Over the Mountains (an Encanto story)

Chapter 11. One talkative dinner

Julieta and Agustin were stearing at Bruno's door, watching it fade once again.

- What could it mean? – Augustin asked his wife, confused.

- I... – Julieta hesitated – I don't know. That... that he's alive, I guess? – She was confused. Why would Bruno all of a sudden look into the future?

- This might add to Félix's theory about the new door. – Agustin said. Julieta was even more confused. – What if he wanted to see if his kids got a door or not?

- This might be it. – Julieta answered. She was hopeful that he would come back to the family.

Ever since Bruno left, Julieta hasn't been the same. They had known each other since birth. This is a long enough time to be attached to the hip.

That time period was hard on the family. Mirabel's ceremony and the vision... She sometimes wondered, if the vision was that bad.

She couldn't help but remember when Mirabel asked to heal her so she could be, in her own words, "fixed" and receive a gift.

Antonio, Araya, Dolores, and Camilo walked out of Antonio's room, whispering to each other.

- Kids! – Agustin yelled as he saw the young ones. – Isabela doesn't feel right. Why don't you take dinner up to her, and maybe she lets you guys inside.

- Yeah! She always tells you guys what's going on. Luisa's with her, but I would be way calmer if you were next to her as well. – Julieta aded to her husband's words. After Mirabel left, she became a bit overprotective of her daughters. But luckily, she knew some important boundaries. It was a situation where Isa needed her cousin more than she needed her.

- Sí tía, we will! – Dolores gave an answer to the request. – But won't Abuela be angry?

- No worries. We'll take care of it. – Agustin said, winking at the sneaky bugs.

They took the plates prepared by their tía, and went to see Isa and Luisa. Just as expected, Abuela had a smaller fight with Julieta and Agustin after, as heard by Dolores.

They opened the door to see a crying Isabela and a stressed-out Luisa. Turns out, the thought of "Mirabel being pregnant without her family's help" didn't help Isa's "terrible big sister" problems. It was too much to process.

- What do you mean, you know where Mirabel is? – Isabela jumped up from her bed, both excited and in a hurry.

- Well, Bruno knows. We asked him for a vision, and he recognized a statue in a square. Mirabel might be in that town. – Camilo explained happily, to his primas, stuffing another arepa into his mouth.

- A vision? Didn't he say "no more visions"? – Luisa asked, confused.

- This time we had a good reason. – Dolores said, giving her hermano a look.

- What? The coming of the three fire dragons was important! Camilo answered to his hermana's glearing.

- No, my dearest hermanito. It was a nightmare and a feawer. – Antonio looked at Camilo anoyed.

– And Antonio's capibara with a toucan on her back. – Araya chuckeled.

At this moment, Bruno knocked. As soon as the sisters saw the green plate in his hands, they took it for examination.

- Who is this girl? – Luisa asked – Is she Mirabel's hija? And why is she so old?

- Most likely, but I'm not sure. – Bruno said, avoiding eye contact.

- Most likely? How the hell can you be unsure? – Isa huffed angrily.

- Isa! Calm down! – Luisa tried to calm her hermana.

- The vision didn't make it obvious. – Bruno said, hiding from Isabela behind a flower wall. – You see, there wasn't one scene where they both appeared at once.

- It's true. Not once. – Dolores defended their tío, standing between them, while Araya enjoyed the show.

- Okey. The others said, you know where she might be. Is it true, tío? – Luisa asked, trying to calm Isa at the same time.

- Sí! – he took out a book and a map from under his batered ruana – It's called „Anhelaba Esperanza". – he opened the book, showing the exact same statue from the vision - It's a small town, only a few days, maybe a week of walking distance from Encanto. – Bruno explained, hoping this would make everyone feel better.

- Then what are we waiting for? We have to go! Now! – Isabela said, while she stood up, searching for a bag she had lying around.

- What? No! At least not now! – Luisa tried to calm her hermana down once again. – I want to go as soon as possible as well, but we need to prepare. – Isabela looked at her hermana with sad eyes. She was right. They can't just take off. – I swear, Isa, we can go. But for now, we need a plan for how to go. We don't even know how to leave Encanto.

Isa was disappointed, but she agread. She had no other choice for now. She examined the face of the little girl. She barely looked anything like Mirabel.

She saw herself in the picture somehow. Maybe because the woman in the picture had one of her hands on the little girl's shoulder, just like Abuela had on her shoulder in her traditional picture.

She absolutely hated that picture.

- Do you have any idea who this woman is? – Isa asked, pointing at the young woman with the candel, trying to change the topic for her own good.

- No, we don't. – Bruno answered the question. – But I think it means, Abuela, she's... – he just couldn't continue. He didn't need to; it was way too obvious.

- Well. We better prepare fast. – Isabela stated, seemingly sad, but she had a spark in her eyes that said, she's planning something.