13. Campaign 2- Routine Annoyances

The warm winds whipped around Pepa as she sat in the grass, unable to contain her laughter. It actually hurt, she was laughing so hard, but she also loved it and didn't want it to end.

The source of her laughter was Bruno but despite what some might have assumed, considering how she had once spoken of him, her laughter wasn't mocking. Rather it was shared with her little brother ("by 5 minutes! At most! Come on Pepa!") who was grinning as he leaned against a tree, waving his hands about as he told his tale.

"You actually snuck in dressed as Cumbia dancers?"

"Well, if you were a warlord who had delusions of grandeur would you expect a party of adventurers seeking to overthrow you to come to your gate dressed in bright yellow and dress ruffles and wanting a job dancing at one of your parties?"

"That… is a good point," Pepa said, still snickering. "Really stupid but still."

"Hey, I wasn't the one that came up with the idea!" he complained. "Anton is the one that suggested it and no one else had a good idea on how to sneak in." He paused. "And I looked lovely in that dress."

Pepa gaped at her brother before a snort escaped her. "You… you wore…"

"Apparently the warlord's mother had a problem with facial hair. He only trusted women who had some scruff and Ulika refused to let any of us cast a beard growth spell on her so…" he gave an innocent shrug.

She stared at her hermano before falling onto the ground, kicking her legs in the air as she laughed. She felt like she was 6 years old again and the two of them were rolling down hills, the grass tickled their skin, enjoying a rare moment of bliss after sneaking out of the house. Those had been innocent times… good times. Her fear over her gift hadn't pressed her down yet nor had she been truly frightened by it either.

"Did you defeat the warlord?" Pepa asked.

"Oh yes, though I refuse to let Saharah to sing of it."

"Saharah is…?" Pepa was trying to learn all about the 'party' that Bruno and Mirabel had been a part of, wanting to know more about the people who had cared for her hermano when she couldn't.

"Brass Dragonborn bard of the College of Creation."

"…I know those are words but I'm not for sure what they mean strung together."

Bruno chuckled. "Dragonborn… well, you won't believe me if I try and describe it just know that she's quiet and very nice and she had a really hard time before she joined our group. She's getting better but… she lost people she cared for and we're all trying to help her heal. As for the rest… well, you know what a bard is right?"

"A singer?"

"Most times but they don't NEED to be. They are storytellers, mostly, but music is their main medium for working their music."

"That is weird," Pepa said, trying to wrap her mind around using music to cast spells.

"Clear skies, clear skies," Bruno said.

"Ha ha ha," Pepa grumbled, conceding the point. "College of Creation?"

"You know Mirabel's 'babies'?"

"Mmmmhmmm."

"Saharan can do something similar but… not. Don't tell either of them I compared their powers; they get annoyed when people do that."

"On a scale of you taking the last cookie to you breaking the dining room table when we were 8?"

"You borrowing mama's shawl to try and catch hail to make snowballs to attack the village kids with them."

Pepa paled at that. "My lips are sealed."

"Thank you. Anyway, when Saharan plays her music she is able to animate objects around her. Sometimes it is just what happens to be around… a lot of dark mages keep suits of armor just lying around… but she also has little statutes that her can use her music to turn into full size creatures to help fight."

She couldn't help but shake her head. "That is… amazing." Sitting up she stared at her brother carefully. "Now, Mirabel explained what she can do-"

"Only a part of it," Bruno explained. "There is so much more she's been trained to do but honestly she doesn't remember that everyone here has had a rather sheltered life."

"Sheltered?" Pepa said, feeling some annoyance flood her veins.

Bruno held up his hand. "Come on, you have to admit that mama likes to keep everyone safe and bundled up. You still live in her home, right?"

"I… suppose that is right," Pepa admitted. She had briefly considered getting a home for just Felix and herself but mama had explained several times that wasn't a good idea. A new home wouldn't have her enchanted room that would contain her weather. What if moving meant that her children didn't get gifts? Or she began to lose her gift (something that Bruno had proven to be false when he'd easily produced a tablet just an hour ago showing right where the gophers would pop up)? "Mirabel can do other things?" she asked, not wanting to think about her living situation anymore, lest she get upset.

"Oh yes! She knows how to play the flute and is wonderful at sewing dresses and clothes and loves to dance…" He smiled, leaning back against the tree.

"You're really proud of her."

"I am," Bruno said. "I don't understand the Miracle. Some days I think it's more curse than blessing. But I do know that it was cruel to not give her a gift and dissolve her door in front of everyone and if castia had a face I would be screaming in it right now. Then maybe try and put her in a body with a neck that I can strangle." He mimed doing just that. "But Mirabel was dealt the worst roll of the die and still managed to make something out of herself. She is going to be the greatest Artificer the world has ever seen, I just know it. Create a new subclass of them with her armor. A hundred years from now there will be smiths who pray before statues of her, asking for her guidance."

Pepa smiled at that. She liked hearing that Mirabel had found her place in the world. She hadn't really thought about what it had been like for the poor girl when she hadn't gotten her gift other than the obvious but hearing that she'd managed to have a rich full life during her decade away… a weight Pepa hadn't realized she was carrying on her shoulders faded away into nothing.

"Well, that's good but that's not what I wanted to talk about." She scooted over to him so they were sitting shoulder to shoulder. "Mirabel explained what she can do but you haven't said anything at all."

"Oh… was kind of hoping you forgot about that."

"Why?"

