Chapter Two:
The Tavern & The Dream
Everything around him was completely silent.
He was alone; isolated even, and walking along a narrow path in the dead of night. He could barely see where he was going, but knew, not by memory, but by some instinct that by following this path he would eventually reach his destination.
For minutes that felt like hours, he walked on and on, the sky becoming brighter all the while.
In the dim light, he could just make out his surroundings.
There were trees everywhere. Small trees, large trees, fruit trees.
As many as the eye could see, and more behind them. However, this place was no forest.
There was only one place Lucario had ever known with all these different breeds of trees grouped together like this, and as the result of a certain incident, he had hoped he would never have to come back here again.
He wanted to leave. He wanted to run. He wanted to get as far away as possible, but he couldn't. His own legs were out of his control.
"No…" he pleaded, willing himself stop moving,
"Please don't do this… Turn back, please… just turn around…"
But still he walked on, and now in the endless stretch of darkness behind him, the sun was beginning to rise.
Something ahead had caught his eye; something ahead was gleaming, reflecting the light of the dawn.
He felt a shudder of recognition pass down his spine.
The 'something' was a small golden bell tied by a tiny length of red string to a sign.
Even at a distance, he recognised that sign. He had passed by it hundreds of times when he had still been a child. When he had still been a Riolu.
And then something bright appeared in the shadows beyond the sign.
It looked like a tiny orange speck of light, visible only because of the surrounding darkness. But as he drew unwillingly closer, it began to spread, it began to grow, it reared up white-hot, blazing towards the sky.
It was fire.
Now the fire was spreading even further. Lucario could now see just what was burning: The firelight had revealed what looked like the remains of a destroyed tent. Not just one, but two. Not just two, but four. More and more wreckage was coming into view. Even as he watched in terror, more tents in the distance were catching fire.
And then; he heard a voice.
But it was faint, and had a strange echo-like quality, as though the one who owned it was speaking from a great distance away,
"-wl… w..e up…!"
"Go away…" Lucario groaned,
"leave me alone…"
"..ey! c'mon, wake up!"
Then, suddenly, Lucario felt a force to his right and fell over sideways, hitting the ground hard, and when his eyes had opened again, everything had changed.
He was not lying on his side anymore, but reclining against a fallen tree's moss-covered trunk, and the sky was not becoming steadily brighter, it was pitch-black again.
And he was not alone anymore, either. He could feel a hand at his shoulder and hear a voice whispering in his ear.
"Howl, come on! Wake up already!"
Howl let out a heavy groan, rubbed his eyes, and sat up.
"Finally!" said the Pokémon who had woken him, jumping down from the trunk and landing right beside him with a soft thud.
"Who is it? What do you want?" Howl asked, squinting down at them through the darkness.
"It's me, Bolt," said the young Emolga, still speaking in a whisper,
"Sorry to wake you up so late, boss, but something's up."
Howl sighed, and rubbed his eyes again. It was so dark and his eyelids were so heavy that he felt as though he might fall asleep again at any second. But he mastered himself and fought to stay awake.
"What do you mean something's up?" he asked finally.
"Humans," Bolt breathed.
"What?!" said Howl sharply, his fatigue vanishing in an instant as he leaped to his feet, "Humans? Now? Where are they?!"
"Easy…" said Bolt backing away as the Lucario towered over him,
"There aren't a lot of them, there's just one."
"Oh, another bounty hunter, is it? Where are they?!"
"It's… It's outside," said Bolt nervously.
Howl stared down at him, completely perplexed.
"Outside?" he repeated blankly, "What do you mean outside?"
"Just… outside The Forest."
Howl sighed as relief swept over him.
"Bolt… you don't have to wake me up for things like that. Unless a human is actually in The Forest, we don't need to worry about them," he said, sitting back down and closing his eyes as his heartbeat slowed to normal.
"But, sir…!" said Bolt desperately,
"This one's kind of worrying me! It won't go away!"
"What?" he replied, opening his eyes again.
Bolt continued,
"I was asleep, just minding own business, when I woke up and thought I could see something under the moonlight. I looked out from my tree and I saw a human just standing there, staring right into The Forest."
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah," said Bolt in a hushed voice, "It's just standing there, looking all creepy. Honestly, I'm starting to think humans are trying to scare us."
"Is it still there?"
"I don't know. I think so. I didn't know what to do, so I came to find you.
Look, boss, I'm really sorry to bother you with this, and I wouldn't ask, but do you think maybe you could… I dunno, do something about it? Please?"
Howl thought for a moment.
"If it's not trying to get inside The Forest, it's not a threat to us," he said.
"Yeah, I suppose, but still…" said Bolt, a note of genuine anxiety in his voice.
Howl looked up into the starlit sky and wondered just why any normal human would be out so late just to look at a forest obscured by night.
Perhaps they were lost and thought that The Forest might be an ideal place for them to rest. But no, he reflected; that couldn't be it. If that were the case, they would surely have gone inside to seek shelter under the trees. Why then, were they not moving?
He shook his head wearily.
"All right…" he said, getting slowly to his feet, "All right, I'll go and look. Where did you see them?"
"It was hanging around that sign the villagers put up.
Thanks, Howl, I really appreciate this!"
He shrugged grudgingly.
"You should find somewhere else to sleep tonight, but you'll have your tree back by tomorrow morning," he said. And with that, he began to make his way towards the village-end of The Forest.
He met no disturbance along the way. Everyone was asleep, and only the rustling of leaves in the wind made even the smallest of sounds. Howl found his mind drifting repeatedly towards the dream he'd had, but he pushed the thought aside determinedly. There was no point in lingering on past regrets that would only cause him great pain.
