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Empanada woke up slowly, blinking up at the rocky ceiling of her bedroom. Aside from her owls, her pets slept soundly, filling the small space with the sound of their cute snores.
It was another day on this mortal coil. Another day in armor that was too tight and too heavy, with weapons whose handles were too big for her little hands.
She fumbled around for her communicator and peered at the too-bright screen. Eomma Tina’s status was active. She was worth leaving bed for, surely. Empanada shoved away her blankets and tied her pink and black hair up into a careless ponytail. As for clothes. . .
The sun wasn’t even up yet; as cold as it was down here, it was probably just as cold outside her Mamãe's house. She grabbed some thick leggings and a floor length brown skirt. She pulled on a fake button up (its buttons were magnets!) and then a peachy cardigan over it. Good enough.
🥞🍳🥟
Eomma Tina muttered to herself where she stood on the end of her pier. From the sound of it, she was practicing her Korean. Empanada hesitated where the soft dirt met wooden planks, watching as Eomma Tina cast a line out into the water. She watched as Eomma sat down and curled over the fishing rod, still murmuring the words to herself.
Empanada took a couple quiet steps onto the pier. Eomma straightened up at the sound and turned. “Who goes there?!”
“Just me,” Empanada signed, watching a smile bloom on Eomma Tina’s face.
“Empy!” She held out an arm invitingly. Empanada ran to snuggle into her side. Eomma Tina curled around her, burying her face in Empanada’s hair. “You’re up early. I mean, so am I. Oh, look at your hair. Did you brush it? Do you want mommy to brush it?”
Empanada nodded eagerly and reached for the fishing rod. Eomma handed it over and fumbled through the heavy backpack resting next to her. She moved so she was kneeling behind Empanada, her knees on either side of her. She braced herself as Eomma set about her task.
It wasn’t that Eomma was rough with her hair. She was very gentle actually. It was just so early in the morning and the air was cold and Empanada didn’t want to be as awake as she was.
“Do you want another ponytail? What about a French braid? Or, ooh, have you seen those waterfall braids? Wait, maybe that’s a bad idea. You’re an active girl! A sporty child!” Eomma said as she brushed. Empanada frowned to herself, thinking it over as her eomma continued talking. “You look more and more like us every day. Last week I think you had Niki’s nose, but today you look more like me. Especially in the eyes and cheeks. You’ve got my round face! You’re so cute, Empy.”
Empanada smiled over her shoulder. She took out her notebook with one hand and wrote, can I have twin braids?
“Of course! Anything for you, my sleepy little pancake baby,” Eomma sang. She set about making Empanada pretty, humming all the while. Empanada let her eyes fall shut. Eomma yawned. “It’s so early. . . I already did some of my tasks for the day. Your mom is going to be the richest around. We’re going to be even richer than Bad, just you wait!”
Empanada rolled her eyes, fond, but gave Eomma Tina a thumbs up with her free hand. She was happy just to sit here in the crisp early morning silence.
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When Mami Mouse saw Empanada she screamed. Empanada threw herself at her mami and clung tight. Mami always smelled like candy and fire, a touch like the nether. She tilted Empanada’s chin up and kissed her all over her face, proclaiming that Empanada was so cute and perfect and wonderful and that Mami loved her long skirt and soft cardigan and little dark brown mary janes.
“Come on, Empanadita,” Mami Mouse said when she had calmed down, “let’s go on an adventure!”
lets go :-D, Empanada wrote and waved her notebook at Mami Mouse.
“Let’s go!” Mami Mouse crowed. She led Empanada out into the woods. “Have you eaten yet? Did Tina feed you?”
A little, Empanada carefully wrote as they walked, keeping a wary eye out for monsters, she gave me some kimbap.
