"I have to say, you are a lot more gentle than some of the seamstresses I've visited," Mirabel said as she held out her arms, allowing Senora Perez to measure under her arms. She was wearing a simple blouse and dress that the woman used to help figure out how a person carried their garments when wearing them. Julieta knew that most men assumed that women's clothing were like men's and if you were roughly the same size you could borrow each other's clothes and look fine. For women though there were all sorts of curves and lines that could make what was a beautiful dress on one woman look like a misshapened sack on the other. "Of course for a lot of them they are used to their clients having scales or rocky hides so jabbing them with a pin isn't mean it's just commonplace."

Senora Perez shot Julieta a look but she was only able to helplessly shrug; she was finding that sometimes Mirabel just said things that didn't make a ton of sense and it was best just to shrug and move on.

'Because that is the best way to handle your problems!' a little voice sang in her head.

"I wasn't aware there were many seamstresses out in the wild," Senora Perez said, a slightly mocking edge to her words that made Julieta wince; even after her daughter had appeared in a bolt of lightning and shown off metal animals that could become armor people still thought she was lying about everything she did.

Mirabel though only laughed. "Oh, there are a lot of seamstresses out there. Tailors too. I've even met clothing mages… those guys are weird. Trio of them, the only magic they could do involved clothing. Eldest could make shirts, middle underwear, youngest pants. I asked what they did before the youngest was trained but they didn't want to answer me." She shrugged. "But yeah, whole lot of people out there who do this kind of stuff. But you're still the most gentle."

"Hmmm," Senora Perez said, clearly unsure if she should be flattered by the comment or insulted. "Now, if you want any embroidery that will be extra-"

Mirabel waved her off. "Nah, that's fine. I can do that myself."

"You can?" Julieta asked, surprised.

"Well… yeah," Mirabel said with a shrug. "I mean I have a lot of practice. We'd a lot of times have to camp out for weeks waiting for the next request for our aid if we didn't want to leave a region or for the phase of the moon to be right so we could enter some forgotten temple so I had to keep busy. You learn how to patch up clothing on the road and it was simple to move on to embroidery after that."

Julieta honestly was startled. "I just… didn't expect…"

"What, because of those?" she asked, gesturing to where her shirt and overalls were sitting. Senora Perez had looked ready to burn them when she saw them but considering what Luisa had told her about Mirabel's gloves Julieta wondered if they could even have been burned. "Those are just comfortable and good for working and I knew abuela would want me to help out around the village. But I have plenty of nicer clothing for special occasions. I… I just like those." She shrugged. "And you can't really embroider butterflies on those, can you?"

Julieta chuckled at that, feeling like she was on firmer ground when it came to relating to her daughter. "So you like to embroider. Do you do that for the rest of your, er, party?"

"Not often but sometimes. Honestly I just do it as a hobby."

"Embroidery as a hobby?" Senora Perez asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Why not? There are people who bake just because they enjoy baking. Others who will make things with metal; for me that is my skill and how I get by in the world but for other people it is just something entertaining to do."

Julieta remained silent. This… this she couldn't relate to. Ever since she'd gotten her gift her focus had been on cooking so she might heal all the villagers. She didn't have time for many pastimes and what few she did enjoy were all wrapped up around the family. Dancing, music… but those were only at parties. Sometimes when she had trouble falling to sleep Agustin would read to her but that wasn't really a hobby…

"And you are able to waste your time doing such things?" Senora Perez said dismissively.

Mirabel shot her a dark look at that and for a moment Julieta was 4 years old again and staring at her mama as she glared at a villager who had made a crude comment in front of the triplets without thinking. It was breathtaking. "And tell me, Senora Perez, do you spend every day from dusk till dawn sewing clothing? Do you wake up with a needle in your hand and go to bed with a tape measure wrapped around your wrist?" She shook her head. "People NEED to find outlets to relax and refresh themselves. When I first started adventuring I wanted to do so much and would get frustrated when Tio Ernesto told me to slow down." She paused, a slight smile on her face, and then she began to softly sing, "I was once like you are now/And I know that it's not easy/To be calm when you've found/Something going on/But take your time, think a lot/Think of everything you've got/For you will still be here tomorrow/But your dreams may not." She let out a soft sigh and when she spoke again it was normal. "It took me a few years to understand what he was trying to tell me. If you rush to get experiences into your life you… aren't really getting them. If you ran to a beach and began to rapidly shove sand with your hands so many will spill from your fingers. But if I came over and carefully cupped my hands and took my time… I would lose far less.