He began to walk a little faster through the pitch-black trees, taking the grassy path that was completely devoid of any sharp twigs or nettles, and listened intently for any signs of human presence. But he heard none.
He turned left through a quiet, verdant clearing where the snores and murmurs of other sleeping Pokémon could be heard.
Past an orchid where berries and other fruits had been carefully planted together.
Around the great bountiful lake in the very middle of The Forest.
Through the trees where the Bird-Pokémon slept.
And at last to the very edge of The Forest, right before where a solitary human was apparently lurking.
He stopped, and squinted through the darkness. He couldn't see anything. It was taking a while for his eyes to adjust, so, almost instinctively, he closed them and began to scan the Aura around him. And at once he saw a light directly ahead and leapt out of sight behind the trees.
Bolt had been right. There was a human. And it was still there. It still had not moved. Why?
Howl tried to focus his Aura Senses on them to determine who it was, but his vision was somewhat obscured by the tree's Aura, and while this would not have normally been a problem for him, it was much more difficult to distinguish Auras when his mind was so hazy. If he was going to see the human, he'd have to do it without anything in the way.
Slowly and quietly, he crept out into the open, crouched low as an extra precaution before scanning, concentrating, waiting, and at last identifying:
The Aura was blue, bright blue, and as pale as a cloudless sky.
The human was Rowan.
For the second time that night, he felt relief sweep over him like a breath of cool wind in the middle of summer.
It was only Rowan.
The Forest was not about to be infiltrated.
There was nothing to worry about.
He breathed deeply and relaxed his every nerve before looking up again.
He could tell by the peculiar shape that Rowan's Aura was currently taking he was bent to one knee, perhaps trying to read the sign in the dim light the moon gave him. He could only assume that had been the reason, for he had barely even thought it when Rowan stood up, turned, and began to walk in the direction of Rota Village.
It was at this moment that Howl, his mind muddled from lack of sleep, remembered how he knew this human, and what had been said, and what had been arranged.
He began to feel uncertain as he watched the blue light gradually move farther away.
Suddenly the idea of talking and eating with a human - in a tavern that could possibly be quite far away from where he was needed - seemed less than appealing to him now. In fact, it seemed to be quite a risk to take, one he was not sure he should be taking.
But then he remembered why he had even followed the human in the first place.
He had seen him save another Pokémon's life.
He had seen him set that Pokémon free.
This human was not like the ones in Rota Village.
This human was trustworthy. His Aura was proof of that.
And in truth, Howl felt he had already made up his mind about the matter anyway. He had made up his mind ever since he'd returned to The Forest.
He waited until Rowan had gone a little ahead before following after him; because if Rowan knew that he lived in The Forest, that would only create more questions, and the less Rowan knew about him specifically, the better.
As he had done that afternoon, though without the worry of remaining unseen, Howl kept his distance from the human, keeping him in sight at all times whilst wondering how best to reveal himself. He didn't want to alarm him, though suddenly appearing at night was bound to take anyone by surprise.
But he needn't have worried, for Rowan seemed to have sensed somehow that he was not alone, and suddenly stopped. Howl slowed to a halt as well, and watched as the pearly-white waves that rippled through the Aura with every beat of its owner's heart became more luminous, and began to stir more rapidly.
"Hello…?" Rowan's voice called into the night. Howl hesitated to respond.
"Hello?" Rowan called again, starting to sound a little uneasy.
And at last Howl found his voice and said, quite nonchalantly,
"Hello."
He heard Rowan gasp and saw a gigantic wave zip through his Aura like an electric shock.
"Wh-Who is it?! Who's there?!"
"It's me, the 'monster' from before."
"The…" Rowan began uncertainly, then, "Oh! Oh, right! It's… It's you!" and Howl heard him give a little sigh of relief, and saw the white waves – which had momentarily been bright and jagged – begin to slow down to a reasonably calm heart rate.
"Uh, where are you?" Rowan asked after a brief pause.
"I'm nearby. From where I'm standing, I can see you quite clearly."
"You're nearby… where, exactly?
Could you come closer? I can barely see…"
Howl's vision fogged for a moment as his senses returned to normal, and once his eyes were opened again, he walked towards the place where he knew Rowan to be, listening carefully and straining his eyes.
"Is that you?" came Rowan's voice a few steps ahead of him, "Hold on a second."
Howl saw Rowan's shadowy outline fumbling for something at his belt and then quite suddenly, a light appeared.
"Ah, there you are," said Rowan, holding the lantern up a little higher,
"I was just on my way to meet you. Have you decided yet? Would you like to come and meet Sally?"
"Sally?" Howl growled, narrowing his eyes in the sudden burst of light,
"Is that your friend's name?"
"Yeah," said Rowan, realising the Pokémon's discomfort and lowering the lantern again,
"The tavern's not that far from here. If we just follow this path and turn right at the crossroads, we'll be there in no time. So what do you say? You coming?"
"If the offer is still open, then yes."
"Great!" said Rowan happily, "Well, let's get going then."
And with Rowan leading the way, they began to head back along the path in the direction of The Forest.
"How did you find me so soon?" asked Rowan after a minute of silence.
"I was already on my way to where we'd arranged to meet," Howl responded,
"I just happened to notice you as we passed by."
"Notice me?" Rowan said confusedly, "How? Can you see in the dark?"
"No," Howl replied patiently, "I just heard the footsteps of a human and slowed down to listen. I thought it might be you, and when you stopped and called out-"
"-Ohh, I see-"
"-I recognised your voice."
