a/n: Hello! It's good to be back! Apologies for the delay. Please enjoy this chapter, which includes 3 gifts and a vision that leaves more questions than answers. :)

Chapter 37

"¡Guau! No des papaya, Señora. You really do have some very, very fine goods. Exquisite detailing on the alpargatas. Mmm, this is - excellent wine. Beautiful produce – but where did you say you were from?"

"The Encanto."

"Really? Hmmm. I was under the impression that it was a nothing little village. A fertile little valley good for growing things, sure, but – this – "

"We may be an isolated community but we've got everything we need and then some, Señor."

"Hmm. The Encanto – how…enchanting."

"How much will you give me for them?"

"…two pesos for the shoes. Five for the wine. The crate of corn for one."

"…three for the corn. My husband worked harder for it this past harvest."

"…I'll give you two for the corn because I'm feeling generous. "

"Fine. It's a deal."

"…and you said there's more where this came from?"

"Sí."

"…how much more?"

"What did you have in mind? Some things may take a bit longer to acquire, but we easily bring you corn, rice, beans, and other staples. We have lovely fabrics, dresses, sombreros vueltiaos, more alpargatas, boots, produce of all sorts, flowers, accordions -"

" - Accordions?"

"…it's…we have an enthusiast."

"How charming."

"For the right price Señor, my husband and I will be happy to bring you whatever you like."

"Now, I know what you're thinking," Bruno muttered. He sealed himself safely away in his vision room with the waterfall and the stone door and the sandfall muffling the sound of his voice, should anyone named Dolores be listening in. He pulled Lareina off of his shoulder and set her down across from him, beside Valentino and Lorenzo.

"You're thinking – 'Bruno, grow a pair and look into the future, you coward. You need to take a look at that vision again. While you're actually - y'know - awake. And you know," he laughed nervously, " the – the logic is sound. I know I need to look into it again."

Lareina squeaked at him and began grooming herself, and Bruno had to keep scooping Valentino up to keep him from trying to open the box of dried leaves he used for visions and eating what was inside. Lorenzo was the only one looking at him with anything remotely resembling attention.

"But – but – but – hear me out," he pleaded, tucking the box of leaves under his thigh to discourage Valentino. "See, there are two very clear things I remember from that dream. Vision. Whatever horrible – horrible blend of the two last night was. The first was Tatiana Valencia. Which – eaugh." Bruno made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat and wrinkled his nose.

"But see, she was – in some sort of pain. And what is my gift for, if not to help – prevent it or – warn about it, or - " he sighed. "It's just complicated, guys. Tatiana thinks I'm cursed and that I curse people with my visions. Telling her about a vision of her in pain? Pffft."

He shook his head and gave Lorenzo a knowing look and a big thumbs down. "Not a good look for the whole 'my visions are just hard to understand'…thing we've got going on right now. She's barred from even seeking visions so why would I go give her one voluntarily? Right?..."

He let the thought trail off. Lareina, finally satisfied with her appearance, looked up, fixed her eyes on Bruno, and made a small, curious sound.

"Yeah, I know. It's just – morals. Ethics. Stuff you guys wouldn't understand. It's easy for you. Someone's nasty to you, you just – bite them and run away. Don't think that'll work for me."

Valentino was still sniffing around Bruno's thigh, attempting to get into the box of leaves. Bruno picked him up and put him next to Lorenzo and Lareina again.

"If it was just about Tatiana, I just – I don't know. I don't want to know anything about her future. But the thing is - " Bruno propped his elbow on top of his knee, resting his chin in his hand. "The thing is, it's not just about Tatiana. The vision wasn't, I mean. Because – "

Bruno looked around and lowered his voice to barely a whisper. "Because the other thing I saw was the road to the Encanto disappearing. Just – poof. Gone." He knocked nervously on the wooden box and his head before throwing salt and sugar over his shoulders.

The rats blinked at him.

"And I mean - it could be Isabela just got a bad case of the sniffles, or got – super embarrassed and just – poof!" Bruno threw his hands up for effect. "Up go a few trees and ferns, you know? And then she could clear it like that - " Bruno snapped – "as soon as she felt better."

"Or - or - or! I just thought of this! It could be centuries from now when we're all dead anyway, so what does it matter?! It doesn't! It wouldn't! Who cares!"

He leaned forward, an eager half-grin on his face, almost begging his rodent audience to agree with him.

Valentino squeaked, unimpressed.

Bruno deflated with a groan and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. "I know. It's not. I think all those images are connected, somehow. Like with - " he paused. "Like with Lucía's."

He sat frowning at his rats, drumming his fingers against his knee.

He made the sign of the cross, took a deep breath, and called forth the vision he'd seen the night before. The familiar scenes played out before his eyes.

