14. Campaign 2- Routine Truths

"Would you stop staring at that?" Isabella said with a dismissive sniff from within the living room.

"But look at it," Luisa said and Agustin heard her grunt followed by an odd clattering sound. "Nothing!"

"Yes yes, the ugly glass is fine."

"It isn't ugly!" Luisa protested and Agustin stopped just outside the doorway, listening in. He'd never heard Luisa be so… passionate about something. Oh, she was firm in her opinions but those were mostly boasts about her strength and if she could handle a situation that was assigned to her. 'Of course I can move that plow!' 'That fallen tree is nothing!' But something that didn't have anything to do with her strength? That was unusual for her.

More so that she was pushing back against Isabella. Normally Luisa, despite being twice her hermana's size, would defer to her if Isabella contradicted her. For her to stand up to her and to do so with her voice strong… that got Agustin's attention.

"Look at it! It doesn't go with any of our other dishes."

"So?" Luisa asked. "That doesn't mean it isn't beautiful. Everything does have to go together. I don't look like the rest of the family, does that make me ugly?"

"Oh don't go off on that!" Isabella complained and Agustin couldn't help but glower; Isa hadn't actually denied Luisa's question. "It's just an ugly glass. It's not that special-HEY!" There was a crash and Julieta came running out of their bedroom only for Agustin to hold out his hand, pressing a finger to his lips before nodding at the door. "You could have gotten glass everywhere!"

"No, I couldn't," Luisa told her. "See? It isn't broken. Unbreakable glass!" Luisa grunted. "I can squeeze it as hard as I want and it doesn't break. Throw it and it doesn't shatter. All these years… all those broken cups and bowls and plates… and I had an entire dish set sitting in my room that I could have used. Forks I don't snap the tines off when I take a bite, plates that don't break if I saw into my meat!"

"You mean have those at dinner?" Isabella complained. "It wouldn't go with the rest of the dishes."

"And?" Luisa pressed. "Do… do you not have any idea what it is like for me to constantly have to focus on what I am doing? Unless I am in my room I have to have my attention fully on everything around me. If I step a bit too hard I can break the tiles. If I bump into someone I could send them flying. If I grab a chair I could snap it into kindling. I… I can't remember the last time I actually had a meal and was able to relax. These… these could have given that to me."

Agustin, without seeing her, could tell Isa was rolling her eyes just from her tone. "Your control isn't the greatest, that's all. You just need practice. Not ugly dishes."

He looked at his wife. When had Isabella become so… cruel? They knew that she prided herself on presenting the best version of herself to the world and was obsessed with making sure she made a wonderful impression no matter what she did… but when had that shifted to her believing that her opinion was the only right one? And when had that turned to her viewing anything that didn't fit her ideal into being something horrid and wrong that she could mock… that she could mock as if it were her RIGHT to do so! Yes, she had been more dismissive over the last few years and especially now with the stress of her coming engagement… but that was why one leaned on family. Even Pepa had only snapped occasionally!

Agustin began to go over his daughter's words and actions over just the last month and did not like what he remembered. And looking at Julieta he could tell she wasn't happy either.

"This is just Mirabelle putting thoughts in your head isn't it?" Isabella said with a huff.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Luisa asked? Her words taking on a far more sharper tone.

"Just that I knew that this was going to happen," Isabella said in frustration. "We have so much we need to worry about and now she's putting all these crazy ideas in your head and it's just going to cause more stress than what we need. We need to focus on what's important."

Luisa was silent for several moments. "I thought family was the most important thing."

"Oh don't be like that! You know what I meant."

"No I really don't," Luisa said. "I just told you that this is important to me and all you care about is what people might think at supper. Which we normally have with the family. Do you honestly think that Antonio is going to pass out if I use a different glass?"

"Don't be so dramatic!" Isabella complained.

Luisa let out a harsh laugh. "I...I am being dramatic? You are the one more concerned about drinkware than your hermanas!"

"I am always concerned about you," Isabella snapped and once more Julieta moved to enter the room. And once more Agustin stopped her; he had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that they needed to hear this. "EVERYTHING I do is for the family, to ensure that our family maintains our reputation. You don't have to worry about making good impressions...you just go off lifting bridges and smelling of donkeys while I clean up after you! You'll have a good marriage because of me...not that I'll ever get a thank you!"

"Yes, because I am so grateful for you covering up for me and my 'faults',"Luisa said with far more sarcastic bite than she'd ever used before. "What a martyr you are, slapping lipstick on the pig that is your sister."

"You'll thank me when you don't end up a spinster! I dispell all the rumors about you, cover up for your mistakes-"

"I never asked you to do that!"

Isabella let out a strangled scream of frustration before taking a slow, calming breath. "There is no talking to you when you are like this. You're all riled up and not thinking clearly. Once Mirabel is gone and she isn't messing with your head-"

"Don't sound so excited for her to leave, Isabella. And how do you know Mirabel will leave? She might stay-"

Isabella laughed and for the first time Agustin did not hear it as a light, joyful noise but rather something sharp and cruel. It made him want to go in because even though it was her voice he couldn't image her actually sounding like that.