"Right, right. So you'd made up your mind pretty early on, then?"
"I suppose so. I didn't see any reason not to accept your offer."
"What about your territory? Are you done patrolling? Will it be safe for tonight?"
Howl thought for a moment before responding,
"Yes… My home will be safe for now."
Rowan looked at him a little more closely, then he queried,
"Are you…? I don't suppose you live in The Forest, do you?"
Howl shook his head.
"No. I live somewhere else."
"Oh," said Rowan, sounding slightly crestfallen, "Where… Where do you live, then? If you don't mind me asking."
Howl met his eyes with a firm, but calm look.
"I'm afraid that is a secret," he said flatly.
"Okay, sorry."
"Don't apologise, you haven't done anything wrong."
"OK, good, thanks."
They were silent for another minute. Howl could tell that they were nearing The Forest again, and he thought for one brief moment about simply going back when Rowan was not looking. But no. He couldn't turn back now, he had made up his mind. All he could do now was keep on going and hope he was not making a mistake. And if, by chance, it turned out he would regret his decision…
'Well,' he thought, 'I'll just have to deal with it there and then.'
Rowan's voice interrupted his pondering,
"So… Again, if it's okay with me asking."
Howl looked at him to indicate he was listening.
"Do you live with anyone else? Or are you alone?"
Again Howl thought for a moment before responding, and decided that this time it could be a risk for him to tell the truth.
"I live on my own," he said.
"Really?" said Rowan, "You live alone, but somewhere around here?"
The Lucario gave him a withering look.
Rowan said hastily,
"No, no, I wasn't asking you where you live again, I was just wondering why you'd choose to live alone. Don't you know about the Demon of The Forest?"
Howl pretended to think carefully, then responded,
"Yes… I'm aware of the one humans call the Demon."
"So…" said Rowan slowly, "Surely you could stay in The Forest, couldn't you? Uh, not that I think – I-I'm not saying-."
"Yes, I understand what you mean," said Howl, "and I did consider it when the Demon offered to take me in… but I respectfully turned down the offer."
"You refused the Demon's offer? Why?"
Howl shrugged in a mildly-interested sort of way.
"I saw no reason to become a burden, and I've always been able to take care of myself."
Rowan seemed to be reasonably satisfied with this answer, and fell silent again to look ahead and focus on navigating through the near-total darkness.
Howl didn't enjoy having to do this; he did not believe in denying and concealing the truth from others, but he knew that if he were to prevent Rowan from asking as many questions about him as possible, he himself would have to be as uninteresting as possible, meaning that he would have to make it appear as though there was little background to his life, an uncertain future, a solitary present, and that his only true concern was to keep himself alive and fed.
He would have to be dull in short.
After following the path for a while, the two came to the point Rowan had mentioned where the road forked, and they turned right, as mentioned. Howl caught a glimpse of the sign in the flicker of lantern-light, but had not had time to see the words written upon it. Feeling slightly disappointed, he looked round and saw a little cluster of lights in the far distance ahead of them.
He could only assume that those lights were of the Tavern that they were going to. He felt reassured by this knowledge; he hadn't even realised how worried he'd been that Rowan might lead him much farther away from The Forest than he'd expected, but now he would be able to find his way back with ease.
Another minute passed, and then another, until at last Rowan seemed to decide it was time to break the silence.
"Are… you OK? You're being very quiet," he said, peering sideways.
"I'm fine," Howl replied, "You don't need to worry about me."
"Oh, I'm not worried, I just thought maybe…" The rest of Rowan's sentence tailed away, until he finally seemed unable to stop himself from saying,
"You know, for the first Pokémon that's ever spoken to me before, you're not very talkative, are you?"
"Nope."
Rowan stifled a laugh. And then almost at the exact same moment, the two of them shifted a glance in each other's direction and each saw an inclination of amusement on the other's face; and in the precise instant that their eyes almost met, they felt a tiny flicker of understanding pass between them.
They continued along the path without exchanging another word, which suited them both.
"Okay, here we are," said Rowan, after what had felt like half an hour of silence,
"Luna Tavern."
Howl looked up. Ahead of them was a large cabin–like building two floors high. Two pairs of windows were placed on either side of the front of the main building opposite each other, and in-between the windows was a humble–looking arched oak door. The second floor was even more humble-looking; just a small window on either side of the roof in similar placements to the windows below, and there was even a balcony in place to support a second arched door in-between the windows.
Overall, the building looked simplistic, but had a very rustic charm that was welcoming even in the eyes of a Pokémon. Just looking at it gave Howl a warm feeling he'd not known in years.
This place reminded him of somewhere he had known years ago.
Rowan's voice broke through his ruminations.
"Hang on…" he murmured, creeping up towards one of the glass windows and peering inside.
"Oh… This could complicate things."
"What is it?" Howl asked, joining him by the window.
"There's a lot of customers. I thought it would be pretty empty at this hour…
This won't do. Sally's business would be ruined – or even worse if people started saying she lets monsters into her tavern… What can we do…" Rowan muttered, speaking more to himself than to anyone else. He closed his eyes for a moment, apparently deep in thought, until eventually he said, with an air of mixed uncertainty and optimism,
"OK, this could work," And he untied his cloak from around his neck and draped it over the Pokémon, doing up all the fastenings in an attempt to conceal his body completely, and pulling the hood as far over his head as it would go.
"Let's see…" said Rowan, standing back to examine his handiwork.
It was not quite the effect he'd hoped for. The cloak managed to conceal Howl's feet and body, but the hood was hindered from hiding his face by the fact that his ears lifted it just high enough. But Howl had noticed this, and before Rowan could say a word, he pressed his ears down as flat as he could.
