They traveled for a good week since they cared for a group of children's needs along the way. From what she learned from speaking to the women, there were many more children ranging from infants to late teens when their town was first taken over. But the older teens decided to try to run with some of the older children a couple of days into their imprisonment against the adults' wishes. From the screams, they knew it didn't end well. The group of nearly 30 children was now down to their group of twelve. The oldest children in their group now being two boys aged ten. Serafina felt horrible at the thought. Perhaps if she'd been faster? She shook her head at the thought. It wasn't her fault. It was because of Benny. She decided to burn more of his treasures later to vent her anger.
She hadn't been gone long but there was a lot that had changed she noticed when returning to her town. Serafina was impressed by the sight of a large gazebo built more toward the town center with some seats inside. She noticed it was built just to the right of the entrance to the grove of trees that led to her home. There was also now a beautiful white fence that blocked her grove. It was all new. She knew they had built the gazebo to give her a shaded area to sit in during the day. She supposed they noticed how she avoided the sunlight in their presence and wanted to give her a spot just for herself. She loved it. The orphanage she asked to be built wasn't too far away from the gazebo either. She never realized how talented some of the townsfolk were. Her gazebo was beautiful; they had even incorporated her designs from the gold coins into it, along with different flowers. She noticed the designs in other places as well around town and especially on the orphanage. It seemed the townsfolk prioritized completing the orphanage and gazebo for the town while she was away.
She told the women to meet at the gazebo more towards the orphanage. As soon as the carts entered the town, many children ran screaming and cheering from playing nearby. The children in the carts were excited and wanted to get down immediately but were told to wait. The women were surprised. It looked like a normal town. But it was very beautiful and busy. Of course, it wasn't as big as their old home but the natural beauty of the grove, farmland and the intricate designs on the buildings were impressive. They didn't know what the flame, wings, or heart stood for, but it was pretty. They acknowledged that. When they pulled up to the gazebo, they weren't surprised to see the monster waiting for them. But they were shocked to see the children running to meet her and hug her. They heard shouts of "la Doña is back" from many of the people who also showed up with smiles.
La Doña? They heard many villagers call her that. She had a small smile and thanked them while taking a seat in the gazebo. They reported to her as though she were in charge of the town. They announced the completion of the orphanage. They also told her that several older widowed women and spinsters had agreed to run it together, but the townsfolk all agreed to do their best to provide for them. But they would also have the children help with minor jobs in the shops doing non-physical work. Once they were older, they would allow them to help in the fields or do more labor-intensive work in shops, depending on their skills.
Serafina was okay with how they worked things out. She honestly didn't care. As long as the children had food and shelter and were safe from any harm, she was fine with it. She complimented the gazebo's designs. Unable to conceal the pleasure she got from seeing her design built into it marking it as her own. The townspeople pushed forward a young man. They gave him credit for the work. When she got a better look, she recognized him as the young would-be thief she had set straight. He was nervous with her eyes on him. He shuffled a bit and shrank himself. The people complimented his work and kept pushing him forward.
"You did those designs?" she asked him.
"Y-yes ma'am," he stuttered.
An older man came forward, "I'm a master carpenter; I noticed this young man whittling some little toys for the children, so I brought him to my shop. He's very talented. I decided to make him my apprentice. But it won't be long before he's better than me. He's like the son I never had, and it feels good having a young talent like this to help out." He smiled while clapping his hand on the young man's shoulder.
The young man felt a bit braver with the older man's support, "thank you Doña, for giving me a second chance. I promise I'll do better. I'll work hard for the town to show how thankful I am. It's nice earning what I get and it's nice being good at something. Thank you!"
She was still surprised. "You're the one who made these with the designs from the coins?" she asked again while running her hand along the post, tracing over the design and flowers.
The young man nodded yes.
Then the old man patted him again, "he didn't just make them. It was all his idea. The gazebo, the details on the orphanage, even adding little details to the rest of the town to update everything. He thought you'd like it."
The young man blushed, "I- I uh. Well, I mean. Everyone likes pretty things, right?" He asked, looking around at all the people around him as if looking for someone to agree. Many did. He sighed in relief and decided to try to change the subject, "you managed to rescue the other kids you said?"
She confirmed that they were the ones she had managed to rescue. She announced the women's professions but told the townspeople to let the women relax before giving them the chance to decide if they wanted to stay or leave. She said she would ask them if they would like to stay or not before she left. The townsfolk agreed but were stunned to hear that she would leave again. Asking if she was off to rescue more children. They believed more and more in Juana's story that they thought she was off to search for more children in need as a type of guardian spirit. She denied it, stating that she would just be traveling for a while but would come back regularly when able to make sure the town was doing well. She also informed them that she would provide more gold for them to expand the town before she left. She gave them ideas about how to improve and expand the town and decided to make some rules. Considering how big the town was becoming, she thought it was time. She pretty much just had one.
"No churches or preachers," she stated becoming serious. Eyes glowing as she was unable to conceal her hatred. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself down.
