"Okay, so the corn fields need to be watered but the vineyard already got watered yesterday so you need to be careful where you stand so that the rains don't hit them…" Bruno frowned as he looked over the instructions their mama had written out for them, as if she thought he was still a child that would forget what she assigned them to do. "And I need to see if they are going to have another mole problem this year so that's why I'm coming…" He paused, glancing over at Pepa. "Why do you keep staring at me?"

She grimaced; she'd thought she was being very good to keep him from noticing that.

"Is there something in my beard? I knew I got eggs in it! I keep thinking I should shave it off but everyone says I look like I'm 13 years old without it. 'No one takes a warrior seriously if they have a face smoother than a baby's bottom, Bruno!' Okay, maybe but-"

"There is nothing in your beard," Pepa assured him as they continued down the dirt path to the farm lands that lay outside of the village proper.

"Is my hair sticking up then?"

"Every hair you have down to your nose hair is fine." Bruno though reached up and rubbed his upper lip. "I said it was fine!" Pepa said with a laugh and the sky became a bit more brighter and a rainbow formed overhead. "I just… can't believe you're back."

"I can't believe I am back," Bruno admitted. "Its only been 10 years but… it felt like several lifetimes." He shook his head. "So much has changed."

'Not here,' Pepa thought to herself. Other than the kids growing up everything felt the exact same. The same routine, the same chores, the same pressure. For 45 years she had had basically the same routine with only a few moments to change things up. Mama had allowed her and Felix one day after their wedding to do absolutely nothing before they had been needed to get back to work and when she'd been pregnant with her kids she'd been forced to take it much easier. But otherwise… the same thing, over and over.

She shut her eyes. Sometimes it felt like she'd never grown up…

~MC~GF~MC~GF~

"Pepa, remember that they need some rain for the lake today."

"Yes mama!" the 7 year old said.

Her decidedly 51 year old husband smiled and rubbed her head. "You will do fine, my love! Now, do you want some nuggies and chocky milk?"

"yes!"

~MC~GF~MC~GF~

"Some much has changed," Bruno said, drawing Pepa from her thoughts.

"Your sense of fashion, for example," she teased, reaching out and fingering his robes. "When did you switch to these?"

"Uh, well," Bruno rubbed the back of his head and Pepa smirked as she saw a bit of her brother as he had been in their youth shine through once more, "actually these originally had sleeves. I… kinda… tore them off?"

"Why?" Pepa asked.

"I didn't mean too! I had just completed my first mastery when a deranged former student of Master Shi Fu came in demanding to face the Dragon Warrior. I wanted to buy some time for Po so I leapt into battle… and…" Bruno muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"I fell into some rose bushes, okay?" he snapped.

Pepa snorted.

"Yeah yeah," he said, waving his hand. "So I get out and the battle is already done. And getting out caused me to rip the sleeves off my robes. I get asked about it and I lie and say that I wanted them like that because it would make me more flexible in battle. And I couldn't just go back to wearing sleeves and… yeah, 8 years ago and unless it's a formal occasion or we're traveling through cold regions I go sleeveless."

"And that was better than just admitting you fell?"

"Oh, easy to say that now!" Bruno complained. "I made the mistake of telling the kid and she never lets me live it down. But she at least keeps it to herself so please be subtle if you make jokes."

Pepa smiled but not at his embarrassment. Okay, partially at his embarrassment. But mostly it was because of something Bruno hadn't done in ages, even before he'd left the casita: share a secret with her.

Growing up it had been the triplets against the world. Or at least that's how it had felt to Pepa. The valley and the village might have been the only people the three knew of growing up but they had still felt like outsiders. Their mother had kept them close to home at first, fearful of losing them to the dangers of the outside world and then when they'd gotten their powers things had changed even more. It was hard to make friends when you were busy doing chores… and they all worried that if they upset you then you'd send lightning bolts their way.