"Nice!" said Rowan, pulling the hood forward again to cover his muzzle,
"That should do the trick… maybe.
Now, just follow me as close as you can."
"All right," said the deep voice in Rowan's mind, as clearly as ever.
"Oh, and try not to make eye-contact with anybody," Rowan added.
"That'll be easy."
"OK…" said Rowan, standing up and moving towards the door, "Ready?"
-and, drawing a deep breath as though trying to calm himself, Rowan pushed open the door.
At once the sound of raised voices, talk, laughter, and the clinks of glass and cutlery resonated clearly from beyond the open door.
Rowan made to step inside, but almost instantly he recoiled and said apologetically,
"Whoops! 'Scuse me," and made urgent hand movements to the Pokémon - telling him to back out of sight immediately. Howl stepped back beyond the window as a rather groggy voice from out of sight responded,
"Agh, no problem, kid."
Then came the sound of heavy footsteps. Rowan moved to one side and held open the door so that whoever it was who was leaving would look towards him, and once the sound of their feet had moved past, Howl looked up to see Rowan signaling him closer.
"Ok, let's go," he whispered, stepping through the tavern door. Howl followed after him, keeping his head down in an attempt to hide his muzzle, and closing his eyes, enabling his Aura Senses.
'A lot of customers' was accurate. The tavern - which was much larger than it had looked from the outside - was crowded. There were only six tables in the main room, but each and every last one of them of them was occupied by at least more than three people. The air was thick with Aura that seemed to part in the middle of the room, so that to Howl, it looked like there was a corridor of multi-coloured haze leading all the way from the front door to a door right at the other end of the room.
Swiftly - but not so much that it would draw attention - the young man and the hooded figure walked through the tavern, the people's voices drowning out their footsteps. For a moment, Howl thought they would be able to pass through without anybody even noticing them, but he'd barely so much as considered this when he saw a small number of Aura-silhouetted heads look towards them, and saw the waves within their Aura's curve inwards slightly.
"Hang on," Rowan muttered out of the corner of his mouth, under the noise of the other voices, "We're almost th- Aah! Careful!"
With no warning at all, someone with an Aura of dark olive-green had detached themselves from the multi-coloured haze and bumped into the Aura of sky-blue that was Rowan, which in turn made Howl stumble on the rim of the cloak. He thought for a moment that his feet may have been briefly revealed, but surely no-one had seen amidst Rowan's hasty apology.
"So sorry, m-my mistake!" came an unnaturally high-pitched male voice from the green Aura.
"Don't worry about it," replied the blue.
As they moved aside to let the green Aura pass, Howl thought that the point of the spike on his forepaw may have dragged against the passing person, but they had not seemed to notice, and he and Rowan were moving a little more insistently to the door now.
Howl's heart was beginning to race. More and more Aura's waves were curving inwards, indicating wariness and apprehension, and the waves were beginning to glow ever so slightly more strongly, reflecting the strength of those feelings; and Howl did not know how much longer it would take for them to reach the end of this cursed room. Just when he was beginning to worry that if they were not detected, they would still at least be suspected, there came a rap of knuckles on wood directly in front of him.
"Just a minute!" said a woman on the other side. Rowan seemed to be feeling somewhat nervous himself, for he'd not waited a moment before rapping his fist on the door again.
"All right, all right! I'm coming!" said the woman indignantly.
Howl turned his Aura Senses towards the voice and felt a great leap of surprise.
The woman's Aura was gold. A bright, glowing, brilliant gold.
The handle turned and clicked. The door opened.
"Rowan!" came a joyful voice, and there was the sound of a tight embrace as the two Auras met. Together, they made a clear aqua-blue.
"Happy to see you too, Sally," said Rowan as the two let go of one another.
"Come on in! I've set a table in here for you especially!"
They were led through the door and into a room with a soft carpet beneath their feet and where a fire could be heard crackling in a corner.
The door swung shut behind them, and the noise beyond was silenced.
"Rowan," said the woman, and the Pokémon could tell by the sound of her voice that she was looking at him, "Who… Who's this?"
"Well, um, Sally," said Rowan, and Howl could also tell by the tone of his voice that he'd not told Sally beforehand he would be coming with anyone else,
"you, uh… remember those letters I sent to you when I arrived at the port town?"
"About your 'theory'? Yeah, I remember…"
"Well I, uh… I've found something - I mean - I've met someone who… um…"
"Rowan," said Sally in a voice that pleaded for sense and yet demanded answers,
"I've been pretty tolerant with you over the years we've known each other,
but please… please tell me you haven't gone and brought a monster into-"
Howl's head had been turned towards the door at that point, still scanning the Aura beyond it, but at these words he turned his eyes - opening them as he did so, and looked at the woman, and the first thing that she saw beneath the hood was a pair of glowing red eyes behind a long black muzzle.
"Sally…!" said Rowan, as the woman buried her face in her hands and made a muffled, exasperated moan.
"Sally, don't worry! This one is okay! We can trust-"
"Rowan… why?" said Sally in a muffled voice, her fingers curling so that her eyes peered out from over her knuckles.
"W-Well, why not?" asked Rowan desperately, "You said so yourself, you wished people were kinder to them!"
"Keep your voice down!" the woman snapped angrily,
"Rowan, I'm sorry, but this is just too far! You don't have any idea what this creature is like! It could be dangerous - It certainly looks dangerous!
