It was a beautiful sunny afternoon outside of Casita, Bruno was doing some gardening while watching over his 5-year-old sobrina Isabela. It had only been a few days since Isabela received her Gift and she was using it to her advantage by helping him with the planting.
"Tio! Watch this!" Isabela called out.
Bruno turned and watched as Isabela giggled and then used her power to make a rose bloom from her palm while Bruno chuckled and then he nodded over to her, love and pride shining in his green eyes.
"That's very beautiful, mi vida." Bruno praised.
"And it's pink like my dress too!" Isabela chimed in, giggling.
Bruno smiled at his sobrina for a moment and then he continued watering some of the flowers. Isabela stared down at the rose in her palm and began to stroke the soft petals while she gazed at it in wonder.
"Time to make you grow bigger for Tio's garden." Isabela said to the flower.
Isabela began to use her power to make the rose grow to a normal size but then just as Bruno placed more flowers into the dirt, he was startled by a sudden cry.
"Tio!"
Bruno quickly turned his head around and to his shock and concern, he saw Isabela now on the ground and clutching her hand and crying. Bruno dropped everything and then he ran over to Isabela.
"Isa! Are you alright?" Bruno asked, eyes wide.
Isabela only continued crying and held her arms out to Bruno. Bruno knelt down and then he scooped up the small girl into his arms and sat down and placed her in his lap while she cried and cried in pain.
"Shh, shh. Shh. Isa. Isa. Calmate, calmate, mi corazon. Estoy aqui." Bruno murmured in a soothing tone.
Isabela sniffled and dried her eyes but clung onto her Tio while he kept holding onto her and hugging her and then Isabela sniffled and showed Bruno her hand. Brunoe's eyes widened more he saw that she had a very huge thorn in her palm and it was bleeding due to the hole.
"I'm sorry, Tio. I just wanted to make the rose grow so it'd fit into the dirt, I didn't mean to." Isabela sniffled again, eyes filling with tears.
"It's alright, baby. You're not in trouble, I'm more worried about you. Come on, let's go have your Mama fix this right away."
Bruno stood up, still holding onto Isabel who clutched tight onto his ruana, her face buried in his chest. Whether this was because she wanted his comfort or she was scared and didn't know what was going on, he didn't know, all he knew was that Isabela needed help and fast.
Bruno went back into Casita and into the kitchen. Luckily, Julieta was in the kitchen where she always was, Bruno went over to his sister who turned to him and she gasped and walked over and stroked the crying Isabela's hair and then looked at Bruno.
"Hermano, what happened?" Julieta asked, worriedly.
"She got a thorn stuck in her hand from a rose. It's bleeding a lot, Juli." Bruno said, trying to keep his voice calm.
Julieta motioned over to a chair and then Bruno sat down, holding Isabela in his lap. Julieta knelt down to Isabela's level and stroked her hair and then touched her cheek.
"It's alright, amor. I'm here. Everything's alright." Julieta said to Isabela in a gentle, soft tone.
Isabela looked over at her Mama but wasn't letting go of Bruno. She held out her hand for Julieta to inspect. Julieta studied the thorn and then looked up at her daughter.
"I need to pull this out first, corazon."
Isabela shook her head and grabbed back on to Bruno's ruana while he held her close and then he tilted up her chin so that she was looking up at him. Bruno could see more tears forming in Isabela's eyes.
"You need to let her remove it, Isa."
"No Tio! It's going to hurt!"
"Only for a moment, mi princesa. I promise. We're not going to let anything bad happen to you." Bruno assured, smiling.
Isabela nodded and then she let Julieta grab onto her hand and she gave her daughter a small, apologetic glance and then began to remove the thorn. Isabela yelped in pain while her tears ran down her cheeks.
"It hurts!" Isabela cried.
Bruno shushed Isabela and hugged her while Julieta continued pulling out the thorn. Seeing his little sobrina in pain broke Bruno's heart but it didn't last long when he heard Isabela sniffling and then she and Bruno saw that the thorn was no longer there.
"All done." Julieta said, smiling.
Isabela also smiled while Julieta kissed her cheek and then she went over to make one of her arepas. Bruno tried not to faint since he noticed that Isabela's hand was still bleeding, the only thing that stopped him was him focusing on Isabela giggling again.
"It doesn't hurt anymore Tio!"
Julieta went back over to Isabela and gave her the arepa and she ate it and Bruno sighed in relief when the blood had disappeared and then Julieta gave Isabela another kiss on the cheek.
"All better now, mijita?" Julieta asked.
Isabela nodded and then she gave Julieta a hug followed by Bruno and then he let her off his lap and then she began jumping up and down and grabbed onto Bruno's hand and began tugging on it.
"More gardening Tio! More gardening!" Isabela said, happily.
"As long as you promise not to use your Gift unless you're supervised first." Bruno reminded.
"Okay!"
Bruno and Julieta chuckled and then before Bruno knew it, he was being dragged back outside by Isabela. This time, while gardening however, Isabela was in his lap and helping him place the flowers where they belonged.
"Do you think I'll learn to get my Gift right, Tio?" Isabela asked, looking up at Bruno.
"One step at a time, Isa." Bruno said, tapping the tip of Isabela's nose.
Isabela nodded and she and Bruno continued their gardening while Julieta watched from the window. While she was happy that Isabela was okay and back to bonding with her Tio, she wondered how many times she would have to make an arepa for her as her Gift advanced but she didn't mind, more time with her own little flower was always worth it.
