A/N: Hello!
First of all, I would like to apologize. I said back in September that I planned on updating every 2 weeks and obviously the evidence has determined that that was a lie. I really try to keep my word – when I say I'm going to do something, I do it - and obviously I didn't live up to that this past month. So instead of promising anything or giving concrete dates, I'm going to just – tell you that I'm working on it, that updates will be sporadic until after the New Year and then should get more regular but no guarantees. Just know I will never abandon this story, so you WILL get updates and this story will be completed eventually.
Please enjoy this latest chapter, aka "The Madrigals Visit the Big City".
Chapter 30
Bruno hesitated outside the courtyard gate, rubbing his arm, his breath hitching slightly. "Ah. So – um – about – about – about the vision. I'm having. Tonight. You – ah you - "
Lucía put her hand over his, giving it a squeeze. "It's alright, Bruno. I was offering, but I'm not expecting. If you want to look into things on your own, I understand. Just know I – I'm here if you need me. Well – I guess – it's more – if you want me. There."
His eyes widened. He'd been about to tell her she could come. If she wanted to. He didn't want to say no to her. "I do want you. I just - "
"No! I know! I understand! I know you want – ah. I mean – what I mean - " Lucía exhaled, crossing her arms in front of her and rubbing them with her hands. She cleared her throat to hide a nervous laugh. "What I mean is, I know you don't need me to have a vision, but if you ever want me to be present for one – whatever the circumstances – you only need to ask. Okay?"
"Oh. Okay - "
She gave him a peck on the cheek. "Just – let me know if you're going? Leaving the Encanto? And - if you ever need to talk to anyone, about anything you see - " she smiled at him, but it was tense and her eyes were worried – "just know I'm always willing to listen."
Bruno exhaled, long and slow, before stretching his shoulders and neck and wringing out his hands. He sat in his vision circle, door to the vision room securely closed. After returning to Casita he'd bid everyone a quick goodnight, expertly sidestepped the interrogation and teasing, and shut himself in his room.
You only need to ask.
He'd left Lucía after dinner and she'd seemed fine with everything. In fact, she made an extra effort to reassure him that she was fine with everything. With him. Having a vision tonight. About tomorrow – a significant day in the Encanto's history, whatever way you spun it. Without her.
If you ever need to talk to anyone, about anything you see – just know I'm always willing to listen.
He groaned. Why did he feel so…weird about this? It wasn't that he felt embarrassed, or angry, or like she'd done or said anything to make him feel uncomfortable –
- and yet, here he sat, feeling uneasy.
It wasn't even that he didn't want her here.
He wasn't strictly opposed to the idea of having her sit in on his visions. The thought was even somewhat appealing. Mirabel had offered to sit in on several visions, including his first one, the one with Señora Ruiz – and while he appreciated that, she was still – a teenager. A young girl. Barely fifteen. She was wise beyond her years and had a huge heart and unflagging positivity, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't worried that one day she'd see something that would deflate that eternal optimism. She was still a child, and with her responsibilities as a future town leader only growing every day, he didn't want her to feel like he needed her to sit in on any visions.
The more he turned it over and over in his head, the more he saw the appeal of having Lucía sit in on his visions, even if only occasionally. She'd done so well when they'd had that vision of Josefina, and –
He smiled to himself as he recalled her reaction after the last vision he'd shown her - after they'd agreed to court.
She was steady and rational and decisive and had a cautious optimism about her. She was empathetic, and while he didn't want to show her anything that would upset her, she was also an adult who had seen her share of heartache and knew how to navigate it.
A little tendril of warmth blossomed near his heart at the hope that maybe – one day - she would sit regularly with him through his visions and share –
He blinked and frowned. She'd share the burden of his gift. The good and the bad and –
He wasn't sure how he felt about that. He didn't want that, for her.
Still…
You only need to ask.
He shook his head and lit the piles of leaves in front of him. It was just – there were a lot of other factors involved, tonight.
He hated to admit it, but he was relieved when she said she wasn't coming with him. All through dinner, he'd been thinking about the fact that if she returned with him, he'd have to explain what she was doing there, and why she was going into his vision room with him. At night.
And why he needed to go to his vision room in the first place.
What he was having visions of.
Namely - tomorrow, and what would happen when select members of La Familia Madrigal crossed that river, into the unknown.
He knew if he'd told them, there would be tension between everyone as they reassured him he didn't have to but silently yearned to know everything would be all right.
Especially Mamá. Her mouth would be telling him that he didn't need to, but her eyes would be telling him please, please reassure us we will get in and out safely.
And so he just wouldn't tell them until he knew for sure what he was going to see. He'd never forgive himself if he didn't look and something happened that he could have prevented in seeking a second outcome.
He took a deep breath, accessed his power, and began.
