Juan was eager to return to his wife and dreaded it at the same time.

He had been victorious, and was returning in glory to the Californian capital just in time for what should have been his wedding, and would now be his wedding feast. Considering his recent accomplishment, he was certainly due to receive a promotion and a raise, which he needed if he was to properly take care of his new family. Yet, he was also bringing back devastating news for his wife, and he didn't know how Victoria might react.

It was late morning on the following day when they arrived in Monterey. People gathered in the streets to see the rebels caught and placed in barred wagons like caged animals. Amongst them, a young taverness who was waiting to find out if the man she had recently married had made it back.

Several of the lancers had perished, but their commander was unharmed, proudly riding ahead of the small caravan.

Victoria tried to seem happy upon Juan's return, but she immediately noticed something was wrong with him as he seemed to avoid even glancing at her. Looking towards the piled-up bodies of those who had been killed, and then towards those captured, she noticed several familiar faces among them, and her heart sunk at realizing what it all meant.

Juan dismounted and she headed to embrace him, an embrace he received with some hesitation. Then, instead of going home with her, he left her arms to head for the Governor's office, where he remained for about an hour, before heading for the prison.

ZZZ

In the meanwhile, Victoria had gone home and cooked for the prisoners, then went to give them the food just as her husband was exiting the jailhouse.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her unceremoniously.

"I came to bring them something to eat. Juan, I know some of them!" She uttered.

Juan barely reacted at those words. "I'm sorry, Victoria, but the Governor requested that nobody be allowed to visit the prisoners."

She bowed her head, taking the news with some resignation.

"May I, at least, leave the food with the lancers?" She wondered.

Her husband nodded, and, taking the basket from her, he gave it to one of his men with orders for the food to be distributed to those incarcerated. Once that was done, he accompanied Victoria home.

"What is to happen to them?" She asked as soon as he closed the door behind them.

"They are to be hanged in the morning." He simply answered.

"How about a fair trial? Don't they deserve one?" She inquired.

"They are rebels. Traitors to the King with prices on their heads." Juan told her, as if repeating a line he had been taught.

To Victoria it was nothing if not an abuse of power, and, as she looked out the window towards the plaza, where the gallows were being erected, the young woman realized she could never sit idly by while such injustice was being committed. Those people deserved a fair trial, and she knew the man who could give them one. Perhaps, she told herself, he'd listen if she tried to reason with him.

Juan had something else in mind, though. As those thoughts were going through her head, all he could focus on as an irrational fear that he might lose her. Nearing her, he took her face in his hands and leaned down to kiss her. Victoria turned her head just as his lips reached hers.

"What's wrong?" He asked. "I have just returned home and my wife won't even give me a kiss?"

"I'm sorry, Juan… But… Right now all I can think about is those poor people! Can't you do anything for them?"

"Have you any idea how long we've been trying to capture them? They are responsible for several dead lancers and at least ten shipments of gunpowder destroyed during the last three years. They would have killed me, had they had the chance, and you want to see them walk free?" He inquired, taking a few steps away from the woman he loved.

"I want them given a trial! They are not all guilty for those lancers' deaths!" She argued.

"They are all rebels!" He retorted as their discussion was turning into a real quarrel. "People who decided to turn against the King, and it is my duty to punish them according to the law! Instead of worrying about them, you should be concerning yourself with helping the tavern's cook with tomorrow's wedding feast!" Juan told her.

"Wedding feast? Those people are about to die and you think I care about the feast?" She asked, infuriated.

"You should care about being a good wife to me!" He replied with ire, then headed for the door, where he stopped for a few moments before exiting without another word.

ZZZ

After Juan left her, even more determined to find a way to help the prisoners, Victoria baked a cake for the Governor and requested an audience via a message she left with his Secretary as the man accepted her gift on behalf of his superior. Her effort was rewarded as she was invited that very afternoon to return and talk to him.

"Señora Ortiz! A pleasure seeing you, as always. How go the preparations for the feast?" The older man asked as he courteously invited her to take a seat.

"Very well." She answered unconvincingly, wondering how to bring up the topic about which she had come to speak to him.

"If the cake you sent me is any indication, I have no doubt it will be worthy of the King himself." The Governor replied.

"Thank you, Your Excellency. But that was not what I wanted to discuss with you. I am here –", she started to say, but was interrupted by Juan's arrival.

"Ah, Lieutenant Ortiz! How good of you to join us!" His superior uttered.

"Your Excellency!" He greeted his superior as he neared the chair in which Victoria was sitting.

"Is everything ready for tomorrow?" The man asked.

Victoria eyed her husband, who hesitated slightly, and she realized he was conflicted about the orders he had been given.

"Yes, Sir." He replied, nonetheless.

The young woman smiled, realizing she had married a good man, who, despite his earlier words, despised the mere idea of ordering the executions.

"It was exactly about that why I asked to see you, Your Excellency." Victoria dared to say.

"Oh?" The older man wondered.

"My dear, I have already discussed with the Governor the issue of the prisoners. I don't believe we should intrude on him any further." Juan tried to prevent her from saying what he knew she had come there to say.

"You did?" She asked.

"Oh… Is this about the same issue? Yes. Your husband tried to convince me to give them a trial, but I managed to convince him, instead, that granting them one was both cruel and dangerous, since, on the one hand, it would subject them to the people's wrath, and, on the other, it would give them the chance to spread lies about the King and his servants here, in California. They need to be made an example of, or others may follow in their footsteps."

Victoria was silent for a few moments. "Your Excellency… I know that, in your eyes, those people are traitors. But if you'd try to see things from their perspective –"

"That's enough, Victoria!" Juan interrupted her.

"That certainly isn't!" She contradicted him. "Your Excellency, my mother was executed for helping a man who turned out to be a rebel. She didn't even know who he was. She was helping an injured man, and the commander who came to Los Angeles never gave her a chance to defend herself. It was an injustice. Everyone deserves a fair trial!"

The Governor watched her suspiciously before throwing a similar look in Juan's direction.

"I wasn't aware you were from Los Angeles. Don't tell me you also believe that bandit of yours, Zorro, would have deserved a fair trial if he had ever been captured?" The man wanted to say more but stopped at seeing the pure rage in her eyes. "Anyway… if what you say, Señora, is true, your mother was innocent, while these people are guilty. And they have to pay for their actions. It's the right thing to do." The Governor stated categorically, closing all conversations as he dismissed the two with a hand gesture.

Victoria looked at Juan with disappointment but stood to leave, head held high.

"Oh, Lieutenant," the official uttered as they were by the door, "the don we talked about… the one who's been captured with the rebels, I want him to be the first to hang. Make sure the doctor sees him so that he's at least able to stand by himself. I will make a long speech to show people that, rich or poor, all traitors are the same in the eyes of justice. The mob will like that."

Victoria's look of sheer dread as a feeling of foreboding overwhelmed her made Juan hurry her out as he threw back a "Yes, Sir," to his superior.

"What don?" She asked as soon as the door closed behind them.