Howl's Moving Castle: Tales Of Love

Recognition

Howl sat on a rather plush chair, eyeing the crowd of people as many of them huddled through the mass of mounts of people that was known as one of many festivals in Ingary. He hardly touched his water and his date had left him about ten minutes ago saying she was going to let her mother know where she'd be. Not that he truly cared, considering that if his date needed consent from her mother, she was probably too young for him anyways.

He blinked out of his annoyance for a second when he saw a girl that looked around 19-20 walking through the streets, who looked oddly familiar. She seemed to be in a rush, and her face was set in determination. The woman in his memory though looked so loving and pleading, and definitely did not have such mousey brown hair and certainly did not have such a tacky plain hat. But he decided to follow her anyways.

As he followed the girl, trying to just blend in and not look to suspicious, he wondered why she would even be involved in his life? Why was the only memory he had of her was her running to meet him and calling out to him, right as his heart came out of his chest? It all seemed so strange. Still, this mystery girl could not have called out to him without reason. She had yelled to him to wait for her in the future, and that is exactly what he was doing.

He shook the thoughts from his head as he followed her into an alleyway, the only rumbling noise coming from two men clad in uniform up ahead. Howl frowned as he witnessed the two guards checking her out from head to toe, the one with the moustache looking far too mischievous. They were both at least a head taller than her, and both looked grinning as if they struck loot.

As soon as he heard her voice, he knew it had to be the woman with starlight hair from his memory. Who else could have an accent like that in all of Ingary? He snapped out of his trance and walked over to the woman, slinging an arm around her shoulder saying that she's with him. The two men immediately stopped laughing. Instead Howl almost wanted to laugh when he swirled them around and made the stomp away by just using a bit of magic.

Howl felt this mousy haired girl tense underneath him, and her heart rate quicken. His would've sped up in giddy excitement, if he had a heart of course. He glanced down at her and saw her brown eyes as wide as frying pans, and her hands clutching onto her dress. His amusement faded away when he heard the faint yet distinct sloshes of Sullimen's men, and quickly told the girl of the situation.

Despite the circumstances, Howl felt rather pleased with himself that not only was he 99% sure he had found the right girl, but he was also sure the girl was for more flustered and dazed than he could ever hope for. When he set her down at the building she had requested, he flew down, really hoping that he would encounter her again someday.