"I volunteer! I"ll go," Camilo announced eagerly around his bite of buñuelos. He swallowed as Pepa told him not to talk with his mouthful. "I want to go to San Cristobál! I want to see the city."
"You mean you want to see Selena," Mirabel corrected.
Camilo narrowed his eyes at her. "No. I want to see the city."
Luisa looked nervous. "Should I go? Just in case? Besides – I could – carry the cart and donkey over the river. It would be – safer."
Alma, Pepa, and Julieta exchanged glances, as did Félix and Agustín.
"Actually," Félix said. "Agustín and I were thinking that – maybe it would be best if we went into town?"
Julieta looked at Agustín. "Just us," he explained softly.
"No need!" The sound of tripping, the tinkling of glass hitting the floor, and Casita's tiles shifting made everyone turn in their seats, and the entire family blinked as Bruno attempted to come into the dining room. He had an entire armful of green vision tablets, stacked up to his head, and he shifted side to side to keep them from falling. Casita compensated for his clumsiness and moved to catch the vision tablets as he moved.
"No need!" He repeated eagerly, tripping once again and half dropping, half sprawling the tablets across the table. The family lifted bowls and plates and cups out of the way of the spilling pile of green glass, confusion and shock etched on their faces.
"I – ah – I took the liberty last night of looking into the trip. Into everyone's first trip into the city," he explained, halfway between sheepish and proud. And tired.
Very, very tired.
Alma lifted one tablet, one of the ones that had slowed to stop in front of her. It showed Camilo grinning sheepishly up at a man with a shadowed face, his ruana bunched just beneath his chin in the man's fists. Her mouth dropped open in a little 'o' shape and she blinked. She shifted the tablet, and instead of lifting Camilo off the ground, about to pummel him – the same man was clasping his shoulder and shaking his hand.
"What – did you – are all these – of the trip to San Cristobál?" Julieta asked quietly, filing through several vision tablets, some showing two different outcomes of the same scene, some only showing one future, etched in green glass.
"Did you do all this last night?" Pepa asked incredulously, a gust of wind sending the tablets tinkling against one another.
"There was – there was a lot to look at," Bruno said apologetically, "and it was – I fell asleep - hmmm. At some point. But – I mean – what I did was – I tried to look into tomorrow's trip – which is today's trip, now - but it – it wasn't clear because – well, I'm not quite sure why, but it wasn't. So instead I looked into everyone's first trip to San Cristobál individually and that seemed to work better. I didn't get to every possible outcome, that's impossible – but it looks like -"
"Whoa," Luisa whispered, and her eyes widened as she stared at the green glass in front of her. "Tía Pepa - " she turned the glass and there was Pepa, a furious expression on her face, a storm raging around her.
Pepa's eyes grew large and she whipped her head to her brother. "Bruno?!"
"Uh – in hindsight, I probably shouldn't have brought all of them down - " He looked like he would say more, but a huge yawn interrupted him, and he reached for a cup of coffee. "- but I needed to keep track of the possibilities and making the tablets was the easiest way to do that, and I wanted to make sure I had – had everything to show, in case of questions – ah - but it will be okay! There are a few things to be avoided, of course, to make things – ah – easier - but - " he yawned again, and then his face brightened. "Good news! No one dies!"
Everyone exchanged very concerned looks.
"Um…" Camilo squinted at a vision of Mirabel standing in front of a dress shop, staring up at it in awe. "I mean, yes, that is good news, but, like – correct me if I'm wrong – that's like – the bare minimum we're going for, right?"
"Yes." Pepa agreed, a strange expression on her face as she took in her hermanito. "Yes, it is."
"Right! Right! Right! But – ah – there are a few things – a few things I noticed - " Bruno said, shifting through his visions. "Ah! Yes. Here we go. First things first – who goes."
"Ma," Bruno nodded at her. "You go. You'll see something that will make you – well, it will make you cry, but it will be good."
Alma blinked at him.
"You go," he repeated, a bit more hesitant, a bit more encouraging, handing her a vision slab. She stared down at it and her mouth twitched into a disbelieving smile. She looked up at him and inclined her head.
"Pepa, you stay. For today." Bruno nodded at the vision in Luisa's hands. "You'll go eventually – to town I mean – and it will be great! I checked. Your first visit might be a little rough but I saw you go to town a lot of times. You and Félix – you'll have fun. You'll take Antonio to a park, there! They have these swings, and slides, and a thing that – that spins, like a – a little - " he sighed, unable to find the words to describe it. He lifted a few visions, searching for that particular tablet, and then gave up. "You'll have fun. Just…not today. Obviously, Antonio stays, too. It's a school day."
Camilo's face fell at that. "But - "
"Everyone that is still in school, goes to school today and not to the city," Félix said firmly.
"Sí," Bruno nodded.
"But - " Camilo showed the vision he was holding, of Mirabel shopping.