It was just as he'd seen it in his dreams, and he knew without a doubt that the images were all related, some way or another.

It was figuring out how they were related that eluded him.

He pressed into the vision, tentatively searching for more, afraid of what he might find – What do you want to show me, eh? What's so important about all these pieces, strung together? - but everything was grainy – even grainier than normal - and still unclear.

Maybe it was time to take Lucía up on that offer to sit in on one of his visions.

"Mamá! Mamá! What do you think of this one?"

Josefina eagerly held up the tie for her madre. That particular shade of yellow-brown reminded Lucía of the state of Josefina's diapers as a baby, and the blobbish dots splattered across it were a surprisingly vibrant shade of green.

Lucía's smile froze in place as she tried to think of a kind way to redirect her daughter. She promised she'd let Josefina pick out a present for Bruno all on her own in San Cristobál today, and she would keep her promise – but that was quite possibly the ugliest piece of fabric she'd ever laid eyes on.

"It's - um…it – it's very - "

"Oh! What about one of these?!" Josefina tossed the tie back onto its hanger and darted to the display of socks on the opposite table, some wool and some silk. "D'you think Bruno would like one of these for his birthday? Maybe green?"

She held up a single solid green sock in one hand and a black and blue striped one in the other, frowning in concentration between them. She looked so serious, like some sort of ancient goddess weighing their poor mortal souls to determine their place in the afterlife.

"Fresita – Josefina - "

Bruno didn't even wear socks.

Suddenly, Josefina spotted something new outside the store and tossed the socks behind her to dash outside, leaving Lucía to smile sheepishly at the shopkeeper as she attempted to put the socks back in order. "Josefina! Come back here! Do not go in the road!"

Josefina screeched to a halt just outside the door, bouncing on the balls of her feet, watching wide-eyed as autos honked and rumbled down said road, intermixed with the sounds of horses and donkeys pulling carts and all the people moving around them as well.

A man selling ice cream pushed his own small cart down the side of the street, ringing a little bell as he walked.

"Mamá!" She said breathlessly as Lucía came out of the shop, and turned her large, pleading eyes to her madre's. "…please?"

"No me abra los ojos que no le voy a echar gotas!" Lucía pursed her lips and eyeballed her daughter. After a moment, they both smiled and Lucía sighed and nodded.

Josefina cheered, dancing in place as Lucía ordered and paid for their treat. They found a seat on a bench outside the line of shops to share it.

"Josefina," Lucía said. "After this we need to find Señorita de Leon. She said she'd meet us at the Café Centro to discuss the project I have in mind."

"But Mamá - "

"I have my own present to see to, remember?" Lucía chided gently. "You will still have a chance to pick one out too. Just – remember that when you're choosing a gift, you need to think about the person receiving it. What do they like? What are some of their favorite things? Think about something you know Bruno likes and go from there."

"He likes rats," Josefina said thoughtfully. "Can I get him a rat?"

Lucía gave her daughter a look. "Bruno has plenty of rats already. And…I don't think they really sell them here. Here they're more…ah…"

"Pests," Josefina sighed. "I know."

"You could get him something for his rats?"

When Josefina just pouted, Lucía tapped her gently on the nose. "You'll find something, amorita. Don't worry."

"Señorita de Leon!" Lucía called, and the young woman looked up and gave her a nod. She stood as they approached, smoothing out her skirt and adjusting her blouse and attempting a professional smile.

"Hola, Selena!" Josefina beamed up at her. "Nice skirt. Guess what?! Mama bought me a pair of overalls for playing outside just like you wore when you painted our murales. And we brought you more honey lemon drops from Doña Julieta. You know - the special magic kind. How's your brother?"

Lucía closed her eyes to avoid rolling them to the sky. Josefina had been briefed on San Cristobál's practice of keeping the Madrigal gifts a secret outside of the Encanto, and she hadn't had much reason or opportunity to mention their gifts so far - but her current effort was less than subtle.

Selena blinked at the small bag of treats deposited on the table in front of her. "Ah – gracias." Her fingers gripped the edge of the table as though she was keeping herself from scooping them into her mochila then and there. "They – they really do help Daniel. He's doing all right, gracias. What did you want to discuss?"

"Qué pena, señora, señoritas," interrupted the waitress. "What can I get for you?"

Josefina looked at her madre again. "Mamá…"

"¿Qué es esto?" Lucía teased. "Hungry again, oruguita?"

Josefina smiled sheepishly.

"How about some empanadas, eh? And maybe – some aguapanela?"

Josefina nodded enthusiastically.

"We'll take three empanadas and two aguapanelas, por favor. What would you like to drink, Selena?" Lucía asked.

Selena's brows drew together. "Oh, I – ah. Nothing. I'm fine. Gracias."

