It was one thing to constantly hear the wishes of strangers. From his days as a star, he remembered the careless whispers of people he had never met and never planned to, all with a selfish desire to have more than they already did. It pleased him greatly to grant these foolish wishes, then watch from afar as those senseless humans received much more than they bargained for.

It was one thing to hear wishes from strangers - it was something more terrifying to hear a wish from someone he loved.

Careless, Calcifer thought as he sprinted through the uncharted paths of the Wastes. How could she be so careless with her words? He wasn't sure if the sweat perspiring around his forehead was from running or the constant thoughts that poisoned his mind. His thoughts were cruel to him, only conjuring up the worst possible outcomes. Knowing very well the ways of a star's mentality, he expected one of them to graciously permit such a wish to occur.

Calcifer ran with heavy tears in his eyes. Just let me get to her first.

"Calcifer!" Howl and Xarx were far behind him, but slowly decreased their distance as all three headed into the thick of the Wastes. The frenzied magician could hardly hear his friends' cries as the storm clouds surrounded one of the smaller hills in a strange, cyclone formation. This storm had been building since before Gwenda's wish, yet now it targeted one insignificant part of the Wastes.

It couldn't have been a coincidence.

Calcifer kept his speed until the agonizing sound of more pointless wishes flooded into his brain. He halted his steps abruptly and pressed arid hands against his ears, trying to drown out the sound that only existed on the inside. His teeth clamped shut, locking together as if this new pain would somehow silence the misery.

I wish to finally know the truth.

I wish daddy would come home.

I wish she would finally forgive me.

Howl rushed to his side and immediately grabbed his shoulder. "Calcifer what's wrong? Why did you run off like that?"

Calcifer scrunched his eyes and pushed harder against his ears. He hadn't heard Howl's voice amidst the wishes or the cracking storm or his agitated hands trying to deafen the noise. He was desperate to end it, but nothing could stop this torment.

"Calcifer." Howl ripped his hands away and forced his friend to look him in the eye. "Calcifer, talk to me."

His eyes were wilted like winter flowers, drooping low as the restlessness encompassed him entirely. Though Howl was only newly aware of this recurring issue, one close look was all he needed to see how bleary and debilitated he actually was. There was something more causing his inner turmoil.

Calcifer combed shaggy fingers through his radiant hair, noticing heavy droplets of sweat sticking to the estranged locks. These sweat stains now mixed with rain as the storm prolonged its eruption. It was like running a race with no end. He couldn't even comprehend what was going on until he saw Howl's worrisome look. He and Xarx were at his side, and neither were about to abandon him.

There was no sense in keeping this to himself anymore.

"There's a reason why I haven't been able to sleep," Calcifer said, swallowing hard before his next words, "I'm hearing wishes again."

Howl and Xarx stood stunned, unable to move. The growing night darkened around them as Calcifer dropped to one knee and began yanking his hair nearly to the point of pulling out the strands. Usually, he'd try to think of something good in his life to focus on to make the wishes stop, but lately all the good things were vanishing away from him. The only positive he could imagine was how lucky he felt not to be alone right now.

Howl knelt down beside him. "You're... you're hearing wishes? As in what you were able to do as a star?"

Calicfer nodded and bit his lip. He hadn't even told Gwenda the truth about what kept him up at night. Another lie, he thought, and now he was paying for it by hearing her own wish.

He pointed to the top of the small hill with the swirling cyclone, his fingers shivering in the frigid wind. "I heard it from there. I know she's there. I have to stop her."

"Hold on." Xarx held Calcifer's shoulder before he could stand up. "Heard who?"

"Gwenda," Calicfer said as he flung Xarx's arm off of him. "It was her wish. I need to find her before a star grants it and she's lost for good."

Lightning struck and outlined the image of a strange beast - a flying gryphon, and it was closing in on the hill Calcifer so desperately aimed for. There was only one wizard they knew with that form: Kenta. They must have been near his cottage. Optimistic thinking, maybe he was there to stop her as well. How he would know about this impromptu journey and ludicrous wish was beyond him, but he could only hope that someone else was working to save her.

"Calcifer, wait!" Howl and Xarx were once again left in the background as their comrade rushed toward the center of commotion, barely keeping up with his speed.

Another lightning strike - Calcifer was close enough to hear a multitude of screams simultaneously blending into the clamor of the sky, yet still out of reach to even see her. Just get there, he thought, before it's too late.