Bruno waved it away, swallowing another gulp of coffee. "That's of the first time she goes to the city. It doesn't mean it's happening today. You stay home."
Camilo and Mirabel's faces fell in disappointment.
"Agustín goes, Julieta goes -" Bruno yawned and listed off on his fingers everyone who was going. "-Mamá goes, Isabela goes. Luisa goes? That's everyone that I saw go today with the paint cart; it's the fastest, best, easiest way to go – I think. There's too many variables to tell you exactly what will happen, when. I've never – ah - I've never looked into so many at once. But the one consistent thing is that no matter who chooses to go, the gifts are not lost and no one dies. Or – ah – gets – seriously injured. Or at least, I never saw it happen. That's not to say - "
"The gifts are not lost?" Alma asked quietly, raising an eyebrow at him.
Bruno cleared his throat as everyone else turned to him too. "Well – I mean – uh - I was – the magic, it protects the Encanto, right? So what – what happens when we go outside of the Encanto? Does the magic come with us or – stay behind?"
Dolores and Isabela exchanged concerned glances.
"But!" Bruno said, "But! I was – I was careful. I – looked into your first trip into the city, and then I looked into the next time you'd use your magic after today, and – everyone could still – they could still use their gifts? It wasn't clear whether or not the gifts would work in – ah – in the city; I couldn't see that? Maybe you just – choose not to use them? And Pepa – she's storming in that one of her first visit, but the background – it's not the clearest, so maybe – I don't know. But you go, you come back, you use your gifts. You looked – well most of you looked like you were having fun. It should be safe." He knocked lightly on the table and tossed some salt and sugar over his shoulders.
"All the traders always came back safe every year," Camilo pointed out, sulking into his breakfast.
Pepa shot him a warning glance. "That's true. But we've never left the Encanto." Her expression softened as she looked back at her brother. She chewed on her lower lip and reached across the table to squeeze his hand.
Bruno gave her a tired smile.
"They're always accurate," he mumbled, mostly to himself. "They just don't always tell the whole story. It's not the whole story."
Julieta put her arm around his shoulders and pulled him in for a hug. "It might not be the whole story but it's plenty of pieces, hermano. We'll just – fit them in as we tell our own story."
Mirabel stood and spread her fingers over the pile of visions in front of her. She bit her cheek thoughtfully for a moment and then walked around the table to throw her arms around Bruno's shoulders.
"Gracias, tío," she whispered. "But – you really didn't need to do all this."
He reached up and patted her hand. "I really did, though. It's a big thing, you know? If – if I can protect us by using my gift, then – I will."
"Whoa," Luisa said as she pulled on the reigns, just outside the city limits of San Cristobál. The old donkey pulling the cart of supplies Selena de Leon had left behind came to a stop.
Luisa and Alma sat in the cart with the paint supplies. Agustín, Julieta, and Isabela had borrowed one of the Rojas horses to pull another cart to follow behind them. It was big enough to carry all five of them home. Julieta had also brought a host of arepas and a small jar of honey lemon drops, something sturdy and easy to transport, both in case of emergency and in case Selena's little brother needed anything more to help him.
Julieta was grateful for her daughters' presence even if she felt guilty for it at the same time. She believed Bruno when he said they'd be fine, but having two of her daughters to mother made her braver than she'd have been if she was going without someone to look out for.
Crossing the river had been an experience. They'd stopped at first, to hear Mamá tell them, quietly, more about the night they'd lost their father and gotten their miracle. And then Agustín had insisted on crossing first, to see if leaving the Encanto meant they'd lose access to their gifts.
("After all, if I lose my ability to help – that's a small thing. Losing anyone else's gift – that would be much harder to deal with.")
He'd walked through and visibly shivered after crossing on the other side.
"Amor?!" Julieta had called. Agustín frowned. "I – that was strange. Let me – let me see."
He'd crossed back over, slipped on the way, got soaked, and shivered again.
"What happened?" Alma had asked.
What had happened was that apparently the Miracle was still protecting the Encanto and its inhabitants, and anyone with a connection to the magic could feel it as they passed through.
They'd spent the good part of an hour experimenting, passing through the boundary and back again, Isabela being the one to visibly test whether or not her gifts worked once she left and returned.
Immediately on the other side of the river, Luisa had been able to lift the donkey and cart (which the donkey immediately protested); Isabela had still been able to grow plants; Julieta's arepa had worked on Agustín's pinched fingers. And now, even closer to the city itself, Isabela was subtly testing her gift and found it worked as well as it ever did.
Bruno had opted to stay home himself and sleep; Félix wanted to stay with Pepa. Dolores was interested in going to the city but didn't have her heart set on going that particular day and preferred to avoid any loud noises and potential headaches, which the city was sure to be full of. Camilo and Mirabel had protested but were also currently at school with Antonio. It took about an hour and a half to get to the city by donkey, so the traveling party was expecting to be gone for a good part of the day.
