Thank you all for the positive comments and support. Addressing a few things ahead of time, Isabella's and Mirabel's relationship is just as rocky in this story but Mirabel's annoyance at her sister is more justified, Abuela is a bit more strict but I'm doing my best not to make her cruel. I've made the villagers a bit less oblivious as too much they ask of Mirabel. I've also made intelligence and a bit of wisdom come with Mirabel's gift, she's determined enough to know it's a good idea to become genuinely good at stuff beyond her gift, in case of the worst-case scenario.
The sun rose to the sound of hammering from the donkey enclosure. Apart from the usual early risers, no one was in the street. The sound of hammering at this hour was not unusual either, Mirabel was always up long before the sun to try to get as much done as she could in a day. The sunlight was dim through the light gray clouds above, keeping the temperature comfortable for her to work in. She was glad Tia was keeping her request in mind.
"Pepa! You have a cloud" exclaimed Abuela, seeing her daughter with a light cloud over her.
"I know mama, Mirabel asked me to keep it cloudy today so the temperature would be cooler to work in," said Pepa.
Abuela frowned.
"I'm sure she can work in the sun Pepa, and the townspeople will want sunny weather, you can't alter the weather for just your sobrina," said Abuela sternly.
Pepa sighed and shooed away the cloud,causing the morning sun to shine harshly on Mirabel who sighed, well the cool weather was nice while it lasted, and at least the donkey fence was done.
Luisa met her in town to help her fix the bridge.
"Abuela told Tia to lose the clouds, Tia hopes you aren't upset with her," said Luisa
"No, Tia tried, but Abuela is probably going to scold me later for asking for cloudy weather," sighed Mirabel
"Where do you want these stones?" asked Luisa
"Just set them down wherever, once I finish you can put the bridge back over the river," said Mirabel
"Got it," said Luisa
The hot sun beat down hard on the two sisters, Mirabel could feel the sunburn forming on her neck.
"We should get back home for lunch," said Luisa
"You go, I have to skip lunch today, Senora Guzman needs one of her dresses fixed and lunch is the only time I have to be able to do it," said Mirabel
"Are you sure? Mama gets worried when you skip meals," said Luisa
"I'll be fine," said Mirabel, placing the final stone into place.
Luisa picked up the bridge and set it back down over the river.
"I'll see you in an hour," said Mirabel.
…
"Mirabel won't be joining us, she has to go to the Guzmans and fix Senora's dress," said Dolores
Abuela frowned.
"Surely she can make time for her Familia," said Abuela
"Apparently this is the only free time she has between her other tasks today so she needs to fulfill the promise she made last night," said Dolores
"Well at least she is embracing what it means to be a Madrigal," said Abuela
"And speaking of the Guzmans, I spoke with Senora, about Mariano's proposal to Dolores, this union of our families will bring about many more magical blessings. Though I was surprised they did not ask for Isabella," said Abuela
Dolores was practically vibrating with excitement.
…
"Gracias Mirabel, I know you are very busy today so this means a lot that you found the time to come fix my dress," said Senora Guzman as she watched the young girl work.
"It's no trouble Senora," said Mirabel
There was a knock at the door.
"Oh, Father Hernandez, what can I do for you?" asked Senora Guzman
"Perdon mi Senora, I saw Mirabel come this way and need to ask for her abilities in the church," said Father Hernandez
"Oh she's right in here come in," said Senora
Mirabel looked up from her stitching.
"Lo siento Mirabel, but the church needs a new altar cloth and you are the only one in town capable of such a task," said Father Hernandez
"How soon do you need it?" asked Mirabel
"Preferably before Sunday mass," said the Father
"I'll see if I can manage that," said Mirabel
"Gracias Senorita Madrigal, your gift is truly a blessing to this community," said the Father
…
Later that afternoon Mirabel made her way home, the sun was beginning to dip over the horizon but she knew tonight had to be perfect for Dolores and she knew Abuela would scold her for being late.
If she knew her prima, Dolores would be practically bouncing in place.
Mirabel made her way into her room, she had about an hour before the Guzmans arrived and absolutely had to get started on the altar cloth if she was going to have any chance of it being done by Sunday.
There was a knock on her door.
"Come in," said Mirabel
It was Pepa and Luisa.
Pepa winced at the nasty sunburn on her Sobrina's neck, feeling guilty that it was partially her fault.
"Hey sis, mama saw the sunburn on your neck when you came home, she told me to bring you these," said Luisa, holding a plate of arepas.