"You can't just fill your days with a thousand things and lead a healthy life. When you jam yourself with so much… either you burst or the important things spill away. Yes, there were days where we were constantly on the run. Where I would be chasing after Bruno while a horde of zombie tigers that were half rotted flesh and half gold were nipping at our heels and I was throwing out smoke grenades while trying to find a way out of the city we'd stumbled upon. But afterwards I didn't rush into the next adventure. We would camp out under the stars or return to the Bureau and we'd decompress. We'd do things just for fun. Or have a party for no reason other than we wanted to have one. Have you ever had cake just because you wanted a slice?" she shook her head. "Sorry, getting off topic but mama can we stop and get a cake? I'll buy it I just really want some cake." Julieta laughed at that and nodded because suddenly cake did sound good before Mirabel turned back to Senora Perez. "You can't overstuff your life. Sometimes… you need a break. That doesn't make you lazy it makes you human."

Mirabel was focused on Senora Perez so she didn't see Julieta subtly turn her head away and suck back the tears that were threatening to form. How… how was it that her 15 year old daughter was saying what Julieta had dismissed for 45 years and making her feel so utterly wrong? For decades she had focused on the village and her family and while she loved her life and would never trade it away… there were times where she did just want to rest. To sleep in. To take a day off. To go walk in the forest again and feel the wind on her face. Or go swimming… gods she missed swimming. Or what she had called swimming because it had been her and Bruno and Pepa lying in the shallow ends of a pond splashing about and scooting in the mud. But… she wanted to try swimming again, real swimming. Luisa had told her about the bathhouse that the Bureau had and Julieta suddenly wanted to run back to casita and shuck off all her clothing and just take a long bath where it was just her and the quiet!

"Well, I still think it is a waste of time to do something without a purpose," Senora Perez said with a sniff before moving towards the back to get some samples of the different bolts of cloth she had. Julieta winced at that reminder of what her mother would say if she did any of that and she quietly shrunk down in her seat. Wasteful. Yes, wasteful. Just like getting that cake. She could bake a cake easily enough. And they could wait until Antonio's party-

"She's mouthier than most seamstresses I've dealt with," Mirabel muttered. "Rock trolls are less moody than her."

"Mirabel…" Julieta warned her daughter.

"I'm just saying mama that if she worked in the Imperial City her employer would have fired her for speaking against a client like that. No hope of getting a patron with that attitude and patrons are everything." Mirabel smiled fondly at that. "They were cold perhaps but utterly professional. Fast as lightning. Could work with enchanted items too which was wonderful."

"Enchanted items?" Julieta asked.

"Yeah," Mirabel said, hopping down from the platform she'd been standing upon, choosing to sit down and cross her leg over the other so she could rub her sore foot. "Everyone gets all excited when they hear about a Cloak of Eternal Vitality or a Vest of the Pickpocket's Saint and spend months trying to track down where it was last seen… only to get disappointed when they finally get it and the stupid thing doesn't fit or is as baggy as a bed sheet. Always make sure you have enough gold saved up to get it refitted."

"I… was more getting stuck on the enchanted part of that."

Mirabel blinked before smacking her head. "Oh! Right, geez, sorry about that!" She tapped her glasses. "Okay, so there are several different types of enchantments. My armor and my glasses are two different types, for example. Sofia uses runes to give her certain aspects, namely the ability to switch form and some sentience. I'm trained in Golem Smithing which means I know metal work and rune crafting. Got my mastery in both!" She puffed up her chest at that. "My glasses are a different kind. These have materials that are naturally magical combined together. The frames are from Growing Metal that, well, grow as I grow. Same pair I've had for 9 years. The glass is indestructible."

