

The woman took her hand.

"Don't open your eyes until I tell you. Don't let go and whatever happens, don't listen to anything, no matter what they say."

"They…?" Sophie said quietly. Scared, she held the woman's hand tightly.

"Sorry about that, but there is no other way for me to transport you."

"It's alright," Sophie said. She closed her eyes. "I'm ready."

She heard the woman inhale deeply. Soon, it felt as though they were on a train, bulleting down a mountain tunnel. There was no sound, at first.

"Come play, Sophie-doll. We have puppies and kitties. There are flowers to pick here, Sophie. Come with us Sophie," the last voice sounded like Markl. Exactly like him.

"Sophie, my darling. Why did you go? Come back," said a voice like Howl's. A hand reached out, brushing the hand that held onto the woman. it clamped down on Sophie's wrist.

"You're not Howl! You're not real!" Sophie yelled. The hand that touched hers was icily cold, with short, stubby fingers.

She did break her promise, though, and opened one eye. That hand clasping her wrist was half-formed, almost like a hand made of partially baked bread dough. It was malformed, as though the one who had made it had only ever had a human hand described to them.

Sophie screamed the scream of true fear. The hand connected to a slender arm, sharply angled. She looked to its face and saw what Howl would look if he were made of wax and blood and had been placed near a fire. His features were there well enough that she could discern who it was meant to be, but the terrifying spectacle before her was demonic and deformed.

"Come, Sophie. Kiss me once more. KISS ME," the Howl-creature commanded.

She screamed once again, and began sobbing. She felt stable ground beneath her feet and collapsed.

"Please, it's alright. Breath deeply Sophie."

Sophie collected herself, accepting an offer for some tea and looked up.

"Oh, my," the woman gasped.

"What is it?" Sophie questioned, terrified.

"Sophie, your, your eye," she said, fumbling with a pocket mirror.

For a long time, Sophie didn't say anything.

"I didn't ask for this."

"I didn't do it."

Her eye had turned shock-blue-white. The iris, formerly a soft, deep forest green, had taken on a vivid, delicate shade of blue. Turning the mirror, she saw her familiarly colored right eye.

"Why did this happen?"

"When I travel between two places, I use a certain kind of space. It's like a rope, stretched between locations. There are lines like that all around us. Magical beings can see and use them. Unfortunately, all the bad magic, not evil magic understand, but poorly executed charms, spilled potions, they pool in these places."

"Bad magic? Like a spell that goes wrong?"

"Exactly. It's my belief that the backfired spells and mismixed potions caused these spaces to emerge, rather than the other way around."

"It wasn't real, right?" The woman nodded. "And these left-over magic creature can't harm you?"

"Correct."

"Well, it hurt my heart to see those creatures, hear their voices. It scared me so badly."

"I told you not to open your eyes," she said in a small voice.

"Why would you take me to such a place?"

"It's alright that you're angry."

"Please don't dismiss my feelings. Just let me speak for a moment."

"I am truly sorry."

"You said you could not harm anything, but in that place, whatever it is, I was more afraid than I've ever been before."

"Well…"

"No. There is nothing you can say to make me feel better."

"I am sorry, Sophie."

"I know. But I don't have to forget what you've done, even if I forgive you."

"Do you?"

"Ask me later." She looked around for the first time.

"Where are we?"

"The entrance to a cave. You can stay in my home for the night, leave in the morning."

"Stay in a cave?"

"Nonsense, I meant my home. It's down this passage."

Sophie followed. The stone of the cave was smooth and polished, but there was no water and the floors and walls were dry.

"A thousand years ago, there was a river here. It ran through, a drop at a time, until it wore through the stone. After ten years, a child could crawl through. Twenty, and a crouched woman could squeeze through the passage. Forty, and a man could walk through with only a slight stoop. But the walls were still so very narrow. After a hundred years, there was enough room for me to touch each wall with a bent arm. Three hundred more years and I could touch them both with straight arms. Hundreds after that, each finger just reached. Now," she gestured.

"What happened to the water?" Sophie asked. She had felt lulled by the story and her pulse had finally slowed to a somewhat normal pace.