"Thanks," said Mirabel, grabbing one.
"Mira, I know you're very busy but do you think you'd be able to make Dolores's wedding dress and Mariano's suit? I know it's a lot on such short notice," said Pepa
"I actually anticipated this happening, there's a fully made wedding gown in the closet, and I have the suit almost finished, I'll just need to alter it to his size," said Mirabel, barely looking up from her work.
Pepa walked over to the closet and found a long white silk wedding dress with a slightly puffy skirt and short sleeves, a veil of handmade lace attached to a white silk ribbon.
"Oh Mirabel, it's gorgeous, Dolores is going to love it," said Pepa, her eyes misting with tears of Joy
"PEPA IT'S RAINING!" came Abuela's shout
There was another knock at the door and Dolores came in.
"I heard Mirabel already made my dress?" asked Dolores, before looking at the beautiful garment.
"Oh Mirabel, it's stunning, you've really outdone yourself," said Dolores
"I'll go keep this somewhere safe," said Pepa as she and Dolores left Mirabel to her work.
Luisa stayed in her sister's room.
"I was moving the church earlier and Father Hernandez said you were making a new Altar cloth," said Luisa, sitting on Mirabel's bed.
"Uh huh," said Mirabel
"I have to reroute the river tomorrow, why don't you bring your loom and sit by the bank while I work," suggested Luisa.
"Can't, have to fix another roof, help build a new house, and then I have to make more bowls because papa broke a stack while trying to help mama in the kitchen last night after he had been stung again," said Mirabel
"Can't the potterer do that?" asked Luisa
"Not as fast as I can, I've spent ten years perfecting the gift the miracle gave me, but I can always improve because if something happens to the miracle, I'm the only one who has the chance to keep my skills through my own hard work," said Mirabel
"You've become pessimistic Hermanita," said Luisa
"Abuela's eyes are on me and Isa, Isa is the face of perfection for this family, the one who diverts everyone's eyes away from the negative things, I too have to be perfect in a way but it's way more work for me to always be available to meet the needs of the town, where all Isa has to do is grow her pretty little roses that break a roof I spent hours making, and the town goes wild," grumbled Mirabel.
"But under the surface…" sighed Luisa
"I'm pretty sure I'm worthless if I can't be of service," finished Mirabel
Luisa chuckled wryly and pulled her little sister into a tight embrace, they had become closer over the years, often using their gift to help the other to the point where at 15 and 19 if you didn't know them you'd swear they were twins.
"You know Isa has her own problems," said Luisa
"I know, deep down I know she probably has it just as rough as us, but does she have to rub it in my face that she's senorita perfecta," grumbled Mirabel
"You ever feel like you're going to break like the bowls papi drops?" asked Luisa, laying down on Mirabel's bed
"I've been feeling like that since the moment mama let me start climbing on roofs, after that day I've never been able to just relax, always busy, always doing something to make the family and town happy, every moment I get to myself I feel like I should be doing something productive so that's how I managed to make that dress for Dolores, a stuffed toy for Antonio and every other thing I say I did in my spare time," said Mirabel, finishing the actual cloth and then starting on the intricate embroidery.
"The church roof is leaking again, I think Father Hernandez didn't want to bombard you with that and the altar cloth at the same time," sighed Luisa
"I patched it last week! And two months ago I retiled the entire roof! How could it possibly be leaking again?" exclaimed Mirabel.
"I noticed flowering vines along the outside and going under the tiles while I was moving it today," said Luisa
"ISA!" shouted Mirabel
…
"Um, Isabella, Mirabel is mad at you," said Dolores
"Oh what did I do to upset senorita fix it now?" said Isabella sarcastically
"Something to do with your vines and the church roof," said Dolores
"Isa, must you grow things on the buildings themselves?" asked Julietta
"I just grow them, I don't control where they go after that!" said Isabella
…
"I swear I'm going to strangle her with one of those vines when I pull it from the rafters," growled Mirabel
"Easy hermanita, you can fix the roof when you're asked to, don't stress about it yet," soothed Luisa
"Fine, how badly are the vines under the tiles?" sighed Mirabel
"Pretty badly, you might have to redo the roof again," said Luisa
"I'm going to have to spend even more time making tiles and digging clay and my ladder needs one of the rungs replaced. And I bet the old altar cloth is destroyed from water damage meaning I'm going to have to redo the roof before Sunday when I put the new one on," groaned Mirabel
"Do you need me to dig the clay?" asked Luisa
"No you have enough to do each day, I got word earlier that the donkeys broke the fence I made again this morning so that's yet another issue I have to fix so you'll probably be hauling them most of tomorrow," sighed, Mirabel
"Mira, what about a stone wall instead of a fence?" asked Luisa slowly,
"Soy una idiota, por supuesto!" exclaimed Mirabel, hitting her forehead with her palm
"Iron gate?" asked Luisa
"Iron gate," said Mirabel, nodding
"Actually, do you mind teaching me how to make the iron gate? Smithing is something I've seen you do to tools and it looks like great stress relief," said Luisa
"Of course, I can teach you, I have a forge corner in here anyway," said Mirabel
Luisa picked up one of the swords off the weapon rack and swung it around a bit.
