Howl's Moving Castle Fan Fiction ❯ Captive Heart ❯ In which Martha and Lettie depart ( Chapter 2 )

Howl's Moving Castle Fanfiction

 

Multi-Chapter

 

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Howl's Moving Castle © Diana Wynne Jones ◊ Hayao Miyazaki ◊ Studio Ghibli ◊ TOHO ◊ Malin Post ◊ Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Disney ◊ Viz Communications

 

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All Fanfics created by Sandlewood (me) were written for the sole purpose of shared entertainment and not intended for publication or sale.

 

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SUMMARY: There is a fine line between Good Vs Evil…sometimes so fine as to appear invisible. One girl will stand upon that invisible line, face to face with both sides of the Law of Magic. Can an honest heart heal one that has been blackened?

 

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Captive Heart

 

By: Sandlewood

 

Chapter 2

In which Martha and Lettie depart

 

A week since the incident with the blob and the mysterious figure on the rooftop had passed and Sophie continued to keep her encounter in the hat shop to herself lest she send her stepmother into anxious hysterics. Fanny was a dear, she truly was, but there were times when common sense and practicality seemed to elude her.

 

Sighing heavily, Sophie picked up another untrimmed hat and frowned down at it. “You're a sorry sight, aren't you?” She said to its misshapen straw brim. She searched through her little box of trimmings until she found what she was looking for. Artfully sewing sprigs of orange blossoms to the straw, she forcefully kept her attention on her task and not on the ominous shape of the Wizard Howl's castle sitting conspicuously upon the rocks on the outskirts of town. There was, of course, speculation on what kept the infamous wizard in one place for so long, but no one quite dared to speculate too loudly. Sophie tried not to think about it too much, choosing instead to apply herself to trimming hats and not dwelling on the possibility that the mysterious figure she had seen the previous week had been none other than Horrible Howl himself.

 

The rest of the week dragged by slowly, interspersed by harried transactions in the shop and a workload to break a workhorse's back on Sophie's bench. I'm beginning to hate hats, she thought glumly as she sucked on a pricked finger and glared at the hapless bonnet she'd been trimming. The fact that her younger sisters, Martha and Lettie, were departing at the end of the next week didn't help to improve her peevish mood. Martha was off to Upper Folding to be apprenticed to Fanny's long time friend, Annabel Fairfax, a cheerful hedge witch who's talent ran in the way of medicinal potions infused with great quantities of honey. Lettie was off to apprentice under the renowned bakers of Market Square, the Cesari's. She imagined her younger sister would enjoy the sweets she would undoubtedly taste during her training.

 

Sophie was loath to admit it, but she was rather envious of her sisters. They were both off to find their fortunes while she was stuck hunched over her workbench trimming hats and pricking her fingers until she began to feel they were starting to resemble pincushions. Sighing deeply, she focused her brown gaze on the bonnet she was currently holding. “It's a sad and sorry state of affairs when the eldest begins to dream of setting off to seek her fortune. Everyone knows the eldest is doomed to fail at such a task.” Shrugging, she began winding trailing lengths of pink ribbon around the bonnet in an artful display. “At least you'll see more of the world than I ever will.” She told it glumly.

 

Against her will, her eyes wandered to the window and the hills just beyond, focusing on the hulking castle spewing great quantities of black smoke into the otherwise clear blue sky. She wondered, not for the first time, why Howl…if indeed that mysterious dark-clad figure was the Wizard Howl…had saved her from the inky blob. What motive could he possibly have? Try as she might, Sophie couldn't think of a single good reason for him to do so. As a result, she had no choice but to conclude that the stranger hadn't been Horrible Howl at all. After all, everyone knew that the Wild Wizard harboured no feeling of charity and certainly wouldn't bother to save a simple hatter from a rather ghastly fate at the hands of the Witch of the Waste. But still, Sophie couldn't shake the intuitive feeling that if she hadn't retreated back inside and bolted the shop door when she had, she may have found herself in even more dire straits than when she'd been threatened by the blob.

 

The day of Martha's departure dawned sunny and bright…the perfect day for traveling. After many tears and hugs, the youngest of the three Hatter girls climbed onto the wagon and waved her yellow handkerchief in farewell. Sophie stood outside watching as the cart became a speck on the horizon, conspicuously circling as far as it could around Howl's castle, until finally disappearing in the distance. She would miss her youngest sister dearly…tantrums and all.