"Like Luisa's dinner glasses," Julieta said, remembering how her daughter had come to them rather upset, holding out the glasses and showing how they were unbreakable and feeling terrible she tossed aside such a thoughtful gift. Agustin had found his red dragonhide gloves and begun using them while Julieta was trying to find the cook book that she'd been given, wondering if there was something in it she might have missed.

"Exactly!" Mirabel said. "Other ones enhance your abilities on the Gygax Scale."

"The… what now?"

Mirabel opened her mouth before a glint in her eye that reminded her of when Camilo was about to pull a prank flared up. She went over to her folded clothing and grabbed her bag, reaching inside before pulling out a lovely bracelet. It was silver with little beads that shined merrily in the sunlight; it must cost a fortune. Mirabel slipped it on before turning to where Senora Perez had gone. "Excuse me?"

"Yes?" the seamstress aid, coming out with several bolts of cloth.

"I was wondering if in addition to the dresses you could make me a few more sets of work overalls and shirts," Mirabel said. "After all, you wouldn't want your fine dresses to get dirty."

Julieta braced herself for the explosion… only to be startled when Senora Perez nodded her head. "Yes, I think you are right. Shouldn't be too hard. I have some material I use to make the farmer's work clothes that I could use…"

"Thank you!" Mirabel beamed as Senora Perez hurried back out of the room.

Julieta stared at her daughter. "What… how did you…"

Mirabel held up her arm, the bracelet on full display. "The Bracelet of the Queen of Cons. Plus Five to Charisma."

"I… I don't understand…" she narrowed her eyes. "Mirabel, did you cast a SPELL on her?"

"What? No!" Mirabel looked positively offended at that. "I would NEVER do that! No… it was like I was saying about the Gygax Scale." Julieta continued to glower at her. "Everyone has natural talents. Some are born leaders. Others stronger than their neighbors or smarter. There are mages and wizards that can perform spells that tell you exactly how skilled you are in certain things. How strong, how fast, dexterity, luck, so on. Enchanted items like this bracelet just take what you already can do and give it a… bump."

"A bump?"

"Look at it with our family. If you asked Isabella, Luisa, Camilo, Dolores, and Antonio to ask the exact same man to let them borrow a broom he did not want to give out they'd have different outcomes. Isabella would be able to charm him to get it. Luisa might argue and it would be a 50/50 shot if she got it. Camilo would try and charm him but probably fail. Dolores wouldn't even get a few words out before he sent her away. And Antonio would be cute as a button and get it instantly. Some people have more charisma than others. This bracelet just bumps me from Camilo to Isabella. It makes people more willing to listen."

"It… still sounds like you casting a spell on someone."

"There are people that abuse them, yes. I only do it because I know I ramble and that turns people off. There are some people that will try and enhance things they are already good at to make themselves even better. Luisa getting a part of boots that made her even stronger, for example. Others might cover their weaknesses, like I do. Everything can be abused though… it's the person, not the tool."

Julieta had to admit her daughter had a point. In her hands a knife was a tool. In another's it was a weapon.

"I got this baby just a month ago from Ulika for my birthday. I thought that she had gone to get some manticore meat because she'd been craving it which was weird because the seasonings she usually likes to mix with it weren't available because of a bad harvest and she hates overpaying but still I didn't think anything of it until-"

Julieta though tuned her daughter out.

Her birthday.

Last month.

Her daughter had turned 15.

"Mirabel," she said, cutting her off, "did… did Tio Bruno and Tio Ernesto throw you a quinceañera?"

"What? Oh, no!" Mirabel chuckled. "We thought about doing a big party but we had just gotten a request for help about this dragon in a zombie-filled temple… oh, I am sorry I never finished telling you guys about that! Luisa was really mad I never followed up. So-"

Julieta didn't hear a word.

Her daughter hadn't gotten a quinceañera.

She hadn't been able to properly celebrate becoming a woman.

"You know," she said, cutting her daughter off again when she'd trailed off, "I think we should wait on getting that cake."

"Why?"

Julieta smiled. "Because I think we need to have another party real soon…"