"When the water had first made it through the stone, it had no pace to go. In those hundreds of years, it began wearing away at the rock on the outside. It began wearing its mark into the dirt of the valley. The grasses became submerged, decaying and providing nutrients. Then, seeds blew into the valley. At this time, it was no longer an empty valley. In the middle was a pond. Then, a lake, teeming with life."

"What happened? The land is dry now. Dusty."

"The star fell. Burned up the water. Scorched the land."

"Why do the flowers grow so well here?"

She sighed, looking up at some unseeable object.

"Because I want them too," Beauty replied, after a very long silence.

The end of the cave corridor was a smooth wooden door. Its knob and bracings were bright silver.

She opened the door with little pretense, waving Sophie in first.

Sophie stood, staring at the vast hall in amazement. The floors were a beautiful inlaid stone design.

"I find that it helps one clear one's mind," she said, tapping a nearby Mandela with a bare toe.

'I wonder,' Sophie thought to herself. 'How she manages to keep her feet so clean if she never wears shoes.'

The walls, by contrasts, were black white stone and rather boring.

"May I?" she asked.

Sophie looked at her, thoroughly puzzled.

"Your hair is the perfect color for my foyer."

"Your foyer? My hair?"

Beauty looked at her, smiling from her eyes to her chin. It was pleasant. She smoothed her hands over Sophie's hair gently.

When she pulled her hands away, she twitched her wrists, spreading her fingers outwards as though she were scattering water from her hands.

The room brightened, the walls turned to a quicksilver moonlight color. Odd, undulating patterns twisted themselves into place. Stone masonry shaped itself in the walls. The perfect entrance to the perfect castle.

"Oh my, it is very beautiful."

"It is what it is. It is a room. It is a place; it is part of my home. And it is a part of me. And now…"

"A part of me?"

"Yes, Sophie. It is now."

"And I've a part of you?"

"In a way. In many ways."

Sophie was beginning to see that this woman, whoever and whatever she was, was annoyingly enigmatic. She spoke in half-riddles, never revealing more than she was comfortable with.

"Is part of Howl here, too?"

"Do you think so?"

Sophie considered it, and felt a tugging in her heart.

"Yes, part of him must be here," she answered. She looked about, walking slowly into the rooms adjacent to the foyer. She ran her hands along a blondewood mantle and clicked across a likely looking ebony floor, before she stopped in front of a stained glass window.

It wasn't a picture, but instead a pattern. Shards of deep midnight blue and gold caught the light and swallowed it, while pieces of lighter blues filtered it out. Pale yellow, creams and whites speckled the light as well. Deep within its center was a shard of silver. It must have been true silver, for no light came through it.

This, she was sure, must have been a part of Howl, once upon a time. It let her feel who he was; who he had been, she mentally corrected herself.

It seemed to twist and move the longer she stared at it, but she couldn't seem to look away. It was entrancing.

"Sophie."

She followed the voice into a small, lavish bedroom.

"You can sleep here tonight. There's clothing in the wardrobe there," she pointed, and it opened. All the garments were silk of varying thickness and vibrancy. The array was dizzying.

"And Sophie?"

"Yes?"

"Do you forgive me?"

"I did tell you to ask me later, didn't I?" the woman did nothing, still as a statue. "Yes, I suppose I do."

"I'd never taken a mortal that way before. I had to get you out of there before the sun set."

"I forgive you," she said. She suddenly felt like crying. It was as though she was forgiving all the women who had harmed her, intentionally or not. Her mother, her sisters, the Witch of the Wastes, even girls who had slighted her years ago. She felt an enormous amount of relief.

"Thank you, Sophie," she turned to leave. "Nothing here will harm you. Wander freely. My castle should be considered your home, albeit only for a short while. Nothing is forbidden here."

"Thank you."

Sophie fell instantly asleep, barely even changing into a silk sleep gown patterned with bright white birds and black birds, chasing silver flower petals all around her hems and sleeves.

In the morning, a tray of breakfast waited in a large dining hall. Beauty ate nothing, but Sophie devoured several hearty mouthfuls of various breakfast foods.

"Why did you seek me?"

She wanted to be what dreams were made of…

"I wanted you to make me beautiful. It seems all together. Stupid, now."

"It is rarely stupid to want something so strongly. What were the reasons behind you desire?"

