Sophie's Charming Hat Shop [Howl's Moving Castle]

1. In Which Howl Stands in the Rain

"Howl, you idiot!" Calcifer cried as the last of the castle finished crumbling before their eyes. What had been a monument of turrets and mystique roaming the hills was now nothing more than a junk pile of flower pots, sheet metal, smudged window panes, and cobblestones. His home was in ruins.

The fire demon swirled on the spade, fizzing in the rain. He let out another string of expletives about Howl's cowardice worse than the lashing he'd received in the chaos moments ago when he'd scooped Calcifer onto the shovel and ushered Markl to the door. He'd turned the knob to Kingsbury, promising the boy he'd be right behind him as he magicked a bag of gold into Markl's cloak pocket. Howl wondered if he would know the castle was gone or if he would just stand there, waiting for him. How long would it take him to realize Howl wasn't coming?

"You had enough power, Howl! You could've faced her!"

Howl stared at the rubble. All the wards bolstering Calcifer's power, his rare ingredients, his suits, all the instructions for his spells and leftover school notes, his perpetually unfinished projects, his hair dyes... all gone. Maybe he had been too hasty. Maybe he had just destroyed his greatest asset in his frantic need to escape.

"She found the door," he reasoned, trying to convince himself. "They were all compromised. There was no other way." Arguably she knew where one door was already, but that entrance had legs. Well, until recently. Roaming the Wastes was a way to keep tabs on her as much as it was for Howl to keep tabs on the Witch. They'd actually been able to distract her with it for a while and run her ragged. It was working until she found the Porthaven door.

"Well what's your next step in your grand plan then?" The rain was making Calcifer even snappier. Or maybe it was the entire situation.

Howl scanned the fog and gloom beyond Calcifer's ring of light. "We'll go to Market Chipping and lie low for a while." He couldn't see the town, but he guessed if he followed the downward slant of the slope he'd reach it eventually.

"We don't have much time," the fire demon groused. "She'll know you're here. That disturbance of power-"

"I'll just have to make sure I'm well-hidden enough. Then she'll go looking for me in Porthaven or Kingsbury or everywhere else in Ingary if I'm lucky."

"Luck has nothing to do with it," Calcifer grumbled. "You could outrun fortune if you wanted to." Howl decided to thwart the fire demon's intentions by taking his words as a compliment. Leaving the ruins of his home behind, he began his trek downhill.