'And it didn't help what they did to Bruno,' Pepa thought darkly only to take a quick calming breath, the mantra of 'clear skies' whispered softly to herself. The village children had picked on Bruno because they saw him as an easy target; her hermano had a gentle soul and didn't do well in large groups. Pepa and Julieta had figured out rather quickly what was happening and when their mama made clear that Bruno needed to defend himself… without defending himself because they had to serve the village. He had pleaded with her that he couldn't and she'd just stared him down and told the story of their father's sacrifice again. Pepa and Julieta, who'd been listening in, understood what their mother was saying: You'll never be as brave as your papa.

After that Pepa and Julieta had began to defend their brother more and more. Julieta would soothe him when he was upset and Pepa would fight for him. The chance to make friends disappeared like smoke on a rainy day after she'd hurled some lightning around. Honestly it was a wonder she'd been able to find someone to marry at all as everyone had been terrified of her until Felix had revealed that he LOVED how protective and strong she was-

Pepa shook her head. Her thoughts were wandering. What mattered was that once Bruno and her and Julieta had shared secrets with each other, knowing that even if they would get teased or scolded for what they did their siblings would never reveal them.

'When did that change?' she thought to herself as they continued to walk, now entering the farm lands proper. In the distance she saw some donkeys ambling about and knew that Luisa was going to be in for another rough day. 'When did we stop sharing secrets? When did we stop trusting each other?'

She knew the answer. She just didn't want to admit it.

Her wedding.

"Clear skies, clear skies," she muttered, not wanting to dredge that event up again.

"You still do that?" Bruno asked, surprising her by the sudden comment.

"It works."

"Eh?" he said, wiggling his hand. "I mean, it does but there are better ways to reach zen."

"Oh really?" Pepa asked with a slight huff. "You are the master now?"

"I had to master it," he said, not looking at her. "Your gift isn't the only one that works better when you're calm."

"…oh," Pepa said. She'd forgotten that was the first reason Bruno and Mirabel had extended their leave: to let Bruno finally master his gift. "So… zen?"

"Yeah," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "Part of it was learning how to calm myself. The rest was breaking myself out of my rituals and superstitions and understanding that I control my gift it doesn't control me." He paused. "I… that is…"

She knew what he was getting at. "Well, if you have the time…"

"I can make it. Do you?"

"Yeah." It would be LOVELY to be able to control the weather rather than how it was now, where it felt like it controlled her.

They shared a smile.

"So," she said as they passed by the beans and the gourd patches, "you traveled a lot? You said you were in cold climates?"

"We traveled all over," Bruno said, one of his rats popping up from his hood only for him to shoo the rodent back inside its folds. "The thing about our party is we are always looking for the next adventure. Sometimes it's because we want to refill our coffers. Sometimes it's because we want to help people out." That made Pepa smile. "Sometimes we need to do one thing in order to gain access to something else. Getting Mirabel trained by the dwarves required us to clear out a horde of diseased goblins from an old crypt, for example. But Garhoole realized they weren't evil, just dealing a really bad sickness and we needed to get them medicine… but that led us to having to go to a swamp and deal with the muckers that lived there…" Pepa wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, that was a fun week," he said sarcastically. "And sometimes… we just did it because a mission sounded fun. We had one, where we had to guard this treasure but it turns out that was during Carnival and they only needed two of us to watch the vault at a time so the rest could go have fun. And it turns out that the person that wanted to steal it was the mayor's wife because they met years ago when she tried to steal it and she wanted to reenact their first meeting… they ended up crying and kissing and hugging each other and we got paid for doing very little."

Pepa shook her head, unable to imagine it. "I guess what I'm asking is you met a lot of people, right?"

"Oh, so many. But we told you about this in our letters." She looked away but now she could feel Bruno's stare. "You didn't believe them, did you?"

"Would you have?" Pepa retorted.

Her brother considered her words. "Fair point."

Relieved she had avoided a fight Pepa got back to her original line of questioning. "So I'm curious… you met all sorts of people. In those… cold climates and at the carnivals and all that?"

"Yeeeeeees?" Bruno said, confused.

