Sorry for the delay, I've had writer's block and have been working on an Encanto Narnia crossover on Ao3, it's called Lyre of the Lion. Fluff and a small reference to adult content but nothing explicit. Pedro had to have been an adorable dork.
Mirabel sighed and leaned back in her chair at her desk, she had been writing from early the next morning to almost noon. The whole family other than her was sleeping in. She wished she could be in her sewing room right now but she needed to write down new limitations for the town so that no one in her family would have their abilities taken advantage of but the town would still be able to thrive. She also needed to write contracts for her Tio to have people sign before they received a vision from him. The candle was redesigning his room to be less taxing on the body to get to but still private. And Isa had gone plant crazy, creating more and more dangerous plants in her room and casually snipping the heads off roses every time she saw Abuela.
Sol and the rats had reassured Mira that they would look after her mother and make sure she didn't overwork herself but Mirabel knew there had to be set rules in place to protect her family. With Sol judging whether the injuries were serious enough for healing food or whether it would heal perfectly fine on its own, and the rats being split between the kitchen and Tio's new theater that was being built and they would rotate places depending on what cast members the theater needed. Unless in emergency cases, the new clinic/rataraunt (not a typo) would be open from 9 am to 7 pm on weekdays and 9 to 1 on weekends.
Luisa and the hippos would only be allowed to work from 9 in the morning to 5 at night on weekdays, with breaks for lunch and a water break whenever she needed it, the hippos would ensure she didn't skip her water breaks and lunch and would rather forcefully show when Luisa's services were no longer available.
Dolores would have limitations to her gift, being able to turn it on or off when she wished and adjust how far she wanted to hear. The birds had asked Mirabel if Dolores could help them while they were on patrol around the borders. A special guard treehouse would be built for her and Mariano to spend their days in, nine to five on weekdays and an hour of their choice on Saturdays.
Camilo decided he liked babysitting the slightly older kids but only wanted to do it every other day for a max of four hours, if he was needed longer then he would expect compensation and forewarning.
Pepa now no longer needed her emotions to control the weather, she just needed to will it into existence and she would set the weather to match the reports from the birds outside the Encanto said the weather was unless it was an extreme anomaly like a drought or hurricane.
People asking for particular weather would find a ten-foot caiman in a bow growling at them ready to charge.
Mirabel set the pen down and looked at her work, two pages of legislation per member of the family. River put her front paws on the desk to read what Mirabel had written.
"Looks good, it's respectful to the village but put plenty of boundaries in place that your family can adjust to suit their needs," said River approvingly
"I didn't add consequences to breaking the terms because the people aren't oblivious to how the animals react to their favorite humans, Luisa in particular," said Mirabel
"Just add a clause about the animals having permission to react as they see fit to these terms being broken, Rosa has already made her presence at your aunt's side known and has bared her teeth at someone who asked when things would return to how they were," said River
Mirabel nodded and jotted the line at the bottom of each second page. She would go to her own printing office she found the other night to make enough copies for the whole town.
There was a knock at the door.
"Mirabel, may I come in?" came Abuela's tentative voice.
She had somehow convinced a bear to take her up here and had almost gotten lost following one of the golden butterflies to try to find her granddaughter.
Mirabel looked up and sighed.
"Come in Abuela," said Mirabel
Abuela walked into the lavish office with a basket of snacks.
"Your mother and the rats have been cooking up a storm in the kitchen, I've never seen your mother laugh so hard while cooking, I think she's trying to directly teach them. She wanted me to bring you a basket of your favorites since you missed breakfast, I also got the impression that the rats were eager for you to try their handiwork," said Abuela setting the basket on the desk before looking at the papers.
"Gracias Abuela," said Mirabel
"Is this what you've been doing all morning?" asked Abuela, hesitantly sitting on one of the chairs opposite the desk.
"Si, I'm writing some rules for the town so they don't continue to take advantage of our gifts, so we can live our lives how we want but still help around town," said Mirabel
Abuela sighed.
