Ros

Ros is Amaia Salazar’s sister, a practical and responsive presence whose ordinary evening at the bakery is abruptly overtaken by danger at the family home. When Amaia learns that their mother has escaped the clinic and threatened her baby, Ros runs through the storm to reach their aunt Engrasi, arriving at a house that appears to have been violated.

Identity and Daily Circumstances

At the start of the crisis, Ros is working in the bakery with Ernesto and two other workers. A power failure has stopped the ovens while they are preparing a large order for a French supermarket, due to leave in two days. The dough has melted onto the trays, and without electricity the ovens’ cleaning system cannot run; the workers scrape and loosen the mess with spatulas under a tap, by candlelight. Her account shows her absorbed in the immediate, concrete demands of the work, even as the storm leaves much of Elizondo, Amaia’s hometown, without power.

Ros also keeps track of Engrasi. When Amaia cannot reach their aunt at home, she calls Ros instead. Ros explains that the house phone is out, says Engrasi has filled the sitting room with scented candles, and reassures Amaia that she can try Engrasi’s mobile. The calm domestic picture makes the later discovery of the house’s open door and overturned belongings more stark.

The Warning and Ros’s Response

The emergency reaches Ros through Amaia, who interrupts her with news that a doctor has helped their mother escape the clinic. Amaia tells her that the woman threatened to kill the baby Amaia was going to have, and fears that the threat is now directed at the child because she herself could not be killed. Ros answers that she is on her way. Amaia urges her not to go alone and tells her to take Ernesto.

The call ends amid the thunder, leaving Amaia desolate. Ros’s response is swift: she runs through the streets carrying a lamp, with Ernesto close behind. The storm has made the family’s alarm part of a wider emergency. The Baztán River is rising, a fallen tree has cut power lines, and a landslide has closed the N-121 Highway at the Belate tunnel; traffic delays on the detour via the NA-1210 complicate movement through the area. Ros’s run, however, is directed toward the immediate danger at Engrasi’s home.

Arrival at Engrasi’s House

At the entrance, Ros sees that the door is ajar. The energy that carried her there gives way at once: her knees buckle, and she grips the rough stone doorframe. Its cold texture confirms her sense that something terrible has happened. The house had represented shelter from cold, rain, loneliness, pain, and even the Gaueko, the night spirits of Baztán; now she feels that refuge has been profaned.

Ernesto takes the lamp and enters first. The house remains warm, but the extinguished candles leave a sharp smell in the dark. Their light reveals a chair on its side, the shattered remains of Engrasi’s fresh-flower vase scattered across the floor, and an armchair overturned toward the fireplace, where a higher fire might have caught it. Ros calls for her aunt, but no longer recognizes her own voice. The scene ends with that call: Ros has reached the house, but the evidence here does not yet establish what has happened to Engrasi.

Narrative Role

Ros’s appearances turn the storm from backdrop into a force that disrupts ordinary life and obstructs urgent action. First it ruins the bakery’s work and cuts the household phone; then it accompanies Amaia’s warning and Ros’s race through the dark. Her movement from practical reassurance to physical collapse at the threshold gives the family emergency a sharply personal measure. The overturned furniture and broken vase make visible the change in the home before Ros has any answer about her aunt.