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Hills To Climb
Dreaming of a view from an empire in the sky
Golden gates can wait
Where the dust turns back to life
And the sands of time will shift
And the rivers ever flow
When our hearts grow tired and cold
There's a strength in letting go
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"We have to get Tio Bruno out of the house."
Despite her harsh words, Mirabel's eyes shine with love and compassion. Her heart is bursting with determination and anticipation of good things to come. She feels confident about her plan and she just knows that this is the right thing to do.
Trust her gremlin of a cousin to sour her mood instantly with just one simple question.
"What house?" Camilo asks, rather snottily, in Mirabel's opinion. The boy lets his gaze wander over the debris surrounding them and raises a sardonic eyebrow. Mirabel loves him, she really does, but the urge to pinch that eyebrow and pull it back down is overwhelming.
Before the girl can give into that urge, Dolores comes to her rescue and does the next best thing by punching her little brother in the upper arm.
"Thanks Lolo."
"My pleasure."
Camilo pouts and rubs at the aching spot, but Mirabel feels little to no compassion.
And anyway! He is so wrong about there being no house!
Admittedly, the new Casita is not quite there yet.
But the rebuilding is going really well. They have almost all of the outer walls up and standing and are already in the process of dividing up the rooms. Mirabel estimates that it will only take a few more weeks until they can add furniture and start moving in.
She looks at her sisters and cousins and can't help the small stab of guilt their appearances ignite. They all look tired and much more unkempt than usual. The villagers have been absolutely amazing, housing the entire Madrigal family in their spare rooms and giving them clothes and food and other necessities. But bed hopping is not the same thing as having your own home and no family has been able to house all the Madrigals at the same time so there is the added stress of being separated from each other for the first time in… well… forever, basically.
No one complains, at least not to her face. The adults make it a point to remind Mirabel at any turn that this was not her fault and that they will be okay. Mirabel smiles and nods and says she understands, but she just can't help feeling the way she does when she sees what is left of their beloved Casita.
Before she can get too lost in her maudlin thoughts, Luisa timidly raises her hand.
"Question. Why do you think Tio Bruno needs to get out? Not that I think you are wrong, but… uhm."
Isabela crosses her arms, looking uncomfortable. "I guess what Luisa is trying to say is…"
"Tio Bruno is scared!" Antonio pipes up, not picking up on the tension and simply speaking from the heart. He doesn't see a problem with saying it out loud. Everyone gets scared once in a while, don't they? "I heard Mama and Papa talk about it. They think he needs to stay home to be a dust."
"He needs to adjust." Mirabel corrects and ruffles his hair. "And I think so too. But I don't think letting him hide away is the answer."
They can all see how nervous Bruno still is around strangers ( 'And family.', a treacherous voice inside of her insists), but letting him hide away between the ruins is not the way to help him get over that nervousness. Her parents and Tia Pepa and Tio Felix and Abuela all think that they should let him choose the pace and not interfere. And it's not like Mirabel can't see where they are all coming from, but that doesn't mean that she agrees with them.
Mirabel likes to think that she knows her Tio Bruno pretty well by now. They got a special connection, a special understanding of each other as the family weirdos. She just knows that if they let Tio Bruno set the pace, there will be no pace to speak of. Tio Bruno will take it so slow, he might as well go backwards.
Isabela sends her this look, this 'You are meddling again' look, but Mirabel just rolls her eyes. Maybe she is, but so what? Their parents and Abuela are too hesitant about this, too scared of scaring Bruno away again in case they push him too hard. But Mirabel can see the loneliness in his eyes. They all saw the happiness spreading all over his face the day he finally reconnected with them all. No way will he ever disappear from their life again. That would probably kill him.
And anyway, she is not gonna push too hard!
"I'm not going to push him too hard." she voices her thoughts. "Just a little. Just a quick walk through the village. Very low-key. And of course we won't send him out alone."
"You and low-key? Since when?" Camilo snorts.
Mirabel ignores him. "I can't be the one to go on that walk with him. Abuela and our parents are onto me. They watch me like a hawk around him." She really shouldn't have argued so passionately about her conviction in front of them in an effort to convince them to see things from her perspective. They have more or less forbidden her from dragging Tio Bruno into the village, but they also know that she is too stubborn to leave it alone. It feels like she can't spend five minutes alone with Tio Bruno before one of the other adults joins them with an excuse to hang around. Which is infuriating, because she really, really wants to be the one to take him on that outing. But it can't be helped now. "That's why I called you here. One of you has to go with him."
