"Hmm…" Dryft said, looking over Alma carefully. He had reverted back to his 'mortal' form after it was clear the fight was over. Despite having ascended to godhood, moving beyond the concerns of mortals… he had at once set about checking on everyone and making sure they were healed up. "I don't like the swelling in your knuckles."

"I've had that for years," the old woman said softly, keeping her tone polite. She knew she had no right to get mad at anyone, especially when they were helping her. "Comes from knitting and all that. I've learned to live with it."

Dryft scoffed. "You don't learn to live with pain you learn to live with what to do to stop the pain. And then you learn how to make it go away." He held out his hand and Alma felt a squirming sensation in her fingers. "I should be able to begin undoing the damage but I'll need to do a deep scan later-"

"NO!" her grandchildren cried out, much to her confusion.

"Dryft?" Gahoole asked softly. "No deep scans today, okay sweetheart?"

"… okay," he said with a good-natured shrug before turning to Gahoole and checked her over. "Hmmm, I'll need to deal with that break… bones are so overrated honestly but…"

Gahoole merely shook her head. "Dryft, sweetie, maybe you want to take a moment and sit down?"

"Why?"

It was Pepa who answered. "You became a god. Don't you want to… process that?"

Dryft… shrugged. "My momma is a god. My dad is a god. All my sisters are gods. Do you sit down and process that you have begun to have your monthly cycle?"

"OH!" Camilo exclaimed. "Dryft needs a quinceañera! Or whatever it would be for a god!"

Felix shook his head as his son began to babble about all they should do to celebrate the capricorn's latest growth. "Maybe we can do that after we figure a few things out… like where we are going to live."

The entire family looked at the muddy field that had once been their lawn and the rubble that was Casita. After they had alerted Julieta and the rest of the family that everyone was okay and they could return the family and the party had gathered at the remains of the home, sitting on what furniture they had been able to salvage. Nocci and Ulika had cut some firewood and built bonfires while Saharah's toy soldiers had marched through the rubble and found food that had somehow come out of the battle unscathed. They were all now gathered around four different bonfires, roasting sausages along with other odds and ends they'd managed to scourge up.

The only person from the village that had been allowed to stay had been Mariano. The rest had been asked to go home, to give the family the rest of the night to decompress from what had happened to them, and in the morning they would do all they could to explain what had happened.

Not that any of them understood what had happened themselves.

"It is all my fault."

Almost none of them.

"Mama?" Bruno asked, looking over at Alma.

"What happened to the village… us becoming isolated… forgetting about what the outside world was actually like… it is my fault." She sighed, looking down at her lap. "The only justification I can make is I forgot as well but… it is my fault, all the same."

"I don't understand…" Julieta said. She had her arms wrapped around Mirabel and Isabella while Lusia sat on the ground before her, resting against her legs.

"Let me start at the beginning," Alma said. "It is a tale that might sound familiar… but there are parts that you never learned. Because I didn't remember them." Her worn face grew softer as she began to speak. "I met Pedro at a festival… what you didn't know was that shortly after seeing each other a swarm of bug bears attacked. We fought together… we killed together… we defended together. It was…" She sighed but not in a sorrowful way but rather one remembering fondly a memory of a better time, "…oh, he was magic. And I don't mean him using his war staff to cast spells. He was… he could move so quickly and take command of a situation so well. I never had a taste for magic myself… I studied it of course to become accredited as a Battle Master but I didn't perform spells." She paused, looking at the triplets. "Your magic never came from the Miracle. It came from your blood. Pedro's blood."

Agustin spoke. "The staff…" he gestured at the wooden staff on his lap.

"His… but please keep it. He would be happy to know you were using it. He always hated that so many magical relics were left to languish in temples and crypts." She shook her head, getting back to her story. "We traveled together and found good friends and we formed a band of travelers, fighting evil and discovering lost secrets. Eventually we came upon a group of villages being held by a war lord who we defeated. It was… such a lovely place… we couldn't help but settle down there. Pedro and I married and we began dreaming of having a family.

