When Alma dismissed her family from what remained of the dining room table, Mirabel immediately ran to consult Isabela.

"Isa! Heeeeey...so...uhhh..."

Before Mirabel could put a coherent sentence together, Isabela held up a hand. "Stop. Yes, I will help you. If for no other reason than to make sure you don't kill any of my plants. Most of them require a delicate touch."

Mirabel gave her an annoyed look. "Is it even possible to kill plants with powers that specifically grow plants?"

"You'd be surprised. Do you know anything about invasive species?"

"Uh...no?"

"Well, ever since I gave up growing thornless roses and turned my attention to native species, I've discovered our native plants live in fear of being literally strangled by plants that have no business growing freely in Colombia. The flora of our country is already competitive enough. Adding in exotic species that are supposed to be tamed but would take over the entire jungle if given the chance? Terrifying!"

Mirabel tried to imagine plants in literal horror at the prospect of being strangled by roses, but the idea was almost laughable to her. "Okay..."

Isabela gestured for Mirabel to follow her. "Come on, I'll show you what I mean. Since you're the gardener for the day, I want to make sure you get it right."

Mirabel clamped down on a retort. It was still so easy for her and her eldest sister to fall back on old habits and start bickering about their talents and roles in the family. Thankfully, those moments were increasingly fewer and further between all the time, and really only happened when one or both of the girls were under stress. Such as they were today. Mirabel followed Isabela upstairs, trying not to trip on her own vines in the process. Curse her dad's clumsiness genes!

As they reached the balcony overlooking the courtyard, Mirabel took the time to look around at the doors. She snorted humorously as she observed each door flickering with images that represented who got what gift. Antonio's door flashed between images of animals and images of herbs and baked goods. Those doors representing family members who had lost their powers for the day oscillated between dim and bright. But what really caught Mirabel's eye were her mother and tía's doors.

"Isa, look!"

Isabela turned her attention in the direction Mirabel indicated. Julieta's door flashed between the usual image of the healer and an image of Augustín holding the candle. Pepa's door flashed between its normal image, an image of Pepa surrounded by animals, and an image of Félix sporting hourglasses and an imposing expression similar to the one on Bruno's door.

"Wow," Isabela said. "That's...kind of crazy."

"Right? Do you think they're changing inside, too?"

"Only one way to find out."

The girls arrived at Isabela's room. Isabela watched her door curiously. It would flicker in and out, but as her image dimmed, it would also shift to an unlit image of the family candle, surrounded by motifs representing every member of the family. Mirabel's door. The two sisters glanced at one another curiously. Isabela took a deep breath, turned the knob, and pushed her way inside.

The interior of the room hadn't changed, and Isabela sighed with relief. All her plants were present and accounted for. It seemed to be the doors alone that were changing.

As soon as Mirabel set foot in the room, the plants seemed to spring to attention. They shifted to align with her presence, and every flower bloomed in her direction.

Isabela felt a twinge of envy, then smirked at her sister's bewilderment. "Seems they've accepted their temporary overlord."

Mirabel looked thoroughly uncomfortable. "I'm...not used to having a magical power," she said. "I don't know that I can do this."

"Nonsense," Isabela chided, pulling Mirabel further into the room. "You're the one who helped me expand my abilities, remember? You can absolutely do this."

Mirabel gave her sister a grateful smile.

"So long as you follow all of my instructions exactly," Isabela added.

Mirabel's smile withered into an irritated frown.

"Now, let's start with something easy, like the succulents. They thrive on neglect."

"That's it, I must be a succulent," Mirabel said, chuckling at her own joke.

Isabela looked at her with alarm. "Why would you say something like that, Mira? Please don't make those kinds of jokes!"

"Sorry! I just...I'm still getting used to the changes around here. Changes that I wanted and brought, I know. I also know how hard everyone has been trying, and I really do appreciate it, but...it's different. A good different, but still different."

Isabela simply paused and waited, clearly expecting more.

Mirabel sighed. "Okay, so maybe Abuela's training has been getting...a little overwhelming. The fact that she expects me to take over the candle someday...well, I've been getting a pretty good idea of what you went through for so many years. It can be stifling. I'm used to being overlooked, and all of a sudden I'm expected to be the new standard for all of Encanto to follow."

Isabela pulled her sister into a hug. "I think I might know why you got my powers for the day. Not so that you could know what it's like to be me, but so I could return a favor to you."

Mirabel nodded in agreement and melted into her big sister's embrace for a minute, before pulling herself away and saying, "Alright, let's learn about some plants!"

The plant lessons did not immediately go well.

Mirabel was becoming increasingly frustrated, and was also having to mentally make peace with the idea of going to Antonio later on. As she attempted to follow Isabela's instructions for growing, directing or suppressing plants, vines, branches or roots, she found that they would not obey her commands immediately. But when she got frustrated, the plants would suddenly explode with growth, which would result in multiple minor injuries that Isabela couldn't help but laugh at.

"Ouch!" Mirabel winced as she plucked yet another chunk of prickly pear from her knee. She groaned in frustration as she collapsed in a bed of ferns. "What am I doing wrong?!"

Isabela was perched on her bed, where she could supervise. "I've told you repeatedly, you have to guide them, not boss them. You also have to really listen. Feel your connection with them."

"I can only 'feel my connection' with them when I get tangled up in vines or fall into another cactus! And no offense, but I am tired of feeling that connection to cactus! Whose idea was it to arm a plant with literal weapons, anyway? Who is it going to go to war with? Peccaries? I got news for ya, cactus! You're losing! They don't care that you're pokey! But I do! What did I ever do to you?"