"Please, I insist. One of those empanadas is for you and you'll need something to drink with it. My treat, for agreeing to meet here with us today on such short notice. Sorry for the confusion with the letter we tried to send. We're still getting used to the post system here."

"You should try a coca-cola." Josefina said, popping the strange word around in her mouth so that she sounded a little like a rooster crowing. "It's fun to say and real sweet and it tickles your mouth and nose."

"Oh," Selena said. "Um – just an aguapanela would be fine for me, too. Gracias."

The waitress nodded and promised to return with their order in a moment.

Josefina shook her head. "Shoulda tried the coca-cola."

"Josefina," Selena said. "How do you like San Cristobál? Is it your first time here?"

"It's amazing!" Josefina said, bouncing a little in her chair. "There's so many things to see and so many people and it's loud and there's just so much stuff! We saw a whole store that just sold ties and hats and socks and stuff like that. No shirts or pants or dresses – just – just all the stuff that goes with them! Isn't that funny?! And we had some ice cream from a man with a cart. And I saw like ten autos already, I think! And I'm gonna pick a present for Bruno all on my own. Mamá said I had a whole entire peso to spend."

Selena's mouth pulled up at the corners, but it wasn't quite a smile. "That's nice."

"And it's my first time in the city and I've been waiting and waiting and waiting to come. Mamá came with mi abuelo first but they said I could go the next time and now it's the next time. After the Madrigals came everyone wants to come here and see what it's like. And now it's finally my turn!"

"It's a very exciting place to visit," Lucía agreed. "And thank you so much for coming. I have an idea for Bruno's birthday, if you're able to complete it in time." She smiled to herself. "If you're interested, of course. You remember our play? At La Feria de Las Flores? I don't know if you ever saw it - "

"I never got the chance to see it," Selena said. "But I heard about it. The one with the rat actors?"

Lucía nodded as she dug through her mochila. She pulled out a copy of their script and handed it to Selena, along with a small drawstring bag. When Selena opened the bag, she pulled out several tiny rat costumes. Her eyebrows shot upward and her mouth curved into a skeptical little smile. "Did they actually wear these?"

Lucía laughed. "Yes, they did. I had to ask Mirabel for help sneaking them out of Casita so that you could use them as a reference. If possible, I'd like you to make a series of sketches – colored if time, but if not black and white is fine too. Of our play. With the rats."

The waitress returned with the drinks and the empanadas and gave them a funny look as she served them. Lucía smiled at her, her cheeks flushed at how odd her request must sound.

Selena blinked at her. "You want me to draw scenes from this play with…rats as the characters?"

Lucía nodded. "Yes. If you're interested. I'm going to bind the script and the sketches into a book for him. As a gift."

To remember their first story together. Hopefully the first of many.

Selena flipped through the script, nibbling on her empanada and sipping her aguapanela.

"I think," she said after a few minutes. "I think I could do this. When did you need it done by?"

"October seventeenth." Lucía thought for a moment. "Well – maybe a bit earlier. The fifteenth at the latest?"

Selena nodded. "I can keep this as a reference?"

"Of course! How much will you charge?"

"Oh! Ah - thirty centavos per sketch."

Lucía blinked at her. "Make it fifty centavos per sketch and we have a deal. An entire peso per sketch if you have time to color any."

Selena's mouth twitched and her eyes darted away. "Aren't you supposed to negotiate the other way?"

"No," Lucía said with a smile. "I'm pretty sure I've got it right."

Lucía paid Selena for five sketches up front and promised the balance for any extra she'd done when she was finished. Then Lucía and Josefina made their way down another street after their lunch with Selena, searching for the perfect present for Josefina to give Bruno for his birthday. They both froze at the sound of a familiar voice in the street.

"Be careful with that, Señor. It's a birthday present for mi hijo. Watch the paint, por favor. I don't want to give him a scratched bicycle. Ay! I said - watch the paint!"

Josefina looked up at Lucía with wide eyes and pursed lips. Just in front of them, Tatiana Valencia was barking orders at a young man as he loaded a bicycle onto a cart. Tatiana fussed as he lay her precious cargo in the bed of the cart, which was padded with straw and blankets.

"I paid good money for that bicycle Señor, and if you damage it, I will insist you compensate me for the damages."

Lucía attempted to turn around and go back the direction they'd come – or maybe cross the street - but Josefina stared wide-eyed at the bicycle with a hungry, curious look on her face. Before she could pull Josefina away, Tatiana turned and caught them staring at her.

Her eyes flicked to Josefina and back up to Lucía. She crossed her arms and lifted her chin with a little smirk. "Buenas tardes, Señora Moreno. Señorita Moreno."

"…Buenas tardes, Señora Valencia," Lucía replied warily.

