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Howl had known Kali would be angry when he called, but he needed to get away from his house for a while. He hadn't slept very much at all in the last week, and he looked it. Rings were forming under his eyes, rings that would probably take several nights of sleeping to be rid of them. Not that Howl cared; for once he wasn't worried about his appearance. For once he didn't care whether people saw him in his pajamas; currently a t-shirt and a pair of shorts.

He didn't care that it was forty degrees, though he certainly didn't hesitate in getting to his destination. With a quick transportation spell, he was on the doorstep. Without pausing to knock, his hand went to the door knob. Surprised to find the door unlocked, he walked in, glancing around nervously.

He spotted Kali and instantly attached himself to her. "Kali," he breathed. "A lubbock's got Morgan!"

"It came back!" Howl told her, bordering on hysterics. Now that Kali had pried away from him, he was twisting the bottom of his t-shirt. "It has Morgan, and that's why I wasn't able to summon him! There's a barrier, and--It was there, Kali! And the castle! It's in ruins. I knew it would be, with Calcifer and I gone."

He paused long enough to allow Kali to get a good look at him. "I know," he agreed. He did look terrible; he hadn't even taken the time to look in the mirror. Morgan was more important. Maybe Kali could--but no, she couldn't do magic in her condition. What would happen to Morgan, then? He reluctantly sat next to her, feeling the weight of his exhaustion hit.

"I haven't slept very well," he said, almost apologetically. "In a long time."

Normally, Howl might have been embarassed about being pulled into his best friend's lap. That night, however--or was it that morning? he didn't protest. He should have known it was a dream; he felt silly, getting so worked up. It had seemed so real... It really had felt like he'd been back in Ingary; all the sounds and smells had been just as he remembered it.

"But--" he started, frowning in concern. Both Lettie and Martha were married to talented wizards; one whom he had trained himself. It was only logical to figure one of them had taken Morgan in. He worried then, about Michael and Martha having taken him; Martha's biggest wish was to have a large family with ten children; she and Michael had probably gotten started on that while he'd been away. Was Morgan getting enough attention, with whoever was taking care of him?

"It didn't feel like a dream," Howl muttered, allowing Kali to cuddle him. He knew better than to return the cuddles (what if Lance showed up? What if her mood suddenly changed on him?) "Three or so days," he added, answering her next question. "Tonight's was the worst though..."

Slowly, Howl seemed to remember that he didn't give a rat's a** about what Lance though, and returned her cuddles. He kissed her cheek gratefully. He was lucky to have a friend--no, a sister, like Kali. Megan would have sent him away at once, perhaps calling him a drunk, perhaps telling him what a bum he was. Kali understood him.

And she was right. It couldn't have been real. The lubbock was dead, he and Calcifer had killed it. Morgan was probably with Michael and Martha, or Lettie and Wizard Sulliman. He was safe, then, if he was with them. "I didn't think of coming until tonight," the wizard admitted, leaning his head on her shoulder. "I wasn't able to find a spell to make the nightmares stop, so I thought they would go away eventually. They haven't though."

"Do you think I can stay here for the night?"

"You shouldn't do magic in your condition," Howl reminded her, pulling away gently and crossing his arms. "You might accidently influence the baby, and--" well, the wizard had no doubts that Kali's son would be magical. With a mother like his, he was bound to be, even if the father was as unmagical as it was possible to be. There was definitely going to be some magical blood in the baby.

And Howl was going to offer to make him his apprentice as soon as the boy was old enough. "Show me where your room is?" If only he understood girls and sexual tendencies as well as he did magic. He might have understood why Lance would become angry, or why Viktor would snap him in half for finding him in the house.

Howl followed her, quite willingly. A warmth was filling him, and he was having trouble keeping his eyes open even as he followed her up the stairs. There was something else now, burning in his mind. Something more than nightmares, a curiousity, really. He settled down in Kali's bed quite comfortably, and stared up at the ceiling.

"Hey Kali? You and Lance are going to have a baby, aren't you?" he asked. "So. How'd it happen?" The monster that was puberty hadn't yet rose it's ugly head yet in Howl; the biggest issue with it so far had been his voice changing. It wasn't just that, though. He knew he had known the answer to his question, once upon a time.

"She'd hit me," Howl said, frowning slightly. "Probably with a pan of some sort. She's really quite violent when she wants to be, you know. Quite like you." The wizard yawned and curled up in the blanket. "She'd probably laugh at me, too. We have Morgan, so I assume that at one point, I knew how to."

Another yawn. He moved closer to Kali and put an arm around her, seemingly out of instinct. "Love you, Kali. Goodnight." He didn't fall asleep all at once though; one could almost hear the gears turning in his head. And naturally, sharing a bed with a wizard made said wizard assume Kali would be sharing breakfast with him as well.