[ OOM: In which there is still bickering, although less than before, and also a pair of sadly neglected pies. ]

[ OOM: Even in a world of magic, it's really not always flowers, hearts, and candy. ]

[ OOM: Meanwhile, back at the castle, waiting has never been Howl's strong suit. ]

[ OOM: After his conversation with Mia, Howl goes home to prove a point to himself.

For better or for worse, he's right. ]

It's dark out back, by the lake, and the night breezes carries a series of clanking sounds.

Someone is kneeling by the water's edge, carefully assembling a machine. Up close, it looks a little like something Hayao Miyazaki and Diana Wynne Jones might vomit up, if they were in the habit of conjoined vomiting. Which they probably aren't.

( OOM: In Which the King of Ingary Loses and then Rapidly Regains Favor )

There are songs and then there are songs. In Wales where he grew up, most everything's got a song written for it or about it and even Calcifer had the little Welsh saucepan song he used to sing. Tonight, though, after the latest batch's 3,450th self-healing bandage was made and wrapped -- by magic, of course -- and packaged up for the troops, there ( Read more... )

[OOM: Once upon a time, in a land where time moves to its own beat and the concerns of the world at large are everyone's concern if you're the King or work for him, the Royal Wizard and his lovely wife welcomed an absolute princess of a visitor who in no way could be construed as Howl's cousin. And then Howl and Sophie took said not-a-cousin to ( Read more... )

[ OOM: In the land of Ingary, all is not well.

When thou sigh'st, thou sigh'st not wind,
But sigh'st my soul away

--John Donne ]

The door opens on a conversation already in progress, a lot of which probably makes absolutely no sense to those not familiar with the peculiarly Ingarian practice of magic.

"...can't help it if I learned the words in Welsh first. Tri ohono fe. But remember, the important thing is the intention behind the words. There are words of power, but they' ( Read more... )