candles to guide you home (Encanto AU)

seven

Mirabel helps clear up the table after breakfast. It gives her a little sense of familiarity and she feels a little more useful.

She stands next to her sister as they wash dishes. Sofia sits on the counter and dries them with a towel.

The two don't say much at first. They simply wash the plates and cups in silence. Mirabel grapples for words to say and Isabela wonders what could be said that would comforting to her sister. With all things considered, they were lucky they still felt gratitude towards each other. It took years to ever get close to that point.

"Your children are great," Mirabel finally speaks. She washes a cup and for a moment she makes eye contact with her oldest sister.

"At surface level they always are," Isabela says, "I love them. They're my whole world, but they're still a handful. Wouldn't change it for the world though. You get it, don't you?"

Mirabel looks to her daughter. They look at each other and laugh a little. Mirabel shakes her head as she digs for a fork in the sink.

"I know nobody's a perfect person, but I think she's the closest thing to it," she tells her sister.

"Well, you are her mother," Isabela comments.

Mirabel blushes. She looks at her soapy hands and searches for something else say. Something to move the conversation about her.

"David is good?" Mirabel asks.

"The best. I don't know what I would do without him honestly. He's great with the kids. The twins are totally obsessed with him. I love seeing it. I can only hope the baby chooses me as his favorite," Isabela says jokingly.

She hands Sofia a dish to dry. And they continue washing in silence. Only the sound of Sofia's towel squeaking and the water in the sink bounces in the kitchen.

Isabela hands over another cup, but she places her hands on the rim of the sink. She looks towards her sister. She blinks, thinking deeply. She turns the faucet off and crosses her arms, leaning her back against the counter.

Mirabel looks at her sister. She dries her hands off and lifts Sofia off the counter.

"Why don't you go find Abuela? Have her take you to your cousins, yeah? Go have some fun, amor," Mirabel tells her daughter.

Sofia nods, giving her mom a sweet smile before walking off.

Mirabel leans forward on the counter. She taps her fingers rhythmically on the tile. Her eyes wander the walls. She knows Isabela wants to talk, but she isn't quite sure how to. Their connection was broken off years ago and it was only beginning to heal before she left. There was still so much left unsaid.

"Mira," Isabela finally says, "I hate to push you. I don't want to make you uncomfortable, but these last ten years...I've stayed up wondering. Where did you go? I mean you left Encanto. And we asked, as far as we could. No one, not a single person pointed you out. Where..I mean how did you go so far, live so long on your own?"

Mirabel struggles to find the right answer. Truth is, is she spent a long time finding the right place to be. How to be. There wasn't one way she discovered how to make it without her family. It was all trial and error, mistake after mistake until she learned how to be sufficient. How to be okay with loneliness but in a new way.

She wraps her arms around herself and sinks to the floor. She fiddles with the hem of her skirt, resting her head on her knees. Isabela joins her. She gives Mirabel a sisterly look, urging to hear more.

"I don't know exactly," Mirabel says, "after Casita..I didn't know what to do I just couldn't go back. So I just walked. Walked until my feet hurt. And when they didn't hurt as much I kept walking. I got as far as I could without feeling terrified, and I stoped in a town a really long whiles away. I put myself there and decided I'd stay until I felt ready."