Howl's Twisted Castle

47: A rumour no more

So many things can change in just a few months. For starters; who knew that this mousy young woman had a penchant for adventure?

After the events of the night I fought and defeated the Witch of the Waste, I found my quiet little life in Market Chipping a little less than fulfilling. It isn't to say that I didn't want to go back to my hat shop, for I loved my quaint little shop with all my heart. It's just that when I perched myself on my stool with a needle and thread at the ready, fabric propped on my knee, I couldn't conjure a design in my head.

Things were quieter now, what with Lettie traveling the world with Markel, in search of exotic plants and flowers to stock their apothecary. The shop lacked the whimsical atmosphere she left in her wake. I missed her boundless laughter and infallible smile, but it warmed my heart to know that where ever she was, she was spreading that light to the world, with Markel at her side.

Lettie hadn't taken things well when I came home. She had been hurt and confused by the Witch's deceit, but more than that, she was scared for me, for everything that had happened. She couldn't wrap her head around the thought that I had been turned into an old lady that she hadn't even recognized. I told her that I never held it against her but it did little to assuage her guilt. Not long after I returned home, Markel had arrived at our doorstep. I was relieved to see that he was alright, and that the Witch had not harmed him that night, and I soon became thankful for his constant presence in my sisters life. He became the balm that soothed the pain and destruction the Witch had wrought upon our lives. It was him who encouraged Lettie to let go of the foolish idea that she was responsible for my happiness; instead he asked her only to follow her heart.

Besides that, I was happy-- for the most part. After recovering from his injuries, Howl did not stay long in Market Chipping. Having realized that the sword I'd taken from the Witch held a rather large heartstone in its pommel, Howl set out to return the stolen hearts Solana had collected over the century. He couldn't give me a timeline of how long it might take, but I wasn't going to stop him from his task. He needed closure. 

The first heart he returned was that of my step mothers, and although it did nothing to fix her sunny disposition, she was more amiable to the sale of the hat shop to a Mr. Alexander Davies. As she counted the stacks of bills in the back of the carriage leaving for Kingsbury, I did something that surprised us both, I hugged her. 

"I know that things between us weren't good after my father passed," I had said into her shoulder, "but I wanted to thank you for the years that you made my father happy and for the years that you held us together as a family. I hope you find happiness again someday."

Gerta was more than a little startled by my words, giving me an awkward one-armed pat on the back in response, but I wanted her to have closure as well. Deep down, there had to be some goodness left in her. I wanted to believe that she had it in her to change.

With her departure, I hadn't felt like I'd lost a family member. If anything, seeing my brothers smiling face as he took the keys from Gerta reminded me that I had gained another, and he intended to stay. 

Alex might have been that absolute last person I would have thought could be a seamster, but he insisted he give it a try "in honour of our late father," he had said. Where he lacked in skill, he made up for with a positive attitude. Alex's bizarre, if not clinical, approach to sewing was enough to make my head hurt, but it worked. Only a week into owning the shop, he had brought more than a dozen books to reference while he worked, scattering them over every available surface in the shop, pinning his sketches to the walls so that he wouldn't forget his ideas. I admired his creative energy, but cleaning up after him was getting a little bit tiring.

Customers seemed taken aback by this strange new owner, but as it happened, talent ran in the family. Where Lettie's absence was felt, he had filed it with bold new creations that had tourists saying words like "marvelous", "ingenious", or my personal favourite, "avant-garde". In a short few months, Alex had made our shop one of the most visited stores in all of Market Chipping. Even the King had commissioned a piece, the King!