At the moment, however, they were all staring at the road into San Cristobál. It was already busier than the Encanto, though the buildings here on the outskirts of the town were very similar to those back home. They'd passed several farms on the way, though they hadn't seen anyone close enough to stop and talk to. Julieta could already hear the noise and clatter of different animals pulling carts and the muted rumble of engines and machines. Taller buildings – as tall as the church at home, if not a bit taller – loomed ahead.
Luisa seemed to shrink in on herself as they approached. Isabela took her sister's hand and lifted her chin, and Julieta took her other hand, giving her a reassuring smile. They were together, and they would be fine.
Agustín reached over and squeezed Julieta's free hand reassuringly, giving her a small smile as well. "Don't worry, amor. Maybe - this will be fun."
The Madrigals tied their borrowed horse and cart to a watering post just inside of town and continued on foot beside Selena's donkey and paint cart. Luisa walked beside the donkey, guiding the old, docile boy with gentle clucks toward the center of the city.
"Now," Alma muttered, frowning at the paper in her hands that held Selena's address, "we need to find this."
They walked into town along the small cobblestone street, which soon widened to a larger one and a larger crowd of people on it to match.
"Qué pena," she attempted to reach out to a man walking by, but he simply tugged his sombrero lower over his eyes, waved her off, and kept walking.
Alma blinked. "Excuse me, Señora," she called to a woman dressed in a form-fitting skirt that cut off just below the knee, a fashionable jacket wrapped around her shoulders and a hat in a style Alma had never seen before perched on her head.
The woman darted a glance at her, flashed her an apologetic smile, and then ducked in to the back seat of an automobile; a man in a suit that rivaled Agustín's was holding the door open.
He nodded to the family and closed the door before jogging around to the other side and sliding in himself. The car made a loud noise and pulled out into the street, honking at the bicycle and donkey in its way, and then – once it had maneuvered safely around them – sped off.
"Oh, my," Alma whispered, and she looked around with wide, disbelieving eyes.
So much had changed in the span of fifty years.
San Cristobál was not the city she and Pedro had fled from, but they'd passed through it on their way to the mountains, seeking shelter. The city had been a town, then – just a bit bigger than the Encanto was now.
Now, San Cristobál was a city, with seemingly all the conveniences of the modern world.
Automobiles – some that rattled and shook with the telltale red of rust branching over hoods and wheel wells, some shiny and sleek and new - shared the roads with horses, donkeys, carts, and motorcycles. Bicyclists with baskets full of produce, flowers, and other goods to sell wove their way through those on the street and on the sidewalks. Horns honked and music with a strangely tinny, sandpapery sort of sound spilled out of windows and doorways. Lights – real, electric lights – the kind Bruno and her grandchildren had told her of, had seen in visions and been taught about at school, respectively – lined the streets and blinked at her from café counters. The smell of food stalls open and selling their wares filled the air, along with a burnt, sharp, tangy smell that Alma assumed was coming from the machines humming around her. People bustled by, calling to one another on the street or nodding in greeting to her.
"Señora," a voice interrupted her thoughts, and she looked to her side to see a young woman wearing trousers and a blouse, perhaps in her early thirties, exiting her food stall and wiping her hands on an apron. "Can I help you?"
"Ah, sí, gracias," Alma said, and held out the piece of paper to her. "Can you tell me where I might find this address?"
The young woman frowned at the writing on the paper. She looked at it, and then back up at Alma and her family behind her, complete with donkey and wagon. "Are you sure you want to go here, Señora…?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
Alma hesitated. "…Madrigal."
The woman didn't seem to know anything about them, as she didn't react to the name. She simply nodded. "I'm Señora Gonzales. Pleasure to meet you. Your first time in town?"
Alma nodded.
Señora Gonzalez frowned at the paper in her hand and tapped the address with two fingers. "There isn't much over there but old slums. So – are you sure?"
Her family behind her looked at each other with concern.
"I am sure. We need to return something to someone who lives there," Alma said. "Selena de Leon?"
The woman shrugged. "I haven't heard of her, but I can give you directions to the street, at least."
"Please," Alma nodded.
The woman took a pencil out of her apron pocket, turned over the scrap of paper, and began sketching out lines and labeling them with street names.
"I still can't believe they wouldn't let us go," Camilo grumbled as he and Mirabel kicked a fútbol back and forth on their way home for lunch. Antonio had ridden ahead of them on Parce, wanting to make sure he had time to feed his animal friends before eating his own lunch.
"I can," Mirabel said. "It's a big deal for all of them. Your ma and pa and Tío Bruno didn't go either. Neither did Dolores. It's just – a lot. We'll all go soon."