“Only a little? You can’t adventure on an empty stomach,” Mami Mouse said. She slung her backpack off her shoulders and put it over her front. She dug around inside. “I’ve been up for a little while so I made you a treat. These are mantecaditos! They’re thumbprint cookies. They’ve got guava in them – do you know how long it took to find any guava trees here? I’m shocked I found any at all. Here, try some.”
She pulled out a tupperware full of round shortbread cookies. In the center of each, red guava jelly filled a dip the size of Mami’s thumb. Some of the cookies even had sprinkles on them! Mami Mouse removed the lid and offered the tupperware to Empanada. She awkwardly held her frying pan and notebook in one arm, pen gripped between two fingers, and took a cookie. She hummed in delight as she bit into it, bouncing ahead of her mami.
“You like it, huh?”
“I love it,” Empanada signed with a big grin. She moved her own backpack to the front, so she could stash the notebook and pen. That would leave one hand for her pan, one for eating, and an infinite amount of stops if she needed to write something down.
“Just don’t tell Bagi, okay?” Mami Mouse said. “I know she really wants you to eat well so you can be healthy. This will be our little secret, okay?”
Empanada mimed zipping her lips. Mami’s expression melted, the way it always did when Empanada did something Mami Mouse thought was unbearably cute.
Empanada stuffed the rest of the cookie she was eating into her mouth and signed, “Next time, we should bake them together. And we can ask Mama Niki to help!”
“Yes! We should totally ask Niki to help!” Mami Mouse gasped. “We can make a whole day of it. Maybe we can get your other moms to join in! It’ll be a little difficult since our schedules are so different, but I’ll ask around. If we could make dinner tonight happen, then we can definitely have a day just to bake together! Just you wait, Empanadita, it’s going to be perfect.”
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Mama Niki straightened up, stretching. She adjusted her shirt, tucking it back into her pants. Her eyes landed on Empanada and she smiled.
“I think that’s enough for today,” she said in German, “we’ve made good progress. Do you want to take a nap with me? We’ve got a little time before we have to be back at Bagi’s.”
Empanada nodded. She put down the paint roller and followed Mama inside the house they had just been painting. Mama led the way to her bedroom on the second floor and rummaged around for pajamas for the both of them. She decided on a dark magenta robe for herself and a silk camisole and shorts for Empanada. They were pale yellow, with little white flowers peppering them.
yellow is one of my favorite colors! Empanada wrote in her notebook. She handed it to her mama and wrestled out of her paint splattered overalls and soft pink shirt.
“I remember! You told me a couple months ago,” Mama Niki said, her voice gentle, if worn out. The sound of it soothed Empanada’s own tiredness. Empanada beamed, warmth filling her chest. Mama Niki’s smile widened and she came over to wrap Empanada into a hug. She kissed the top of Empanada’s head. “Did you have fun painting the wall?”
Empanada nodded. She turned around in Mama’s arms so she could write in her notebook. i've never painted a wall before o-o it was fun!
“Good,” Mama Niki said. “I’ve been thinking about doing something with the outside walls for a while. I really like the designs you made.”
Empanada squirmed, smiling bashfully.
“Come on, nap time. I’ll braid your hair.”
Empanada nodded and slipped free. She grabbed her mama’s hand and pulled her to the bed. Mama Niki sat down. Empanada hurried to kneel behind her, listening to her laugh as she clumsily braided her hair. It came out messy, hair sticking out this way and that, with some sections tighter than others, but Mama Niki ran her hand down the length of it with a beautiful smile.
“It’s perfect, thank you,” Mama Niki said. Empanada settled down in her mama’s lap with a smug smile. Mama Niki giggled as she started in on Empanada’s own split dyed brown and blond hair. She was careful with it. She stopped every time Empanada wanted to wiggle into a better position and asked frequently if she was tugging too hard. By the time Mama Niki finished, Empanada was already half asleep.
“Good night, Princess,” Mama Niki said, picking up Empanada. “Sleep well. I’ll see you in a couple hours.”
Then Empanada was asleep, warm and comfortable in her mama’s arms.
