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Her brother Marco was nervous. He was very nervous. Mariposa wasn't sure why, but she knew it. He did not go back and forth, as he always did when he was worried, but tried to be cheerful and play with her, but Mariposa felt that something was wrong anyway. Marco's voice was trembling, not stopping for a second, and he was constantly flailing by hands, trying to find something to do. He kept looking down the corridor that led to the bedroom of retired Queen Moon and King River.
Mariposa already knew enough to know that her little niece was about to be born. Everyone always said it would be a very happy day. But today, in Mariposa’s opinion, was completely not a happy day. An hour ago, Star had been playing with her, too, entertaining her with magic tricks, and then her face had twisted in a strange way, and she had told Marco that something was wrong. And before Mariposa knew it, Star called her mother, the former Queen Moon, and she took her to her room. Along the way, she advised Marco to send Mariposa through the portal to Earth or at least to the Monster Temple, but her brother said that he did not want to bother anyone for nothing. So he stayed in his chambers with Mariposa. He tried his best to be strong and cheerful, but the little girl still saw that it was not so.
Now Marco was fencing with her with wooden swords, but every now and then he paused for a moment and listened to the shrill screams that came from far away from the corridor. He tried to do it unnoticed, but Mariposa saw it anyway and knew what it meant. She was very quick-witted, as her father often told her.
"Marco, what happened to Star?" she asked, lowering her own sword.
"With Star?" Marco shuddered. "It's okay, Mariposa, she's fine.”
“Marco!” she said a little irritably, looking at him with a sigh. The young king of Mewni chuckled to himself at the impertinence in her voice. Her sister might look like him, but being in the Hekapu dimension had clearly affected her. “I'm a big girl now. Why did Queen Moon take Star away? They both looked so scared…“ Mariposa's eyes were filled with concern, fear that something bad might happen to her brother's wife.
Marco saw the sudden change, dropped to one knee, and pulled his sister close, kissing her forehead.
"Don't worry, Mariposa, she's fine. Star will be fine. Just a baby… she'll be born a little earlier, that's all.”
Mariposa asked softly: “Is that bad?”
"I hope not," Marco muttered, but not too confidently. And Mariposa didn't like it at all.
She wanted to ask something else, but suddenly Marco, turning somewhere to the right, screamed and shied away. A swarthy-skinned girl with narrowed brown eyes and a bog-colored cap on her black hair appeared out of nowhere in front of them.
“Janna?” her brother exclaimed, almost startled. “What are you doing here?"
"Now, now, King Marco, take it easy. I thought you could use my help," Janna said in a phlegmatic tone, patting him casually on the shoulder and putting her hands on her hips.
Marco immediately collapsed: “You're right. Will you sit with Mariposa while I stay with Star? I think she's already called me a hundred times.”
Janna's expression softened, as did her tone, and she nodded curtly.
"Got it. Come here, Mariposa. Your brother… um… has to help his wife," she held out her hands to the girl, who hesitated, looking at her older brother.
He smiled at her and kissed her on the forehead.
"It's all right. I'll go to Star's, and you sit with Janna. Star will be fine. I'll go for you as soon as you can see her, okay?"
Mariposa still didn't like what was happening, but she nodded and leaned toward the intruderess.
"It's all right, Mariposa," Marco repeated, and nodded to Janna before running out into the hallway and slamming the door.
Janna chuckled and sank to the floor, sprawling on the carpet next to her friend's younger sister. The little girl nervously played with Janna’s strong swarthy fingers, sucking on her lower lip and looking around the room, and then leaned on the her, curling up in a ball. Janna froze for a moment, but after a moment's thought, she put one arm around Mariposa.
The room was quiet for a while. No one knew what to say, but the girl was glad that there was someone who was with her in the absence of her brother. And finally she spoke up:
“Janna?”
"What do you want?" The one who was soon to become the new queen of the Underworld replied with a indifferent tone.
"Is Star really going to be okay? She won't die?” the little girl asked, not childishly serious.
Janna's eyes, always narrowed, widened in surprise. Mariposa looked very scared, and Janna-banana didn't know what to do.
"Star Butterfly? Oh, no, don't worry about her! She's the strongest person I know.”
Mariposa paused again, but then, almost in a whisper, she asked the next question: “And her daughter will be fine, too?"
Janna bit her lip. This question wasn't that simple. “I hope so."
"That's what Marco said," Mariposa sighed.
Janna rolled her eyes at the ceiling. Maybe she should have lied. She usually lied without thinking, if it was necessary in a particular situation, but Mariposa Diaz was another matter. She was too innocent, and even Janna-banana had the decency to take that into account.
"Hey, look, I'm sure she'll be fine. More precisely, with them.”
It didn't seem to convince Mariposa, but Janna didn't know what else to say, so she just sat there in silence, doing her best to comfort the four-year-old girl at her side. Mariposa's mind was racing, and she didn't like it.
“Janna?”
“Yes?”
"Is Star your best friend?"
Janna chuckled: “Yeah. I mean, she's a walking problem and all… but yeah, she's my friend. And I'll do everything for her.”
"Everything?" Mariposa asked.
"Everything," Janna repeated, squinting at the door. "You want to know the craziest part?" she asked, smiling slyly.
Mariposa nodded vigorously.
"There was a legend in Echo Creek at one time about a dead clown named Bon-Bon, who promised to return exactly one hundred years after his death. And I… well, I encouraged Star to resurrect him. The two of us went to the cemetery, but Glossaryck — well, you know him — also came along. That's what I paid for when Ludo and his rats attacked us. While we were fighting with them, Ludo managed to steal the Book of Spells and take it for himself. Together with Glossaryck.”
