"Okay, I can't be reading this right," Mirabel said as she looked at the list in her hand. She and Luisa had come downstairs after a VERY long soak (and Luisa felt very guilty about wasting so much time just relaxing even though she hadn't felt so loose and tension-free in years) to collect their bagged breakfasts and lunches before heading down to town. Much to her own surprise Luisa had discovered that abuela had basically given her the same task list she always got. She'd expected to have more on the list but that hadn't happened. Instead it was just… the same list. The same tasks.

For a moment she had felt relief. Her abuela wasn't punishing her for changing things up. She was okay with her doing her normal tasks because Mirabel would be there to help.

'Except… what if that's not what she thinks?' Luisa thought to herself, wringing her hands together. 'What if she thinks so little of Mirabel that she thinks it actually is a punishment to make me do my normal list because now half the morning is gone?'

She hated thinking that way about her abuela. She was supposed to love her, after all!

She… was supposed to love her…

"Uh, Luisa? Are you listening?" Mirabel waved her hand in front of her face, causing Luisa to blink as she came out of her thoughts.

"Oh, sorry," she said with a blush. "Just… thinking over the list."

"Uh, yeah," Mirabel said, looking over her tinted glasses. They were such an odd color…they actually reminded her a bit of the drinking glasses her Uncle Ernesto had given her, back when he'd last visited after Mirabel's failed ceremony. An off purple color, very pale but still noticeable if one looked carefully. And the glasses had had a rippled surface and been utterly huge… well, Luisa had shoved them in her closet as she knew that they wouldn't go with their rest of their dishes- "I was talking about the list."

"You were?" Luisa frowned. "I mean sure, you were. What about it?"

"This can't be right. We have to move a bridge? Why?"

"Well, there is only one bridge so we have to move it so the cattle can be taken to feed on the grass plains. And then move it back so the farmers who tend the wheat can get back home."

"But bridges aren't exactly made to be moved around easily. Well, unless they go up and down."

"Like… flying?" Luisa asked. Considering all she had seen she could believe that Mirabel had been on flying bridges. "Do they let you reach high mountains?"

"…no," Mirabel said. "I mean they… nevermind, I'll show you later. But my point is that you move the bridge every day?"

"Well, if it's raining in the fields I don't…"

Mirabel shook her head. "Why not just make a new bridge? That way the cattle can be moved without you having to lift up a bridge."

Luisa's brow furrowed at that. "That seems like a lot of work."

"More than every day moving a bridge? Twice because you have to put it back?"

"Actually four times but-"

"If we made a new bridge then once it was done you wouldn't have to move it ever again. It would be done. I mean, if we work together with your strength and my skills we could have it done in a few days. Maybe one if we get abuela to let us just focus on that."

Luisa though quickly shook her head at that. "No… no that will never happen. There is too much to do!"

"Like what?" Mirabel said, looking further down the list. "Get the donkeys… what does that even mean?"

"Oh, the donkeys get loose."

"Like… once a week?"

Luisa shifted, not liking how her hermana was staring at her. It felt like she'd just declared that she enjoyed eating mud. In an embarrassed tone she honestly didn't understand she admitted, "Every day?"

"…okay, no," Mirabel said with a shake of her head. "This list… this is just insane. Wastefully insane! Its… stupid busy work, Luisa!" Despite being so much bigger than her sister Luisa cringed as her baby sister confirmed her deepest fears, that all she was good for was doing dumb brute work and- "You could be doing so many other amazing things!"

"Wait, what?" Luisa said, her self-chastising coming to a grinding halt. Did… did her sister just say she could do amazing things?

"We're getting this list done. And I don't mean "Oh, we get it done today and then tomorrow you do it all over again!" I mean we are getting it done. Forever. That way you can truly focus on what you want to do with your life!"

"I… I don't-"

"Come on!" Mirabel said, as she picked up the pace, forcing Luisa to jog after her. "It would be like me building a shield and after every battle I melt it down and remake it! Do it right the first time! We are getting this list taken care of so you can begin really exploring your gift! I've been thinking about it for a while and I bet you could do so many amazing things… oh! You ever tried sculpting? You could make statues with your bare hands I bet!"

