4. New life

It took them nearly two weeks to cross the mountains; one week for Bruno to find his way and help his niece clamber to the top, and four days to get them down again.

Bruno had never left the encanto, had never seen the outside world. Neither had his niece, but Mirabel was still young enough that there were still places in their little hometown that she was still discovering. Bruno, who had watched the town grow, found himself feeling horribly lost, small, and confused.

The world around them looked like it did back in the safety of his home, it felt like his home, but his mind knew that it wasn't. And that made him feel bad. If it weren't for the (passable) mountain behind him he would have turned the two of them around and taken them back to casita.

He had spent his whole life in that house, and he couldn't imagine living anywhere different.

Mirabel drew his attention away from his insecurity, and he watched in fascination as she pointed out all of the interesting things around them.

“I hear water!” she said, after she got him to walk for a few minutes more. He looked where she started to point at, and felt something... off.

As if drawn by a magnet he walked towards the water, his mind in some sort of stupor. Something about this place felt familiar. Like he had been there before. He felt his niece's hand slip out of his and watched as the little girl ran to where there was a little series of waterfalls slightly upstream.

Mirabel turned to him, then asked in her sweetest voice, “Can I go in the water Tío Bruno?” She gave him a pleading look, and Bruno knew that he wouldn't be able to say no.

He nodded once, and Mirabel gave a hearty laugh before slipping off her shoes and splashing into the river. The sun shone down through the trees, illuminating her curly locks and making the water look extra bright and inviting.

This was it. This was where he wanted to live; he decided, smiling a bit at his happy niece. Mirabel was laughing joyfully as she splashed in the water, the happiest she'd sounded since before the ceremony. The sound filled his heart with gladness, and he sat down in order to just watch her as the dirt was washed off of Mirabel.

He didn't know how long he sat there, his mind a tornado of thoughts and plans. He would have to scout out the area and find a good sturdy piece of land, then he'd have to dig a foundation...

“Tío Bruno! Come in with me!” He hadn't realized he had started to look at his dirt-covered feet until Mirabel's voice came to him. He snapped his head up and looked at his niece, who had her hand extended out to him. There was a huge grin on her face, and Bruno couldn't help but let a smile slide onto his own.

It wasn't until that night that he realized that that was the first time he was included in a familial activity just because his relative wanted him to be there, not because he had to keep up the family representation.

Slipping off his sandals he made his way into the water. He was met by his niece, who grabbed onto both of his hands and led him into the middle. She stopped moving a second later, then pointed at a fish swimming in the river a few feet away.

“It's that so cool?” she asked, moving to stand beside him and huddling her little body against his left side. Bruno nodded, his eyes staring at the fish, with it's scales shining in the sunlight.

They spent about an hour playing in the river. Bruno did his best to get all of the dirt off of Mirabel, but he was sure he had missed some. Mirabel didn't seem to mind though, and by the time they were done every inch of them was soaked.

He gave Mirabel a new dress, telling her that he would be around where they had been, and went off to scout out the land around the river while she got changed.

Mirabel rejoined him less than a minute later, still wearing her dripping wet dress.

He gave his niece a confused look. She squirmed under his gaze, then mumbled something incoherent. Why wasn't she getting dressed? What was she saying? What was Bruno supposed to do in this situation?

“Mariposa,” he said slowly, “What's wrong? Why aren't you dressed?”

Mirabel looked into his eyes, and he felt like he was about to melt from the inside out. She motioned towards her back with her free hand, then said, sounding a little ashamed, “I can't take my dress off...”

She couldn't take her dress off? Bruno had forgotten that struggle, only wearing clothes that he could slide on even if they had buttons. He felt very uncomfortable as he chewed on his lip. “Well...” he said, awkwardness quite evident in his voice. “I could do unfasten it... If you want.”

Mirabel nodded, then spun around. Bruno saw a few fasteners, and he felt very strange as he knelt down and undid them, exposing his niece's shoulders.

Mirabel proclaimed her thanks and dashed back to where she had come from. Bruno looked down at his hands, and then the dread started to build in him.

He had forgotten that he had absolutely no idea how to raise a child.

Another week passed, and they still didn't have a house. Bruno had used fallen branches and leaves to build them a makeshift tent, but they were without a more permanent living space.

Mirabel's attitude was amazing. She didn't really complain, even when Bruno had left her alone for almost an entire day to scout out the land and begin construction of their new home. She seemed to be happy to just be along for the ride, and Bruno couldn't ask her for more. He didn't know how far it was to the nearest town, much less the direction, and he couldn't risk following the path of his father.

He couldn't leave Mirabel alone. Not when it was his fault that she was isolated like this.

So he got to work. He was nowhere near 'good' levels of took making and house building, but he had been forced to help the men of the village build houses when he was younger. He would be able to build at least a small one, no matter how impossible it seemed at the moment.

The third night they spent near the river he formed a plan in his mind of all the things he needed to get done with the house, and suddenly a wave of anxiety flooded him. He couldn't dig a foundation, build strong walls, add a roof, and then raise a kid! He couldn't make a second casita for Mirabel! He was going to fail eventually. He was going to just mess things up, just like he always did.

He heard Mirabel take a deep breath in her sleep and focused his attention on her. Mirabel wouldn't mind a small house. She was so amazing. She wouldn't care that Bruno didn't really know what he was doing. She... she deserved so much better.