Mariposa giggled: “Really?”
“Really. We'd survived by a miracle, and Star had been given a hard time for losing the Book. After all, it's a relic of her dynasty, not anything.”
“And then it burned down, but you found Glossaryck, didn't you?" Mariposa asked, even though she knew it.
Janna thought for a moment. "However, Star initially thought she was hallucinating, so she even called me to ask me how to stop it…”
Mariposa laughed again. But then she heard Star scream across the hall. She seemed to be in a lot of pain, and that scared Mariposa. Janna felt the little girl beside her tremble at Star's cry. Why did she even want to visit her friends today? After all, Janna Ordonia (and now Lucitor) is not one of those who can sympathize!
And then she saw the tiny hands gripping the wooden sword so tightly that the knuckles turned white. The way tears welled up in the corners of brown eyes as Mariposa stared at the door which had been locked by her brother. The way her little lip quivered, the way her breath caught as she exhaled.
"Hey… it's okay, it's okay. Well, at least I think so," said Janna. She and Tom had only been married a couple of months and had yet to have a child of their own (although Tom, despite his youth, was very determined to fix it). And she also wasn't the type to rush to help another girl go through something like this.
“Really?” Mariposa asked, still looking at the door and clutching her sword to her chest.
“Yes! It was probably the same with your mom when you came along.”
Mariposa's brown eyes grew even larger, like Marco's. “Did I hurt my mom?"
Janna slapped her forehead.
"No!" Well, I mean… technically, probably, but no!” she said confusedly, though it didn't reassure Mariposa at all. Janna sighed. She was inadvertently making this little girl worse. And then she decided that she would blame it all on Marco. “It happens to everyone, not just your mom. It's… it's what happens to everyone, and your mother knew it would happen before she knew you will even born. She was really looking forward to seeing you anyway. And she knew you didn't want to hurt her.”
Mariposa calmed down a little, but she kept flinching every time she heard Star scream. And Janna prayed to all the gods —especially Urania, the progenitor of the Butterfly dynasty, the Mewnian deity — that it would be over before she could hurt Marco's little sister any more.
After a while (Janna decided that perhaps she should keep her mouth shut) Mariposa leaned directly on the chest of the future queen of the Underworld. With a sigh, Janna wrapped her arms around the little girl and squeezed her gently. Star's screams became more frequent, making Mariposa even more nervous than before. She was fidgeting, and Janna had no idea how to calm her down. So she just held the little girl tightly, resting her head on the top of Mariposa's light brown head.
When the screams suddenly stopped, Mariposa started and turned back to the door. Janna, too, looked up, startled by the sudden movement of her almost niece.
“I'm not sleeping,” she said, blinking rapidly, trying to figure out where she was and what was going on. Then she saw Mariposa frowning at her.
"I can't hear Star anymore," the little girl whispered, her eyes filling with tears.
"Gods, I can't endure this anymore!" thought Janna.
“Well, that's good! Maybe that means it's finally over!”
Mariposa pursed her lips, just as her brother had done, and looked up the stairs. Janna stared at the girl, dumbfounded: only the lighter hair reminded her that this was Mariposa, not Marco.
“If it's over… does that mean Star's okay?” Mariposa asked slowly.
“Well, yes, of course! Star is perfectly fine. She's the strongest person I know, remember?”
The tears in Mariposa's eyes did not disappear, but she turned to Janna, silently looking into her eyes. Janna pretended not to embarrassed.
"Is something wrong, Mariposa?" she asked the girl.
She didn't say a word, just put her head on Janna’s shoulder and put her free arm around her neck. Ordonia froze, surprised by the embrace, and then slowly hugged the little girl back. She stroked Mariposa's back, as she'd seen Marco do dozens of times, hoping it would help.
"Okay, don't worry so much. After all, Star is a magician. Everything will be alright.”
"Thank you, Janna," Mariposa said suddenly.
"For what?"
"For sitting with me."
"Oh, well… you know, I'll always be there for you, baby.”
“Janna?”
“Yes?”
“I love you.”
Janna's eyes widened again in silent surprise. Wow. Maybe she's not so bad at it.
"I-I love you, too, Mariposa,” she said, giving the girl a little squeeze. She lifted Mariposa up and sat her on her lap, facing her, so that she could rest her head on her chest. Mariposa settled comfortably in the arms of her brother's friend, who gently rocked her from side to side. Janna didn't fully understand why she was doing all this, but somehow it felt right. And she knew that she would sit with Mariposa in her lap, rocking her as long as it took to make her feel better.
Janna didn't know how much time had passed before the door finally opened and Marco stumbled into the room. She didn't look up at him, but Mariposa did. Young king of Mewni looked exhausted, despite the fact that Star had been in labor for less than a day. And that meant he was more nervous and worried than he let on. And now he, too, made no secret of his condition, wiping the sweat from his face and making Jeanne wonder if everything was all right.
"Mariposa?" Marco knelt down in front of his sister and his friend. Mariposa's heart began to beat faster: she was still worried about Star. But Marco lifted her chin with a finger and asked: "Do you want to see Star and meet your niece?"
The smile that lit up Mariposa's face instantly melted Marco's heart. The girl nodded vigorously and reached for her brother.
"Come here, little warrior," he said softly, taking her from Janna's lap. Then he nodded to his friend, silently thanking her for keeping his little sister company, and hugged Mariposa to his chest. Janna gave a silent grin, and Marco stormed out of the room with Mariposa in his arms.
Well, maybe she could handle all this motherhood. Especially if Tom wants it so badly.