XANA lately just wanted to be in San Juan de la Arena, the place where she was born as an eel on the seashore when her mother gave birth. Her walks to the fountains, the bonfires of San Juan, the Cantabrian Sea, the Leré family shipping company… She was Asturian and strong as an oak, but as it was the law of life, she was getting older. Her small prominence in the middle of her forehead was so personal that she became a woman full of mystery, magical stories, wisdom...

It was the first summer that Elvira's children did not spend the summer on the beach and everyone missed them very much, the princess of Kapurthala dancing in Barcelona and Ismael in the United States studying. 

XANA felt something very special for Ismael, Elvira's firstborn. Since he was very little, she warned her daughter to be very careful, that with those golden curls and so beautiful that he was, somebody could steal him. She predicted that when Ishmael was older, he would undergo a physical transformation and would look a lot like her. And every time she looked at him she would see her reflection. 

That night after dinner XANA looking at the sea remembered the story of the scorpion in the Royal Site of Solán de Cabras...

It was a sunny morning in the Serranía de Cuenca. The healing and pure water of the spring made XANA and her family visit the place very often, which since 182. BC had cured arthritis and other diseases. That day were General Ponce, his son-in-law Federico with his daughter Carmina, his ten-year-old granddaughter Merceditas, and Elvira with Ismael that was six year old. They were all in a convertible Mehary all-terrain vehicle, the name of Arabic origin for the French manufacturer Citroën. With three rows of seats that would fill with healing water.  

XANA loved to cut rosemary branches with a small knife and put it in her hair, she didn't need hairpins because she had it so curly, that she put it inside and it seemed that rosemary was born there. Her granddaughter Esther, who had the same hair, had done the same since she was two years old. A tradition that she would keep in her life, every time she went on stage to dance. The smell of the fresh countryside and the memory of her Mamaíta, would be her best source of inspiration and would always bring her luck. 

It was already afternoon when XANA, cutting a branch of rosemary, felt as if a needle penetrated her arm very slowly and painfully. It was a huge hidden scorpion that had stuck its stinger with a huge dose of neurotoxins that affect the nervous system causing tachycardia, difficulty breathing, ! including death!. XANA, without thinking twice, brave as a bull, cut her skin with the knife and began sucking and spitting out the blood along with the poison repeatedly, thinking only of God and her Virgin del Socorro . That she had given it to Esther to protect her in Barcelona. She couldn't have any leftover poison left in her system and she had to save her life. Before the attentive gaze of the whole family who did not dare to say a word... except her husband, the recent Justice of the Peace, who said out loud and with infinite love; — the day you miss Carminina, I'll miss later. 

The same thing that her mother-in-law Elvira predicted about before she died when she was only forty years old. Leaving XANA with sixteen, being war godmother, wife and mother; — Daughter, you will meet the one who will be your husband, and he will love you so much that he will die of sorrow for you, her mother told her on her last night of life... Wise words from a mother, which make a hole in the heart for the rest of the life. On the way back, XANA asked her son-in-law Federico, about , her grandson Emilio, that they called him golden hands, and that he already worked with him at the clinic. It was her daughter Carmina, who replied that he was very much in love with a model and had been very nervous lately. 

From that trip, XANA began to decipher the enigma of the scorpion. She believed that everything that happened to her in life was a message from God, who acted through people. Emilio's girlfriend was a very good model, very tall, white as milk, extremely thin like a dancer suffering from anorexia, with very long hazel hair that was smooth as silk, and with such an amazing beauty that everyone turned to look at her. On the beach she bathed in a well-known Ibizan designer robe and she looked like a goddess when she came out of the water. It didn't take long for XANA to discover that she was spending money on diacetylmorphine, the money that her grandson Emilio stole from his father at the clinic. Heroin was the fashionable drug that made models kept them in a size thirty-four. Emilio looked more and more like his great-grandfather the Cuban, he was gorgeous, but his beautiful and conquering smile was living in the first person the mythical phrase of the French designer, Cristhian Audigier, "Love kills slowly". A very young love victim of ingenuity, who pricked herself on the soles of her feet and on her palate so that no one would discover her addiction. Before dying of an overdose, they had a beautiful daughter who was born on the same day as her and whom they named “Love”. 