"Gwenda!" As he climbed up to the top of the hill, the only sight was a green, swirling portal shrinking into the ground. He rushed over to it, but by the time he got there, it had already closed up and folded inside the land.

"Gwenda, no!" Calcifer clawed his fingers on the dirt, digging deeper and deeper until his nails cracked and filled with black dirt. She was gone - again. Once more, fate had taken her away from him in some twisted plot. It was a severance he was all too familiar with, and he loathed it more each time.

The two wizards frantically raced up to meet him, resting on their knees and panting as they stopped. They watched Calcifer's helpless look, watched as he pounded the ground with fists of anger.

They were too late.

Howl took several steps closer until he noticed a strange letter on the ground. He cautiously reached for it, examined its features, and narrowed his eyes when he saw the scorch marks. It was peculiar enough that this letter lay perfectly on the ground without a scratch, but even more that Calcifer's name was written on it - his full name.

The clouds dispersed and the short rainfall had ceased. The air was quiet and still as the wizards grappled with all they had witnessed and all that was unseen. In a matter of moments, they went from searching for one lost soul to another, and quite possibly more.

Xarx was the first to break the silence. "That gryphon that was flying... was that who I think it was?"

Howl nodded, clinching the letter more securely. "Kenta. I'd recognize him anywhere."

"And now he's not here." Xarx continued, "Where'd he go?"

"Same place that Gwenda wished to go," Calcifer said, his voice low with devastation. "Wales."

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

Living in a world with magic, she had witnessed and personally experienced more than she had bargained for - cynical witches on broomsticks, magically moving castles, even herself being transformed into a flower. Being merely human, it was a miracle to her that she was still alive to recount those events, and she truly believed there was nothing left that she hadn't seen about the erratic wonders of magic.

That was, until she unwillingly fell through a portal and physically transported to a new realm.

Gwenda could only hear the shrilling screams from Wynne as they descended at lightning speed for what seemed like only a few short moments. Her hands reached forward, but every attempt to pull Wynne closer to her only resulted in her catching hollow air. The green light that encompassed them was blinding and it pulsated like a beating heart. It seemed as though the portal itself was a living, breathing creature of magic.

It was a quick and sudden change. One minute, they were falling with no end and the next they were plummeting toward a field of grass and flowers. Wynne instinctively cast a short wind spell to lessen her fall, however Gwenda and Kenta were not as lucky to cushion their plunge.

The grass, while soft, lay on stiff ground, which made falling down from an incalculable height more severely arduous. Gwenda and Kenta both groaned and winced in pain, rubbing their bones and irritated muscles as they ached all over their aged bodies.

Wynne, in her pristine youth and quick thinking, recovered with ease and stood up. Patting her dress clean of the stray grass and flower petals, her eyes wandered along this outlandish world. She was eager to explore these new surroundings.

"Sweetie," Kenta grunted as he tried to find his bearings, "Hold on. Don't go too far."

Wynne halted her brief walk, her body too petrified to move a step farther. The cool breeze sent shivers coursing through her body, and even Aunt Gwenda's coat wasn't enough to feel safe. Her father didn't need to tell her to stop after she peered down toward the blunt edge that dropped farther than the height of the hills in the Wastes.

Gwenda pushed herself up and dusted the dirt from her overalls. She coughed into a fist as the dirt floated around in the casual wind, mixing with the sweet fragrance of the floral blossoms. Peonies and bluebells and daffodils scattered around them, gifting the air with a scent of pure springtime. It reminded her of Howl's and Sophie's garden, yet she knew this place was drastically different.

The faint sound of the Porthaven coast rang in her ears, but Gwenda was certain she'd never been here - at least not this part of Porthaven, at least. It was precariously evident that Wynne was unfamiliar here as well. She casually walked toward the little girl, wondering what could be so frightening that she stood shaking like she was in the middle of a blizzard.

Gwenda stopped the moment she looked down at the wrathful waves crashing against the jagged cliffside - this was most definitely not Porthaven.

The ocean spanned out for miles beyond the dark horizon. Aside from the small peninsula of land they stood on, everything beyond them was a deep sea of mystery gently merging into the twinkling expanse of the night sky. Waves traveled in their direction and amplified as they neared the cliff, barraging the rocky wall with an unforgiving force. For as high up as they were, Gwenda still felt chilled sprinkles of the ocean water peppering against her cheek each time a wave crashed.

