"Deep breaths...deep breath..." These words were not - for once - being spoken by Pepa, but by Luisa who was trying to steady her breathing.
It was getting worse, she lifted a hand to her chest trying to hear her own heartbeat, hoping that would calm her. So much work...
"Luisa, can you round the donkeys up, please?" [The villagers had started actually asking the Madrigals to use their powers rathe than just assuming they would.]
"Luisa, my house is slipping again!"
"Luisa my fence-!"
"Luisa my-!"
"Luisa-!"
She banged her fists on the counter, causing the pots hanging above to clatter to the floor. After a quick glance around to make sure Antonio wasn't hanging around, Luisa cursed freely as she knelt to pick up the pans.
"Luísa?" She jumped and looked up, relaxing when she saw it was just Isa.
"You scared me." The younger said, softly.
Isa made an apologetic face. "Sorry. You alright?"
"Yeah! Yeah, fine."
"Hhh-hhm. Only I just heard you using some pretty spicy language there and you don't usually swear, so...?"
"Just..." Luisa considered telling her sister her problems for a moment, then immediately decided against it. "I'm fine."
Isa raised an eyebrow. "Sure. Well, if you need me I'm always here. Just give my door a knock. Okay?"
Luisa nodded - afraid that if she spoke she'd cry - and Isa nodded at her again before disappearing.
The strong women took a deep breath and steadied herself. Just a few more hours left in the day...
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dinner had been awful. Just...noise and stuff Luisa didn't care about. Which was awful of her really, considering that the family was now trying to listen to each other about how their respective days had gone and stuff.
She tunes out Mirabel talking about showing some of the village children sewing in favour of staring at her hands as if there was a chance they may drop off.
"Luisa?" A hand gently touched her arm and she was jerked back into reality to see everyone staring at her.
"Luisa?" She turned to see her mama looking at her in concern.
"...Sorry?"
"How was your day, Ángel?" Julieta said, concern visibly growing.
"It was..." Luisa trailed off, as she heard the echoes of the day.
'Luisa, can you-"
"Luisa can you-"
"Luísa, can-"
"Luisa-"
"Luisa?"
Without warning the women in question stood up abruptly and slammed her hands on the table. "I don't know! Stop asking me!" And with that she fled, ignoring her family's concerned shouts.
Luisa made it to her room and slammed the door behind her before throwing herself on her bed and sobbing.
She didn't even hear the door open and the first thing she was aware of was a weight sinking onto the bed and a hand massaging her back. "Wanna talk about it?" The soft voice of her older sister soothed Luisa a bit and she snivelled a little, getting her breath back.
"Luisa?"
The teen held her hand out, signalling she just needed a moment. "I-I-I-"
"If you're about to apologise then don't." Isa said, firmly.
"But everyone's mad..."
"Everyone's concerned, Luisa. There's a difference. Now, Abuela's talking about how that came out of nowhere, but I think it's been a long time coming, hhm?"
Her younger sister nodded. After a few moments Luisa took a deep breath and said. "I-i-it's just today. So many...people asking me to do stuff."
Isa frowned a little, noticing her sisters discomfort. "What sort of stuff?"
"Just...you know. Move this, move that. I've got my strength back and...that's it. Everyone just expects it to go back to normal and I...I don't know how to get it to stop."
Isa looked at her sympathetically. "And...you want it to stop?"
Luisa gave a little laugh and held her hands out. "I-i think so, yes. But I'm not at the same time, if that makes sense?"
Isa nodded, thoughtfully. "Yeah, it does. And look, we'll help you as much as we can, but if you want the community to stop you may have to tell 'em so yourself. And just think about it, what are they gonna do? Our strongest man is no match for you, none of them are gonna fight you or anything."
"They could exclude me."
"From what? Luisa, you don't socialise with them! The only social events you attend are ones that WE give and we're hardly going to be getting rid of you, are we? Of course not." She added, seeing her sister's not-very-convinced face. "Okay? So just take a break and try to get some sleep. It'll seem better in the morning, hopefully. And you know where I am if you need me."
Luisa nodded and Isa patted her sisters arm, affectionally.
That small gesture was enough to break Luisa's reserves and she suddenly burst out sobbing and grabbed Isa hard.
Isa took a breath and started massaging her sisters back. "It'll be fine, sis, I promise. It'll be fine."