"I should have done that the moment my children got their gifts but I was a blind fool," said Abuela
Mirabel just nodded silently and straightened the papers.
There were a few minutes of silence.
"I have to go finish work on the wedding clothes for Dolores," said Mirabel after a while.
"May I join you? I would like to see how much your skill has grown since I first taught you when you were four," said Abuela
Mirabel shrugged then nodded.
Abuela followed her through the halls, the bear keeping a very close eye on her as it stood on its hind legs like a guard. The jaguar was also giving her the side-eye.
Abuela sat on one of the massive high back armchairs in the corner of the room and Mirabel silently handed her Pepa's dress for the wedding. Abuela could tell it needed to be hemmed.
The only sound was the flickering of the candles in their holders around the room and whirr of Mirabel's sewing machine.
After an hour of near silence, Abuela spoke again.
"I remember the days when you would sit on my bed next to me, your tongue hanging out the corner of your mouth as you concentrated on your stitches," chuckled Abuela
"I remember that too, the last time was the day before my gift ceremony," said Mirabel quietly.
Abuela flinched.
"I'm sorry Mirabel," said Abuela
Mirabel just nodded
"Did I ever tell you about the time I tried to teach your Abuelo how to sew?" asked Abuela
Mirabel looked at her and shook her head.
"No, you've ever only told us about Abuelo the night you lost him, no other stories. Why did you try to teach him how to sew?" asked Mirabel quietly
"One night about a month after we got married, he came home with his shirt in tatters, he had about as much sense of direction as your father has balance," started Abuela
Mirabel chuckled softly.
"He comes home with this story about several dogs and bushes, and gives me that sheepish look like he knows I'm going to scold him for getting lost again because it's the third shirt I've had to repair that month," smiled Abuela
"I can see that, it's the same look Papa gives mama when the bees have stung him again, that love-struck I know you're annoyed but I can't help it look," said Mirabel
"Aye, that's one of the things that eventually warmed me up to your papa, in that moment he looked so much like my Pedro that I couldn't help thinking he was a good man for my Julieta," said Abuela
"What happened next?" asked Mirabel quietly
"Well, I told him that if he was going to keep ruining his shirts he'd better not expect dinner until late at night since his shirts took so long to fix. Then he quietly asks if he can learn to fix them himself," said Abuela
"What did you say?" asked Mirabel, moving onto the more delicate embroidery on Mariano's suit.
"I told him I would but he needed to make snacks first for us, he agreed and I kissed his nose in thanks. Well, it turns out your mother did not inherit her skill in the kitchen from him. Sure the food was far more edible than what Pepa or Bruno can make but it wasn't good, an he seemed to know it," chuckled Abuela
"Oh no," laughed Mirabel
"Oh his sewing was even worse than your first attempt, you at least understood small stitches, he just couldn't grasp the idea nor could he sew in a straight line even on the machine. If you remember the last time your mother tried to teach your aunt about heat levels on the stove, it was similar to that," said Abuela
"She thought that if he did everything at the highest heat she could then the food would be ready faster, I take it he thought big stitches held the fabric together better?" asked Mirabel
"Poor man, patient and strong, but could have the intelligence of an arepa sometimes," chuckled Abuela sadly.
"Like Tio Felix when Tia is dancing, he just turns to mush staring at her until she notices, then Dolores runs to her room to escape the inevitable sounds she is destined to be plagued by," said Mirabel
Abuela suddenly looked horrified.
"Oh dear, I never thought about that when it came to her gift," exclaimed Abuela
"She learned way too many things at a way too young age," said Mirabel
"I suppose she did," frowned Abuela
"But back to the story, did Abuelo ever get the hang of sewing?" asked Mirabel
"No, he never could, he'd get halfway through repairing a tear then just stare at me with that puppy-like grin before taking me into his arms and we'd just end up holding each other on the bed," said Abuela
"Could we do this again sometime? Sewing together and you telling me stories about Abuelo?" asked Mirabel
"I'd like that Mira, I'd like that a lot," smiled Abuela