Camilo sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I just - "
"Madrigals!"
Camilo and Mirabel stopped in their tracks as Señora Ramirez pulled her horse to a stop beside them, though Camilo recognized it as one of the Rojas horses. Señora Ramirez ran the only inn in town. Business had recently become much better with the opening of the mountains and the festival last week, and her disposition had changed with it, from a surly older woman to one more inclined to kindness, even if her words were short. "Buenos días, niños."
"Buenos días, Señora Ramirez."
"Did your parents leave already, to go into town?"
Mirabel nodded. "Sí, they left after breakfast this morning. They should be back around dinnertime, though."
Señora Ramirez sighed. "Ah, well. I should've expected. I was cleaning the room that de Leon girl stayed in and found something of hers that they missed when they collected her things last night. I was hoping they could return it with the mule and the cart, but I suppose not." She patted the satchel at her side and harrumphed again. "I had business to attend to today; I don't have time for this."
"What is it?" Mirabel asked.
"Some sort of sketchbook. Ideas."
"We can take it back for you," Camilo offered.
"Camilo!" Mirabel hissed.
He ignored her.
Señora Ramirez gave them an appraising look. "You sure about that, boy?"
Camilo stood as straight as he could. "Sí, Señora. I'm sure we can take the satchel to town and return it to its rightful owner."
"Milo."
Señora Ramirez squinted at the two of them. "It would be very helpful," she said hopefully.
"See, Mirabel? We'd be helping," Camilo said with a mischievous grin. Mirabel frowned at him. "We love to help."
Señora Ramirez moved to dismount. "I'd anticipated having to go to town. This is - "
"- one of the Rojas horses? We know. We'll return her to the Rojas family, not to worry."
Señora Ramirez slid off with a sigh of relief and passed him the satchel. "Good luck, Madrigal. Gracias for the help. Goodness knows I don't need to be on a horse for an hour at my age."
For an older woman, she moved surprisingly quickly. They were alone with the horse in the road before they knew it.
"Camilo!" Mirabel hissed once she was out of earshot. "What did you do? We can't - "
"Sure we can," he said, sliding the satchel over his head and adjusting it across his shoulder so that it sat comfortably on the opposite hip.
"If we skip an afternoon of school to go into town without permission we are so dead. We're worse than dead. We're grounded! Until we're dead!" Mirabel rubbed her face in frustration, knocking her glasses askew.
"Look," Camilo said, mounting the horse with surprising ease. "I know tío said we'd all be going into town eventually, but who knows what 'eventually' means? He didn't say it wouldn't be today."
"Actually - he did."
Camilo ignored her. "You've been to the river, at least. And I want to see it now. I want to see everything! I"ve been waiting to see a television, a radio, an electric light my whole life! I'll just - avoid anyone who looks like the man in the vision. If crossing the river had been dangerous, they'd have let us know. Sent a bird for Antonio or told Dolores or something. Plus, you heard Señora Ramirez – we're helping. We'd be helping Señorita de Leon and Señora Ramirez. You can come with me and see that amazing dress shop for yourself, or you can go home and tattle on me, though Lolo is probably already listening. It's your call."
He held out his hand to her and grinned. "I think it's better to ask forgiveness than it is to ask permission."
Mirabel adjusted her glasses, huffed, and accepted his hand, sliding into place behind him. "I'm only going with you to make sure you don't get yourself killed."
Camilo only laughed, turning the horse toward the main road and urging her into a trot with his heels.
"Dolores," he called over his shoulder as he left – "you caught all that, right? I'm taking Mira with me to San Cristobál to return something to Señorita de Leon that Abuela and the rest left behind. Don't worry! We'll be back before you know it. Adios!"
"Camilo!" Dolores hissed in disbelief. She was currently in the process of helping her madre prepare lunch for the familia that had stayed behind in the Encanto for the day.
A number that was rapidly dwindling now.
"What's wrong, amor?" Pepa said, flipping the arepas on the hot budare and waving her fingers through the cloud above her to cool them. She'd been snowing lightly all morning.
Dolores sighed and rubbed her temples with her fingers. "He just took Mirabel with him to San Cristobál to return something to Selena that got left behind."
"WHAT?!"
The first group of Madrigals made their way through town with the donkey and paint cart, taking in all of the sights and sounds and smells the city had to offer – some captivating and enticing, some not so pleasant. And now they'd turned down a street so narrow it was almost more appropriate to call it an alleyway.
The stucco was old and cracked, corners crumbling off of balconies. The canopies on the awnings were threadbare or nonexistent. The street smelled strongly of fish; an older woman sat in front of a door, plucking feathers from a dead chicken, presumably to cook for dinner that evening. She gave them a nod of acknowledgement and then went back to her work as they passed.