Wynne quivered her lips as she whispered, "I've never seen the ocean like this before."

Gwenda barely moved a muscle as she replied, "Neither have I, kid."

Wynne sucked in a short breath as Kenta grabbed her shoulders and thrust her around to meet him. His breathing was heavy and labored, yet his fatherly instincts were extremely heightened. "Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself? Is anything broken?"

She shook her head in short spurts. "I'm fine, Dad."

Kenta's eyes glistened even in the darkness of the night, examining her for cuts or bruises, but she appeared unharmed by their fall. After a moment, all he could do was embrace his daughter, his bulky arms tightly wrapped around her.

He scrunched his eyes, yet that only slowed the steady tears that formed. "I was so worried. I thought I lost you forever."

Gwenda cleared her throat. "Technically, we are lost right now."

One vengeful glare from Kenta made her wish she hadn't said anything. He gently removed his arms from around Wynne and pushed against his knees to stand straight, his chest puffing out with each vile thought that appeared in his mind. All of them stemmed from one core - this was entirely her fault.

Kenta took one large stride toward her, his voice challenging the crackle of the waves as he shouted, "Are you out of your mind? How could you bring my daughter to this place?"

Gwenda gawked. "Did you not hear a single word I said before we got sucked in by that portal? I told you already. I didn't ask her to come - she followed me."

"Well, now we're stuck here." Kenta gestured toward the flower field that extended behind them, the only outlier being an empty and desolate stone path with no sign of human life or society anywhere. "Wherever this place is."

"It's Wales." Wynne said. Gwenda and Kenta widened their eyes, watching intently as little Wynne put the pieces together of their final moments in Ingary. Her father hadn't been there to hear, and Aunt Gwenda hadn't known she was hiding until after she had spoken so casually to the stars. "It has to be."

Kenta swallowed hard. "Why would we have gone to... h-how do you know that? How do you even know of Wales?"

Wynne darted her eyes between the two of them, then slightly nodded toward Gwenda. "Aunt Gwenda made a wish before you found us. She wanted to find a way here, and so she wished for it."

Kenta's mind wrapped around too many thoughts and questions to even have a singular focus. He'd only heard stories of this place from Howl and other wizards who came from here - and not the best of stories, either. Never did he think one day he would be standing in the very place that magicians ran from because of the overt distaste for magical creatures of all kinds. Revolting memories of hiding out in Ovela came to mind, and from those experiences, he knew how dangerous it was to even be out in the open like they were.

Gwenda, now knowing their location, simply stared in wondrous awe. She was astounded by everything in her view, from the ruthless waves to the charming, isolated fields. It took a moment for her to comprehend this dramatic alteration - one moment she was walking through the perilous Wastes and the next, she was in an entirely new realm.

Just like magic.

"We're in... I mean, we're really here?" Gwenda breathed a laugh as she took in the scenery, really soaking in the atmosphere of a world she had never known. She couldn't tell if she was excited or nervous or scared - or all three at once. "I can't believe it. To be honest I was a little skeptical that it was even real. I mean, who names a world after an animal?"

Kenta seethed through his teeth. "First, it's not a world - it's a country in a world. Second, it's not W-H-A-L-E, it's just W-A-L-E-S."

Gwenda shrugged. "And how was I supposed to know that? I hadn't even heard of the place until yesterday."

"Well, you wished to get here," Kenta's tone was vexed with clear frustration. "And a star must've answered you, so I'm sorry that I gave you enough credit to think you actually knew what you were doing."

Gwenda threw her hands in the air. "How was I supposed to know I'd actually get here? In case you haven't realized, I'm not a magician. I can't just create portals or transport myself places."

"Trust me," Kenta spat, "Even if you had magic, you wouldn't use it."

Gwenda tightened her fists, but dropped them at her side. "It was a stupid, spur of the moment wish. Stars barely answer wishes at all! I didn't think anything would really happen."

"They obviously knew this one was a horrible idea and decided to let it play out."

"Kenta, I didn't mean for this to happen. I was going to do this on my own."

"And yet here we are!" Kenta shouted against the roaring waves below. "Your idiotic plan has now dragged me and my daughter into your mess and there is no telling if we can even find a way back home. You never think these things through, Gwendolyn!"