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A bird sang outside. Empanada blearily looked over at Mama Niki. Her chest rose and fell steadily, her eyes moving behind closed eyelids. Empanada carefully extracted herself from her mama, tugged her pancake hat on, and wrestled her little feet into her dark brown shoes.
With her frying pan in hand and her noise-canceling headphones around her neck, Empanada crept out of her mother’s house. She didn’t go far. Even with how weak she had been feeling recently, she could hold her own against most monsters; her pan had the dents to prove it. The bird sat on the dirt just a few feet from the door. Empanada approached, each step slow and deliberate. The bird turned to look at her, head tilting, but didn’t move.
The bird was beautiful. Its blue feathers gleamed in the light of the evening sun, each carefully arranged, starting with a lighter blue at the tops of its wings and ending in a dark, rich blue for its wingtips. Its chest sported yellow feathers, though around its dark beak and beady eyes the pattern was white and black.
Empanada tugged out her clipboard and notebook. Do u know my ma?
The bird, predictably, didn’t answer. It jumped closer, peered at the clipboard, and then up at her. Empanada offered it a handful of the seeds that occasionally found their way into her pockets. The bird inspected those as well.
With her free hand, she wrote, Tell her i love her and that i wish she came home.
The bird lifted its head. It looked over at the notebook. With a loud caw, it launched into the air, wings working with the breeze to send it far out of Empanada’s reach. Empanada’s heart sank, watching it fly away. She tossed the seeds onto the ground and stared out at the water.
Distantly, Lullah and Chay shouted at each other. Little waves rasped against the sands of the beach, turning packed soil into slithering mud. A couple bees flitted around Empanada, investigating the flowers on her pajamas. The sun sank to the west, the tree leaves rustled against each other, the grass danced in the wind, and Empanada’s ma was still missing.
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“What?! No!” Mami Mouse gasped. She swept Empanada into a hug and held her still. Empanada giggled and tried to squirm out of her arms. “You’re not allowed to help. You have to sit down with me and keep me company!”
“Don’t want to,” Empanada signed. Her cheeks hurt with the size of her smile. “I want to help!”
“No way, Pancake Baby!” Eomma Tina called from the kitchen. She commanded the space as if it were her own house. Bagi trailed in her wake, smiling adoringly and rushing to follow Eomma’s orders. “Sit with your mother at the table. And don’t forget to wash your hands!”
“Oh yeah,” Mami said. She grinned conspiratorially down at Empanada. “I’m a demon, so I can’t get sick. Not from human diseases anyway – there are a ton of demon diseases and viral infections and all that. Humans can get those, but demons can’t get human sick.”
“Well isn’t that convenient,” Eomma said, audibly nervous just at the mention of demons. “Oh, is that a cake? Niki, you shouldn’t’ve!”
“Empanada isn’t a demon, so she still needs to wash her hands,” Mamãe said. She came over to take Empanada from Mami’s arms. She didn’t bother with letting Empanada walk by herself. Mamãe simply scooped her up and carried her to the sink, navigating around a smiling Mama Niki.
“It’s a bienenstich kuchen,” Mama Niki explained, letting Eomma take the cake from her. “A bee sting cake. Em helped me make it after our nap. And Bagi, I hope it’s okay that I left the dress she was wearing this morning at my place. I just didn’t want her to get paint on her clothes, and then we took a nap, and then she wanted to wear a different dress for tonight.”
“That’s fine, that’s fine,” Mamãe said brightly as she helped Empanada wash up. “We’re both her moms; if Empanada is fine with it, then so am I.”
“Ok, just making sure,” Mama Niki said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.
“C’mere, honey,” Eomma said. Empanada was at her side in a second, leaning comfortably into her space. Eomma squatted down so they were at eye level. “Can you do me a favor and make sure Niki and Mrouse don’t do anything? They’re so nice, they’re going to try to keep helping and I need them to not do that, okay?”