Aside from the smell in the street, everything around them was clean and cared for, but tired and worn. The people and things that surrounded them had worked hard for their spot there, and it showed. Alma didn't think 'slums' was necessarily the right assessment.
"Here," Alma said finally, standing before a building with a door that looked like it had caught on fire at some point. "According to this, Señorita de Leon lives on the third floor with her brothers. Shall some of us go up and some stay down here with the donkey?"
"How about you, mamá, and I go up to see her and check on Daniel?" Isabela suggested. "Pa and Luisa can stay here, and then Luisa can help her with her paints and such after."
Alma nodded in agreement and the three of them headed up the stairs, Julieta with a bag of arepas in her hand.
As they approached the address Selena had written on the piece of paper, they heard voices raised through the thin walls.
"…didn't tell me, Santi! You can't – you can't just - "
"I can't stay, Selena! I don't have a choice. Daniel…" the voice trailed off.
And then, another stiff cry. "We're supposed to stick together!"
Alma, Julieta, and Isabela exchanged glances. "I think this is the place," Isabela said wryly.
They knocked on the door and the voices went silent. After a moment, the door opened a crack and a tall young man with brown skin, wavy dark brown hair cut to his ears, and green eyes opened the door. He wore dark trousers and a shirt with Los Carnes de Carlitos emblazoned on the front. There were faded stains on it that testified to the work he did at the butchers.
"Can I help you?"
Alma cleared her throat and stepped forward. She felt a bit out of place with her carefully coifed hair and tidily pressed clothing that was about fifty years out of date, standing in the hall with peeling wallpaper, water-stained ceilings and the sound of babies crying from another apartment. Someone somewhere was smoking a cigar and the smell lingered there, too. It felt like another world, another lifetime. "Sí, gracias. My name is Alma Madrigal, and I've come from the Encanto - "
At that, the door shut in her face.
Alma blinked, confused.
"Santiago!" A voice hissed on the other side of the door.
There were the sounds of quiet arguing and then the door cracked open again, and Selena's tired face appeared. She stepped out of the apartment and closed the door behind her. She wore a faded skirt and blouse and her hair had been pulled back haphazardly in a ponytail, her curls spilling out and framing her tired face in disarray.
"I'm sorry about my brother," she apologized stiffly. "Did you bring the donkey and the cart?"
"Ah – sí, we did."
"Gracias." Selena looked at her feet, her jaw working for a moment. After a moment, she exhaled sharply through her nose and looked back up at the three women in the hall with her. "It's not about you," she explained. "Not really. It's – anyway. You can tie the donkey to the railing on the stoop and I'll be down to collect my paints later. Thank you for bringing everything back."
"Wait!" Julieta said, as Selena turned to go back inside. "We – we brought more arepas. For Daniel. In case he needed them. How is he?"
"…he's okay. You can come in, if you like." Selena bit her lip, and her shoulders slumped. "The extra arepas would be nice." She paused again. "They did help."
She held the door open and let Alma, Julieta, and Isabela in and said something quietly to her brother.
As they entered, the young man they assumed was Santiago eyed them warily. He nodded to them, opened his mouth as though he was going to say something, and then thought better of it, nodded, and brushed passed them. He closed the door shut behind him with a solid click, but he seemed less angry than he was before.
"That was Santiago," Selena said, her hands pressed into her skirt. "He – had to go to work. Daniel is in the bedroom."
The three women followed her through the small living area – a tiny kitchen with a stovetop and sink piled with dirty dishes sat along the inside wall, and a living room with a couch and a table with three chairs took up the rest of the space. There were pictures on the wall and blankets on the couch, as though someone slept there. There was a short hall with a door to the right and a door directly in front of them, and Selena led them through the door directly in front of them.
This room was different. The front rooms were sparse but lived in; this room was a collection of chaos. One corner of the room contained an easel and an empty space that must have normally housed the collection of paint cans currently in the cart on the street. Sketches and paintings were tacked to the wall, and a small end table was piled with notebooks. All this sat over a drop cloth scrunched into the corner to protect the floor beneath.
Along the wall to the left there was a dresser, and the dresser was covered in bits and bobs from all sorts of things – springs, pens, scraps of fabric, small pieces of wood, and tattered books. The most prominent things, though, where the bird cages - three of them, rusted and bent and in the process of being salvaged. There were also a variety of feathers spread out over the dresser. There was a wardrobe next to that overflowing with clothes, and a window in the wall opposite the door, open to let in the afternoon sun and sky.
Along the last wall, a young boy sat cross-legged in the center of the full sized bed in a bundle of sheets and blankets, tilting his face to the sun and air coming in the window, and a cat wound around him, butting her head against him in an effort to get his attention.
"Not now, Doña Caramela. You - " his voice broke off in a wheeze and he coughed for a moment before continuing – "you can't fool me. I - "
"Daniel," Selena said softly, interrupting, and he turned to look over his shoulder.