"…statues?" Luisa said, looking down at her big meaty hands. They were only good for tearing things and lifting things and pounding things… not making beautiful things…

"Just a first draft idea. We have time to do better. Come on!" Mirabel waved for her to hurry and soon Luisa had caught up, the two racing forward… only for Mirabel to stop short. "I… don't actually know where the donkeys are. Heheh."

Luisa chuckled at that before turning left and leading her to the rolling hills outside of town. It took about fifteen minutes but soon the two them were staring at the donkeys as they lazily moved about, chewing on grass and generally not having a care in the world. Honestly some days Luisa wondered if she only dreamed of moving them as they would be in the exact same spot all over again.

"So… how do we do this?" Mirabel asked. "Shoo them or wave a stick?"

"Nope," Luisa said cracking her knuckles. "We carry them."

"…yeah, okay, I see where you are coming from." Mirabel moved to stand in front of her. "But… can we maybe try something else?"

"Pulling them? Because I tried that and it doesn't work. Leaves ruts."

Mirabel fought a smile at that. "Not quite. Sofia?" Her breastplate shot off her and formed into the toucan. "If any try and move anywhere but… uh, where do they need to go?"

"There," Luisa said, pointing down the hill to the donkey enclosure.

"Right. Any try and go anywhere but that way you get them moving in the right direction. Me and Luisa will take the other side." She began to walk to the other end of the hill, Luisa trailing behind, confused.

"How will we move the donkeys from here?"

"Just watch," Mirabel said before walking to the center of the hill and looking up at the lazily eating burros. "Okay, so not sure how smart you guys are but most animals I meet have some brains so listen up! You are going home right now."

The donkeys just kept eating.

"Yeah, why should you, right?" Mirabel asked. "I mean… what can I do? Good question. Better question?" She put her fingers to her lips and let out a shrill whistle.

Luisa, and the donkeys, jumped when a roar echoed from the top of the hill and Valeria, Mirabel's large metal jaguar, appeared, teeth exposed and gleaming.

"What is she going to do if you don't move it right now?"

A donkey let out a whiny.

"Valeria… snack time!"

The donkeys stampeded, Mirabel just managing to dive out of the way as they rushed down the hill, Valeria on their heels. Luisa watched, jaw dropping, as Mirabel darted forward and with ease leapt onto the jaugar's back, letting out a war cry as she pulled out her hammer and held it up in the air. The donkeys all cried out in terror as they rushed to their enclosure, Luisa running to keep up as Valeria stopped right at the gate and looked up at her mistress.

"Good girl, good girl!" Mirabel said, patting her neck before sliding off and staring at the donkeys that were all cowering in the corner. "Valeria doesn't like fences so she won't cross one. So as long as you stay in there you are safe." She smacked her hands together and grinned. "Well, they're back."

Luisa stared at her sister in shock. "That… I've never gotten them back so fast!"

"Fear is a good motivator, believe me. You learn to run real quick when reanimated unicorns are chasing you." She shook her head. "That was a wild Easter."

Luisa just stared at her sister, marveling at what she had done.

"Alright, now let's make sure these guys don't get out again," Mirabel said.

"What… what do you mean?"

"Well," Mirabel said, not looking up as she inspected the gate, "I doubt some villager is coming by each day and letting them out. Unless the local farm hand has a crush on you."

"Uh…" Luisa nodded towards one farm hand… who couldn't see his feet due to his gut. And was nearly as old as their father. Without realizing they were there he picked his nose before looking at his finger. "No… please no…"

He happily stuck his finger in his mouth.

Mirabel cringed. "…yeah, maybe we can find you a boyfriend or girlfriend outside of the village. Anyway the donkeys must have figured out how to unlock the gate themselves. We just need to reinforce it and that won't happen again. Gate doesn't open, donkeys don't get out, you just erased a list item forever." She rubbed her chin as she squatted down. "Okay, I think they reach over the fence and gum the latch here… its very loose. We just need to make a new one. Maybe make the fence a bit higher but that is a longer project. Valeria?"

