Encanto...

02

"Buen día" you greeted Julieta the next morning upon entering the kitchen.

"Buenos días" she smiled "I just saved some food for breakfast, sit down please. Your older sister left to the market with Luisa."

You nodded. "So I did sleep in, didn't I?" you said more to yourself.

"Well," Julieta handed you your breakfast "Your brother is still sleeping, Mirabel is, and my niece Dolores and Camilo also still haven't had breakfast."

"Typical José" you muttered "You know, señora Madrigal, my brother is always sleeping."

"You did have quite a trip" She sat down next to you "And please, call me Julieta. You really remind me of your mother. You know, we were best friends. Did everything together. I actually met my husband through your mom."

"Really?"

Julieta nodded. "If your mother comes over, we need to have tell you our stories."

"This is really good" you said, referring to the food.

She smiled. "I'm glad you like it. Decades of practice, you have to imagine."

"How come?"

"Well, maybe Mirabel told you, but my gift is mainly healing people with my food." She said "Ever since I was little I enjoyed cooking, so I'd always been cooking in order to heal. You wouldn't believe how many injuries there are per day. Good morning, Dolores"

"Morning" You watched Dolores as she sat down. She was very pretty, just like the rest of the family. Why were they all so good looking? It was easy to feel out of place.

"Ah! Y/N," Julieta stood up to serve her niece breakfast "Why don't you go over to the market and explore the town for a bit? Since it's Antonio's ceremony this evening, could you maybe get me these ingredients." She handed you a small list "I'll be there later, but I doubt I'll have time. That would be really nice."

"Of course" you quickly stood up, nodding in sign of 'goodbye', and left the house.

You honestly had no idea where you were going, but you didn't dare to ask anyone.

You only could communicate properly with strangers (or people in general) if you were either completely alone with them (although often it made you just more nervous), or if you clicked. If not, there were no hopes of you ever feeling somewhat comfortable around others; that was something you hated, since it often felt like you had a different personality around every person you met.

One thing that never changed though, was your infinite insecurity.

"Hi..." you said filling yourself with courage. "Which way is the market?"

"Keep walking this street forward, turn right on the first crossing." The rather older woman said rather uninterested until she noticed your accent "You're not from here." She stated.

'Great, she wants to have a conversation...'

You awkwardly nodded. "Yes, I'm visiting"

She looked at you with wide eyes. "You were with the strangers that arrived yesterday. How did you cross the mountains?" She half screamed.

"We just... crossed them?" You awkwardly answered, wanting to leave as fast as possible. The woman's half-scream had attracted some attention. Great, just great.

"Well, if you could cross them... are we even safe anymore?" She muttered "If you had no problem climbing those mountains, why would the soldiers not able to?! Are we safe? Dios querido, are we?"

By now the woman was practically talking to herself, so you took the chance to walk away, having no idea what she was talking about.

You quickly bought the required ingredients for Julieta and decided to return to the house as fast as possible, since you were getting quite a few looks from the townspeople, as if you were some kind of alien.

"Y/N" Julieta smiled at you. She was standing in front of a full crowd of people patiently waiting, either with broken arms, or minor injuries, lining up, waiting to get healed. "You can leave the stuff here, thank you"

"No problem" you said, and watched her, witnessing magic. It was so—wow. Julieta handed a man with a broken wrist an arepa, and boom; not a second later his hand was perfectly fine again.

"That's so amazing" you breathed out. "Wow"

Julieta smiled at you, and you decided to look for your siblings (in which you did not succeed), only to find Mirabel, who was singing to some children about her family.

Not having anything better to do, you decided to listen. She was quite good at singing...

"My tía Pepa
Her mood affects the weather
When she's unhappy
Well, the temperature gets weird"

You saw a small hurricane appear next to her. Well, wasn't that dangerous?! You were going to approach her, but you felt somebody's hand on your shoulder: "I wouldn't do that if I were you, linda/o"

"Camilo" you greeted. You were not going to blush again. Definitely not. Even though you'd been complimented by the cutest boy you'd ever been honoured to see. Definitely not. "How come?"

"She'll just get angrier, and you might die" He stated casually "Give her a minute and she'll calm herself down again."

"If you say so"
And indeed, a minute later, nothing but sunshine one could see.

"Wow" you said. "Just...wow"

"This is everyday life here" Camilo grinned at your shocked face "You better get used to it, hermosa/hermoso"

"I might have some trouble with that" you muttered, distracted by that smile.

"I'll help you then" He lead you through the city as you talked, turning into different people every three seconds "Getting used to it?"

You laughed, as his face turned into the one of a baby "Kinda..." you shrugged "Thanks, but you sure you don't have anything else to do? I don't want you to waste your time if you have something to do."

"Spending time with somebody like you, is anything but a waste of time." He said, shifting into himself again "I am supposed to replace somebody actually. She's this woman who just recently had her son, and since she hasn't gotten any sleep or anything, I'm taking care of her son for her."

"Do you do stuff like that often?" You asked.

"I'm here to help" he simply answered "That's my purpose"

There was something in that sentence that made you feel pity for him. Though, you thought it'd be better if you got to know him better before maybe talking about that.

You smiled, as you reached a smaller house. On a bench sat a young woman, with her toddler. "Camilo! You've arrived! Thank you so much" she said, grabbing a pillow and almost instantly falling asleep.

"He's cute" you said, as Camilo shapeshifted into multiple people, causing the baby to laugh. "You've got something for babies, haven't you?"

"That's one way of putting it."

You weren't really doing anything; simply laughing and talking with him, as you took care of the toddler.

Claudia would've called it a waste of time. José would've fully supported you: "Not doing anything is productive" he would have said, defending himself.

Yet you didn't think so. You'd been there for so little time, and yet, it seemed as if you'd been there since always. As if it was your destiny or something.

And you didn't understand: you normally wouldn't have been able to bring out over two words I'm front of random people.

And yet here you were, knowing you could trust them, him.

Short chapter, wanted to update soon though :)
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