Together Camilo and Dolores nabbed her next, sitting her right back down inside Isabela's room. The flowery chairs were cushioned and soft, and she watched as they sprouted more lavender and jasmine, just like the crown made for her this morning by her eldest sister and she knew Isabela was on her way to join them too.
"Am I going first, or are you?" Dolores's whisper of a voice was the first to speak once the door closed behind them.
"You." Camilo spoke just as soft. "What I know is mostly just from rumors. You actually knew Tio Bruno." he pulled his legs up, sitting with his feet together and legs bowed out to the side. He looked and felt like a bit like a small child sitting this way, like the child he never really got to be in the first place. He was amongst the lucky ones, he supposed. His gift gave him purpose to make people smile sometimes, which let him be the kid he was. But other times his gift gave him purpose to step into the role of another person, doing their jobs when they were too lazy or tired to be bothered. He could tell when it wasn't because they needed the break. Despite what people thought about him, Camilo was a smart kid and he knew he was being taken advantage of, not that Abuela cared much. It was the job she gave him, after all.
"Well." Dolores fiddled with her skirt. "Tio Bruno." she paused, "Always lived in fear, stuttering and stumbling. I can always sort of hear him muttering and mumbling." she continued, and Mirabel blinked at the use of present tense, but shrugged it off. Her cousin was probably lost in the memories of their Tio. "I associate him with the sound of falling sand." she tsked, "Ch-ch-ch" mimicking the sound, and Mirabel remembered all the sand and the doorway the sand fell from sounding exactly as Dolores did now. It made perfect sense to her why her prima would connect Tio Bruno with falling sand, after all it was a calming sound in his room that never went away, even if he did.
"His gift? I-" she hunched, "I wouldn't wish for it. It's a heavy burden to bear, seeing the future. It humbled him, I think, as much as it ostracized him." her hands twisted and Camilo reached out and took them from her lap, holding gently in his own to keep her nails from digging into her palms, which Mirabel could see had half-moons littering them. How had she not seen that before? Whenever loud sounds were around and she wasn't allowed to cover her ears, Dolores made fists in her skirt, fists that dug sharp nails into soft skin until it drew blood. "Abuela put so much on Tio Bruno. His prophecies, they were hard to understand, even for him. It's like⦠you would only get part of the picture from him. Some of the only ones we seemed to really understand, the people who begged for them sat in his summoning circle with him. But Abuela didn't really like that, it ruined the air of mystery she liked to have with his gift. The unusual one. The outcast. The one shrouded in the shadows."
"Okay- you've been listening to that poetry guy far too much-" Camilo interrupted, "You're starting to sound like a dictionary or something." he teased. "Now, here's what all the stories painted for me - besides the true ones I mean." he turned his attention back to Mirabel, trying to play his part of the jokester cousin. "I heard he was seven foot tall and always had rats along his back-" he started, jumping to his feet, shifting into a scary looking figure. Wild hair, glowing green eyes, crooked and almost rotting teeth. He hunched his back and Mirabel saw he even included the rats when he shapeshifted this time. Camilo had made this picture look like a terrifying sight to behold. "They say Tio Bruno could see your dreams and would feast on your screams." he shifted back to himself and plopped down next to his sister again. "But" he rubbed a hand along the back of his neck. "I know that's not quite true, you know? Stories like that rarely are. They're just scary stories meant to scare people into not talking about Bruno, at least not in a good way." He rubbed his arms, "And the worst part of it all? Is how long I actually believed it." Her primo was ashamed and it showed in his posture, curled in, arms crossed, head down.
Flowers wafted through the air and Isabela spun into the room, clearly having left Abuela outside. As soon as the door shut she sighed deeply, features drooping into an unusual unhappy expression people never got to see, even Mirabel. "Luisa is still downstairs. One of us has to be and she doesn't really know much about Tio Bruno anyways." She sat down gently next to her little sister and cousins. "Where are we?" she tilted her head inquiringly.
"We've gotten through what we know." Dolores informed her and Isabela nodded. "All right."
"Wait- but what about his visions? You said people didn't really understand them? Did he ever give you a vision?" Mirabel found the questions flowing and she squeaked, hands flying to cover her mouth as though she had just said something inappropriate.
"Mira- you're allowed to ask questions." Isabela soothed, reaching out and rubbing a hand on her shoulder, as she had done earlier that morning. "I think people understood most of them well enough, at least the simple ones." she amended, "They just didn't listen to them. So, when you hear the woman gripe about how Tio Bruno told her that her fish would die and the next day it was, she wasn't taking proper care of it. When you hear the man gripe about how Tio Bruno told him he would grow a gut and he did, it was because he didn't take care of himself. When you hear the man complain that Tio Bruno told him he would lose his hair and he did, that was because it happens to the men in his family because of genetics." Isabela's voice still commanded the room, even as she whispered in the safety of her own bedroom, as though they could be caught at any moment. "He didn't cause any of these things, but people all claim he did."