Luisa leapt back as the jaguar gave a full body stretch… and began to split apart. Her back opened up, her head rotated around, and metal moved all about. It was amazingly smooth, with no grinding or clashing of metal. Just the jaguar unfolding like a napkin until- "That's a forge!"

"A mini forge," Mirabel said, looking at the small open-mouthed oven and the table that sat next to it. "Babies?" Her armor animals popped off of her. "Water for the quenching bucket." Sofia nodded and grabbed the bucket, flying off with it. "Should use oil normally but this is a rather simple job. Need some good metal though…" Mirabel said, taking off the small backpack she'd brought with her and pulling out some heavy ingots.

"You were carrying those?"

"Yeah," Mirabel said. "Don't worry, my bag is charmed. Featherweight and expansion. Hmmm… maybe I can get you and Isabella ones for Christmas." She stretched the opening of the bagand stuck half her body into it, wiggling a bit. Which was startling because the bag was only a foot long yet there was 2 and a half feet of Mirabel in it. "Okay… yeah this will do." She popped back out with some tongs. "Alright, so we are going to redo the latch. Luisa, no offense but back up a bit. This is going to get hot-" from her bag came some familiar looking red gloves, "and I don't want you to get burned."

"Where did you get those?" Luisa asked.

"What, these? From the bag. Like I said-"

"No," Luisa said, shaking her head. "I mean how did you get papa's gloves? Did he send them to you?"

"Huh? No." Mirabel shook her head as she put the ingot into the fire of the mini forge. "These are mine. Tio Ernesto gave them to me when I started my apprenticeship with Master Goldtooth." She frowned, looking at Luisa. "Papa has dragonhide gloves?"

Luisa nodded. She remembered when her father had opened them up because they had looked so odd. Bright red, with flakes of green, and scaled… he'd chuckles, said that Tio Ernesto had horrible fashion sense, and set them aside. Luisa had seen them once or twice when she'd gone to her parents' room with laundry, tucked in the bottom of a drawer, but otherwise she didn't think he'd ever put them on.

"Wow… that is some gift!" Mirabel said with a grin before she went to check the ingot, taking it out for a moment before putting it back into the smelting bucket in the mini forge. She took out a chisel and a smaller hammer and began to chip into some clay the crab armor animal had brought over. "Red dragonhide is flame and heat resistant, which is why I use it. But it's also stops all cuts, slashes, jabs and stabs… papa could stick his hands in a beehive and… well, okay, his body would get stung but not his hands!"

She licked her lips. Tio Ernesto… had given her father a very rare gift it sounded like.

"Mirabel?" she asked softly. "Why are your glasses tinted?"

"Huh?" she asked before letting out a laugh. "Oh, right! I forget they are tinted, I'm just used to them." She waved her hand at them. "So one of the first large cities we visited when me and Tio Bruno left the valley had a dwarven district. I think that's why I ended up wanting to be a Smith… my first real impression of everything was that place. Anyway, Tio Ernesto said he wanted to still get me a birthday present and he got me these glasses. The frames are enchanted to grow with me so I never need them resized. Also charmed so unless I want them to move they don't. No slipping, no sliding. I've fallen off a mountain and they stayed right on."

"And… the glass?" Luisa asked with growing sense of dread.

"Unbreakable. Can't be scratched, cracked, warped, or shattered!"

Unbreakable.

How… how many times had Luisa been at the table and gone to drink some milk only to break her glass because she squeezed a bit too hard? Or knocked it over with her meaty fingers and shattered it on the floor. So many times she'd shrank in her chair, embarrassed as her mother assured her it was fine while Isabella glared at her and abuela shook her head. In fact… she knew she'd done that once when Tio Ernesto had visited.

Suddenly she really hoped Mirabel was right and they could whip through her list… because she desperately wanted to go through her room and find the gift she had tossed aside without thought.