𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑜 𝑥 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟 | 𝐥𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐞 𝐞𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞

Ojo de Tigre - Prologue

June 4th, 1954 | Ojo de Tigre, outside Ciudad Panama

Eleanora Zayas never wished the worst for her granddaughter. She wanted her to have a happy, normal life doing happy, normal things; she taught her to sew and crochet and knit, how to braid and style hair, how to dance, how to bless a home, how to sing for the spirits, and most importantly how to cook; but it was the spirit that followed her long after the drum was laid to rest and her voice was soothed by cool water that brought a fear to Eleanora's aging heart. They were a large family all living together in a single dwelling, all children happy, all content, everyone except for Y/N. Y/N Zayas was cursed from the age of five and could never outrun it. Even as she turned fifteen and reached womanhood, two thirds of her life had been shared with this curse.

Y/N was followed by both fire and flood wherever she went. She herself could be considered some sort of natural disaster. She could never learn to steady her hand when holding a match, the way she could when embroidering delicate flowers. She could hold fire in her hands until her emotions took control, the fear sank down through her curls and into her brain and she would begin to panic. The once serene mountain stream that flowed through her village would reach out small tendrils and wave at her, and she could grab these like ropes, but it was only a small amount of time before her Papi would return from town to a few inches of water covering the floor of their cottage and all Y/N could do to dry it out was push it out in small waves.

It was after these instances that it was decided that she was cursed, and her feeble shoulders were not strong enough to handle this curse. So, she was not to be trusted unless under the supervision of her Abuela or aunties or uncles or parents or older brother. Of course it was the elders who made these decisions. She was treated as a pest, not trusted to do much except daily chores, but the Spirits forbid that involve bathing any of the younger siblings, or lighting the stove. Anything that may trigger her curse had to be closely guarded. When she was thirteen there was even a ban on giving her Agua de Tamarindo for fear what might happen, that mixing water and sugar, something so excitable would cause an accident, but her older brother proved that to be the adults imaginations running wild. Though, who's wouldn't given the circumstances?

All Y/N cared to do was dance and run; she could be considered a bit rebellious, but the restrictions ate away at her soul. She was born to walk barefoot through the forest their village bordered, she was born to eat mangos and let the juice dribble down and dirty her rich brown arms and dress, she was meant to live as free as she'd been brought up. In her eyes, the concern for her well-being had long since crossed over into infringing on her entire adolescence.

One day, while in town in their small village outside of Ciudad Panama, Eleanora heard about a magical family down south, each with their own gift; that they would have been together before their countries split off in the civil war. Eleanora immediately thought of her own troubled grandchild and knew that she needed to take her somewhere where there were others like her, so she may be able to control this curse. Maybe this magical family knew something they didn't, like where these curses came from, or they could provide her some training; or even better, give Eleanora and the other elders a break.

It was with that information, the slight glimmer of hope it gave, and the hand wave of permission from Y/N's mama that only a few days later, Eleanora had packed bags and set off in a wagon with her granddaughter to travel south and discover how to cure or to some extent, control the fires and floods that followed her. Who knows, maybe she and all the troubles she caused could be left there forever!