By the fifth night he had already made a framework for their house. He would forgo the deep foundation that they needed for a later date when they had a safer shelter than just a bunch of sticks. He used his (unknowingly expert) knowledge of sand to make the perfect mortar to cover the walls, which he made out of fallen trees. He hoped that he had chosen ones that weren't rotten.

Mirabel was enthusiastic about their new 'house'. She hadn't really seen a house getting built before, and she had a million questions to ask her uncle while he worked. Bruno was thankful for her questions to keep his mind from wandering into dark and unknown places, and answered all of them that he could.

He made a one-room house, a large rectangle with a small spot for a porch. He added two holes for windows on either side, one facing the mountains, and the other the river. Once he finished the walls Mirabel started to run in and out, her face beaming as she claimed that her uncle was 'The best builder in the whole world'.

Bruno didn't have the heart to tell her that he actually was terrible.

For the roof he used thatch. He layered in on pretty thickly, to the point where it nearly completely darkened the room. He wasn't expecting it to last any real length of time so he hadn't really placed any of it carefully. But it did its job for the time being.

That night they slept on the dirt floor of their new 'house'. And Bruno felt, for the first time since they'd left, like he might be getting the hang of this 'living on his own' thing.

He made a door.

He didn't know why he made a door. But he had. The door was just planks of wood, bound together crudely by his clay. But he had made a door. A door for Mirabel. She would love that.

And, of course, he had modeled a crude doorknob. It was unfair for her to be the only person in their family not to get one. When she was older, and they knew the area better, he would find a town and get her a real doorknob, a golden one like the rest of the family's.

The doorknob didn't actually work as he wasn't skilled enough to make a latch, but it wasn't meant to. This doorknob was designed to be a symbol. And a symbol it was. That afternoon, while Mirabel played close by he installed his needless addition to the house. He went over to her and joined her play, following her storyline almost immediately. Mirabel was happy, and that was all that really mattered to him.

That night, when he brought her in for bed he gave her a coy smile. Taking her hand in his he led her excitedly to the door, Mirabel's eyes wide.

“Tio Bruno! You made us a door!” she said, sounding just as excited as he felt. He nodded vigorously for a moment, then grinned widely at his niece. “That's not all Mariposa, here.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the doorknob, and immediately he knew that something was wrong.

Mirabel stared at the wooden doorknob resting in his hand, and tears began to fill her eyes. Bruno felt his smile fade as she stared at him.

“Tio Bruno...” she said in a small whisper, and then the tears came.

Bruno had never really had to console a small child. Typically they went off to find their mother, and he was left without a playmate. But now he was standing, helpless, in front of his niece whose only support was him.

He had no idea what he was doing.

He stood there awkwardly for a minute, just watching Mirabel, then he heard a voice in his head. He couldn't tell if it was his mother's or one of his sisters', but he just knew that she was upset and wanted him to hug Mirabel.

He dropped the doorknob on the ground and enveloped his niece in a hug.

Mirabel cried there for a solid ten minutes, before finally sniffing and looking up into her uncle's worried face. Bruno's face was one of utter confusion and desperation, and the look he was giving her must have been silly because she started to half cry, half laugh a second later.

“I'm so sorry Mirabel,” he said, glancing at the wooden knob lying on the ground. “I shouldn't have... I should have known...”

Mirabel looked deep into his eyes, and he felt utterly lost. This was the first time she had cried since the night they had left, and it had been over half a month. A small smile came to her lips and she said quietly, “You made me a doorknob.”

Bruno nodded, confusion seeping into his very soul. Was he not supposed to do that? Mirabel grinned, wiping away the tears from off of her face. She escaped his embrace and bent down to pick up the wooden knob.

“Come on Tio Bruno,” she said, holding her left hand out to him. “Can I put it in?”

Bruno nodded, getting to his feet and escorting his niece to the door. It was a really bad door, but he had made it, and Mirabel seemed to think it was worth a small celebration over.

She fit the knob in the small hole he had made for it, and if Bruno had been confused over his niece's actions, he was utterly baffled by the house.

The door began to glow a bright orange, and a yellow pulse echoed from Mirabel's first touch. As the pulse traveled over the house something magical began to happen. The one-room house expanded outward, growing at least three or four extra rooms, and the wooden walls turned into clay, like casita back home. The thatch turned into slates, curved perfectly like their last home.

Within moments Bruno and Mirabel were standing in front of a mini replica of casita. Then the door, which now was green like the door back at home, opened wide for them, and the small shutters squeaked a 'Hello!' to them.

Mirabel gave a squeal of delight as she stood there. “Casita!” she shouted, and ran inside, finding a hallway with rooms for the two of them on either side. “Tio Bruno it's casita!”

Bruno stood in front of the door with his mouth hanging open. Did the magic have a preference for single-parent Madrigals? What was it doing here? Would mamá know?

“Tio Bruno! I have my own room! And you have a new one! And it's not all covered in sand!” Mirabel was now far into their home, and Bruno started walking in a daze towards her voice.

Sure enough, on the right was a door that had Mirabel's name on it. There was no depiction of her on it, and he found himself happy at that. Then turning around he saw that he had a matching one. His room had a small child standing in the doorway, a large grin on her face as she pointed at a plain bed sitting against the wall of the room.

The first thing out of his mouth once he entered the house was, “At least we don't have any stairs. I hate those.”

Mirabel giggled, jumping on top of his bed. “Yeah!” she proclaimed, lying down on his mattress and staring up at the ceiling, “Stairs are the worst!”

Maybe they would be okay.