"Sally-" Rowan began, but she cut across him,
"-And if people found out about this, I could lose my tavern and my home! The both of us could be-"
And finally Howl spoke,
"I'm not going to cause trouble."
Both Rowan and the woman named Sally fell silent.
Howl reached up from under the cloak and began to unfasten the rope-buckles, ignoring the woman's intake of breath at the sight of his arms. He pulled the cloak off, and, with a glance of warning, tossed it to Rowan who caught it in mild surprise.
"You have my word," Howl finished, addressing the woman before him.
He saw that Sally - like Rowan, was very young; though perhaps a year or two older than him, with cropped blonde hair and bright blue eyes.
"Wha…?" she whispered, taking a step backwards, her hand clutching her chest, "It can… Did it just…"
Wearily Howl sighed. This was starting to become tedious already.
"Yes," he said, "yes, I can speak. Shocking, isn't it?"
The woman backed away even farther, staring at him wide-eyed. The recent flush had left her cheeks completely. She was pale as smoke.
"How…" she said at last, addressing Rowan, and she was so breathless she could barely form an audible sentence,
"How did you find…? Where did you find..?"
"Well," said Rowan, as he moved to drape his cloak around one of the nearby armchairs, "I didn't really find him. In fact, it was kinda the other way around. He's the one who found me."
"He…?" Sally began, but then the shock seemed too much, and she had to sit and recover in one of the armchairs.
The Pokémon gave a small laugh,
"Well," he said to Rowan, "she's taking this better than you did, at least."
Sally gave a shaky exclamation of incredulity. Her expression was faint, her hands trembled, and her eyes swept back and forth from person to Pokémon until she finally shook her head, clearly unable to think calmly or coherently, and spoke in a hushed voice,
"A monster… here; in my tavern… talking to me…"
"Sally," said Rowan, with a nervous glance sideways,
"They - He doesn't like being called by that name, they're not called monsters."
Sally looked up at him slowly, and Howl said,
"The species you humans know as 'monsters' already have a name for ourselves. That name is Pokémon. Not monsters; Pokémon."
"Right, what he said," said Rowan, and he moved over to where Sally had sank and crouched down until he was face-to-face with her, and smiled reassuringly.
Sally swallowed hard and looked back at Howl, who returned her gaze stolidly.
"It's okay…" said Rowan, reaching forwards and closing his hand round her wrist, "He's not going to hurt us. You're not going to hurt us, are you?"
Howl shook his head and said, "No, I'm not."
"See? He says he won't, so there's no need to worry."
Sally took a moment to gather herself before responding,
"I'm not… not worried," she said, and it was true that she sounded a lot more composed now, "I'm just… shocked." She drew a deep breath and was about to continue speaking, but then there was a knock on the door.
"Hello? Miss Luna?"
Sally leapt out of the seat at once and strode over to the door.
"Yes? What is it?" she asked, opening the door just enough to see and be seen through.
"Are you feeling alright, miss? You're looking rather…pale," said the customer disquietingly.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," said Sally in a remarkably steady voice, "What was it you wanted me for?"
The customer asked whether a particular drink were available, and Sally said, "Hmm, I'm not sure if I've got that, I'm afraid. But I'll go and have a look." And she moved a little through the door, mouthed, 'Be right back' over her shoulder, and closed it behind her, leaving Rowan and Howl alone together.
"Well…" said Rowan, looking awkward and rubbing the back of his neck, "that was… Well, it went better than I thought it would, actually."
"You didn't tell her you'd be bringing a monster, did you?" Howl asked, his expression full of sardonic amusement.
"Well, no," said Rowan, "If I had, she would've asked me if I'd finally gone completely crazy, and then she'd have told me to take a little walk to think about my life choices."
Rowan's gaze moved absentmindedly towards the closed door, and Howl looked around the room, taking in every detail.
The room felt very cozy. The only light was that of the fire beside the small round table with its plush armchairs on either side of it, and various sweet-smelling candles which had been placed in every corner of the room. Tapestries with peculiar designs were hung on the walls here and there; above the fireplace and beside the windows, and there were curious little cases on top of the mantelpiece of the hearth.
More out of genuine interest than actual need for something to do, Howl moved over to one of the corners to sniff at the candles. He caught a different type of scent from each separate one, all of which had been so carefully arranged beside one another that when the smell blended together in the warm air above, it was so strong he could almost taste it. He moved along to examine the tapestry on the wall, and became aware that Rowan was watching him. He ignored that, however, and continued to study the curiously woven pattern on the tapestry. It looked like a kind of symbol. A maroon circle filled the very centre with an earth-brown colour encircling the outskirts of red, and when the earth-brown circle reached the top, bottom, left and right ends of the two circles, large columns of what looked like gusts of wind extended out in a plus-sign fashion, going on and on until they stopped at what seemed to be the decisive end where the lines curled inwards, around and around. The pattern looked strangely familiar to him, and for that reason alone, he was enticed to know more about it.
He asked, "What is this symbol?" and looked back at Rowan, who had tried to hide that he'd been watching him by turning his gaze back towards the door at the last moment. When he spoke, he gave a false start of surprise.
"I-I'm sorry, what?"
Howl indicated the pattern on the tapestry and asked a second time,
"This symbol. What does it mean?"
"Oh, that! That's not a symbol. Sally made that herself."
Howl frowned slightly and looked at the pattern more closely.
"Did she?"
He was sure he'd seen that pattern somewhere before, he was convinced of it, but he didn't want to press the matter or it would seem strange, and in any case, there was more for him to examine. He put the thought to one side and moved over to the hearth.