Josefina pressed her lips into a thin line and crossed her arms and lifted her chin and refused to answer. Her eyes darted back to the bicycle - its body the shade of a ripe red camu-camu fruit in the back of the cart - and her posture lost a little of its defiance in the face of her interest.

Tatiana sniffed and gave Josefina a tense smile. "Do you like the bicycle I chose for Juan, Josefina? Do you think he'll like it?"

Josefina hesitated and then nodded. "It's - " she cut herself off. "It's really nice."

"Gracias," Tatiana said, patting her carefully styled hair and smoothing out what looked to Lucía to be a brand new skirt. "You may take a closer look if you like. Please don't try to pick it up. It took that gentleman a good ten minutes to load it properly."

Said gentleman was still standing beside the cart with a look of pure annoyance on his face. Tatiana made a show of opening her mochila, finding her coin purse, and handing him a few coins from inside. He inspected them, shoved them into his pocket, gave her a nod, and disappeared into the crowd.

Josefina's eyebrows rose in shock at Tatiana's invitation and she looked to Lucía for permission, a barely contained hope in her eyes.

Lucía pressed her lips into a thin line.

Tatiana inclined her head toward the cart. "Go on, Josefina. I don't mind if you touch it. Just don't try to pick it up."

Lucía narrowed her eyes at Tatiana but gave Josefina a reluctant nod. Josefina clambered up into the cart, running her fingers over the smooth painted surface of the body of the bicycle, poking the seat, and giving the front wheel an experimental spin. She moved the pedals just a hair and watched the back wheel move in sync with them in fascination.

The two women watched Josefina fawn over the bicycle before Tatiana leaned forward with a smug look on her face. "You know, Lucía – shunning me was the best thing you ever did for me. I might not be able to trade for much in the Encanto at the moment, but here? They love me. They love my produce. They love my goods. They'll pay in advance for anything I have to sell. I'm making better trades and more money here than I ever would have in the Encanto."

She nodded toward the bicycle and then swished her skirts again. "Just look at what I've been able to accomplish in a few short weeks!"

Lucía blinked at her, unsure of how to respond to…all that. She settled on a carefully neutral "…I'm glad you are adapting so well to the city, Tatiana."

Tatiana smirked. "No you're not. But it makes my success all the sweeter. You and your…connections thought you were going to humiliate me?" She lifted her chin and moved toward the cart, catching Josefina's eye and motioning with an inclination of her head for Josefina to get down. "You were wrong."

Josefina hopped down, blissfully unaware of the conversation that had just taken place. Tatiana gracefully ascended to the bench and flicked the reins, not deigning to look back.

Lucía shook her head as she watched Tatiana maneuver through the streets on her way home. "I was never trying to humiliate you, Tatiana," she mumbled. "You did that all on your own."

Josefina was quiet as they continued shopping.

After several unsuccessful attempts by Lucía to interest her in various things for sale, Josefina straightened and gave her madre a hopeful look. "Mamá," she said. "Do you think Bruno would like a bicycle for his birthday?"

The thought of Bruno riding a bicycle made her bite back a smile, and Lucía tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Hmmmm. A bicycle. Something tells me a bicycle costs more than one peso, Josefina."

She deflated a little at that. "Oh. Yeah."

They kept searching the stalls and shops for that one perfect gift.

Mother and daughter wandered from one street to another and found the next street much calmer. Instead of painted advertisements and the smell of gasoline and oil and a variety of foods cooking, there were engraved wooden signs and the scent of the flowers that spilled over the balconies. Instead of the buzz of electric lights and the static sounds of what Lucia had learned to recognize as a radio, there was the sound of a gramophone playing a tune Lucía had never heard before - but she liked it.

Apparently, Josefina liked it too.

They followed the sound to its source - a small shop selling gramophones, record players, and an assortment of 78s to play on them.

A young man with thick glasses and his hair smoothed back from his forehead with some sort of pommade looked up from the counter as they entered.

"Buenas tardes, Señora, Señorita. How can I help you?"

They spent almost an entire hour in the shop, listening to music - from Colombia, from México, from Los Estados Unidos - sometimes dancing together, sometimes simply listening to the music as the young man explained where it had come from.

When they left, Josefina had chosen her perfect present and carried it proudly all the way to the horse and cart they'd borrowed from Sofia and Lorenzo for their trip into the city. She kept it securely on her lap the entire ride home.

Bruno was waiting for them when they got home, sitting in the courtyard with Papá. When he looked up and saw them, he looked almost relieved.

Josefina immediately scowled at him.

"You! You're not supposed to be here!" She scolded, turning away from him and trying valiantly to hide the present she got him from his sight.

Technically, he could look into the future anytime he liked if he really wanted to know what he was going to get, but Lucía wasn't about to point that out to Josefina.

Bruno looked to Lucía and she grimaced as she explained. "Lo siento - it's your birthday present."

