After ten years in the walls and one more year of uncertainty, things were finally looking up. Bruno was recovering from the physical and mental decimation of his life in the walls, and Aya had returned to the Encanto after spending ten years in the distant cities herself. Bruno had finally introduced her to his family, who had joyfully accepted her as his enamorada.

In a bench in Aya's garden, the couple cuddled in the cool early evening air. Guabina music was playing from a record inside the house. Bruno admired the salt and pepper of her hair—more pepper than salt for now except for the beautiful silver lock of hair framing her face. Not for the first time tonight, Bruno was glad that Aya hadn't seen him right out of the walls, when he had been a shell of his former self—emaciated, pale, unhinged, hanging by the slowly spooling thread of his family's love. With Aya back in Bruno's arms, he felt a little more complete than before.

"Your family is very welcoming," Aya sighed.

"The kids are very open," said Bruno pointedly.

"I see why you love them."

"They have fantastic parents."

"And a loving uncle." Aya kissed the side of his neck.

"I wasn't always there for them. We're all mutually regretting that. But I'm here now, and we're all taking things one day at a time," Bruno said as he continued to absentmindedly play with Aya's hair.

Bruno told Aya about his time in the walls with more detail. "It wasn't always bad. Without Mamá and the Encanto needing me to see the future anymore, I suddenly had more time on my hands. I got to paint a lot and write a lot. I've since performed most of those rat telenovelas for the family. And when I couldn't sleep, which was most of that time, I got to sing and play the tiple. It kept my demons quiet, most times."

"Most times?"

"There would be times when I would get seriously bogged down. Maybe I heard Pepa trash-talking me. Maybe I saw Mirabel getting bullied by Mamá or Isabela. Maybe Agustín and Félix were talking about how much they missed me. There was one voice in my head that was especially menacing. I called him Hernando. Soon, he started appearing in my dreams. Insomnia tended to keep me up for as many as five days. Since Hernando appeared, the record became ten days. He showed up in my waking moments, too, taunting me. That I once toyed with the idea of kidnapping and adopting Mirabel was his favorite topic to mock me with. What was the big deal anyway? I dropped the idea as soon as I came up with it! Then, I invented Jorge; his humor would drown Hernando out."

Aya chuckled but then fixed a serious look at him. "I think it was a bad idea that you personified it."

"I was lonely, okay?" he whined. Bruno whimpered, "So lonely. They pretended I didn't exist. Some days, I would wonder if I forgot that I had died. If I am dead, then, this is hell, I remember telling myself. Thank God for Dolores. Reminders that she knew I was there was what anchored me to reality. And Mirabel, well, you know the story."

Aya nuzzled against Bruno's shoulder. "For someone without supernatural gifts, well, it seems her real gift is to influence those who have them. The villagers also spoke extensively about the day that Casita collapsed, that just before the fall itself, Isabela went crazy with succulents and wild flora, and Mirabel was with her, encouraging her."

"And I think that is Isabela's real gift."

"Oh, I don't know. She spoke to me about how she would help her mother at her stall and how much she's studied about medicinal flora. Isabela was especially enthusiastic about the experience of trip-sitting you, that holding you through difficult trips was exhilarating."

Bruno sat straighter and gave Aya a look of disbelief. "I didn't know she felt that way. All I know is that Isabela tends to volunteer more frequently than Dolores."

"Well, she's shown interest in my work when she was still a child. Did you know she used to visit me either alone or with Dolores?"

Bruno nodded, smiling fondly at the memory of ten-year-old Isabela with cactus spines in her dress. "I know. Didn't she grow the cactus hedge around your house?"

"She did! And I am thankful. Fewer pests and thieves have come for my garden ever since. And I've noticed that she has done the same for most of the Encanto. When did that happen?"

Bruno recalled being out of the walls for the first time and seeing Isabela with her dress stained black and strewn with literal splashes of yellow, red, and blue. "Tío Bruno, it finally came true! You told me that my power would grow!" she had told him. "A year ago, when Mirabel found me, she asked me to redo my vision of her apparently destroying Casita. We found more details that showed us that, potentially to prevent the collapse, she needed to reconcile with Isabela after Mirabel sabotaged her sister's engagement dinner. Isabela revealed that she didn't even want to marry the guy, and her being honest with herself brought out the full potential of her gift, which itself was fulfillment of a vision she asked of me when she was ten, after she created your cactus hedge."

"Well, now it makes more sense why she asked me to let her apprentice for me."

Pride bloomed in Bruno's heart for his oldest niece. Aya giggled at the look on Bruno's face. "Julieta and Agustín smiled just like that when Isabela made her proposal in front of them. Now I can breathe easily," she said with an actual sigh. "Being the only one practicing my family's work, I had been afraid all the time that their legacy would die with me someday. But now— Oh, I can't believe it! —I finally have a successor. And she's starting tomorrow."

"That's great!"

Watching the stars come out one by one, Bruno and Aya savored being in each other's arms. The past was behind them; the future was promising; and the present was peaceful. Moments later, they retreated into the house to escape the mosquitos and enjoy yet another night together.