The cases on top were made of a thin, flat wood about as wide as his paws, and they were arranged neatly from left to right – smallest to largest, and it made him curious as to what could be inside. He picked up the smallest of the cases on the left-hand side, and he was about a second away from opening it, when Rowan spoke suddenly,
"Waitwaitwait! Hold on a moment!" he stammered, moving forward with his hand outstretched.
"What?" Howl asked, completely bewildered.
"Sorry, but what's in those boxes are kind of precious to Sally. It's not your fault, but I think it'd be best if we just left them alone."
His tone was not at all accusatory, and Howl could tell that every word was sincere.
He nodded, "…All right then," and put the box back in its exact placement beside the others.
"How about we sit down?" said Rowan after a brief pause.
He sat down in the chair which he'd draped his cloak around, and Howl sat down opposite him.
The two of them were silent for over a minute. Now that the time had come to actually make conversation, it was much more difficult than either of them had thought it would be. The fact that they were of two completely different species made it no easier.
"Sooo…" said Rowan after yet another minute of silence, until Howl decided that this was going nowhere very, very slowly, and that he did after all, have some questions for Rowan, so throwing courtesy to the winds, he cut across Rowan's sentence (even though there had been a prolonged silence at the point where he'd interrupted).
"How long have you been here for?" he asked, "In our world," he added when Rowan looked puzzled.
"Do you mean 'you' as in 'humans'?" he asked.
"No, I mean you specifically."
Rowan thought for a moment, "Hmm… Well, I arrived at the port town about… two months ago, I think. And I've been travelling for about a week, so not that long actually."
"Travelling?"
"Yes, travelling. See, I didn't have a lot of money with me when I arrived. I had to work at some of the shops and such in town just so I could eat. But eventually I'd saved up enough money to buy the things I needed and headed out as soon as I could. The minute I was ready to leave that town, I left before any of them could call me back."
"Why? Were you were in a hurry?"
"Nah, not really, I'd just made a pretty bad reputation for myself there.
…And when I say bad reputation, I mean bad. As in the 'if I didn't leave first, they'd have driven me out anyway' kind of bad."
Howl had been about to inquire more, but then there was a knock on the door and Sally came in laden with glass and cutlery.
"Aren't you two lucky? I don't usually serve food and drink to customers for free," she said, placing the tray on the table and laying out the contents,
"But seeing as it's you, Rowan, I can make an exception."
Rowan smiled up at her. And just as she was lifting the empty tray off the table, he opened his mouth to ask something.
"Depends, do you have the money to pay for it?" she said sharply before he could speak.
"W-Well… no, Sally, you know I don't, but-"
"Then the answer," she said, "is no, Rowan. I'm afraid you can't."
"Aw, come on, Sally!"
"I said no. And that's final," she repeated.
"Sally! It's been ages since we last saw each other, and you'd make me sleep out there in the wilderness?"
"Yes, actually. Considering that you decided to bring a monster in here, without my permission, and without any warning whatsoever, I think I have the right to refuse to babysit you for the night.
And if I recall correctly," she added before he could argue,
"you said so yourself in that last letter that you'd been sleeping out in the wild for days, and that it was difficult - but you could manage."
"I was hinting…!" said Rowan incredulously, but Sally said quite flatly,
"Yeah, I know. You were being really subtle…"
"Unbelievable. Any normal person would feel sorry for me."
Sally shook her head and sighed.
"Rowan, I'm sorry, but this is business. The tavern has never been so busy before; all the rooms have been booked, and unless you're planning on getting me to ask one of the people who's already paid for one to leave, I'm afraid there's just no room here for you."
And she carried the empty tray over to the door, opened it, and just before she could leave, Rowan said hopefully,
"What if I just sleep- "
But before he could even complete his sentence, Sally glared over her shoulder and said stoutly,
"NO!" – closing the door behind her.
"Unbelievable!" said Rowan again, staring after her at the door.
A small 'clink' of glass made him look round.
Howl had been watching the two of them with a mixture of awkwardness and wry enjoyment, but once Sally had left, his attention had turned to the things she'd brought with her, and after briefly examining the bottle, he had poured himself a glassful of the water within.
"Oh! Sorry!" said Rowan, looking slightly ashamed, but not for long, however.
Rowan had seemed to think that the Pokémon would need an explanation for how the simplest of things - like a bottle full of water – were used and for what purpose, but his expression changed almost at once from one of slight shame to surprise and wonder.
"How…?" he began as Howl took a sip from the glass.
Howl looked at him over the rim of the glass before lowering it.
"What?" he said.
"Did you just… I dunno - figure that out, or something?"
"Figure what out?"
Rowan hesitated for a moment, started to speak, but then seemed to think better of it. He shrugged and said,
"Forget it," and poured himself a glass of water.
A few moments later, as Rowan was lowering his glass, something caught his eye. He had seen something gleaming in the firelight; something on the Pokémon's face. He leaned forward a little.
Howl, whose eyes had been on the fire, saw what Rowan was doing and looked back to him.
"What is it?" he asked.
Rowan didn't answer right away. He still seemed uncertain. He tilted his head a little to the left and squinted. Eventually he sat back in his seat and asked conversationally,
"I don't suppose… you get into a lot of fights, do you?"
Howl couldn't help but stare.
"What do you want to know that for?" he asked.
"Well…" The young man raised a hand to own face and pointed, "you've got a scar… just here," and he drew a diagonal line with his finger from the inner-end of an eyebrow to the side of his cheek directly across his right eye.
Howl felt his breath catch.
"I suppose I do," he said shortly.
"Where did you get that one?" Rowan asked eagerly.