Isabela was growing frustrated. She slid off her bed and walked over to where Mirabel continued to rant about sundews, strangling figs and poisonous plants. "Up!" she commanded, grabbing her sister's hands and hauling her to her feet.

Mirabel glared in defeat, righting her crooked glasses on her nose. "I think we should just call it a day."

"Not on your life, sis," Isabela said. "You finally get to experience a magical gift for the day, and I'm not letting you give up."

"It's not working!" Mirabel insisted. "I'm just not cut out for this. Abuela is right; we shouldn't be trying to use gifts we're not used to."

She turned to leave, but Isabela caught her by the arm.

"Hey! Come on, Isa, just let me go!"

"Nope," Isabela said, dragging Mirabel toward a sapling palma de cera. As her little sister protested, she positioned herself behind Mirabel, forcing her hand to make contact with the young tree.

As Mirabel's palm met the trunk of the other palm, the tree responded. It spontaneously grew several feet and burst into flower.

Mirabel was speechless, her jaw slack. She felt an energy coursing through the palm and up her arm. There was a buzz there that hummed in her brain as if it were trying to communicate with her. She pulled her hand away for a moment and gaped at Isabela, who still had hands on her shoulders to prevent her from escaping. Mirabel reached again for the palm and gently laid her hand on the trunk. She felt that energy again, as if it were asking her for permission. She nodded hesitantly, sending magical energy of her own back through the tree. Its flowers burst into large clusters of reddish orange fruits.

Mirabel took a step back and grasped her forehead in amazement. "Wow! Isa! Is this how you feel all the time? Is that...really what you feel when you're working with these things?"

Isabela didn't respond right away. She was staring up at the palm tree in wonderment.

"Isa?"

"I felt it too," Isabela said.

"What?"

Isabela turned to her. "Your magic. Well, my magic, but you know what I mean." She studied her hand for a moment. "Mira, do you remember what Tío Bruno and Mamá both said when this started? Neither of them could feel their magic. Most of us, when we use our magic, there's a distinct feeling to it. But even when we're not actively using it, it's there, in the background. When we lost the magic after the house fell and the candle went out, we felt that. It was...like a part of us was missing. So I know what Mamá meant when she said she couldn't feel her magic. But me? I still could. I never lost the magic. It just changed."

Mirabel looked thoroughly confused. "But...we know who got what gifts. Antonio has Mamá's gift, and Tío Félix has Tío Bruno's gift. Those were the only ones we didn't know right away. That...kind of leaves nothing for you."

"That's not true," Isabela insisted. She paused a moment to collect her thoughts. "I remember Antonio's candle ceremony. You walked him to his door. He might not have gotten his gift if you hadn't given him the courage. You're the one who helped me grow my power. You helped Luisa with her gift. I'm told you helped Tío Bruno with his too."

"I'm not...following you on any of this."

Isabela scoffed. "Yes you are. You're the smartest person in this family. You just don't want to admit you know exactly what I'm getting at."

Mirabel bit her bottom lip.

Isabela grasped Mirabel by the shoulders and looked her dead in the eye. "You help us with our gifts. You have this...subtle but very much present magic that stabilizes and expands my magic. Our magic. And now I have it for the day, and I felt it when you touched that tree. Mirabel Madrigal, you have a gift!" She squealed and wrapped Mirabel in a tight hug. "You have a gift!"

Mirabel grunted as the air was squeezed out of her lungs. She simply let Isabela hold her for a moment while she processed what her sister had said. Her bottom lip quivered as she took it in. She returned the embrace.

And cried.

Plants moved around the sisters in empathy. Native flowers blossomed so brightly they practically gave off their own light.

Though they couldn't see it, outside, Isabela and Mirabel's doors glowed brightly with one another's motifs.

Augustín blinked in amazement as the candle he held glowed brighter. A feeling of warmth flooded through him, and for a moment, he relaxed. He wondered what it meant. Heck if he knew the first thing about this candle, but for the time being, he was just happy that it seemed to be happy.

For the next hour or so, Isabela helped Mirabel practice growing, arranging and directing plants. They painted one another with colorful pollen and laughed as they dashed along rows of ferns and carnivorous plants. They were having the time of their lives.

"Hey, should we decorate my room with some of these while I've got the power?" Mirabel suggested as the two rested from their frolicking.

"Only if you're willing to take care of those plants the traditional way once the day is out," Isabela said.

"Absolutely," Mirabel promised. "But I'll probably come to you for help sometimes."

"Good. I wouldn't have it any other way."

Laughing, the girls made their way out of Isabela's room and toward Mirabel's. However, they were stopped short when they watched Félix burst out of his room, clearly frustrated and even a bit...frightened? They hadn't seen their tío scared since the day the house fell.

"Tío Félix?" Mirabel said. "Is everything okay?"

"No!" Félix snapped. "Everything is definitely not okay! It's the opposite of okay! I've got Bruno's gift!"

"Oh, well, we knew that. The door..." Mirabel gestured toward the door in question.

Félix glared in frustration. "Listen, Mira, if anyone can convince your Tío Bruno to get out here and help me, it's you. So would you mind marching up to that tower and telling him he owes me since he's the one who saddled me with this?"

Mirabel glanced at Isabela, a silent agreement passing between them. She turned back to Félix. "I don't think Tío Bruno can help with this one, and I don't think Casita will let us bother him anyway. But we can help you."

"We'd be glad to," Isabela said.

"Help me?" Félix said. "How?"

Mirabel and Isabela smiled. "We have some experience with helping people with their gifts," Isabela said. She gestured toward Mirabel's room. "Come on, we'll show you."