"So… did you…"

"Did I…?"

"Don't make me say it!" Pepa laughed out.

"Say what?"

She rolled her eyes. "Did you ever… you know?"

"Know what?"

"Did you have sex!" Pepa finally exclaimed.

Bruno blinked.

A cow nearby blinked.

The farmer MILKING said cow blinked.

"…hello Senor Rojas," she said weekly, cheeks flaming red and as such a hot wind suddenly blew in until she calmed herself.

"I can't believe you are asking me if I am a virgin!" Bruno complained once they'd left Senor Rojas.

"I just want to know!" Pepa complained. "Mama was always worried, you never got married…"

"It's a small village," Bruno reminded her. "Everyone knew me. Knew us. You and Julieta are lucky you found Agustin and Felix."

Pepa smiled softly at that. "Yeah…" she whispered before looking back at her brother. "I just want to know if you ever found that. You didn't get married as you would have told us…" she trialed off before glaring at her brother. "Right?"

"Yes!" Bruno said in a panic, waving his hands. "Clear skies! Clear skies!"

Confirming that she was worried for nothing Pepa let the cloud dissipate. "But that doesn't mean you couldn't have a relationship…"

"I really don't want to talk about this," Bruno complained, trying to hurry away from her.

"And why not?"

"Because you're my hermana!"

"And?" Pepa demanded. "We're adults. You know Felix and I have-"

"Nope, nope nope nope!" He stuck his fingers in his ears. "Not listening, no no no."

"Bruno!" Pepea snapped, yanking his hands away from his head. "How else could I have children?"

"…okay, you had… sex… three times. I accept that." He paused. "Julieta adopted though, right?"

"Unless there was a kitchen in the bedroom I assume yes," Pepa said and the two shared a laugh. "Now come on…" she looked at him carefully. "I can just ask Mirabel-"

"DON'T!" Bruno said forcefully yet also fearfully. "Just… don't." He sighed. "Yes, I have been with women."

"And who caught your eye?" Pepa asked. But her hermano kept his mouth shut. "You know that won't work. I'll get it out of you. Do you know why?" She leaned in close. "Because it doesn't matter that we are 50 now. It doesn't matter we haven't seen each other in a decade. It doesn't even matter that you have these new powers. I still remember… where you are ticklish!"

"NO!" Bruno squealed but it was too late as Pepa began to wiggle her fingers against his sides, causing him to squirm and giggle. "Okay, okay!" he pleaded. She stopped but kept her fingers still touching his sides, JUST in case he tried to get away with only claiming he would tell then try and run away. "I'm only telling you one, okay? We're not going through the whole list."

"There is a list?" Pepa asked.

Bruno grumbled under his breath before saying, "Melody."

"Going to need more than that," she said as she finally released him.

"Princess Melody. Her kingdom is far north of here. Not in the frigid lands, south of that. Our party was summoned by her father King Eric to deal with a threat to his father-in-law's kingdom."

"To his father-in-law's kingdom?"

"Yeah… the old man was prideful and stubborn and didn't want to admit that there was a danger on one of the islands. Mostly because he and his soldiers couldn't deal with it. We arrived only to find out Princess Melody had been kidnapped." Bruno's face twitched.

"I remember that look," Pepa warned him. "You made the same face when mama would ask me about a prank that you knew about. You know something…"

"Melody wasn't kidnapped," Bruno finally sighed. "It doesn't matter if you know, you'll never meet her mother anyway. She decided that she was going to handle the situation herself… she was nearly 40, never married, and her younger brother was going to claim the throne anyway because of stupid laws so she figured what did it matter if she went off on an adventure. She helped… only she wanted to stay free for a bit longer so she convinced me to help claim some pirates had kidnapped her after we stopped the threat."

"And instead you played pirate?" Pepa teased.

"Its privateer if you are authorized by a crown and-"

Pepa continued to smile as her brother told his tale, not bothered at all that he was making it very hard for her to get in a sad mood to make it rain.