“I’m on it,” Empanada signed solemnly. They exchanged a grin and then Empanada bounced over to the table. She pulled out Niki’s chair for her and gestured for her to sit. Mama Niki hesitated, looking between the table and the kitchen, before taking her spot next to Mami Mouse.
Almost immediately, the two burst into conversation. Empanada didn’t even have to do anything. She took her own seat at the head of the table, opposite a chair that might remain empty forever, and simply sat back. If she looked to the side, Eomma commanded Mamãe to take food to the table: bowls of plain rice, frijoles de la olla, butternocken, pão de queijo, dakgalbi, and drinks of all sorts for everyone. Mamãe Bagi just about fell over herself to follow her instructions, looking at Eomma like she hung the moon in the sky.
Almost all of her moms were in one place for once. In the cozy kitchen Empanada helped Mamãe build, air thick with the smell of warm, delicious food, listening to Mama Niki giggle at Mami Mouse’s jokes and Eomma Tina boss around Mamãe Bagi and the faraway sound of the bird from earlier singing, Empanada let all her worries slip away.
The tension that had haunted her all day faded, finally letting her breaths come easy. She was safe here, surrounded by her moms.
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“Did you have fun today?” Mamãe Bagi asked in careful, accented German as she tucked Empanada into bed. She switched back into Portuguese as she continued to speak. “We don’t usually get to have the entire family in one place! It was nice to see everyone again after so long.”
“I had fun,” Empanada signed. “Did you have fun?”
“I did,” Mamãe Bagi said. She settled down on the bed and took Empanada’s hands in her own. She smiled down at Empanada and then flopped over to lay on top of her. Empanada giggled and tried, unsuccessfully, to shove her mamãe off.
“Noo, get off, Mamãe!” Empanada signed, huffing dramatically.
“I can’t, I love you too much,” Mamãe Bagi joked. “My heart is dragging me closer to you, look, look! I can’t move up.” She pretended to strain upwards. “Look, look!”
Empanada laughed. She wiggled out from her blankets and tried to jump away from her bed. Mamãe Bagi followed her, chasing her once, twice, three times around the room before Empanada gave up. She collapsed back into bed, giggling as Mamãe laid down to hug Empanada close to her chest.
“I wish every day could be like this,” Mamãe whispered. She reached around Empanada to take out her twin braids.
Empanada leaned up to kiss Mamãe’s cheek. Mamãe’s expression crumpled, her smile adoring and just a little bit sad. “Maybe not today, but eventually.”
“Eventually,” Mamãe agreed. “And then we can just hang out every day and you can see all your moms. We can build another bakery for you and Niki, Tina and I could get married, Mouse could finish her house, and. . . and we would all be happy forever. You can have cake for breakfast and ice cream for lunch and cookies and pastries and pies for dinner. Sodas and teas and whatever else you want. I’ll let you have whatever you want.”
Empanada pretended not to notice how Mamãe didn’t mention the Federation or the weird rabbits or her brother or anything else like that. She just nodded. Mamãe stared at her for a long moment, examining her little face.
“Even if it never happens,” Empanada signed, “you’ll always be my Mamãe and I’ll always love you.”
Mamãe’s smile turned happy.
“I will always love you too.” She tucked Empanada back under the blankets, placed the hair ties on her bedside table, and stood up. “Time to go to sleep. You’ve been up too long already. I’ll see you again tomorrow, okay? Sleep well. Take care of yourself.”
“See you tomorrow!” Empanada waved goodbye to her mamãe and turned over to lay on her side. Her mamãe slipped out, closing the privacy door and then the metal door beyond it.
Empanada stared after her, the smile slipping from her face as the darkness closed in. Her owls hooted, their eyes shining in the dark. Spread out across her room, her pets slept soundly. Her wind chimes twinkled, bees buzzed, and Empanada fell asleep to the thought of waking up to another day with her moms.