Camilo's hand shoots into the air.
"No!" Dolores shouts. As much as she ever shouts. Ever since she lost her gift, she's made an effort to raise her voice out of the constant semi-whisper that she has been known for for the last 15 years. She firmly pushes his hand back down. "No."
Mirabel nods in thanks.
Definitely not Camilo. That's a disaster waiting to happen. Antonio, who looks very eager, is sadly not an option either. The small boy would be great moral support, but he is too young to be of actual practical help if things go south.
Not that they will! Of course not!
Dolores is too soft on Tio Bruno. He'll only need to flash his sad puppy eyes once and she will whisk him away like a knight in shining armor. Luisa is still pretty strong even without her gift and the villagers are still asking her for help left and right. It's happening a lot less often since Mama and Papa put their foot down, but Luisa won't be able to keep her attention on their wayward uncle the whole time and he will take the first opportunity to slip away.
This first outing has to go well. And it has to last a significant amount of time to make a difference.
That only leaves…
"Isa! You'll have to do it."
"What?" Isabela rears back in shock. "Me? Why me?"
"Recent fashion choices aside, they still see you as Perfecta Isabela. You still got a certain kind of pull around here. If you send any potential gawkers or meddlers that haughty 'I am better than you' look-"
Isabela stomps her foot and puts her hands on her hips. "The 'what' look?"
Mirabel smirks and points directly at her face. "That one! Perfect. No one will bother you two if you look at them like that."
Her older sister nibbles on her lower lip, a new habit she has picked up over the last few weeks. Mirabel thinks it's rather charming. Not that she would ever tell Isabela that.
The girl in question scoffs and waves her hand towards the construction site. "Well, too bad I already promised Mama that I would help her choose some tiles for the kitchen."
"Well, too bad I already told Mama that you can't make it and I'll join her instead." Mirabel raises her voice to be heard over Isabela's outraged screeching and takes her sister by the shoulders to steer her away from the ruins. "And too bad I already told Tio Bruno that you need his help for something and to wait for you by the tree line."
"Mirabel!"
"Have fun!"
"Mirabel, you little pest! I'm not doing this. I-"
###########################
"I can't believe I'm doing this." Isabela mutters to herself. She smoothes her hands down her dress and takes a deep breath.
She can barely see Tio Bruno lingering by the tree line, his green ruana almost invisible between all the shrubbery. He is leaning against a tree and facing away from her, staring at something deep inside the forest.
The sight of him makes something in her stomach clench. She would love to just turn around and forget about Mira's stupid plan, but here is the thing:
She wants to spend time with him.
She is just so nervous about actually doing it. Maybe even a bit scared.
Not because she doesn't like him or because she is scared of him.
It's just… it's been ten long years. She doesn't want to admit it, but she barely remembers him. Only vague memories of lullabies and stories and games. But also of silence and sad eyes and even sadder smiles. As she was growing older, thinking of her Tio always left her feeling emotional and nostalgic without really knowing why. So she'd stopped thinking about him and had started to forget instead.
Will they even have anything to talk about?
Does he even remember her any better than she does him? What if he has forgotten about her? What if he doesn't like who she grew up to be? God knows she didn't always like the girl staring back at her from the mirror. The girl with the shiny hair and fake smile and rigid posture. She has changed, but has she changed enough yet?
Or, even worse, what if he doesn't like her new self any better than all these villages that are starting to look at her with confusion and pity in their eyes the longer she doesn't go back to the way she used to be? What if he is as bewildered by her new self as all the others? What if-?
She must have stepped on a stick or something because he whirls around and looks straight at her. For a second, all she can see are wide and scared eyes. But then he recognizes her and a huge smile breaks out on his face. It still has a nervous edge to it, but his eyes crinkle at the corners and his shoulders relax significantly.
"Izzy.", he shouts and gives her a little wave.
Izzy. No one has called her that in ten years. It's a weird, foreign sounding nickname and when she'd once asked him where he'd heard it, he'd just shrugged and pointed at his head like that explained everything.
Abuela had always wrinkled her nose at it and so when Tio Bruno had vanished, the odd nickname had vanished with him.
