(no subject)

[talkstohats]

The heat spell wears off a few minutes before Sophie manages to make it back to the oak grove; she starts, and then gives up edging around the perimeter, cutting her way rapidly back through the center of the camp. A bored page throws a pot at her, and she jumps aside before she can think about it, hair standing on end.

She runs the rest of the way to the hut, and she's panting a little when she reaches it. There are a pair of Strangian soldiers smoking cigars and bragging about the assets of their respective girls leaning against the wall. If Sophie were in her own shape, she'd surely be blushing. As it is, she tries not to listen and slinks her way inside, looking for Howl.

Comments

[wizard_howell]

"Fine!" He shouts it at her retreating form as if the flowers had no ears, as if there were no one else at the edge of the waste, as if Michael can't hear them. "Next time I'll shift you back in front of the Strangian army without the benefit of a cloak and let you travel back naked but for one boot."

That should stop her chasing after him, at any rate, should the king send him out on another reconnaissance mission.

She should have trusted him.

She should have stayed here in the first place.

And now he's got to get out of this soldier's outfit and get to Kingsbury to report to the king. What started out as a lovely dinner with the woman who stole his heart has ended up as something far less stellar. It's with a heavy heart that he tears off the Strangian officer's hat and jacket and moves towards the door of his own castle, which doesn't feel so very much like his own any more.

Things were definitely easier when Calcifer was in charge of his heart.

[talkstohats]

Sophie's only reply is an extra-loud stomp over the floor of the castle as she heads towards her own small room to put on some clothing.

She's furious at Howl, but she's just as furious at herself. What a fool you are, Sophie! she tells herself bitterly, but she doesn't know quite what she feels the most foolish about: going on a mission without any sort of plan; starting a serious fight with the person she loves; or believing for a minute that Howl might see her as a partner instead of, at best, an endearing little liability.

Whatever is the greatest piece of foolishness, it's without question the last that stings the most.

[wizard_howell]

He knows Sophie has a hot temper; he loves her for it. He knows she's single-minded; he loves her for it. He knows she's got an unflinching desire to be included; he loves her for it. He knows he's the best-equipped at stealth missions. She doesn't love him for that.

Saddened, he walks into the castle, makes his way upstairs to change clothes quickly, and heads back down. He pauses for a very long minute outside the closed (and he assumes locked) door to Sophie's room, feeling a mixture of anger and a great, heavy sorrow.

He doesn't knock at it, however. Instead, he simply turns the castle's front doorknob to red-down, opens it, and walks through. As the lush streets of Kingsbury gleam in the mid-day sunlight, the door closes behind him with a quiet click. Tiny spots of blood seep through the stomach of his white silk shirt as he walks heavily through the streets towards the castle.

No one dares disturb him.