FicWad

Once safely back in his cave, Zorro quickly took off his mask and the rest of his attire to change into Diego's civilian clothes with Felipe's eager help.

The young man noted that his patron was rather reluctant to chat, answering his signed questions with barely more than monosyllables. Felipe had to ask each question to extort from Diego the results of Zorro's mission.

"Yes, I managed to get to his cell unnoticed."

"Yes, I had time to question him."

"Yes, he finally gave me the names."

Tired of having to squeeze him for answers, Felipe went to groom Tornado, pouting a bit.

After a few minutes of a heavy silence, Diego finally noticed that his curt and terse answers as well as his manifest bad will and refusal to chitchat had hurt his young friend. After all, he reflected, it wasn't Felipe's fault that Doña Araceli's surprising admissions had cast a shadow over his mood.

He sighed.

"Come on, Felipe," he told him in a mellowed voice, "siesta time has been over for some time now, let's have a drink at the tavern, we might hear things of interest for Zorro, who knows..."

That, and Diego also wanted to see Victoria.

Felipe put the brush down and nodded happily. He then made the sign he used for Araceli, obviously asking whether they should ask her if she wanted to come with them. Great, Diego thought wryly, now she's also made Felipe's conquest! Truth be told, now that he had been given Diego's 'permission' to like Leonor, the young man had also warmed to her mother after he noticed that their presence under this roof seemed to have a positive effect on Don Alejandro's mood and on his dealing with the aftermath of Risendo's revelations and death.

"She's already in the pueblo, I've seen her there."

Oh yes, he had, and how!

"But Leonor wasn't with her," he added. "Where has she been? And where is she now?"

First, siesta, Felipe answered. Then she had taken a short riding lesson with Don Alejandro, and now her father had taken her with him on Dulcinea for a ride to the pueblo.

Oh yes? Zorro hadn't come across them on his gallop back to the cave... Well, he hadn't really paid attention, and during the day he never took the most direct route, just in case...

"Alright," he told Felipe, "let's go, now."

z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z

"Papá, Mamá told me that Diego had a brother, but that he is dead now. Is it true?"

Father and daughter were both on Dulcinea's back, slowly crossing the pueblo's entrance gate.

"Yes my darling, it's true," Alejandro told Leonor with a gentle smile, but a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Was he your son too? Or only Diego's mamá's son?"

"He was my son too, mi querida."

Leonor kept silent for a few seconds, thinking hard. And then:

"Are you sad, Papá?"

Darling, darling Leonor, he thought.

"Yes," he truthfully answered, "I'm sad about what happened." There was no point in lying to a child about these feelings. Leonor wasn't stupid, and he didn't want her to believe that he thought she was. Or that he didn't care.

"Then I am sad that you are sad," she answered. "Just like I am sad for Mamá about Joselito."

Joselito? Alejandro wondered for a split second. Oh, yes. Little José... Little José about whom Araceli almost never talked...

Leonor asked another question:

"What was his name, Papá?"

"Gilberto, mi gatita. He was Diego's twin brother."

Then after another silence, Leonor told her father, thinking aloud:

"But then... then... he was my big brother too, right?" This sounded like a discovery to her. "Just like Diego?"

Alejandro bent his head to drop a kiss on his daughter's hair, on the top of her head:

"In a way... yes. Yes he was."

She wasn't stupid, but it would be complicated to explain a six-years-old that for thirty years he hadn't known of this son's existence, or why. And even more difficult to explain that this brother of hers had hated him, had tried to kill Diego, and had wanted to destroy all of the de la Vegas.

And what would Risendo have done if he had known of Leonor's existence? Alejandro shuddered at this thought. Would the man's hatred have extended to his illegitimate half-sister, resenting her for having been acknowledged and loved by their father even despite being a bastard child when he, the legitimate heir, thought he had been discarded, disowned and hidden like a shameful family disgrace? Or would he have felt some kinship with her, because of the relative secrecy their father had chosen to keep as to her existence?

Once in the pueblo, Alejandro spotted the small carriage he had put at Araceli's disposal for the duration of her stay stationed somewhere near the church, with the mule tied to a hitching post nearby and idly chomping some hay.

"Let's look for Mamá, will you?" he told Leonor.

But apparently Araceli was done with her devotions since she was nowhere to be seen inside the church.

"Let's try the tavern, Cariño," Alejandro then suggested.

z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z

Victoria was eyeing Señora Valdès out of the corner of her eye, frowning a bit: she had heard that some commotion involving Zorro had occurred in the church just after siesta, and that this woman, who had been in there, shouted when she spotted him and alerted the soldiers, wanting them to catch him. As if he would have done any harm to her! Really! Hadn't Don Alejandro explained her?