Isabela missed it.
Suddenly she feels very foolish for her nervousness.
"Tio Bruno." She takes another deep breath and smiles at him. "Tio, could you help me with something?"
#######################
Convincing him to accompany her on an errand into the village had been easier than she'd expected. All she had to do was blink rapidly, jut out her lower lip a little and say "Please Tio! Oh please!" and tell him a sob story about how she was nervous about her new look and how she didn't want to go alone. He'd folded like a house of cards.
Dolores and him are very similar in that regard.
She can tell that he is nervous, though. He fiddles with the hood of his ruana constantly, as if he wants to pull it up and over his head. He always stops himself at the last second and Isabela is actually impressed by his restraint.
The stares are even getting to her.
Subtlety had never been a strength of the villagers, sadly. Their open staring is not as bad as she'd feared, but it's still pretty bad. A part of her had hoped that they wouldn't react so shocked by Bruno's appearance and that there would be no whispering and pointing fingers awaiting them. Bruno's return is, after all, old news by now. Most of the villagers have seen him around the construction site, helping with the spackle or offering to carry something.
But that's up there, in the ruins of Casita. A place of great tragedy and a meeting point for hard work and determined helpfulness in the face of said tragedy. Detached from day to day life.
This encounter is here, in their midsts, on their way to the market or during an outing with their families. It invades their normal life and it seems like they don't know how to deal with it.
Bruno has mostly been sleeping in the church or under the stars, weather permitting, and he's made it a point to come and go before anyone else is awake. This is probably the first time in ten years that he is being seen in the village in broad daylight.
Putting it like that, Mirabel might have a point. They have allowed him to hide away for too long already.
But that doesn't change the fact that this is getting more and more awkward by the minute. There is only so many times Isabela can glare at the gossips with the 'Look' (and yes, of course she knows what Mirabel was talking about, Isabela has been perfecting the 'Look' for years) before it loses its bite.
Isabela is racking her brain for something she can distract him with when Bruno speaks up for the first time since they left Casita behind.
"I don't remember that shop."
He stops and points at a little corner store up the street. They sell candles and other small decorations.
"Ah yes, they opened after… a few years ago." Isabela coughs into her hand at the near slip. ' After you left.'
Bruno hums and wrinkles his nose, for the first time actually looking around instead of at his own two feet. "Wasn't this where the school used to be? With the big courtyard?" He spins once in a circle and points at another section of the street. "There was another street over there, wasn't there? Where did all the buildings come from?"
Isabela shrugs and takes a look around herself. To her this is all familiar, but he must feel quite out of place. "A lot has changed since the last time you were down here. The Encanto has grown a lot in recent years."
"I can tell." He whistles through his teeth. Impressed or concerned, it's hard to tell. "But new streets? Seems like the whole infrastructure has changed."
"Well, they had to rebuilt a lot after the storm when you-"
She cuts herself off, but the damage is done. The light dims in his eyes, the shoulders that have relaxed during their chit-chat grow tense again.
"Ah. I understand."
And she knows he does. Mirabel has told them that Tio Bruno had been hiding inside Casita's walls these past years. There is no way he didn't take notice of The Storm.
Tia Pepa's Strom. The one that had started to lay waste to the village the day they'd realized that Bruno hadn't just left for a few days to decompress. The day the flickering of his door had finally ceased, leaving the wood dull and ordinary. The day they had to acknowledge that he wasn't planning on coming back. That he might not be able to come back or didn't want to come back.
The day Abuela had said "We don't talk about Bruno" for the first time.
Tia Pepa had obeyed. She had not uttered a single word about Tio Bruno. But the storm had spoken for her. Thunder and lightning and a wind so fierce, it had destroyed houses and fields. Raindrops, big and fast and heavy, punching holes into roofs and destroying trees, snapping branches off like they were made of paper.
The streets had been flooded and day had become night.
Isabela remembers sitting in her room, a pillow over her head, watching Casita's walls shake and listening to the rumble of distant thunder and the closer rumble of her mother's voice as she begged Pepa through the door to please calm down.
The storm had raged for three days and four nights until finally petering off.
Isabela also remembers the villagers staring at her Tia with suspicion and fear for a very long time after that. And her Tia, stoically enduring the stares with lifeless eyes.