"Oh. Oh!" He nodded and immediately slapped his hands over his eyes. "Right! Not peeking, Josefina. You go right ahead and uh - hide that. From me. I didn't see it."

Josefina nodded sharply and made her way carefully to the stairs and up to her room. "Don't come in! I'm wrapping it and makin' something to go with it!" They heard the door shut behind her.

Papá greeted her with a kiss to her forehead and a squeeze to her shoulder, enquired after their visit to the city, and then left them to go begin preparing dinner.

Lucía smiled and took a step toward Bruno. "I wasn't expecting you today, but this is a nice surprise! What brings you here?"

Bruno took a small step backward and frowned. "Uh - I need to talk to you. About something important."

His eyes darted to the nearby kitchen, where José had begun cooking beans and chopping herbs to add to them for their dinner. "Um…in private?"

"Oh. Ah - of course." Lucía said. What could he need to -

Oh.

She felt heat creep from her cheeks down her neck to her chest as she remembered yesterday.

She swallowed and her fingers twitched.

She remembered the way it felt as her fingers danced over his skin - the way they felt, tangled in his curls, and then - the way his lips felt pressed against them when he said good-bye last night. It was an unexpectedly tender gesture that made her heart stutter even at the memory of it.

Had that really only been yesterday?

"D'you think - you could come to my vision room?" He shifted anxiously on his feet. "Now?"

Lucía frowned.

He had seemed to enjoy yesterday as much as she had - he'd said he had - but he'd also seemed a little out of it afterward and maybe - she was wrong? Something was definitely bothering him. Her stomach turned over and she felt a little sick.

"Bruno, I am so sorry if - "

"It's just I had this vision and - "

They both spoke and both stopped at the same time.

She was even more confused.

"Wait, what?"

"Why are you sorry?"

Lucía held up a hand and exhaled slowly. "Wait, wait wait - you wanted to talk about a vision you had?"

Bruno's brows drew together in confusion. "...yyyyeees. What did you think I wanted to talk to you about?"

Lucía opened her mouth but embarrassment at totally misreading the situation kept the words from leaving it for a solid ten seconds. "...about…yesterday."

"Yesterday? What hap - " Bruno squinted at her before his eyes went wide with understanding. "Oh. Ohhhh. No, no - I…"

He stopped.

"Wait. Why are you sorry for - "

"I thought - you said 'Lucía we need to talk' and looked so - anxious, and we - and you - and I - yesterday - " The words still weren't coming out like she needed them to.

He stared at her with a totally blank expression, completely still. She had no idea what he was thinking.

He turned and walked away so suddenly it startled her. It looked like he was going to walk straight out the courtyard gate.

"Bruno?!"

He froze, spun on his heel, and came back to face her.

He inhaled.

She waited.

He pursed his lips and exhaled sharply.

"I liked yesterday."

Lucía blinked at him. "So did I."

"Good."

"...good."

Bruno inhaled again. "But if we talk about yesterday now all I'll be thinking about is yesterday when I really need to be thinking about tomorrow, today. I mean the future. The vision I had of the future. Which is what I would really like to talk to you about. Because I think it's important. Not - not that yesterday wasn't important. Because it was. It is. I mean - I'd like to try yesterday again some - sometime, but - " he was gesticulating wildly and pacing in front of her.

She reached out a hand and snagged his ruana.

He jerked to a stop.

"Bruno," she said. "It's fine. We can talk about that later. Let me tell Papá we're going to Casita and you can show me the vision. Okay?"

He relaxed at that and nodded.

Bruno took her around the back of Casita, snuck her right in the back door and whisked her up the stairs to his room. Casita seemed to be on his side at the moment, because he didn't think anyone noticed.

Bruno led her into the vision room and shut the door behind them. He knocked on the nearest tree trunk and guided them to the vision circle.

Once he'd tossed salt and sugar over his shoulders, he closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, and exhaled slowly.

When he opened his eyes, Lucía had made herself comfortable sitting across from him and was waiting expectantly.

"I had a vision last night. Well - sort of. It doesn't happen often; sometimes I get little - little swirls of the future in my dreams, but they're even harder to interpret than regular visions, and that's if I even remember what I saw the night before."

Lucía nodded.

He prepared the piles of leaves and rolled the match between his fingers.

"It might be nothing," he mumbled. "I've had some strange ones lately. Dreams, I mean. But - that vision I had about you and the bench and Josefina? You helped me make sense of everything and figure out what was going on. And this one - " he snorted, frustration creasing his brow. "I just - need another set of eyes with this one. I'm just gonna - we'll just look, and maybe you can help me - figure it out? I feel like I'm - missing something." He paused and muttered - "Or maybe it's just that I'm hoping I didn't really see what I saw."