"There's a training dummy in the corner if you want to demolish something," grinned Mirabel
"Your room is so much cooler than mine, Casita really went all out for you," said Luisa, taking some practice swings at the dummy.
"I do my best to keep Casita together, something's going on because the other night on my way back to my room I almost got hit by a falling tile, and Tio Bruno told me he's been fixing some cracks he found. He said he didn't come to get me to patch them because Hernando and Jorge liked it," said Mirabel.
"Why haven't either of you told Abuela?" asked a now very concerned Luisa
"Because Tio would be forced to look into the future to find out why and I'd be patching Casita constantly and not have time to do any of my responsibilities around town, but she probably does know and isn't telling anyone out of fear that it would expose our family as an imperfect mess. Patches aren't permanent fixes but I don't have time to try and get to the root of the problem," sighed Mirabel
"Is that why you are perfecting your skills on your own instead of relying on what you were given? You're afraid of the magic going away and everyone being helpless and you being useless?" asked Luisa
"Hit the nail on the head," said Mirabel under her breath
"What about healing? If the magic goes away mama loses her gift, everyone would be left without a healer," said Luisa, now even more worried
"My gift gave me the ability and skills for basic and some complex medical practices, I wrote down absolutely everything I've ever learned about medicine in a small journal that never leaves my side," said Mirabel
"But your gift only activates when you use the tools of whatever trade, when did you use medical equipment?" asked Luisa
"There have been a few times that I've had to help in emergencies mama couldn't get to in time, though I've had to have Tia help once or twice with a few heart attack cases," said Mirabel
"How in the world could Tia help with that?" asked a now very confused Luisa
"Lightning in the mini storms over her head makes a static charge that can restart a heart, granted it's extremely risky and the strike needs to be perfect in both charge and placement but I managed," said Mirabel
"Wow, I mean, I work out but mostly to keep my figure, I never thought about ensuring I retained my strength apart from the magic," said Luisa
"No matter how much you train your body there will always be a limit that magic makes you able to exceed. Without the magic, you can only get so strong, but my gift is mostly knowledge-based and the only real limit to that is how much I'm willing to learn," said Mirabel
"I'd like to see Tia's gift replicated without magic, or Antonio's," said Luisa as the two walked down to dinner.
"Antonio's gift can almost be replicated if a person has a strong bond with an animal, body language is a big factor in how animals communicate. Tia's is trickier but I read about certain types of weather that could be replicated on a small scale," said Mirabel
"Oh there you two are," exclaimed Isabella
"Sorry, we got caught up talking while I worked," said Mirabel
"What were you working on, it is very important to be punctual," said Abuela disapprovingly
"The church needs a new Altar cloth and I had to make the cloth and begin the embroidery since it must be done by Sunday," said Mirabel
"Well do not make this tardiness a habit," said Abuela,
"Yes Abuela," said Mirabel and Luisa in unison
"Oh It's quite alright, Mirabel has been running around the town all day helping, it's only natural to lose track of time when you finally get a moment to relax," said Senora Guzman
Mirabel smiled at Senora Guzman's defense. Bruno looked a bit uncomfortable at so many people around the table, he was never very social, to begin with.
"Tio, if I get done with my work early tomorrow I can build that stage you want for your rat telenovelas," said Mirabel
Bruno seemed to light up at the thought.
"Telenovelas for rats you say? That sounds interesting, let me know if you need help with scripts," said Mariano
"And I can make sure they stick to script!" exclaimed Antonio
"Oh you won't have to worry about that, they are a very dramatic tiny acting troop," chuckled Felix
"Tio could you maybe have them act out some greek tragedies? The twelve trials of Hercules is one of my favorites," asked Luisa
"And Atlas," said Mirabel
"Hm, I don't know how well those would work as telenovelas," said Bruno
"What about Oedipus?" asked Isabella
"Oh, that would work well," said Dolores
"Since everyone has a talent, I would like to see some, Luisa would you bring over the Piano?" asked Senora Guzman.