"She did all she could to avoid coming home. Too busy with that 'magical amazing world' of her's. With her stupid metal animals and wild adventures… no, never mind that her family is here, her duties are here, her responsibilities are here. She's more interested in running off and wasting time. Probably already thinking of an excuse to leave us already and we'll all be better off for it because we don't need her or her chaos. We've managed to be a family without her this long and we'll manage just fine with her-"

Agustin did nothing to stop Julieta from storming into the room with him fast on her heels. He was glad they had as it looked like Luisa was about ready to take a swing at her sister while Isabella was standing on her tiptoes, jabbing a finger into her sister's chest. The moment though that she saw them their eldest went as pale as a sheet before deflating, gracefully stepping back and sitting primly down in an arm chair.

"Luisa," Julieta said with a smile, "would you mind helping me go through some of I've gathered for Mirabel to wear until we get her for her dress fitting? You have spent the most time with her so you might know what she'll like."

"Of… of course, mama," Luisa said, gathering up her dishware and following after her as Julieta left the room, only sparing a glance at Agustin to let him know that he couldn't duck away from dealing with their eldest.

He'd done that enough already, it seemed.

Each of the gifted Madrigal's rooms were suited for their needs. Isabella's was a garden where she could experiment with her plants and flowers. Luisa's room was designed to allow her to use her full strength without risk of hurting anything. Camilo's was full of mirrors according to Felix along with all manner of lights so he could make sure his transformations were perfect while when Pepa was in her room the weather wasn't affected and thus she could feel whatever she wanted. For Julieta her room had taken at first the form of a great library filled with cook books both empty and full so she could discover new recipes while recording her own. But casita had sensed her changing needs as she had gotten older and her room had expanded to have other rooms within; no longer did she sleep around the shelves but in a room that looked like any other person's bedroom in the village. There was a living room and a bathroom and… well… it looked a lot like Agustin's childhood home. There had even been a nursery for Isabella until Alma had said that they already had a nursery. Even though having it in Julieta's room would have been better…

As such now Agustin and Isabella were able to sit in a comfy living room and know that they wouldn't be interrupted by the rest of the family.

He wasn't sure if Isabella was happy with that fact.

"That was… something," he finally said.

Isabella relaxed in the chair though Agustin knew her well enough to know that she was anything but 'relaxed', despite how she was trying to make it seem. "I'm sorry I raised my voice."

"Honestly that's the least of my concerns," Agustin informed her, leaning forward and staring at her. He was an easy going guy, he truly was, but he was getting a bit annoyed with how she was acting and what she thought the problem was. "What you said about your sisters-"

"Was true," Isabella said with a flippant tone. "Mirabel doesn't care about this family. She'll be gone the first moment she can leave. Instead of staying here and helping she is going to leave, not caring how everything she is doing is just making us all look worse in the eyes of villagers."

"Mirabel just arrived. She hasn't had a chance to let everyone get to know her-"

"She showed up in a bolt of lightning and she has metal animals. People are already gossiping about how she looks, how she acts… I am trying to mitigate it all but only for you and mama's sake, not her's. She doesn't care what people think about her and how she's tearing down all our hard work."

"By being here?"

"By not understanding that her actions have consequences," Isabella said firmly. He stared at her and she suddenly laughed. "You… you honestly have no idea what everyone really thinks about us, do you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Ooooooh," she said with a lazy wave of her hand, "things like how abuela bought you and Tio Felix to be little more than breeding bulls to get her perfect grandchildren with perfect powers? Using the candle to predict how blending you and mama together would get just the powers she wanted? And that clearly Mirabel is your bastard daughter and that's why she's powerless? Prefer more scandalist rumors? There is one that Dolores listens to people when they are having sex because she gets off on it? That Camilo turns into different men when they are out drinking and then goes to their homes and-"

"They say all that?" Agustin said cutting her off, horrified.

"And more."

"Isabella… I know that it might seem unusual, how your mama and I-"

She laughed again. "I know it's all lies, papa! I'm not an idiot. But that doesn't mean that the villagers don't whisper them all the same." She let out a sigh, her shoulders slumping. "Dolores and I have spent the last 8 years stopping every nasty story in its tracks-"

"Dolores?"

"She hears everything. 8 years ago she heard a rumor about Tia Pepa and asked me to help her stop it because she knew Senora Sanchez's daughter looked up to me and if I talked with her that would stop the rumors. I did and asked her to let me know about other rumors…" Isabella shook her head. "I have been working since I was 14 to protect this family while Mirabel was out there wasting her time on frivolous things and now she is making more work for me. So pardon me, papa, if I'm not giddy about her being here." She rose to her feet. "or that I am looking forward to things calming down when she abandons us again."

"We aren't done, Isabella."

"No… we are. If there is a problem abuela will let me know. Otherwise I need to get ready for dinner and think over how I am going to fix whatever messes Mirabel made today and now will help Luisa cause tomorrow."

Agustin could only watch his daughter leave before slumping in his chair, wondering how things had gotten this bad.