He shook his head and looked at her with his eyes wide and his eyebrows raised and his heart rising into his throat with every beat.

She was biting her lip.

Maybe this was asking too much.

Maybe -

But Lucía squared her shoulders and gave a small nod. "Of course. I'll do my best."

Relief and something else - something warm and grateful and a little sad at having to ask in the first place - flooded his chest. He nodded, struck the match, and they began.

First things first – just the basics, just the original vision - no pressing forward or looking for butterflies the first time around.

Bruno, in the jungle.

He pushes a fern out of the way and there is a woman lying on the ground, her wavy hair spread out on the ground around her like a feathery halo.

The road to the Encanto, clear one moment and covered with foliage the next, as though a road had never been there in the first place.

Lucía drew in a sharp breath.

Tatiana Valencia, clutching her stomach, her face lined with deep, soul-crushing pain.

She exhaled just as sharply.

A bird, dropping the husk of the mango it's eating.

A snake slithering through the grass.

A horse rearing.

He allowed the sands to condense into a tablet. The horse pawing the air with its hooves was etched into the green glass.

Lucía took the tablet and balanced it in her lap, her brows knitted together in concentration. She tapped her fingers against her lips as she thought.

"So," she said slowly. "It seems like - if these images are in order - "

"-which they might be, might not be - no guarantee they're in chronological order - "

"Okay." She paused. "Keeping in mind that they might not be in order, you'll find - someone in the jungle. On the ground. Did you recognize her?"

Bruno shook his head. Lots of women in the village had long, wavy hair. It might not even be someone from the village. The vision wasn't clear enough to make out any facial features.

"And the road to the Encanto - " she looked up at him, and it was obviously the part she was most concerned about.

"...yeah." He winced. "Not - not good. No clue what that was about."

"Yeah. We'll - we can come back to that. And then Tatiana; is she - in pain? Because of what happened to the road, or unrelated? Is she the woman you eventually find in the woods? She's holding her stomach. Is she sick? Is she just upset?"

"...did someone stab her?" Bruno muttered.

Lucía's eyebrows shot up.

"It's a valid theory!"

Lucía covered her mouth in an attempt to muffle her snort, but then her brows drew together as she contemplated his words. Her hand dropped from her mouth. "Wait - is it really?"

"Oh. Uh - no," Bruno said. "I was - ah - no." He chuckled darkly. "I've seen people get stabbed before and this - it doesn't look anything like this. Something might've pierced her heart, but not in a literal sense. More - metaphorically speaking. Y'know." He shrugged.

Lucía inhaled sharply and turned to stare at him. It took Bruno a moment to realize why she looked so horrified.

His jaw worked and his brain screamed that he'd said too much and he was tempted to brush it off as another joke, but something stopped him. He was asking her to look into the future with him and she had a right to know how ugly it could be.

He rubbed the fringe of his ruana between his fingers.

"Most of the time it's not – like that," he mumbled, looking away. "I've only ever – it's only been – a handful of times that I've – seen things like that."

He hazarded a glance at her and she clamped her mouth shut and continued to stare at him.

She said nothing, but he could see the questions in her eyes. No one had ever been murdered in the Encanto.

He sighed. "When I was eighteen - not long after Señora Ruiz left - I had my first really bad vision of the outside world." He paused at how much of an understatement 'really bad' was. "Before then, any visions of the outside had always been – relatively good things, like – newcomers to the Encanto or inventions or celebrations and sometimes it was confusing but never – it wasn't - " He took a breath. "I thought - when I saw that one - that there was something wrong with me. With my gift. I thought I was dying, or seeing the end of the world, or that maybe everyone was right about me and I was being - punished, somehow, for giving someone a really bad future - "

"What did you see?" She whispered.

Bruno exhaled slowly. "Um." His eyes unexpectedly pricked with tears. He tried not to think about those visions. He cleared his throat and blinked them away. "W-whatever you're imagining, it's probably – about right. War. Death. Famine. Natural disasters. Riots. Ships - sinking. Things - in the sky, on fire. Destruction and just - a lot. A lot of suffering and a lot of…death. The first time it happened, Pepa and Julieta had to, uh - snap me out of it. And Mamá – she was never afraid of my gift before, and she still saw it as – something good to help the community; to protect us, after, but – eh. I think it lost a little of its appeal after that day."

He spoke softly and slowly, as though his tone could somehow cushion the honesty of his words; as though his voice could soften the impact as she landed in the reality he'd lived in since he was a young man. "...I've seen some terrible things, Lucía."

Lucía stared down at the vision tablet, but she wasn't really looking at it. Her eyes were faraway and unblinking and she was very still.