"On it," said Luisa, rushing upstairs to grab the piano.
"Mirabel, do you have any talents apart from your gift?" asked Mariano kindly
"Sadly I haven't had much time to acquire interests and hobbies, I do sing on occasion but cultivating a skill from scratch is rather difficult when you can instantly do something at an expert level," said Mirabel
Suddenly there was a knock on the door, it sounded frantic.
Luisa had just appeared with the piano and opened the door.
"I'm so sorry for interrupting but we need Mirabel's assistance urgently," said one of the men from the village.
Mirabel had only one arepa to eat all day but stood from the table anyway, following the villager out the door.
"What seems to be the problem?" asked Mirabel
"The roof of the church is caving in and the steeple is falling, there are vines growing through the walls!" said the villager
Mirabel got to work, instructing some of the men where to put temporary support beams and fetching her materials and light.
…
"Dolores, why was Mirabel needed so urgently?" asked Abuela, concerned
"The roof of the church was collapsing fast, vines growing through the tiles allowed rain to seep through and rot the beams keeping the roof up," said Dolores
"Luisa…" started Abuela
But the strong Madrigal was already out of her seat and running to go help her little sister.
…
"Oh Luisa, good there's a critical beam that needs to be lifted into place but it's too heavy and the majority of us are mixing concrete and holding the light sources, Mirabel is inside suspended from the beam we just got up, she's nailing the joints as fast as we can get them to her," said one villager
Luisa didn't give a second thought to picking up the large beam before running inside, stepping on broken bits of wood and flecks of concrete as she went.
"Mirabel where do I put this beam?" she asked up to her sister who was hanging on a large rope tied around her waist with tools in her hand.
Mirabel swung over to the spot and grabbed a new rafter.
"Over here, see where the main joint is cracking in half?" she pointed
Luisa had helped her sister enough to get the idea of what Mirabel was doing and put the beam right up against the cracking one to push it back into place until Mirabel could replace the breaking one completely.
It was well past midnight by the time the roof was stabilized, the most of the townspeople had left hours ago to celebrate Mariano and Dolores's engagement. The music coming from the house could still be heard in the center of town where the two Madrigal girls were working.
"Luisa you should go home and sleep, I need to finish this and it's going to take the rest of the night," said Mirabel
"I'll go home but I'm getting you some food, you haven't eaten today and mama will be worried," said Luisa
She headed back home, the moment she stepped in the door, Casita whisked her off to the kitchen where her mother was.
"Luisa, is Mirabel still working?" asked Julietta to her middle daughter
"Yes, I just came back to get some food for her, she hasn't eaten today and I don't think hanging upside down patching concrete is good to be doing on an empty stomach," said Luisa
"Make sure you both get some sleep tonight, I worry about how much work both of you do," said Julietta
"Yes mama, but Mirabel thinks the repairs will take all night and we both have more work in the morning," said Luisa
"A roof is not more important than her health or your's mi vida, help her get it in decent shape then both of you come home and sleep," said Julietta in a gentle but commanding voice
"Ok mama," said Luisa
…
"Mama pretty much said to hell with completing the roof in one night, she wants you home getting some sleep," said Luisa as she watched her sister devour several arepas and a cob of corn before heading back up on her rope.
The villagers that remained looked at the two sisters working.
"Your mama is right, go home and sleep, the roof is stable enough to wait till tomorrow afternoon, we will let your Abuela know it is best to let both of you rest for safety," said Father Hernandez
"The altar cloth is almost ready, I had no idea the roof could have gotten this bad in two months though," said Mirabel
"Gracias Mirabel, but both you and Luisa should go home and rest now," said Father Hernandez gently.
Mirabel lowered herself to the ground, it was two in the morning, and both she and Luisa were exhausted.
The villagers followed them to Casita, the party was still in full swing.
Mirabel made her way upstairs after congratulating Dolores and Mariano.
"Get some sleep Mira," said Dolores gently.
Luisa followed her little sister upstairs, she didn't feel like going to her room, Mira's was closer and sleepovers between the two had become common enough that Casita would just plop Luisa's bed into Mirabel's room for the night.
Mirabel fell asleep on her bed still in her clothes from the day, Luisa took a little time to get changed before climbing into her own bed, tomorrow she was going to have to talk with Isa about the excessive amount of vines.