XANA had finally found the answer to the question she had been asking herself for many years about the Filipina and she waited until she was alone with her daughter Elvira; — daughter, never allow that Angel disrespects you. Remember how I told you that one day I would find out what I didn't like about the Filipina? Well, I already know. Don't leave your husband alone with her for a long time and better go shopping with him. So that people don't gossip behind your back and make you suffer. You have to prevent the complicity between them from increasing…XANA advised her. 

But for Elvira, she went in one ear and she came out the other. She was the least jealous woman in Spain. She preferred to spend time with her children and her friends. Carrying bags with kilos of food for such a large family was not the best plan. And the Filipina, she wasn't the only suitor Angel had either. When Elvira entered Hispavox, young and beautiful singers who wanted to be famous at all costs threw their yews at him. Fortunately, her Paul Newman was faithful and a great professional dedicated to his family. 

XANA was packing to travel to Barcelona to see her granddaughter perform. She wanted to prevent the spell from taking place and she would arrive earlier than expected. When suddenly, she began to feel a strong headache, she could not move her jaw and tears came out of her eyes without her control. She was having a stroke. She was unable to travel and the doctor said that her facial paralysis would prevent her from speaking for a long time and because of her age, probably years. XANA was used to answering the phone and from then on, her little daughter, Amparo, would have to do it, who lived with them since she never married or had children, like her grandmother's sister, Sarah.

While in Barcelona the inevitable was about to happen. 

It was the rest day of the company and all the dancers went to the beach with the director to spend the day. The director's husband, although they were not married, was a gypsy and they had been dating, dancing, traveling and living together with the National Ballet of Spain for more than eight years. She was paya( not gypsy) but living with a gypsy then, she would not be his girlfriend she would be his wife. They were now twenty-four and twenty-six years old and their relationship was stormy. So she, after a fight with her husband and since she was the one who collected allowance money, left him in the hotel and without money. 

Esther was a sleepyhead and not even her roommate Sonia, could convince her to get up. She felt like waking up late at leisure, having breakfast in bed, and then going down to visit an art gallery near the hotel. Las Ramblas street had a lot of life, day and night. 

Esther had a few months left to be of legal age and the surfer was still in Lima with his family. She was looking forward to seeing him in September, since she would have finished her contract at the theater and it coincided that he was also returning to Madrid. A whole year without seeing each other was a long time for them and their love was still alive and pure...

The surfer, before leaving for a year and a half, asked Esther, who was then sixteen years old, to culminate their first night of love in the intimacy of the cave of the church, in the room where the group rehearsed, which had everything, refrigerator , television and a very romantic space with a biombo that separates the Japanese futon. Esther told him that she preferred to wait for him to come back and that if they really loved each other, they would wait for each other. She didn't want her first time to be in church, but that it was the perfect place to seal their love...

Esther prepared two small white candles and they each lit their own. Later, they would gather them to that fire, light the big candle while saying how grateful they were to have crossed paths. Then Esther took out a canvas, two brushes and pastel paints that she asked her godfather Don Julio Prieto. She chose the colors together with the master of masters for her love ritual. D. Julio, who was already ninety years old, enjoyed and smiled a lot listening to Esther's beautiful and pure love story. Each lover would paint a symbol reminiscent of their love story. The green and blue brushstroke simulating the surfboard, the faded ballet pointe shoes, the dark night simulating fear…they couldn't be missing. The painting stayed there. The surfer who did not know anything about what Esther had planned, improvised and put as a soundtrack for the occasion the spectacular ballad of the heavy metal group Scorpions, "I'm still loving you" what was with the song that began to come out and with which Esther cried when she missed him. Lastly, they wrote each other a love letter, which they would take wherever they went. 

One of the hotel receptionists was in love with Esther. His name was Fernando. He had ordered the cleaning girls to take to Esther’s room the bouquets of roses and flowers that were left in the artists' rooms. He was young, he was studying at the university and in the summer he made extra money at his uncle's hotel. Esther loved his blue eyes, his great sense of humor and they spent a lot of time together. 

It was almost time to eat, Esther went down to the reception to thank Fernando for the chocolates that had been brought to her room on his behalf . Many days he sent her the chocolates as a welcome gift that were left in the luxury suites. 