 

Next to leave was Lettie. The middle child was ever practical and refused to give in to the same teary farewells that had been bestowed upon Martha. Waving jauntily, she walked away, stride confident and with a cheerful bounce that made Sophie wonder if perhaps her sister was more than a little too happy to leave the hat shop behind. Fanny retreated to their living quarters, more than likely to have a weeping session to herself before returning to the shop to continue with the important business matters that took up most of the day on a regular basis.

 

Sophie was left standing alone in the street feeling rather out of place and more than a little out of sorts. After a while she shook herself free of her gloomy thoughts and became aware of a slight prickling sensation centred between her shoulder blades…almost as if someone were staring at her. However, when she turned, there was no one suspicious that she could see. Shrugging the odd feeling of being watched aside, she hurried back into the hat shop and to the cubby hole where her workbench awaited her return, laden with bare straw hats and bonnets and miscellaneous trimming waiting for her attention.

 

A week later, they received a brief note from Martha informing them of her arrival at Upper Folding. Her trip had been uneventful and the weather had remained pleasant right up until her actual arrival. That afternoon, her note told them, it had rained buckets. Sophie was relieved that her sister's journey had been uneventful. She'd been rather anxious with the possibility that Martha, as pretty as she was, would've attracted some unwanted attention…namely attention of Wizard Howl who was rumoured to favour the hearts and souls of pretty young girls. Shuddering, Sophie wondered what use he had for such things. Surely a man…even a wicked wizard such as Howl…would find more conventional meals to be more satisfying. Lifting up the pretty little felt hat to eye level she frowned thoughtfully. “How does one prepare girl's hearts for consumption?” She asked it with a slight wrinkling of her nose.

 

Time seemed to pass slowly without Martha and Lettie around to fill in the silences with their cheerful chatter or loud bickering, depending on each of their moods. The day before the full moon Lettie returned to the hat shop carefully carrying a colourful box that, upon opening, revealed one of the luxurious cakes Cesari's was famous for. Taking the hats and bonnets along with her basket of trimmings into the family's smallish sitting room, Sophie listened as Lettie rambled on about all that she was learning in her apprenticeship and the various young men who returned daily to buy tarts, pies, cakes and other delicacies while they flirted with her. It was apparent that Lettie was thoroughly enjoying all the attention she was generating.

 

All too soon it was nearing evening with the sun just beginning to dip beyond the horizon. Lettie stood and hastily made her departure, exclaiming that she'd quite forgotten the time and had best hurry back to the dorms before night fell. Sophie couldn't blame her sister for her rush. After all, it was the night of the full moon and no one dared to be caught out on the streets on such a night. Her own brush with the powerful Witch of the Waste was still fresh in her mind and she urged her sister to run the two blocks separating the hat shop from the bakery. She shuddered at the thought of Lettie meeting up with another of those horrible blob things out all alone on the streets with no one around to assist her.

 

After carefully locking the shop's door…she double checked this time to be absolutely certain that it was indeed locked…Sophie returned to her workbench, intent on finishing the last of the hats she'd been trimming before Lettie had arrived. Glancing out the window she paused and admired the way the setting sun cast golden light across the rocky wilds above Market Chipping. “Huh.” She muttered to the hat she was holding. “It makes even Howl's castle appear pretty, doesn't it?” For a moment, she felt great dissatisfaction welling up within her. It wasn't fair that the Witch of the Waste held the town in such thrall with fear that no one could enjoy the simple beauty of a sunset without the anxiety that dallying outdoors would spell certain doom. “Drat the witch and her terrorizing of innocent townspeople!” She exclaimed, tossing the hat aside in a fit of temper. “And bother Howl for doing the same from the other end!” She stood up in such a rush that her stool clattered backwards, toppling to the floor. “What right do they have?” She picked up the hat again and glared at it fiercely. “None at all, that's what!” She nodded emphatically. “You know what's needed?” She asked the hat that appeared to be paying close attention to its makers words, ribbons bobbing in a manner close to nodding. “Courage.” Sophie said with finality. “Something this town is sorely lacking in.” She sniffed disdainfully and set the hat aside. Looking out the tiny window again, she could feel her indignation deflating as the last rays of light disappeared. “Ah, who am I kidding? I'm just as much of a coward as the rest of them.” She carefully righted her stool and reached for her needle while picking out another bonnet to work on. “I can't really blame them, you know. The witch is dreadfully frightening.” She bent her head and began sewing flowers and ribbons to the bonnet with quick stitches, ashamed of her earlier outburst.

 

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TBC…