Alma remembered Selena telling them about her brothers; that Santiago was twenty-one and Daniel was fourteen.
He was too small for fourteen; much smaller than Camilo at that age. Camilo was thin and always eating; this boy looked like he was thin and never quite got enough to eat. His collarbone was prominent where his pajama shirt slid off his shoulder and his face was all angles. As he turned to look at them, the sunlight caught in his hair and he looked like he was framed in a fiery halo. It was wavy like his older brothers but a flaming red that rivaled Pepa's. His eyes were the smoky blue color of a shadow on snow and his pale skin was covered in freckles, even more so than his sister's. When he saw them, he grinned, and his front teeth overlapped slightly.
"Buenos días, Señoras," he said politely. He turned to the cat, now pawing at his closed hands. "Go bother them, Doña Caramela. You're not - " he coughed again – "you're not getting Bocadillo."
Selena sighed. "If you hadn't named him Bocadillo, Daniel, maybe she wouldn't think he was meant to be her snack." She paused. "You shouldn't be keeping him at all."
Daniel frowned at her. "That's what you said about Doña Caramela and she turned - " he sneezed. "She turned out - " he sneezed again and began coughing in earnest, deep whooping coughs that caught in his chest and kept him from drawing in a full breath. The breaths he did manage to take had a whining sound to them.
Selena and Julieta both hurried to the bed; Selena with a salve she snatched from the messy dresser and Julieta unwrapping her bag of arepas.
"Wait!" Selena said sharply, and Julieta froze.
"He needs this first or he might choke," she explained, opening the lid. The salve inside smelled so strong Alma's eyes watered from across the room, but Selena smeared a finger's worth across her brother's chest, and he closed his eyes and concentrated on breathing it in. Slowly his coughing slowed and he ran a sleeve over his mouth and nose, shaking his head.
"Sorry," he rasped.
"It's not your fault," Selena mumbled, and then moved out of the way and nodded to Julieta.
Julieta sat beside him and began her ministrations, handing him an arepa in tiny pieces and making sure he took small bites and chewed thoroughly before swallowing. When he'd managed that, she gave him a honey-lemon drop to suck on.
A little bird poked its beak out of Daniel's fingers and he froze, looking nervously at Julieta. "I'm sorry – he's – he's a nice bird," he said softly. "He won't peck at you."
And indeed, the little thing was settled quite comfortably in his palm and let out a shrill ti-ti-ti te-te-te-heét before ducking his beak back down to his chest to continue grooming his feathers. He was a beautiful bird, bright scarlet with a single red stripe running down through its white underbelly, making it look almost as though it were wearing a vest.
"He's a scarlet and white tanager," Daniel explained, stroking him gently with two fingers.
Julieta was entirely unfazed. "Okay. Is he hurt too? Does he need something to eat as well?"
Daniel blinked at her and then darted a gaze to his sister. "Selena?"
"Um…" Selena shrugged and shooed Doña Caramela from the bed. "This is Señora Madrigal, and Señora Madrigal, and…Señorita Madrigal."
Daniel grinned.
"You can just call me Isabela," Isabela said, approaching the bed and sitting carefully on the edge of it.
"Oh!" Daniel exclaimed and squinted at them all. "So you're the magic family."
"Mamí, are you sure? You saw what happens the first time you go into town. Why not just let Papí go on his own? Or Antonio – or Tío Bruno - "
Pepa shook her head and pulled Dolores in for a hug. "Dolores, mija, it will be all right. Hopefully we'll catch them before they even make it to town, and we won't have to worry about that at all. While your padre and I are gone, you and Bruno are in charge if anyone comes asking for help." Pepa paused, hesitating to mount the horse they'd borrowed – again – from the Rojas family. Itziar. The steady rock. The one least likely to spook at Pepa's inadvertent rain or thunder. Félix waited on his own mount beside her."Are you sure you're okay with that?"
Pepa was worried. She didn't want to leave Dolores and Antonio, but they weren't alone with Bruno there and she knew she needed to be with Félix at the moment. Whether they stayed behind in the Encanto or went into town, she knew they needed to do it together. Maybe, if they were together, the storm Bruno had seen wouldn't be quite so bad.
Dolores smiled at her madre, but Pepa knew it was only an attempt to put her at ease. "We'll be fine, Mamí. It's only for a few hours, right?"
Pepa sighed. "Right."
Camilo must've known someone would be coming after them, Mirabel thought, as she squeezed her arms around his middle, holding on for dear life.
"Milo!" She called. "Aren't we gonna – I don't know – slow down a little?"
"Nah," He turned his head to project the sound of his voice over his shoulder at her. "Papí always says 'ride it like you stole it'."
"We didn't - "
"It's an expression, Mirabel, it'll be fine! We're helping, remember?"
