[i own nothing]

chapter 5: Alzatico Arrives

Morning rose in the Encanto.

The sun was streaming into the village, into the Casita, awakening the Madrigals for another busy day.

Now; Most people don't really like having to get outta bed early in the morning - they'd much rather turn over and go right back to sleep.

But not Mirabel.

"What an excelente day it is!" she said, exiting her room. "It's such an excelente day, I'm not gonna waste it in bed!"

She passed by the portrait of Pedro. "Hola, Abuelo Pedro!" she called. Then She came to Dolores, her prima. "Hey, Dolores, any news on Papa?"

Dolores used her gift of hearing to listen out for her Tio Agustin.

"Tio Agustin's gone to cut some wood." she said. She listened out to the sounds of Agustin cutting wood from far away with her super hearing.

Then she stopped.

Then she heard a thump, and then, some loud buzzing. "Espara. He's accidentally struck a beehive." She winced as she could then hear the agonized screams of pain that came from her accident-prone uncle. "And now he's getting stung by bees." she finished.

Mirabel, Isabela, and even Alma, who had just appeared at this scene, had to wince upon realizing.

"Ay," sighed Abuela Alma. "5th time that's happened this week." She turned to Mirabel. "Mirabel, send Julieta to bring some food to heal him."

Mirabel nodded in agreement, and headed off to inform her mama.

Suddenly, Luisa came rushing in, looking frantic. "Abuela!" she cried, gasping for breath. "Abuela!"

"Luisa, what is it?" Alma asked.

"Did the donkeys get out again?" Isabela asked.

Outside, Mirabel, and Julieta now heard what had been going on, and soon came to listen, alongside Camilo and Antonio, who were nearby.

It took about 15 seconds for Luisa to get her breath back, then she explained, "Osvaldo's come into town, and there's some other people in a cart following behind him!"

"What?" Alma said, shock suddenly setting in. How could someone have found out about the Encanto? Surely Osvaldo couldn't have told anyone... could he?

Before long, the other Madrigals, joined by Agustin [who had just returned home; covered in bee stings], Pepa, and Felix, who had just returned home, had heard the news, and were looking at one another with worried expressions.

"What are we gonna do, Mira?" Antonio asked Mirabel.

"Well," Mirabel said, slowly, "Maybe we should try to meet these people."

"But," Luisa began anxiously, "what if those people are like the marauders Abuela told us about, you know, the ones that killed Abuelo Pedro?"

"I'm sure they won't be." Mirabel said, trying to reassure her sister. "Remember what I told Antonio at the wedding reception?"

Everyone stared.

"Don't overthink it." she said.

"Mirabel's right." Julieta said. "We just have to be ourselves, and greet these newcomers with the courtesy and respect that we all have, like Mama taught us."

Alma nodded.

Secretly, she was more worried and anxious than Antonio. What if the new vistors were some marauders that had found the village? What if they did the same thing they once did to her and Pedro's old village to the Encanto?

Alma shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and calmed herself as best as she could. 'No.' she thought. 'I am NOT going through the trauma I once had before again.'

"Mirabel is right." Alma said firmly. "It's been my duty as matriarch of the Encanto to welcome newcomers with the respect and courtesy of the Madrigals that they come to expect from us... ...La Familia Madrigal."

"La Familia Madrigal." all the Madrigals said together.

As they were about to head off to greet the guests, Agustin stopped. "Un momento." he said, and, on cue, all the Madrigals stopped, apart from Julieta, who, in a flash, understood why. "Ah, mi amor, your bee stings." she said, and handed him an arepa, which he ate, and immediately, all his pain and bee stings disappeared.

The Madrigals all headed out towards where Osvaldo was, and the other cart was following, pulled by Gustavo, which carried Alzatico, Russ, Zachary, and Oscar.

Before too long, people from the village had heard the news [which Dolores had heard from Mariano] and gathered to see also, the strange people behind Osvaldo.

Osvaldo sat on his cart, head bowed, looking remorseful, hoping Alma would try to spare him the explanation and excuses.

But thankfully, the Madrigals didn't notice him - they were too busy keeping their eyes on the new visitors to the Encanto.

'Wow.' Oscar thought to himself as he got off the cart, taking in the sights of the Encanto. 'So this must be the Encanto.' he saw the village ahead of him, and then, he caught sight of Casita, the house he saw in the viewing mirror. 'and that's the house we saw in Papa's mirror. But where is the candle?'

His thoughts were rudely interrupted by Alma. "Hola, I am Alma Madrigal, Welcome to the Encanto." Alma said to him.

"Uhhhh... hola?" Oscar said, quite surprised.

"Who are you?" asked Camilo.

"Uh, my name's Oscar." Oscar said. "It's such a pleasure to meet you, Madrigals."

The Madrigals suddenly looked shocked. No one had ever known about them from outside the Encanto before.

"Wait." said Isabela. "How do you know about us?"

Oscar then said, "Oh, uh, my papa found out about your house and-"

Oscar was rudely interrupted when Alzatico came up and said, "Ok, hijo, that's quite enough." and then pushed Oscar aside. "Alma Madrigal, what an honour it is to-"

He stopped. And then stared.

Why?

Because Alma was no longer there.

Everyone, Mirabel included, stared at the empty spot where Alma once was.

Weird, huh?

'Huh.' Mirabel thought to herself. 'It's not like Abuela to leave in the middle of greeting someone new to the Encanto.'

She felt baffled. Could this mean something was wrong?