"All right, Dad," Gwenda said with a sarcastic tone and crossed her arms. "Geez, why do you always use my full name when you're mad at me? It's like you think I'm some kid."

"Well, when you do reckless things like this-"

"Daddy," Wynne pulled on her dad's sleeve in order to gain his attention. When he looked down, her fiery eyes glowed with a terrified panic in the darkness. "Please stop yelling."

Kenta inhaled a slow, easy breath, trying to relax his built-up anger. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I'm just frustrated right now."

Gwenda puffed a laugh. "That's an understatement."

Kenta dug weary fingernails deep into his palms, but quickly loosened them and drooped his arms. He was thoroughly exhausted: working from sunrise to sunset helping farmers with their own problems for the past few days; then, coming home to hear Gwenda's issues within her marriage and suddenly traveling the Wastes in a deranged manner, frantic over finding his missing daughter; only then to be flung worlds away. All of these combined had drained the last of his energy.

There was no point in disciplining his sister-in-law anymore, since it would only exhaust the remainder of his stamina to find a safe haven for the night. As much as he yearned to continue criticizing and berating Gwenda for her foolish choices, he knew his priorities. He must keep his daughter safe.

"Wait." Wynne smiled wide as a clever thought formed in her mind. "If a wish brought us here, can't a wish bring us back?"

Gwenda and Kenta shared a glance and both shrugged. It wasn't a half-bad idea, and it was the source of their current situation. Though Kenta was well aware of the rapacious nature of stars, given that Gwenda's wish was answered almost instantly, there was no harm in trying.

The young magician girl turned toward the clear sky, counting the endless number of stars who brought faint light to the darkness above. Kenta adored her purity and desire to fix their struggle, yet all he could think about was how vulnerable she was in this world. There was so much he had sheltered her from in order to protect her from the truth of the realms - now, there was no hiding her from the dangers of magicians and non-magicians anymore.

Closing her eyes, she whispered a simple request - I wish for us to return home.

She wished for it again. And again. And at least a dozen more times.

Nothing.

Kenta sighed. "I guess the stars don't want us back home." His knees wobbled and bent until he fell to the ground, and he sat with his elbows propped up and face buried in his dirt-ridden hands.

Gwenda, though she worried about asking a stupid question, hesitantly spoke up. "Isn't there a spell that can bring us home?"

Kenta rubbed his eyes. "If there was, don't you think I would have cast it by now?"

"Okay, sorry."

Kenta fluttered his tired eyes and looked up toward her. "There are only two ways to travel between realms - a magical doorway, which we just went through, and a particular spell that requires specific objects between those worlds. We don't have any of those, not anymore."

The chilling wind blew from the waves toward them, and both Gwenda and Wynne trembled from the air. Even though spring was upon them, the winter air at night was still harrowing.

Gwenda looked beyond the grassy hills that melted into the nighttime. "I mean, we may as well do what we came here for, then."

Kenta laughed, though he was not even remotely humored by her words. "You cannot seriously still think about finding a fire demon."

"Why not?" Gwenda asked. "We're here, we know there are magicians here, even if not a lot - it has to be worth at least trying."

Kenta hung his arms over his knees, a sardonic smirk on his face. "One, it's a stupid idea. And two, we're in a land that wasn't designed to withhold magic. That's why Howl and most likely every other magician has left. People come here to get away from magic, not toward it."

"If Howl came from here and he was born with magic, there must be others. You just need to look in the right place." Kenta ran his fingers through his greasy hair, his disapproving visage avoiding her gaze. There was very little she could say to convince him otherwise.

She pursed her lips. "And if nothing else, we find a magician who can bring us home."

His ears perked up, like a dog listening for the crunching of plastic around kitchen food. If he could find a magical doorway or transporting objects, there was a chance it would work, but he could only accomplish this by collaborating with magicians who were familiar with this land and its magical properties. Portals like the one they came through don't appear that often, and a physical door that could transport between realms was really their only chance.

Which, once more, required assistance from local magicians.

His mind calculated every possible avenue of returning home, and so far Gwenda's idea was the only logical way. Though rare, he knew it wasn't impossible that magicians were still living in a non-magical world. With his adolescent daughter and impulsive sister-in-law, he had no other choice but to rely on one of these magicians, if they even existed in Wales.

He just didn't trust them quite yet.