But Howl's face had closed. He didn't want to talk about it. And Rowan, knowing better than to ask, shut his mouth at once.
There was another knock on the door, and Sally came in holding a sheet of paper.
"The food menu," she said holding it up and walking towards them,
"It's not exactly extensive, but…" She held it out to Rowan, who, by the expression on his face, hadn't even noticed she had entered.
"Oh, for goodness sake, Rowan," said Sally with weary scorn, "You're not actually sulking, are you?"
Rowan blinked and looked up at her.
"Sorry, what?" he said.
She rolled her eyes and thrust the paper at him.
"This," she said, "This is what."
"Oh. Right."
He lifted the paper out from her grasp, but he'd barely even looked at it when he said, with an uncomfortable glance towards the Pokémon sitting opposite him, "Sorry, I just… I'm gonna go wash my hands."
"Wash your hands?" Sally repeated as he stood up and moved past, determinedly avoiding their eyes, "Rowan, you haven't even-"
But the door had closed before she could complete her sentence.
"What is wrong with him?" she asked incredulously.
Howl gave a small sigh.
"That may have been my fault," he said to the woman, choosing to ignore the little jolt she gave when she heard his voice.
"Oh! Sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you," she said when she saw him sitting in the armchair. He shook his head dismissively and she turned round to face him.
"So, you're a…" she paused for a moment then asked politely, "Sorry, what was the word again?"
"Pokémon."
"Pokémon! Right, that!" she said, as if he were an old friend who had just helped clarify a snag in her mind.
"Pokémon…" she repeated, testing the sound, "Is that a word in your language? Have Pokémon always called themselves that?"
"I suppose so."
She smiled sweetly, and he was almost tempted to smile back, but he controlled his expression.
"Do you mind if I sit down?" she asked after a moment.
The Pokémon was surprised, for he had not at all imagined Sally would be quite so courteous to him.
"No, I don't mind," he said, and she seated herself in the chair that Rowan had so recently occupied.
As she sat down, he happened to notice that the menu had remained untouched on Rowan's side of the table, and again a simple curiosity took hold of him. He reached for it and began to read.
"Sorry, there's probably not a lot of things a Pokémon would eat on there," said Sally, "but even so, you'd be OK if I just served some water and fruit, wouldn't you?"
"Hmm…"
He waited a moment before responding, his eyes scanning the menu one last time before he held it out to Sally and said,
"What is this? 'Iced Apple juice' what does 'iced' mean?"
"The - What?" Sally began, and, seeing what he was pointing to on the paper, her eyes widened.
"You… Wait, you can read?!"
"Yes, I can-" he stopped there because he'd just realised something. He had made a grave mistake. He should not have revealed to Sally that he understood how to read human words at all. No other modern Pokémon would have been able to read their words - at least, as far as he knew, and certainly not as far as Sally was aware. He had made a mistake and there was no way for him to rectify it. He'd have to tread more carefully and be sure to avoid making another.
Sally leaned back in her chair looking dumbstruck, she gave an odd little pant and she clutched the arms of her seat.
Howl sat still and waited for her to recover, thinking his next words through very carefully.
"Hold on… Just… slow down for a minute," she said at last,
"You, the first Pokémon who's ever given a clear understanding of the words we're saying to you are now saying that you're able to communicate back to us, and read our language?"
Howl thought for a moment, then said, "Yes. That's correct."
"Um… ooo-kay.
Excuse me for asking if it's rude, but how is it that you're able to speak to humans? That is, speak to, and read our words, and… all that?"
Howl tried to think of a satisfactory answer, one that would immediately slake Sally's curiosity.
But he could not.
In the end he shook his head and was about to reply, but before he could, she said quickly,
"It's not a big deal. If you don't want to tell me, that's fine."
"Yes," he said, "I'd rather not… I have my secrets."
"Heh. Yeah, I'm sure you do," she said, smiling at him in a lighthearted manner.
It was a moment before Howl realised that Sally was not simply being frivolous out of polite desire to make him feel welcome; she was genuinely interested and enjoying herself. She then continued to ask him as to how he and Rowan had met, and he told her of how he had witnessed Rowan saving the wagon-pulling Pokémon from her cruel oppressors, and how he had followed Rowan out of the village to the point by the stream when Rowan had set the Pokémon free, and when finally, he had realised that he was not alone.
"And he… what, invited you to my tavern just like that?" asked Sally when he had finished.
"Not quite so… spontaneously," Howl replied, "But his offer was courteous, and I had reason to believe he was trustworthy, so I saw no reason to refuse."
"Yeah. When he wants to be, Rowan can be quite-"
But whatever Rowan could be, Howl never knew, for at that moment the door had opened again and Rowan himself had returned.
"Well, you took your sweet time, didn't you?" said Sally, as soon as the door was closed. "Yeah…" Rowan replied, "Yeah, sorry about that."
Sally stood up and offered the chair back to him, and Rowan looked from one to the other.
"Did you two talk while I was out?" he asked.
"Yes," said Sally at once, "You didn't think I'd just leave him in here all by himself, did you?"
"It's all right, Sally," said Howl. He knew she was trying to make Rowan feel guilty after his unruly exit, but he could tell that was quite unnecessary.
Rowan approached the table, and said apprehensively,
"Hey, I'm sorry for asking you about your scar earlier. I'm not really sure why I did. It was a stupid thing to do."
"You don't need to apologise," Howl replied.
"Thanks, really, but still…" Rowan insisted, "I should have realised it wouldn't exactly be a fun thing for you to talk about, I was just…"
"Making conversation. I know."
They were silent for a moment, then Rowan said again,
"Sorry."