The more devout wanted to question her but either stopped themselves or were stopped by their friends and neighbors. They didn't want to offend their Doña. Some suspected she was against churches because she didn't want to be exorcised. One still couldn't help himself and asked if still alright to believe in God in general, more than willing to give it all up if asked. She confirmed it was alright if they wanted. That she didn't care what they believed in or practiced. She admitted to believing in God herself. But explained she did not believe in church or men claiming to be the mouth of God. Serafina then excused herself to go back home and rest. Although she didn't need it, she still thought the new women would feel better if she were to leave.
After she left the townspeople introduced themselves to the women and children. Allowing the children to play while they gave the women a tour. They explained how everyone there was either saved directly or indirectly by la Doña. How she had recently saved their own children from the men who had kidnapped them. The adulation they spoke of her with was a bit concerning. The teacher decided to just ask if they worshiped her. If they did worship her, they may need to leave because they weren't comfortable with that. The townspeople told the women that the town only existed because of la Doña and they were grateful but not to the point of worship. They just respected her. They also conceded there was fear as well but still believed la Doña was benevolent to those who were kind to women and children. The part about women having been added by some of the spinsters to make sure the men behaved themselves. It was working.
Several days went by and Serafina kept to herself for most of it. The new children enjoyed their time in the town playing with the other children. They were already settled in at the orphanage. The women were pleasantly surprised by all the town had to offer. They discovered there was no school or bakery. They townspeople taught the children what they knew and traded their fruits, vegetables, and handmade goods for other necessities from other towns. The sisters-in-law decided to open their own bakery together as a family with their children. They had done most of the baking before anyways. The teacher and her assistant figured they would stay as well. Open up a school and properly educate the children in a structured environment. The townspeople had gone to Serafina for her blessing and once they had it immediately began building a school, bakery, and a large home since the women were afraid to be on their own. After everything they went through together, they all considered each other sisters and preferred to stay together.
Serafina had spent most of her days behind closed doors melting down the gold Benny had gifted her and making new coins from them. She didn't want to go to her secret stash to get her ready-made ones and she never kept much on her or in her home in the first place. When she wasn't home, she was in her gazebo listening to the children's stories from when she was away and playing games with them. She was happy the women decided to stay. They told her while she was with the children one morning. Serafina thought they would benefit the town. She also hoped the town would benefit them, but only time would tell. She mediated small disputes among the townspeople and gave input on some design features they had on updating the aesthetics of the whole town. She definitely wanted them to add more flower designs and gardens. She couldn't help it. The young man wasn't wrong; everyone likes pretty things.
It had been a bit more than three weeks when she decided she was going to head out. She distributed all the coins she had to those she trusted to keep the town running properly and said her goodbyes to the children. The people waved to her as she disappeared before their eyes but then got back to work. They knew what la Doña wanted and would do their best to deliver.
Serafina sped her way to Mexico City; she'd get there fairly quickly but paused when she saw smoke. She wasn't close to the city, so it couldn't have been from the invasion. But there was a lot of it and not too far from the city either, just several miles out and on the way. She hesitated but still went towards the smoke. She wasn't afraid of a little smoke after all nor the flames that caused it. When she arrived, she noticed several pyres ablaze and many people in cloaks of red feeding more items into it. She stared at them quizzically but didn't say anything. Just watched.
"Is this the one?" a young voice called out from further back where a dilapidated building sat alone.
"The one the loud-mouthed fool stated would avenge him? I hope so. I've grown bored of waiting." another young voice added.
"I told you; she won't avenge him. She didn't care for him enough to avenge him. She barely tolerated us." A voice she recognized answered.
She decided to see what was going on and walked forward. All the people in cloaks feeding the fires ignored her as she walked to the voices. When she made it to the building she saw Danny on his knees, his clothes torn and appearing very disheveled. Not the professional, serious, angry, put-together young man she had first seen. Not even the calm facade he tried to portray after trying to imitate her. No, he just seemed tired. Considering they don't sleep; this was quite a feat. What was more interesting for her though was the fact that his arm was separated from his body at the moment, but it didn't seem to bother him so much.
She looked to where Danny's arm was- currently in the hand of an incredibly large, muscular man who had a big cocky grin on his face. He actually waved it at her. Meanwhile, there were two beautiful but very bored-looking children sitting on a broken wall behind them. With a smaller man than the first leaning against the wall next to them.
"Here, put this back on yourself. It stopped being fun when you stopped getting mad. Now fighting that big guy you turn into was fun, but you like this? Not so much." The large man said dropping the arm at Danny's feet, "but her, I would love to get my hands on her. She doesn't seem scary at all. I bet we can have a lot of fun together." He licked his lips while stepping forward towards Serafina.
"Cheat Miss Hart," Danny said, looking up into her eyes with a frown.
"So, this is the one we've been waiting for." The young girl stated dropping down from the wall, "let's see what she can do." She nodded to the large man.
"Are you the vultures?" Serafina asked with a raised brow looking up at the group behind Danny. Causing a small smile to erupt onto his face and scowls to form on theirs. It seems she may have said something wrong.