He swallowed. "And - if you stay…you're going to see some too. Not today – dios, I hope not today - " he knocked on his wooden box of leaves – "but - you will, eventually. The future - it isn't - it doesn't always - " he looked at her hands; anything to avoid the pained, pinched expression on her face. "Sometimes the future is an awful thing, and there's nothing you can do about it."

He felt himself growing more and more tense as she lifted her gaze and looked at him, her eyes wide with unshed tears. He pressed on, his words rushed. "But you know most - most of the things I see aren't - like that. Like I said, handful of times. Two – no – no - three. It was three. But I mean, you've seen a vision before and that's - usually it. A lot less – intense. Give or take a vision of your house crumbling to dust around your sobrina, of course. Most of the time it's more – ah – confusing than - horrible. It's just little pieces of a big picture; it's understanding where the pieces fit that's difficult. But I - I understand if you don't want to stay. I can just tell you about what I see after I go poking around some more. Actually, that might - it would probably be - "

What had he been thinking, asking her to look into this with him? It probably wouldn't be that bad; it wasn't that bad - it couldn't be that bad - but now she knew that there was always that chance.

He stood as he was talking, and she stood with him. He turned toward the bridge back to the door, fully intending to shepherd her to the stairs and have her wait - maybe go have some coffee with Julieta and Pepa as they attempted to plan a surprise for him for their birthday – a fruitless endeavor, really, but much more pleasant than doing whatever it was he was going to do -

She threw her arms around him and he froze where he stood and stopped babbling. She waited until he relaxed into her embrace and squeezed him tighter for a moment before she pulled away, blinking rapidly.

"Bruno." She gave him a smile, and that small, sad curve of her mouth was one of the bravest things he'd ever seen. "I'll stay."

He held her gaze for a long moment, and emotion tugged at the corner of his mouth.

And then she exhaled sharply and sat back down, back straight, and tapped the vision tablet with her index finger. "Okay. So. The woman in the woods, the road, Tatiana - "

She cut herself off and suddenly her expression turned thoughtful.

"I saw her in town today. In San Cristobál."

Bruno's eyebrows shot up in surprise as he lowered himself to sit cross-legged beside her.

"She was loading a bicycle into her cart. Well - she was paying someone to load a bicycle into her cart. For Juan. For his birthday. She was…she told me I'd done her a huge favor by 'orchestrating her shunning'. She's selling things from the Encanto in San Cristobál."

Bruno blinked. "She's…what?"

"...she's selling things? I didn't really think anything of it." She looked like she wanted to say more, but she chewed on her lower lip instead.

Bruno frowned.

Traders had regularly taken things to San Cristobál once or twice a year on behalf of the citizens of the Encanto, and now that the mountains had opened up and it was actually feasible to travel through regularly, more and more villagers were going to see the city. Many of them also sought to sell or trade their goods in order to afford some of the newer wares from the city.

Tatiana selling items and using them to buy things from the city wasn't…bad. It wasn't even unusual.

Something still felt off about it to him, but he honestly couldn't say if it was truly a bad feeling about what she was doing or if it was just a residual bad feeling about her, in particular.

"Any idea what the bird, the snake, and the horse mean?" Lucía refocused her attention to the last bit of the vision.

Bruno groaned. "I hate those ones."

She raised an eyebrow at him.

"They could mean anything!" He threw his hands up in frustration. "The ones with the animals reacting, darting away from something or moving like that - " he wiggled his fingers through the air, mimicking an animal running – " - who knows what caused it? It could be as serious as a forest fire or a building collapse or as ordinary as one of them getting startled by someone snoring or even - a really loud burp."

Lucía snorted and tried not to laugh.

"You think it's funny but once I told Señor Martinez that his cat would be in trouble because I saw something with a big shadow - maybe a jaguar – hunting or chasing it. I was worried because a jaguar near the town could spell disaster, and not just for a cat, you know? I mean, pre-Antonio."

Lucía nodded, her half-smile sobering behind her fingers.

"You want to know what it actually ended up being? He drank a little too much aguardiente, passed out cold, and the sheer volume of his snores from halfway across town made Dolores cry at nine years old. The shadow I thought was a jaguar was him stumbling around chasing after the cat after his wife woke him up yelling at him for scaring the cat away with his snoring. Don't even ask. I don't know how I messed that up." He shook his head in disgust.

"I think - " Lucía wheezed, and then gave up holding it back and laughed out loud. "I think I remember that! He was so embarrassed - his wife still calls him El Jaguar when she wants to annoy him."

"Oh, yeah, hilarious," Bruno muttered, but he was smiling, too - at just how stupid the whole situation was. "Prophet Cries Jaguar and the whole town laughs at him for an entire month afterward."

Lucía's grin faded and she drummed her fingers against the green vision tablet. "I…think I remember that now, too."

He shrugged. "Being a joke for a few weeks was a nice change of pace from being a villain."

Lucía sobered entirely, studying his expression.

