Howl watches the show of sparkling purple light and smiles at Majorita's words. It's a bit hard for him to imagine anything like that not being cute, but considering the shift in topic, he keeps that thought to himself.

"You needn't apologize," Howl says gently at the end of it. "I'd wager most of us feel exactly the same. For all the extra tricks I may have up my sleeves, I couldn't do anything to stop it from infecting me, either. I'd probably have turned to stone if I was found just a few hours later."