"Well…" Bruno sighed. "I know how it is here."

"What does that mean?" Pepa demanded, trying to keep calm.

"In the valley we are our gifts and that is that. I told you all that I went to master my gift and mama will only care about that. Anything else I learned, anything else I can do, that is just a distraction from the gift." He held up his hand and flexed his arm, veins popping out and muscles straining against his skin. Pepa just stared, still shocked that her string bean baby brother was now so muscular. It made him truly look like her little brother because he appeared 20 years younger than her! "But honestly I am so much more than that now."

"Tell me about it," Pepa asked.

"Well-"

"What are you doing?!"

Pepa turned to see a group of men hurrying over to them, their faces twisted in glowers of annoyance. At once she rose to her feet and brushed off her dress, feeling embarrassed to have been caught lounging on the grass. The men were dressed in rough clothing, thick gloves on their hands… and their bare feet were stained dark reddish purples that told her at once they were the wine makers for the valley.

"Hello, sirs," she said, trying to remember the wine markers' names.

"Pepa!" the lead man said, wagging a finger at her. "Grapes love sun but we do not! We are going to end up with salty wine from all our sweat thanks to your warm winds!"

She felt a flare of annoyance at that but tapped it down. "I'm sorry, I-"

"It looks like you could sweat a bit more, Diego," Bruno said, having never gotten up. In fact as Pepa turned to look at him she was startled to see that he'd pulled his hood up so that his face was hidden in shadows as he leaned on his arms. "Maybe get rid of that gut of yours."

"…you," Diego said, glaring at Bruno. "You finally showed back up, did you? I suppose it was too much to hope that you'd disappear and never trouble us again with your accursed ways, isn't it?"

Bruno shrugged. "There are a lot of people shocked I am still around… though the ones that truly annoyed me aren't that shocked as it's hard to be surprised when you're in Hell." With that he slowly got to his feet, brushing off his pants. "I see you didn't listen to my warning."

"Warning?" Diego clamored. "You mean the curse you placed on me?"

"Yes, because seers are known for cursing people. That is why the word 'curse' is the main part of their name rather than 'see'." He tilted his head. "Did you even TRY to eat healthy or was it just easier to blame me as you stuffed your face with sweet fruits and sugared bread."

Diego glowered at him. "Bad Luck Bruno, always causing trouble!"

Pepa grit her teeth, a cloud forming over her head. She had THOUGHT that horrible nickname had been banished when she and Bruno were just children but it seemed it had managed to stick around. She took a step forward to give Diego a piece of her mind only for Bruno to begin to laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"You," Bruno said. "I had forgotten how all of you can't see the forest for the trees."

"And what does that mean?" another wine maker asked.

"I am Bad Luck Bruno. I curse people. Bring about horrible fates. That is correct?" The mob of men nodded. "And you decided the best thing to do…" Bruno rolled his shoulders and Pepa blinked as he seemed to grow taller, "was go up to Bad Luck Bruno…" like the air on a hot day a rippling distortion appeared around her hermano, "insult his beloved hermana…" he rose higher and another set of arms appeared, both sets glowing as veins of light ran along his skin, "demand that she feel bad for being happy…" he towered over them, eyes glowing green, "because you were sweaty?"

The mob went from indignant to cowering at the sight of Bruno. Pepa didn't blame them; after all, it had begun to snow around her as she trembled.

"Before I left I just made you a bit pudgy, hmmm? Now I have ten years of practice. I wonder…" He leaned in, "what else can I do?"

"You… you wouldn't dare!" Diego blustered. "Your mother-"

"By all means… tell her how you insulted the name Madrigal. Insulted our honor." He smirked and Pepa felt like Lucifer himself had danced on her grave and she wasn't even the target. "Say you're sorry."

"I'm… I'm sorry," Diego stammered out, completely losing the battle of nerves.

"Not to me."

"Pepa… Pepa I'm sorry-"

"Accepted!" she exclaimed hurriedly.

With that two things happened. Diego and the other wine makers ran off, tail between their legs… and Bruno was himself again. She blinked and in the span of that split second he returned to her lovable hermano again.

"I have been dreaming of doing that for ten years," he said, walking over to her, heedless of the snow. "Pepa? Pepa?" He reached for her and she forced herself not to flinch. She knew it would break his heart if she flinched. Because no matter what he would never hurt her. "Sorry… maybe I should have explained my powers to you so that didn't shock you. Though… a bit your fault for teasing me about my love life and never giving me a chance!" He smiled that dopey little grin and at once the snow was gone.

"After all the times they bullied you I suppose-"

"I don't care about that. 'Bad Luck Bruno'? That is so… childish. I am 50 years old, Pepa and most of them are close to that as well. It's just… sad, more than anything."

"Then why did you do it?"

He looked at her, a bit befuddled. "Because they attacked you."

She blinked before letting out a weak laugh. "Oh, that was… I wasn't paying attention to the weather and they were letting me know-"

"That you aren't allowed to smile unless they say its okay? Laugh? Feel happiness?" He shook his head in disgust and Pepa was startled by the venom in his voice. "You aren't a machine that can be commanded to feel something! For goodness sake, Pepa, the Warforged were treated better! You are my hermana, a living breathing creature with emotions! I have..." He took a calming breath. "I have hated how everyone treated you for years and it felt wonderful to finally get them off your back."

Pepa stared at him. At once she felt such pride that her hermano was able to defend himself.

And sorrow wondering if he could do that… what need did he have for her?