Leaving the hotel, Esther saw the director's husband, the gypsy, sitting in the lobby. Esther asked him why he hadn't gone to the beach with his wife and the rest of the company. He replied that they had a fight and she had left him alone and without money. Esther didn't like the boss's selfish gesture at all and she told him if he wanted to eat a hot ham and cheese sandwich in the sandwich maker that she had in her room. He accepted on the condition that when he had money, invite her to eat. But Fernando, who was listening to everything, informed Esther that the room was being made and they would have to wait. It is when Esther asked the dancer the question that she had been thinking for a long time; How many pirouettes do you do in a row? …normally the boys do more pirouettes than the girls, a well-prepared dancer with good technique usually does a maximum of four or five in a row. The dancer did not answer the question, he got up from the sofa and right there he did a Tendu with his right foot, placed it behind him in a fourth ballet position and began to turn, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight…Esther couldn't believe it, it seemed like a dream! and she wanted to be part of it. She stood next to him, got ready and began to turn, one, two, three, on the fourth pirouette she tripped on the carpet and the dancer grabbed her by the waist, they stayed very close to each other, although on stage they were like this every day… he placed her right arm which was a little higher than the left one and that is why she lost balance and went to one side. 

Esther noticed his hands, although he was short in stature, his hands were beautiful and very delicate, they looked like those of a Christ, thin, long and cinnamon-colored. He had large, slanted hazel eyes that looked at her with a depth that no one had ever looked at her before. He had a nose like the Greek statues and long hair like the dancers. He was very polite and only smiled at her; —For being so young and at the beginning of your career, you tour very well, in addition to being beautiful and even the divo Alfredo Kraus has also noticed you, the dancer told him.  

He continued telling her that they offered him a position as principal dancer in the National Classical Ballet, but that being a gypsy and from the family of artists from which he came, with Spanish dance and flamenco in the National Ballet he would have a better future. Esther hardly listened to what he said anymore, she just looked at him with admiration and she didn't want to wake up from her dream… she already saw herself dancing in important theaters around the world. Nothing else mattered anymore. When she arrived in Madrid, the directors of the best stylized flamenco companies would contact her, as they told her when she won the contest and was already occupying soloist and prima ballerina positions. Everything was pink color, but outside of the dream, Esther didn't know what she was getting herself into. From then on, she would play with fire. At that moment Fernando the receptionist who was jealous lost, abruptly interrupted the scene that they had been starring in for more than an hour in the hotel lobby. Esther then internally heard the voice of her mother, Elvira, which said; —Baby, everyone should follow their path and not hinder the others. If they bother you in yours, take them away from it, those who want to follow your path, you will shake their hands. 

After three months, the entire company that occupied the stage of the Liceo, twenty-five meters wide, seventeen deep and twenty-three high, already knew each other very well. But the chemistry between the couple on stage was not the same as at the beginning. They took advantage of the moment of interpreting to give free rein to their infatuation and their passion. The kiss that the Director marked in the scene in which the town cries out to the bride and groom to kiss, was not the same. Alfredo Kraus, who was very fond of Esther and who sang to them every day from a meter away, immediately realized and warned and advised Esther in the dressing room that this man was not for her, that they belonged to two totally different worlds and that could not work. But Esther was already bewitched and there was no going back.  

It was August 28 and Esther’s eighteen birthday . Who was going to tell her that day would change her life forever? Everyone was still in the house on the beach and like every year, on the thirtieth, they returned to Madrid. They had a delicious breakfast of chocolate with churros, as was the end-of-summer tradition, on the terrace of the bar, looking at the sea and setting the stage for the evening festival.

XANA was still sick, she had half a side of her face paralyzed but she wanted to be there when Esther called. When the phone rang, XANA knew that it was Esther. Elvira hadn't told her what had happened, they wanted to wait for the contract to end because they knew she was very passionate, that she would leave everything behind and run out to hug her mamaíta.

When, unexpectedly, XANA jumped up, overtook Elvira and grabbed the phone. Her infinite faith and her enormous mental strength were so powerful that she said to her; " Happy Birthday my princess!" Elvira and Angel couldn't believe it, it had to be a joke, it was impossible for her to speak! She was cured! It had only been two weeks and she was diagnosed years old.