Perhaps not, she reflected. After the fright they had had at their daughter's abduction, perhaps they had been too busy cuddling her and then peacefully resting and sleeping... But then, on the day after, hadn't Don Alejandro told her more about the man who saved her daughter? He admired him, though... And even Don Diego could have explained Zorro's fight to her, even though he sometimes disapproved of his means, and more generally speaking of any use of violence...

Some of Victoria's other customers were throwing Doña Araceli the same kind of glances but the woman didn't seem to notice the cold shoulder she was at the receiving end of, absorbed as she was in her own thoughts. Not very happy thoughts it seemed, according to the way she had been nursing her first glass of wine, her face visibly clouded by something obviously bothering her. Did her encounter with Zorro make her so troubled? ...preoccupied?

Well, Victoria thought, that's not a reason for wanting my intended dangling from a rope!

"Señorita!" the woman called, "another one, please."

Without a word, Victoria refilled her glass. Araceli raised an unreadable look on the taverness, as though she was... assessing her?

Whatever it was, she seemed to decide that Victoria was worthy of some bit of conversation, so she told her:

"I hope you had a safe ride home after yesterday's dinner, Señorita. I'm sorry my presence at the hacienda prevented Alejandro from escorting you back himself. I didn't mean to impose on him, to take up all his time, or to have Don Diego have to escort you..."

"No apology needed," Victoria answered a bit tersely, "no doubt you'd have rather had things the other way round..." she added in a mumble.

Well, I certainly wouldn't go as far as to say that, Araceli thought inwardly, not sure she heard right what Señorita Escalante just said.

"But," Victoria added, giving in to a sudden urge to pique her and to rub things in her face, "as a matter of fact, Don Diego has been the perfect escort, absolutely charming... We've known each other forever, you know, so we are excellent friends, getting along very well and so on..."

Great, Araceli thought inwardly, she's even on the best of terms with his son... But she quickly remembered that she didn't have any serious feelings for Alejandro and that the man could consort with whomever he wanted anyway, as long as Leonor didn't suffer from it. So really, there was no reason for her to resent Señorita Escalante for being on better terms with Alejandro's family than herself would ever be! It was of no consequence.

What was of consequence, though, was that her little secret now was out somewhere, hidden behind the black mask of a man she knew nothing of, not even his face or his name. Hidden, yes, but for how long? How could she be sure that the man wouldn't make any use of his newfound knowledge?

What if he told Alejandro? Or Don Diego?

What if he decided to blackmail her, just like Alejandro had been blackmailed about Leonor?

What if people back there in San Diego discovered that Leonor was an adulterine child? This time, her daughter's future would be compromised for good...

And what if, somewhere, Pascual and his Indian companion were killed because of her negligence? She didn't feel anything anymore for the man, she finally knew that she had never felt anything beside desire, lust and attraction for a pretty face, but despite their separation she was still feeling responsible for his safety, a safety which depended on his secret... After all, she'd been married to the man during five long years of her life; or, more precisely: she had been living as his wife for five years, and was technically still married to him...

She let out a heavy sigh: what a mess! And now, many people's lives depended on this bandit's silence...

"Señorita," she asked Victoria, "what can you tell me about this outlaw called El Zorro?"

Wow! Araceli had absolutely not expected such an overenthusiastic tirade as the one Victoria was currently serving her by way of answer to her question. The taverness certainly admired the man. Praised his courage and abnegation. Extolled his many skills at swordsmanship. Said he might be an outlaw but in no way was a bandit. Lauded him and his many virtues And told her that Alejandro, as well as most of the pueblo, shared her opinion of him.

Really, Señorita Escalante's panegyric of this Zorro fellow was so vibrant that you'd think he was her brother, her father or some significant next of kin. Araceli would have to find out whether the woman had brothers around there, some family, some male relative, some cousin. It would explain why, despite claiming loud and clear that she didn't know the man's identity, she seemed to think she knew him almost... personally. But you can't really know someone just from some short encounters while running away from the soldiers or hiding from the alcalde. No. And certainly not someone hiding his face and his name.

In short, Señorita Escalante's long-winded praise reassured her a very slight bit about the use this masked outlaw would make – or rather wouldn't make – of her secrets, but if ever she didn't have any family left in the area, then in no way did it give her any useful clue as to the man's identity. Alejandro had said he didn't know who he was either. But perhaps she could ask him whether he had any suspicion about it, even a very slight one...?

"Ah, speaking of the devil..." Victoria suddenly told her with a bright smile now adorning her face as she pointed at the entrance door.

As it happened, Alejandro and Leonor were just entering the tavern. Probably for his daily visit to Señorita Escalante, Araceli reflected...

She took a sip of her second drink. Was it really the same wine as the days before? It tasted slightly more... sour, today...