At the memories, she wants to grow angry at her Tio for what he put all of them through. But one look into his face and she knows that there is nothing she could tell him that he hasn't already told himself.
There is no use in pointing fingers anymore. And really, she doesn't even know if she'd want to, knowing that he'd done what he'd done to protect Mirabel.
That's more than Isabela has ever done for her little sister.
"Maybe just keep close?", she suggests and awkwardly nudges at his arm with one finger. "Don't want you to get lost, okay?"
He chuckles a little, but it sounds sad. Distant.
"Not more than usual, at least."
Isabela is not sure what he means and at the same time she feels like she knows exactly what he means. It's a weird, uncomfortable feeling.
They keep walking and Isabela keeps pointing out new shops and buildings. It is still tense, but she is fully leaning into her role as tour guide. He visibly perks up when she points out the new arts and crafts store, bigger and better than the old one. Just as she is beginning to hope that the day will be a success after all, little Cecilia and her friends run up to them. Bruno immediately takes a step back, not quite used yet to the chaotic energy of the group. Isabela tries to keep him on her periphery, but soon enough Cecilia pulls on her dress and demands all of her attention.
"Isa!" she shouts, tugging more insistently. "Isa! Tell Juancho that he is wrong!"
Isabela can't help but smile. Before the cracks, she'd never spent much time with the kids. They would ask her for flower crowns at parties and she would oblige, but Isa doesn't think she even knew their names back then. And they in turn would always keep their distance, much too scared of messing up her dress or being scolded for annoying princesa Isabela. Isabela used to wonder why Mirabel always let them dodge her every step, but she gets it now and she is so glad that the kids have lost their nervousness around her.
There is something very calming about entertaining a bunch of loud and nosey children, as weird as that seems.
"Juancho is wrong!" Isabela immediately declares with a serious look on her face.
The little boy gasps and shakes his cup of coffee at her with trembling fingers. Someone really ought to have a talk with him about that. "You don't even know what we are arguing about!"
"Don't need to. Boys are always wrong."
Cecilia laughs and Isabela bends down to offer the little girl a high five. Juancho huffs and puffs and sips at his coffee. "So you and Mariano will marry before Casita is rebuilt?"
Isabela blinks and tries to keep her smile from slipping right off her face. "What?"
"It's true love!" The little girl insists with stars in her eyes. "My mama says you don't wait around when you have found true love. So you are gonna marry him real soon, right? Oh oh oh! Can I be a flower girl?"
"You are too ugly to be a flower girl."
"Say that again and I'll pour that coffee right over your big, stupid head!"
Okaaaay. Time for a tactical retreat. This conversation is getting a bit too close to topics Isabela is not comfortable discussing with small children. She still hasn't figured out what to do about the whole Mariano mess and she's done a pretty good job of avoiding the issue. And him, for that matter.
"Would love to chat, but my uncle is waiting for me." She tries to sound cheerful and gestures behind her to where Bruno is silently waiting for her. "So I really gotta go."
The kids lean around and stare past her at the space behind her back with furrowed brows.
"What uncle?"
Isabela turns around.
Tio Bruno is gone.
##############################
For a moment she is convinced that he's just ditched her. He's been uncomfortable and maybe he's used her distraction as his opportunity to escape.
But then she realizes that this is Tio Bruno she is talking about. He has still been under the impression that she needs him for an errand and that she is nervous about being alone in the village.
Surely he wouldn't abandon her. Right?
He must have wandered off during her distraction and then gotten turned around in all these unfamiliar streets.
He's gotten lost.
Isabela wastes a whole hour walking around the nearby streets to look for him. She doesn't dare call his name. That would only attract unwanted attention. And anyway, she can't imagine that he would be too happy with her for calling out for him like he is some kind of wayward child. Isabela is confident that she will spot him soon enough. Surely he is looking for her just as much as she is looking for him.
But as the first hour passes without results, her slight amusement and exasperation at the situation turns into something that feels a lot like worry and apprehension. Could he have wandered this far? Shouldn't she have seen him by now?
She catches the eye of an older man giving her new colorful dress a once over. He grimaces and shakes his head at her in disapproval. She scoffs right in his face. As if he has any right to judge her. Isabela glares at him, but it is half-hearted at best.