After the stories the woman had shared, it was Sophie's turn.

"A long time ago, you met a small boy. You read his heart and called him Blackbird. You gave him hair like spun gold."

"I remember Blackbird."

"Do you ever forget anyone?"

"No. Never."

"I've never felt love like this before, not with anyone. I never want him to leave me."

"Why would he?"

"Well, I'm not perfect."

"Neither am I," she replied.

Sophie looked at her, confused.

"No one can be perfect. Nothing."

"Well, that's not all. There are many more girls out there. Real beauties. I've never turned a head, never caught anyone's eye."

"Never caught an eye? You've caught a heart."

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean."

"Howl can have any girl in the entire world. Many more beautiful, more talented, more magical. He could always find someone else and for me…for me there is only Howl."

"You seem to only understand half of what love is."

She picked up a smooth, glass sphere. It was about the size of an orange and deep red in color.

"Love," she said, dividing the sphere. "Is two halves. I hold one in each hand. Together, they make one object and apart, they are nothing but one half, remembering what completeness was."

She put the two back together, the part where they had separated disappeared.

"He does need me."

"More than he has needed anyone. More than he will ever need anyone."

"Howl won't leave me?"

"Blackbird must fly, but he must also roost."

"Does he love me?"

"He always will."

"Then…I am beautiful. The feelings I give him, the good he can do when we are together, that's beautiful, wouldn't you say?"

"You don't need me to answer that."

"He said once that I made him want to be brave, to do what is right," Sophie remembered.

"Howl is strong for you. He is kind because of you."

"He said something to me once. I was wondering if he heard it was true."

"What was it?"

"He said you could read his soul. He said you saw his heart."

"And yours? What do I see?"

Sophie nodded, determined to know.

"I see courage, compassion. A great capacity for forgiveness. I feel more kindness in you than anyone I've ever met."

Sophie looked as though she was near tears.

"Above all else, I see love."

"What's more beautiful than that?"

"Nothing." Beauty said it sadly, but Sophie couldn't understand why.

She did not think, nor could she ever, that there was anything human about Beauty. Perhaps that was why Sophie seemed to talk so freely to her.

But Beauty was more fragile than most humans. Her heart, as close to perfect any could be, had broken more than anyone else's.

Her eyes alone garnered more than a hundred suitors in her youth, but so quick was she to love that in the end, her heart was ruined.

She would never die by time or age. Instead of growing together, her lovers shrank with age and greyed, before dying and leaving her alone. But she was old, and a look into her eyes, which had once been dark as amethyst but were now pale as lilacs, told more sad stories than she would ever reveal.

"Sophie. Never die. Don't let Howl die."

She had nothing to say in return.

"I love happiness above all else, but I do not like being left behind."

Her tears were like diamonds.

"I know you won't hurt him Sophie. His heart may be young, but it still can break."

Beauty wiped the tears from her cheeks and handed one to Sophie. It wasn't just like a diamond, it had become one.

"Sophie. Wake up."

She didn't understand right away. Sophie shook her head, a question poised on her tongue.

"Wake up, Sophie," Beauty started to say. Oddly, her voice changed, deepened, until it could only belong to one person.

"Howl?"

Sophie was sufficiently confused. How had she gotten home already? She was all the way in…all the way…she had been…where had she been? Her head felt heavy.

"You must've dozed off, sweetest."

Sophie looked around. It was just after dawn.

"Oh, look what you've found!" Howl was excitedly holding up a sparkling, teardrop gem. It was an odd color for a diamond, so silvery moonlit.

"It's like your hair. It's like starlight! Your eyes, what happened?"

"Howl," she said simply overwhelmed by all his questions, hugging and pulling him close to her. "Someone once told me a Blackbird must fly, but it must also come home, mustn't it?"

"Yes. Blackbirds will always return to their nests," he smiled, looking at the gem as he held it to a lock of her hair.

Sophie wondered if he knew something she didn't, but thinking on it, she realized she didn't care.

Howl could have his arcane knowledge, his other worlds, and his magic, because what they felt together, the love that spread from their combined hearts, was more magical, more sacred and more indecipherable than any of his spell books.

Sophie got up and, hand in hand, she and Howl walked back inside their castle. After all, wasn't it about time they fly again?