"Do you see?" Camilo asked after a beat of silence, "Do you see?" Dolores parroted him. "They didn't understand. Do you understand?" she whispered before she hummed. "It's time. We must get dressed. The Guzman family will be here soon." The grandchildren all nodded solemnly, standing to get ready. Camilo left them silently, and Mirabel watched him go. She wondered for a moment if the real Camilo was the many masks of childish joy he wore to make people happy or if this quiet, somber one was the real Camilo. She was pulled from her pondering when she was pulled around and presented with clothes by Isa and Dolores. They knew better than she did and she did not fight them as they dressed her up like a doll.
They dressed her in her favorite shade of blue, just like her usual skirt. It didn't have the brash embroidery to hide behind, but it had plenty of ruffles, ribbons, and intricate details that briefly made her feel more like a woman than a child. That is until she looked at the two older girls with her who really were women. Isabela stayed in purple, but this color was a shade darker than usual, and Mirabel wondered if it was meant to reflect the mood, the storm she saw brewing in their eyes. "He told me that the life of my dreams was promised to me and would be mine, without any doubt." Isabela spoke finally, as she sat brushing her beautiful hair. "Tio told me that my power would begin to grow and thrive like grapes on a vine." It was a happy vision and Mirabel found herself smiling softly at hearing it. It was good to hear something positive after so many negative tablets.
But when she looked to Dolores that small spark of happiness was doused. Even in her finery, her cousin looked despondent. It struck her how normal of an expression this was for the older girl in front of her. Her Prima had worn this look so often that people mistook it for content or thought she was simply lost in thought. "Dolores?" she whispered. Dolores didn't answer at first, staring at herself in the mirror in front of her wistfully, wishing she were enough. The rest of her family wore yellow like the sun. It was such a happy color, but Dolores herself was not truly happy and often found herself in shades of maroon. In her young teen years she had thought perhaps the warm reds would make her stand out, give her something that was hers. Shaking hands smoothed out her skirt and she froze, hands in place at Mirabel's repetition of her name. "He told me the man of my dreams would be just out of my reach." her eyes watered, "Betrothed to another." her lip quivered, "It's like I can hear him now." Closing her eyes the tears trailed down her cheeks as she swallowed thickly and she focused. "It's like I can hear him now." she repeated, Isabela's hand falling gently on her shoulder, "I can hear him now." She gasped softly and turned around to her cousin and pulled in tight. "I can hear him." she couldn't stop the tears.
An image, unbidden, forced itself to the front of Mirabel's brain. The green tablet. The divide. The sadness that surrounded all of them. All she could do was step forward and offer her own arms, wrapping them around the other two girls. They pulled back and Isa took the offered handkerchief from Mirabel to wipe away the evidence of their sadness. When Dolores glanced at it she winced, for it was the same type of thread decorating the small cloth that had only last night also been sewn into Mirabel's hand.
The room was heavy in silence for a moment before the girls decidedly did not talk about that. "This was never meant to happen. You know that, right?" Isa spoke eyes boring into Dolores's. She seemed to steel herself, "But it was." she tucked her chin towards her shoulder as she looked away, "It's what Tio Bruno saw." They squeezed each other's hands. "But that doesn't mean it's your fault." Dolores turned back and gave her another teary-eyed look, trying to assure her she could never hate her for this.
"Mirabel, I know that you need to finish helping Tia Julieta. Why don't you go. We need a few moments." Isabela apologized with her eyes, still holding onto Dolores who had closed her eyes, listening to the man of her dreams, the tears once more trailing. It was like once she said it out loud, she couldn't hold back the sorrow that had been there since the very first moment she knew it was to be the truth. "Before you go-" Isa reached out and with a flick of her hand she freshened the beautiful calming flowers Mirabel wore like a crown. "There- perfect." As Mirabel turned to leave, she saw Isa bloom crowns for herself and Dolores. Beautiful sorrowful hyacinth flowers decorated her sister's hair while just as beautiful lilies symbolizing Dolores's devotion.
It was the last glimpse she would get of the pair as the door shut behind her. Not wanting to waste any more time than she already had, Mirabel slid down the stairs into the kitchen and gave her mother a crooked smile, "How can I help, Mama?"
According to google here's what Lillies commonly mean:
What do lilies (the actual flower) mean? Each different variety of lily holds a different meaning. But the most common meaning is purity and fertility. The sweet and innocent beauty of the lily flower has given it the association of fresh life and rebirth. Although the meaning can differ depending on its color. I choose this mostly for the devotion part- Dolores is quite devoted.
I Googled flowers that means sorrow and here's the first one that popped up: Hyacinth: The purple hyacinth is a popular symbol of sorrow and regret. AND it happened to sort of match Isabela's color scheme, at least a little. Isa is also clearly sad and regretful, so it fits the bill.
The Lavender and Jasmine: Both are supposed to be flowers with calming properties, which is why I chose them for Mirabel.