If the villagers treat her, the former Encanto sweetheart, like this, what will they be like to Tio Bruno without her as a buffer? The old scapegoat? The ill-fated seer?
Is he in trouble? Is he hurt?
Her gaze falls on the hill where her family is busy building their new home and without further ado she gathers her dress close and runs. Surely he will have gone back the moment he couldn't find her anymore. Even if he got lost in the village, their hill and the construction site are visible from pretty much every street.
He'll have gone home. He must have.
####################
He didn't.
Isabela runs her hands through her hair. It must look a fright with how often she has done it already.
Bruno is nowhere to be found and she is slowly losing her mind.
How could she lose their uncle? They only just got him back! What if he is lying in a ditch somewhere? What if he was so annoyed by her that he decided to leave for good? What if he followed a rat and decided to join its rat circus?
Her thoughts are spiraling, imagining scenario after scenario, one more ridiculous than the other. So when she spots Dolores walking by in the distance Isabela immediately sprints towards her.
"Dolores! I need your help!"
Her cousin stops and stares at her out of wide eyes. "Uhm. Sure?"
"I need you to-" Isabela cuts herself off and groans. She buries her head into her hands and screams into them. Dolores can't listen for Tio Bruno! They don't have their gifts anymore! Her panic made her forget this not quite unimportant detail.
"You need me to-?"
"Isa!" A shout interrupts them and saves Isabela from having to come up with an excuse. Unfortunately, this interruption feels like jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.
"Isa, you are already back?" Mirabel joins them and bounces up and down on her toes. "How did it go?"
Isabela can feel herself sweating up a storm. Her back is like a waterfall and she thinks her eye might be twitching. Now she knows how Luisa feels.
No way can she tell Mirabel that she lost their uncle. The girl will never let her live this down.
"Fine! Great. Wonderful even. Hmhm. Perfect. If you'll excuse me?"
Dolores and Mirabel exchange a look. Mirabel even tries to reach out for her sister who evades her touch with an abrupt jerk. "Are you alright?"
"What's with the interrogation, Mira?" Isabela snaps. "Everything is fine, I said!"
With that she runs back towards the village, leaving her sister and cousin in the dust.
She has to find Tio Bruno! Fast!
###########################
Another hour passes and she still hasn't found him.
Isabela staggers into an alley and slumps against the wall. Only sheer strength of will keeps her from sliding to the floor and sitting in the puddle beneath her feet.
This is a disaster. An absolute disaster.
It's been a little more than two hours by now. Soon it's time for dinner and she'll have to come clean to her family. What will they say?
Abuela will certainly be disappointed in her. Their relationship has become a little bit less tense and fraught with expectations, but the idea of her grandmother being disappointed with her still sends Isabela's heart racing.
Deep down, she knows that her uncle is probably alright. He is a grown man and all his anxieties aside, she knows that he is capable of taking care of himself. This situation just reminds her a little bit too much of that day ten years ago, when she and Dolores had run through the village, much like she'd done today, to look for their missing uncle. The memories are making her much more fearful than she needs to be. It's not like he can just disappear into thin air.
Again.
Isabela shakes her head and slaps her own cheeks. Focus! She can fix this. He has probably just chosen a spot and is waiting for her there. She just has to figure out where that is.
At the thought, something niggles at the back of her head, another memory, a deja vu.
A spot. A meeting place. Somewhere… somewhere…
"Isabela?"
The girl looks up. Mariano is standing in front of her, looking concerned and a little bit nervous. A spike of irritation goes through her. She does not have time for this!
Apparently she doesn't have her face under control as well as she thinks she does, because he winces and holds up his hands. "Lo siento. Didn't mean to bother you."
She immediately feels guilty. It's not his fault she lost her uncle. And Mariano is a good guy. She likes Mariano. She just doesn't 'like like' him.
God, she feels like she is twelve again.
"Sorry Mariano. It's alright. There is just a lot on my mind right now."
"Anything I can help with?"
"No thanks. It's just…" She grimaces and waves her hand in a vague manner "girl stuff."
You would think she'd be better at coming up with excuses considering that she managed to fool an entire village into believing that she is in love with this man.
"Ah. Of course." He nods with a serious expression on his face, as if 'girl stuff' is a very grave and important matter. To him, it probably is. If there is one thing she'd always liked best about him, it's his unwavering respect for all things women. Probably comes with growing up in a fully female household.
