Chapter Text
Marco barely remembered falling asleep on Howl's doorstep. He was sick when he woke up, sick with the same fever that had taken his mother and father, but Howl had made him drink something hot, and Calcifer had kept him company while he was too weak to get up from the pallet by the hearth, and when he did get strong enough there was nowhere else to go so he stayed and never knew that he was Howl's apprentice until he overheard the wizard say so to one of the King's messengers.
It was better than no home at all.