"Which is why I'd like to figure that out," he nodded to the tablet, avoiding eye contact. "Because with whatever happens with Tatiana - and the road to the Encanto disappearing like that - that's - that's prime villain material," he whispered. "And I'd rather not – do that again."

Lucía stared at his fidgeting hands, lost in thought.

"You won't," she said firmly.

He snorted.

"I'm serious," she said. She looked up at him and reached over and put her hand on his knee. "You will not. This is – it's bad news but it's a good thing that we know now, ahead of time. We can – figure out what it means; what to do - we can try and prepare. We still don't even really know what's going to happen - just that something is. And - you have your family on your side. Your madre - she's doing better, right?"

He hesitated and then nodded.

"And if you think there is any version of the future where your sisters or your sobrinos would tolerate gossip like that again you're a pretty poor Seer, amor."

He sighed.

"Now," she smiled to herself, "if there's ever another 'El Jaguar' you'll never hear the end of it. But with something like this?"

She caught his eye and her tone and expression were very serious. "I dare anyone to face Pepa and speak poorly of you. And Julieta? Heaven help the soul who would dare badmouth you in her hearing. Never mind the shame that would come on anyone who managed to earn the disapproval of Agustín or Félix. When you've angered the public relations specialists in the family you're in deep trouble! And don't even get me started on your sobrinos. I'm pretty sure Isabela would have no qualms about using some conveniently placed cacti on anyone who crossed you."

He couldn't help but chuckle at that. He knew that, at least, was true. She'd used her cacti to motivate him in the past.

But as much as he dreaded being seen as a villain again, he'd rather he be the bad guy than anyone else in his family.

And telling the town that their burgeoning trade with San Cristobál was coming to an end – telling them they'd be cut off from the world again – that would definitely make him the bad guy. But if he could somehow avoid it – if there was any way to avoid telling his mother that history was repeating itself - if he could just figure out what it all meant -

Lucía gave him a lopsided smile. "And you have me. And Papá and Josefina and - the village children adore you, and - most of their parents like you -"

"...enough to look past a 'we're doomed to be sealed away in the mountains again for who knows how long?' or even worse, 'The Encanto will be gone entirely and who knows what will happen to your children?'"

Lucía pointedly ignored him. "...you have Ana and Raquel and their families and Sofia and Lorenzo - oh! And we can't forget Osvaldo -"

Bruno rolled his eyes and shook his head but his mouth tugged up at the corner.

She took another breath and frowned at the tablet. "It's true," she said softly, "that this is not good news. And we can't control how people will receive it – I can't promise you that you won't have to deal with some backlash. But your family loves you and I love you and no matter what happens with this vision, it won't change the way I see you. You won't have to face anyone or their opinions alone."

She sounded so confident.

"The key problem with that," Bruno said drily, "is that one of those opinions will probably involve burning me at the stake - metaphorically!" he added at her expression " - and the person who'll hold that particular opinion is the person who is actually in the vision."

Lucía set the tablet down beside her and took his hands in hers again. "Then - let's look and see all we can before we have to tell her – before we have to tell anyone."

He nodded, and they began again.

Half an hour later and the vision was still terrifyingly unclear.

They couldn't determine who the woman in the woods was. The vision shifted and blurred when they searched for butterflies, as though that bit of the future was still undecided - sometimes it was one woman, alone on the ground, and sometimes it was two, huddled together on a fallen log.

The road to the Encanto continued to disappear, covered with foliage.

Pushing a bit showed a man with a cart piled high with an assortment of goods that were difficult to make out - men on horseback - men in a truck.

There was always the bird, the snake, and the horse.

And Tatiana.

Pushing further into her future led to an image of her husband holding Juan back as the boy cried out, his hand outstretched in plea - the faces of father and son as heartbroken as Tatiana's in her piece of the vision.

Searching for butterflies didn't help much because it only showed, once again, that blurred and shifting image of the road disappearing and the vision jumping from one woman alone on the jungle floor to two women huddled on a log. All they could see were broken pieces of an ominous future that revolved around Tatiana and would clearly affect the entire Encanto - or at least the road to the outside world.

Bruno made tablets of each scene to make future examination and explanation easier, and Lucía collected and ordered them in solemn silence.

"Bruno," she said quietly when they were done. "I think we need to tell your mother."

He sighed. "I know."

a/n:

Guau! – Wow!
No des papaya – Literally: Don't give papaya. Figuratively: Colombian slang that roughly translates to 'don't let yourself get taken advantage of' or 'don't put yourself in dangerous situations'.
No me abra los ojos que no le voy a echar gotas – Don't open your eyes at me like that, I'm not going to put eyedrops in them! The Colombian equivalent of 'don't give me that look!'

Thank you for reading! I hope you have a wonderful week.