Suddenly he starts to shuffle his feet and rub his neck. "Isabela. I was wondering… maybe you would like to reschedule… the dinner? I mean, we could do it at our place this time. My Abuela already offered to host."
Isabela knows what dinner he is talking about. She contemplates making an excuse or giving a vague non-answer, but she has avoided this conversation for long enough. Mariano is a great guy and while Mirabel has assured her that she deserves to be with someone she truly loves, Isabela has slowly come to realize that she had been very unfair to Mariano. If she deserves to be with someone that loves her, then so does he.
Stringing him along is just cruel at this point.
"I'm sorry, Mariano. But I don't think we should reschedule."
He blinks. His smile is a little bit brittle, but still kind. It's that kindness that makes her feel like she is no better than the dirt under his shoe. "Of course. You and your family must be busy."
She can see it in his eyes. The realization, the beginning of acceptance. But he is still clinging to hope.
'Come on, Isabela. Don't be a coward. Say what you want clearly. For once in your life, just tell it how it is.'
"I'm not in love with you." He jerks back and she feels tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. "I'm so sorry, I love you as a friend. But I am not in love with you. I can't marry you."
He breathes deeply in through his nose. For a second she is deeply afraid that he will start crying. But he only rubs a hand over his mouth and looks to the side, avoiding her gaze.
"Yeah I… I was kinda expecting something like that."
She blinks. "You were?"
He snorts. She doesn't think she's ever seen him snort. Despite the somber mood, something already seems to have lifted between them.
"Come on. Your avoidance tactics really need some work. Pretty sure I saw you jump into a well that one time I came looking for you."
"You must be mistaken. I'm sure that was Mirabel."
The easy way they are able to laugh together reminds her that they were friends before all this matchmaking entered their life. The same must have occurred to him.
"My Abuela always talked about what a great couple we'd make and I liked you and so I started to think… everyone always said that we would definitely marry one day and I just…"
"I know." Isabela whispers. It is a bit of a relief to know that she wasn't the only one who had just been going with the flow regarding this whole engagement. He doesn't seem completely heartbroken, at least. Just sad.
She is sad too.
"I always wanted a big family." It feels like he's just told her a big secret even though all of the Encanto knows that Mariano Guzman is full of love and just dying to share that with someone. It's one of the reasons why Isabela was able to convince herself for so long that she could grow to be content with being his wife. He would have never hurt her and she would have had a good life with him.
Just not the one she wanted.
"You will have that, Mariano Guzman." She assures him. "A big family, with lots of children. There is someone out there who will love you just like you deserve."
He smiles and rubs at his eyes. She does the same.
"You too, Isabela Madrigal."
Mariano sighs and chuckles lowly. He joins her in leaning against the wall, close enough that their shoulders are brushing. For the first time in years the contact doesn't cause Isabela unease.
It is nice.
"Ay what a mess." he muses and stares at the sky with a wistful little smile. "Remember when we were kids and all we had to worry about was getting into trouble and giving our parents gray hairs?"
"Maybe you! I never misbehaved."
"Oh yeah? Wasn't it you who wanted to spend the night camping in the woods and caused a village-wide search for you when you couldn't find your way back?"
Isabela laughs and is about to reply when the answer comes to her like a strike of lightning. She gasps and slaps her own forehead.
"Of course!" she shouts.
She remembers being eight years old and still crying her little eyes out after Abuela and her parents had given her an ear full for causing them so much worry. She remembers sitting in her room and Tio Bruno coming in and sitting on the edge of her bed. She remembers thinking that he will scold her too.
'I didn't mean to make everyone worry' she'd said , head buried in her knees and still shaking. 'When it got dark and cold I tried to go home, but I couldn't find the way.'
'I know.' he'd soothed her. 'I believe you. Listen, Izzy. Do you remember seeing a small stream running through the woods?'
'Yes?'
'That one runs in a circle around the Encanto and at one point it widens into a lake. If you ever get lost again, you follow the stream to that lake and wait there for me, okay? I will come and find you.'
'Promise?'
He'd smiled and offered his pinky. 'I promise. Now repeat after me. If you ever get lost again, you'll go to-'
"The lake!", present day Isabela shouts. She pushes off the wall and turns towards Mariano. "The lake, Mariano!"