"But when I learned I was pregnant with you three our friends began to worry. They already saw you as their family and they wanted to protect you. It started simply enough… a law here, a restriction there… but they became obsessed. They… they went too far. Became overlords just like the ones they sought to overthrow once. Pedro and I wanted no part of that but they insisted we join them. When we didn't… they sought to claim us.

"They attacked the village we were staying in, sending their new army against us. Created to serve their whims. We ran… and then Pedro…" She sniffed back tears. "He knew that they were too far gone. That they would be willing to kill us both and take you three. He couldn't allow that. So… he stood against them and cast his final spell, creating the valley and the encanto-"

"And giving the army their freedom," Nocci whispered before at once falling to his knees. "The War Mage… the Battle Master… the First Sparks…" He pressed his forehead to the ground to the shock of all. "Savior."

Alma though shook her head, reaching out and lifting the War Forge's head back up. "Don't bow to me. Please."

"Nocci," Ernesto whispered, "you mean that… Alma and Pedro are the ones that freed the War Forged?"

"Yes," he said. "It was Pedro Madrigal's sacrifice that gave us true life. The First Sparks. The Saviors. Another god in our midst."

THAT startled Alma. "A… god?" She quickly shook her head. "No… no no no. I am no god. I am but a mortal… one who made so many mistakes. I forgot about all of you, Fibonacci. I don't deserve your praise."

"You forgot… but that doesn't change the fact that you gave us all a life. A free life."

Mariano spoke up before Nocci could press the issue. "But… how did we all forget? How did we all end up looking human?"

"It was my fault," Alma repeated. "I see that now. Pedro's sacrifice… it was to fuel his spell, to give me what I desired. I wanted to stop the War Forged but didn't want them destroyed… so they were given life. I wanted to protect the village… so the mountains came. And…" she sighed once more, "I wanted to forget it all. The adventures. The dangers. And so I did… along with everyone else." She looked at Mariano, eyes wide and soulful. "I can never apologize enough for what I did to you… all of you. I was driven by my own grief… and it caused me to stop seeing you all as you truly are. I forgot who you were… who I was… who Pedro was." She shook her head. "The spell didn't make me do any of it… I made the spell do it."

"Mama…" Julieta said softly, rising up and beginning to sing. "Look at this home, we need a new foundation. It may seem hopeless but we'll get by just fine. Look at this family, a glowing constellation. So full of stars and everybody-"

"Nope!" Mirabel said, standing up and holding out her hands, cutting her mother off short. "Nope. No no no no no."

"Mira?" Julieta asked in confusion.

"I see how this is going to go," she said. "You'll sing a song, everyone will join in, and we'll all decide to just forget what happened. Just like we always do when there is a problem. Ignore, push aside, forget about. That's what started all of this… instead of working through her pain abuela tried to hide from it." Mirabel shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose. "This family… needs so much therapy."

"I don't know about that…" Felix began.

Mirabel shot him a flat look, "Did you forget Isabella going insane and screaming about how much she hated abuela and calling herself a monster… before LITERALLY turning herself into a giant naked wood monster!" She paused. "With huge chichis!"

"I'm trying to forget, honestly," Agustin muttered, Isabella pressing her head into Ulika's shoulder in embarrassment.

"No… we aren't going to sing a song and pretend we're all better. We want to make this right? We want to fix the family and the village? We get help. We… we are all broken. And the village… there are people with extra appendages now! A song isn't going to deal with that." Mirabel glared at them all. "Tomorrow Ernesto and I are going to leave the valley with a few others. We are going to find a door that we can connect to Bureau with. We'll then bring an ARMY of therapists and mind healers with us and we are going to get everyone squared away. Understood?"

Everyone quickly nodded.

"Good."

Mirabel sat down.

"…I come from a loving home so I'm good, right?" Dryft asked.

"Yes Dryft," Mirabel said dryly. "You can go… play or something."

"…yay!" Dryft got up and began to run away.

"I DIDN'T MEAN NOW!" Mirabel cried out only for Gahoole to grab her arm.

"Let him… he'll sleep well tonight…"