Selena thanked them as they traipsed up and down the stairs. After the arepa, Daniel was feeling well enough to change and come out with them to watch the cart and donkey while they carried the paints back up to the apartment. Daniel had explained as Julieta examined him that he'd saved Bocadillo from a neighborhood cat last month. His foot had been hurt but was near to being completely healed, and it was healed once it got a crumb of Julieta's food. Bocadillo was now perched on his shoulder, hopping around and tilting his head curiously at the new people.
It was a short trip, considering Luisa balanced the majority of the paint cans and supplies in her arms and carried them up in one trip. Everyone else carried only one tin of paint, or – in Selena's case – the travel bag that she'd left behind at the inn when she'd returned to San Cristobál with Alonso.
When they were done, they all congregated around the donkey and cart near the stoop of Selena's apartment building. "Gracias," she said. "For this, and – for the arepas."
"How much do we owe you?" Daniel asked quietly, stroking the donkey's soft muzzle.
Julieta blinked. "Owe?"
"For bringing the donkey back," Selena said. "And for the other arepas."
"We can give you two pesos," Daniel offered.
"You – owe us nothing," Alma said, surprised. "We were just – helping."
The brother and sister were quiet for a moment.
"See," Daniel muttered. "I don't understand how they can be so generous now when you came back with barely enough money to cover your expenses. Didn't they commission the work?"
The Madrigals stood, stunned.
"No," Selena hissed. "Someone else did. They were just – the subjects of it."
"What do you mean, you barely had enough money to cover your expenses?" Alma asked, incredulous. "Tatiana Valencia should have paid you at least 100 pesos for that job, or the equivalent in gold or coins. The Council was under the understanding that she was paying for the cost of the murales out of her own pocket, so she did not submit receipts – just your plans."
Selena gaped at her. "One - one hundred pesos?"
"For your labor and skill and supplies – yes." Isabela pressed her lips together in a thin line. "How much did she pay you, Señorita de Leon?"
Selena turned to her, still unable or unwilling to speak.
"She paid her thirty," Daniel piped up. "But we spent most of it on bills and medicine already."
"Thirty!" Alma was shocked.
"Daniel!" Selena scolded. "You're not supposed to tell people that." She turned back to the Madrigals. "And it's okay – it's what we agreed on. Well – I agreed on twenty. So she actually gave me a bit more than we'd agreed on? She may have – ah – misrepresented the size and scale, but – I'd already agreed so – I kept my word."
Alma's gaze could have melted metal, but it was not directed at Selena. "Yes. You kept your word, Señorita de Leon. And we will keep ours. You will be compensated in full for your time and skill.
Selena blinked at her. "Ah – you – you really don't - " She sounded like she was just protesting out of politeness.
Alma gave her a stern look. "We really do."
"There's the cart and the other horse!" Mirabel shouted, and Camilo reigned in their horse. Camilo dismounted quickly and fluidly shifted to be taller, in order to better calm the horse and tie him to the watering post.
"Good boy," Camilo praised, patting the horse's neck. "Extra treats for you, mi amigo." He offered the horse an apple after it had finished drinking from the trough, and then pulled Mirabel down the cobblestone road into the streets of San Cristobál.
Bruno stretched and woke from his nap, feeling very rested and content.
He made his way down the stairs to seek out lunch, and to his surprise, only Dolores and Antonio greeted him.
"...where are Pepa and Félix?" He asked flatly.
"Buenos días, Tío Bruno!" Antonio said cheerfully. "Mamí and Papí went into town to chase after Mirabel and Camilo. They left to give something back to Señorita de Leon that got left behind. We're in charge of the town until they get back!"
Miercoles.
For all his vision-seeking last night, this was something he had not seen coming.
A/N: Well, that's that. Part 2 of the Madrigals in the Big City will be available soon lol.
I'm going to be honest. This chapter and the next one were a HUGE PAIN. I can't just blame Encantober and the EBB story for this update taking so long. (EBB story will be posted sometime in December with accompanying art once all the artists are done – yay!) I wrestled with this chapter and it won. And then it beat me up and took my lunch money. I know how I want the Madrigals to interact in the city in the future, but bridging the gap from where they were to where I want them to be was like slogging through a bog of waist-high mayonnaise. Or something equally torturous. I just wanted to get out. XD But all things said I'm content with how this chapter and the next turned out. After the next chapter we will return to your regularly programmed Bruno/Lucía courtship content, thank you for your patience while I take a detour into world building.
According to a quick google search/calculation, 100 Colombian pesos would be the equivalent of about $1,231.57 today, which would work out to about $20/hr plus expenses for Selena. In case you were wondering if it was a fair price. 30 pesos? Not so much.
As always, thanks so much for your positivity and support. God bless you all and I hope you have a wonderful week.