He stares at her without comprehension. "Okay?"
She grabs his face and gives him a big kiss on the forehead. "You are a genius!"
She doesn't hear his dazed "Okay?" because she is already running again.
She knows exactly where her uncle is.
###########################
Isabela stumbles through a bush and spots him immediately. He is sitting at the edge of the lake, throwing little pebbles into the water. At her noisy approach, he turns around. He looks relieved to see her.
"Here you are!" Isabela scolds and lets herself slump to the ground next to him. She is out of breath and as relieved as she is to finally have found him, she can't help being a little annoyed as well. Okay. A lot annoyed. "Do you have any idea how long I have been looking for you? Have you been here this whole time?"
He looks mortified to have caused her so much trouble. She must look quite a mess for him to look at her like that. "Oh no no no. I'm so sorry, I just got here myself like an hour ago. I uhm… I wanted to check out that arts and crafts store while you were busy, but they have two exits. Two, Isabela! Why does it have two exits? And I used the wrong one on my way out and suddenly I couldn't find you again and I didn't want to cause a scene by calling your name, but I must have gotten turned around cause nothing looked familiar and-" He takes a deep breath and hangs his head." And I got lost."
Isabela tries to stay annoyed, she really does, but looking at his bowed head and fiddling hands, she can help but burst into laughter.
"That's all it takes? A second exit and you get lost in a village you grew up in? Tio Bruno, I can't believe you!"
"Hey!" He pouts and lightly shoves at her shoulder. She is laughing so hard, she almost falls over. "You said yourself that the village has changed a lot."
"Yeah and I also told you to stay close. Next time maybe I'll need to put you on a leash or something. I think we still have the one Tia Pepa had to use when Camilo entered his running away phase."
He chuckles. "Don't you dare!"
It takes a few minutes for her laughter to die down. Afterwards they sit in silence for a while. The lake is peaceful. She remembers coming here once or twice with her parents and siblings. Isabela takes up a small rock and tries to skip it over the water. It only jumps twice before disappearing in the depths of the lake.
She puffs out her cheeks.
"I'm out of practice."
"Me too." Bruno says and skips a stone as well. His stone at least skips three times before sinking.
Isabela watches the ripples fade.
"Tio. Why did you come here? Why didn't you go home?"
He is silent for a very long time. "I couldn't find you and everything looked so different. Strange." He draws simple shapes into the sand without looking at what he is doing. His gaze is fixed on the spot where his stone disappeared. "I couldn't find the place where we separated, but I could see our hill and I was about to go up there and wait for you there. I knew it was the logical thing to do."
"But?"
"But I couldn't." He finally looks at what he has drawn into the sand and Isabela follows his gaze. It's a simplified Casita. They both stare at the drawing for a long time before Bruno brushes it away with short angry strokes. "All these new streets reminded me of how much has changed. How much I missed out on. Going back home just to be faced with another loss, another new building…. It felt like too much. And then I remembered this lake and… well."
"I found you."
"You found me." He smiles at her and pats her hand. Before he can pull away, Isabela grabs his hand and interlocks their fingers.
"You know," she starts. "A lot has changed. But not everything. This lake is still the same. And we all still love you, and you love us. That hasn't changed." She doesn't phrase it as a question, doesn't require him to confirm. Amidst all the uncertainty that is their life and future right now, she knows this to be the absolute and indisputable truth.
"And not all change is bad." She fiddles with a colorful strand in her hair.
He watched her fingers comb through her hair and a soft look crosses his face. A bit of the sadness seems to lift off of him. "No. Not bad at all." He shrugs and grins a little. "I actually really liked that new arts and crafts store. Just not that second exit. Why does a shop need two different exits?"
Isabela returns his grin and pulls him to his feet. The sun is beginning to set. Their family is probably wondering where they are by now. "You know, I could take you there tomorrow again. Properly this time."
He doesn't even think about it. "That would be nice. They had some amazing pencils I wanna take a closer look at."
"Alright." They keep holding hands on their way back. It reminds Isabela of strolls through these very woods, stories falling from her uncle's lips about dragons and knights and princesses. Maybe she hadn't completely forgotten him after all. "But don't you dare run off again. No more getting lost, Tio Bruno."
"No more getting lost.", he promises softly.
Isabela will hold him to that.