Work Text:
The laughter of a toddler filters through the open windows coming from the garden. Kid Fina seems to be always full of emotions. It seems equally likely to be laughter or a tantrum. Even though Fina's parents, Isidro and Adela, quickly try to take her away from anywhere where her mood could be an inconvenience when the intense emotion isn't the pleasurable sound of a kid laughing.
Marta hears her from her room. She is 11 years old, and obviously, has worries that are far more complex than those of the three year old running around the garden. More and more, she is expected to behave like a little lady, rather than a kid.
Maybe that's one of the reasons why she feels so drawn to Fina. The freedom of her very young years. But also because of the honesty with which she seems to face life. Marta doesn't think she has ever been like that herself, not even when she was Fina's age.
She decides she can allow herself a 10 minute break from her tasks and go breathe some fresh air in the garden. Or well, that's the polite sentence she'd tell anyone who asked. She also plans to enjoy the refreshing presence of the beloved baby of the house.
Because, yes, obviously. Isidro, Adela and Fina are part of the house staff. But they also feel like family friends, in a way. Not completely, obviously, that couldn't be. But they are definitely beloved by the whole De La Reina family.
So Marta goes downstairs and out the door to the garden, where Fina is running around and giggling senseless. Marta finds it impossible to figure out the source of her happiness, but it just feels so joyful to see her like that.
The moment kid Fina sees Marta approaching, she smiles even brighter and starts running towards her. Isidro, who is overlooking Fina's antiques, playing with her, enchanted, quickly looks up with half an apology on his face, to gauge whether he should stop Fina and grab her in his arms to not bother the young lady of the house. But Marta dismisses that idea with a smile to Isidro. She crouches down to Fina's level and smiles at her. Fina runs until she is very close to Marta and looks up at her. Marta loves her truthful, slightly cheeky, and yet completely kind, innocent face. She asks Fina how was her day and if she was having fun. Fina smiles even brighter at Marta, radiant... And just starts running in the opposite direction, towards Isidro.
Marta spends a couple minutes having a pleasant conversation with Isidro about the garden, the weather, and nothing in particular, and then goes back up to her room feeling much lighter.
Suddenly she feels much more optimistic. And the thought crosses her mind that maybe tomorrow, or the day after, she will have the chance to do this same thing again. And this stays like a motivation in her heart for her daily life