She glanced to her family. They were just as puzzled as Mirabel was. "It's not like Abuela to leave when greeting people." Luisa said to Isabela, who nodded.

"Rather bad manners, I'd say." Camilo said, before Felix promptly elbowed him.

She quickly dismissed the thought. "Ah well," she said, "On behalf of Abuela, welcome to the Encanto, Mr..." she hesitated.

"Alzatico." said Alzatico.

"Alzatico." Mirabel said, shaking his hand. "My name's Mirabel. Mirabel Madrigal."

"Mirabel." Oscar said, amused. "What a nice name."

"I know." Mirabel said, proudly. She turned to Alzatico. "So, Alzatico," she asked, "what brings you here?"

"Mi familia heard about your upcoming Encanto-versary, and we would like to attend. I, of course, would like to provide some entertainment." Alzatico said.

"Really?" said Julieta, amazed.

"Si." Alzatico said. "I am a sorcerer."

To prove it, he waves his wand, and almost immediately, a column of fire swirled out from the ground, soon quickly fading.

the villagers and Madrigals were amazed.

"That was cool!" Camilo said. "Mama can't do that!"

"Well, of course," Felix said, "mi vida can control the weather based on her moods, but she can't make fire, especially since it's dangerous." Pepa nodded.

"Well, I think it's a brilliant idea." said Mirabel. "And of course, I'll inform Abuela about you and your familia settling in to the village." she added.

"Gracias, Mirabel." Alzatico said, shaking Mirabel's hand.

"Oh, uh, I heard you have a familia, Alzatico, like us," Mirabel said suddenly. "So, i think we should introduce you to ours."

She introduced her family to Alzatico and Oscar. "This is my Papa, Agustin, and mi mama, Julieta, and my Hermanas, Isabela, and Julieta, and mi tio Felix, and tia Pepa, and mi primos, Camilo, Antonio, and Dolores."

"Of course," she added, "you already met my Abuela, who's not here, and now," she continued, whilst dragging Bruno towards them, "This is mi tio Bruno."

She motioned to Bruno, "Go on, Tio Bruno."

Bruno stared, open mouthed at Alzatico & Oscar. "Uhhhh, hola?" he said, casually shaking Oscar & Alzatico's hands.

"Hola to you too, Bruno." Oscar said. "Now," Oscar said to Mirabel, "I think it's time I introduced your familia to my hermanos."

"Hemranos?" said a puzzled Agustin.

"I think he means brothers, dear." said Julieta.

"Sí, sí, lo hago." said Oscar. He motioned Mirabel towards his eldest brother Gustavo, who had just put the cart handles down. "This is my eldest hermano, Gustavo." he said.

He motioned to Zachary, who was just carrying some books off the cart. "This is Zachary, mi second eldest hermano." As Antonio came up to him, as if to greet him, Zachary jumped a bit, and turned away. "Forgive him; he's not really big on eye contact. He's the more quiet one." Oscar said to Antonio.

Russ immediately sped up to Isabela, and quickly shook her hand, then raced from villager to villager, shaking their hands.

"I can see you've just met Russ," Oscar said, "He's the third eldest hermano, and he's very nice and quick to greet people."

"We noticed." Isabela said.

Gustavo came towards Julieta & Agustin. "Hola," said Gustavo, "It's a pleasure to meet you today, Julieta & Agustin."

He grabbed Agustin's hand, to shake it, and immediately, Agustin felt the bones in his hand cracking. Agustin felt tears stinging his eyes from the pain.

"Oh, lo siento." Gustavo said. "sometimes I don't know my own strength."

"Ay." Agustin muttered, wincing at his twisted fingers. Immediately, Julieta stuffed a buñuelo shoved into his mouth and immediately healed his injured hand.

Oscar, his brothers, and Alzatico were amazed. "Wow!" Oscar said. "How does a simple buñuelo heal an injury like that?"

Julieta froze. Her gift had been exposed to the newcomers.

Pepa could feel a snow cloud forming over her head upon seeing what was going on.

Bruno could feel his heart starting to pound at what he'd seen.

The Madrigals didn't know what to do.

But Mirabel did. She knew there was only one thing to do.

She knew she had been raised to be honest and kind.

"Oscar, well," Mirabel began slowly, "the reason why the buñuelo healed Papa that quickly is..."

SHe paused impressively.

"...It's Mama's gift."

The Madrigals gasped. Mirabel was exposing the secret of the magic to the outsiders.

"...A gift?" Oscar said, gobsmacked.

Oscar's brothers all stared, awestruck at what they'd just heard.

"Hmmmmm." Alzatico thought. "This family we met must have magical powers."

"Si." Mirabel said. "Mi familia does have gifts."

"A family with gifts?" Oscar said to himself. "Now this is the most bizarre thing I've heard in my life."

Mirabel knew there was only one thing to do. She was gonna have to tell Oscar and his family about her family.

Sadly, that was gonna have to wait till the next chapter.

Author's note:

OMG. Already The Madrigals have met their new guests, and apparently, their secret has just been exposed.

Isabela: [bluntly] We know.

Agustin: Isa...

Luisa: What about Abuela? Why did she leave in greeting these newcomers?

Me: That will be explained in the next chapter, Luisa.

Luisa: That's a relief.

Me: Yup. So next chapter, we'll have Oscar, his bros, and his dad, Alzatico, learn about the Madrigals, their Encanto, and their gifts, and at the same time, they'll settle in to the Encanto. And, we'll find out why Alma left midway in greeting Alzatico.

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