Howl rolled his eyes.
Sally smiled at the two of them and said,
"Well, you two seem to have sorted… whatever that was out. If you'll excuse me, I have other customers to attend to," and she made her way towards the door. As she neared it Rowan said,
"Thanks, Sally."
"No problem," she replied, "It was nice talking to you, er…" She stopped and looked round, "Sorry, I'm… not sure I got your name."
"Hey, that's right…" said Rowan, "What is your name?"
Howl looked from one to the other and saw the same curious expression mirrored on both faces. He hesitated.
Was it safe for him to tell them his name? They had both been very friendly, true, but he hardly knew anything about them. Were they truly trustworthy enough?
Then he remembered; of course they were. He knew they were.
"My name is… Howl."
Rowan and Sally looked at each other with eyebrows raised, then back to him simultaneously.
"That's…" Rowan began, but Sally said quickly over him,
"That's a nice name. It suits you."
And she turned the door handle before her,
"I'll be back when I've finished with the other customers. Nice to see you again, Rowan."
And she paused for another moment before saying,
"It was a pleasure to speak with you… Howl."
Then she left.
The rest of the evening passed by very smoothly. Half an hour or so later, Sally returned, breathless and tired with notebook and pencil in hand and took their orders.
Rowan - after his own reaction to Howl reading - ordered two Iced Apple juices for them, and a soup for himself, whilst, after much pondering and many questions, Howl asked for the simple fruit salad.
Sally returned after five minutes with their drinks and then went to prepare their meals.
Howl drank his almost at once, knocking back the glass so quickly he almost choked on the ice cubes.
Rowan, however, after a mere two sips had placed his drink back on the table, looking slightly nauseous.
When their meals arrived, it was late and Sally had an exhausted, bedraggled look about her as she came in with their food, and left hurriedly without so much as a word.
"It can't be easy for her, running this whole place by herself," said Rowan in response to Howl's questioning look.
When the two of them had finished their meals, they sat back in their chairs and waited comfortably for Sally to return.
At last the door slid open and Sally walked dazedly into the room, rubbing her eyes, heavy with tiredness, and leaned back against the door, yawning.
Rowan stood up and offered her his seat, which she took with gratitude, slumping into it and resting her head in her hand, perched on one of the arm rests, and closing her eyes.
Rowan started to say something, but Sally spoke across him in a voice that for all its tiredness was still coldly determined,
"No, Rowan. You can't."
"But you don't even know what I was going to say!" said Rowan, smiling hopefully.
"Yeah, I do. I know you too well," Sally replied, opening her eyes and sitting up straight.
"Worth a shot…" Rowan muttered.
"Did you enjoy your meal?" she asked across the table. Howl managed a nod and smile, for he himself was feeling tired.
Sally rubbed her eyes again and yawned for so long it seemed she might never stop.
"Well…" she said at last, "Sorry to bring this up at short notice, but it's closing time now, and if you don't have a reservation, then you have to…" she broke off and rubbed her eyes again.
"Sally," said Rowan quickly, "why don't you take the day off tomorrow? You're exhausted."
"What, and refuse to make breakfast for all the people who stayed overnight? I don't think so," she replied.
"Okay, how about this: if I can spend the night here in this room, then I'll take care of all the morning customers and you can rest up for the day? C'mon you can't refuse that."
Sally groaned.
"You just don't give up, do you?" she said, but shook her head helplessly. She was too tired to argue.
"Oh, fine, fine! I surrender! You can spend one night here - but that's it! If you stay here in the future - and, knowing my bad luck, you almost definitely will - you're going to have to pay me the money, all right? No honeyed words, no shifty deals. Just. Plain. Money. "
Rowan wrapped his arms around her head and pressed her close to him as he could.
"Thank you, dear Sally!" he said as sincerely as though she had just saved him from drowning.
"Oh, get off me," she responded, swatting his arms away.
The click of the door made them both jump and look round.
"Hey!" said Sally, standing up at once, "Hold on! You can't just leave like that!"
Howl looked back at them both.
"I thought it was closing time," he said.
"It is," said Sally, moving over to the side of the room and pushing a tapestry aside, "but you can't leave that way, you could be seen. Here, hang on."
And after the sound of two bolts being dragged back, and the turn of a handle,
another door opened up.
"Take the side door," she said, holding it open for him.
Not wanting to waste time, Howl strode forwards.
"Thank you both," he said once he was outside, "Thank you for this. It was interesting to sit and talk with humans for a change."
"Well, that feeling's mutual," Sally said, "Can you find your way back from here? Will you be alright?"
"Yes, I'll be fine," he said, and glanced over her shoulder to see Rowan joining her at the door.
"Good-bye, Howl," he said, and then hopefully, "Will we… see each other again?"
"Who knows?" Howl replied, "I have my home to protect, as you know. Will you continue with your travels?"
"I don't know, probably. I was thinking of going back to that village - Rota Village next to look for work, but I'm not really sure what I'll do next. To be honest, I don't really plan out where I go, I just kind of make it up as I go along."
He blushed suddenly; he knew ought to have ended his monologue a sentence earlier.
"How… bold."
"Well," said Sally, "Howl… you… you'll always be welcome to come back sometime, if you like."
Howl had been wondering if she might say something like that, and when she did, he felt his insides leap with pleasure.
"Thank you," he said.
And he turned and ran away into the dark of night, heading for his forest home.
He could still hardly believe it.
All this time - after all this time - he had been right.
He had been right to keep his word. He had not been foolish to hope it was true.
It seemed that there were humans in the world who could be trusted.