Ernesto

Ernesto is a worker at the pastry workshop who becomes Ros’s companion in the urgent search for Engrasi. When a storm leaves Elizondo without electricity, he moves from a disrupted night shift into a crisis at Engrasi’s home: he follows Ros there, enters the house, and finds Engrasi alive but gravely hurt.

Work During the Blackout

Ernesto stays at the workshop with Ros and two other workers to oversee a large order for a French supermarket, due to leave two days later. The power failure stops the ovens and ruins the batch inside: the dough melts and sticks to the baking trays. With the ovens’ cleaning system also unavailable without electricity, the workers scrape the residue away with spatulas under a tap, working by candlelight while waiting for the power to return.

Accompanying Ros to Engrasi’s House

When Ros says she is going to Engrasi, Amaia Salazar tells her not to go alone and asks that Ernesto accompany her. The call is cut off by a thunderclap. Ros runs through the storm with a lamp, and Ernesto follows close behind. At the house, Ros finds the door ajar and falters at the threshold, sensing that the refuge Engrasi’s home had represented has been violated. Ernesto takes the lamp from her and goes inside.

Finding Engrasi and Calling for Help

The darkened sitting room bears signs of a struggle: a chair is overturned, a flower vase lies broken across the floor, and an armchair has been knocked toward the fireplace. When Ros fears that Engrasi is dead, Ernesto checks her and tells Ros that she is alive, though she has a huge wound to the head, and that a doctor is needed. As Ros speaks to Amaia, she reports that Ernesto is calling an ambulance. The emergency response is complicated by the flooding: the ambulances are already out dealing with it, and even the firefighters may not be able to reach the house. Ernesto’s practical actions make him the immediate source of help in a scene where the storm has cut communications and overwhelmed ordinary services.