"There must be something I can do!" The Alcalde uttered for himself a few days later, as he was, once more, pacing his office, lost in thought as he had been for much of the previous months.

After that episode with the Emissary, all he truly wanted was to finally return to Madrid, before another tyrant had the chance to finish what Risendo had started, and actually execute him. The problem was that, in his mind, the only way to do so was by capturing Zorro, and that seemed quite impossible at that point. The outlaw was too smart to fall into his traps, and he seemed unable to come up with a good enough plan to achieve his goal.

With a sigh, Ignacio decided to head for the tavern, in the hope that some of Señorita Escalante's wine might help him feel better or, at least, give him some proper inspiration. He was just about to exit to the plaza when an idea occurred to him, causing him to suddenly become pensive. Deep in thought as he was, he didn't pay much attention to others. Don Alejandro exited the tavern just as he was about to enter also lost in thoughts. The two men bumped heads and fell indignantly to the floor, the old don on his bottom while the Alcalde also stumbled on the terrace's floorboards as he fell on his back, instantly losing his consciousness as his head impacted with the ground.

"Diego!" Don Alejandro shouted as he saw that De Soto wasn't moving.

The young caballero hurried out of the establishment and kneeled by his former schoolmate.

"Ignacio? Can you hear me?" He asked as he softly shook him, cheching his head for blood.

"De la Vega? What are you doing here?" Came the reply as the white-haired man opened his eyes.

Diego didn't fully understand the question. "I was in the tavern, and my father just called me. How are you feeling? Can you get up? Try not to make any sudden movement!" He instructed his baffled former colleague.

"Your father? Why is your father in Cadiz? Wasn't he in California?" He wondered.

"Cadiz? No… Ignacio, we are in California. You have been here for three years. Don't you remember?" Diego asked as he glanced towards his father and Sergeant Mendoza, both of whom were worriedly looking at him.

ZZZ

Later that evening, as his adoptive father was working on a new experiment, Felipe came to ask about the Alcalde.

"He truly lost his memory!" Diego answered. "He seems to have forgotten about six years of his life, since he was a Sergeant, stationed in Cadiz."

The younger man stared at him inquisitively, then signaled again.

"No, Felipe. I don't think his memory is completely gone. You remember how it was when the same thing happened to Mendoza. He eventually remembered everything, even if he now pretends to have forgotten the time he had spent with that gang of bandits. I can't blame him for that, though." Diego added with a smile.

ZZZ

Victoria had been pondering over her feelings towards both Diego and Zorro for days already, since it first occurred to her that she might be in love with the caballero. She had not seen her masked man in a while, but she knew he'd always come when she made sure to let people know she needed to see him. He always found out... and she did need to see him. She also needed to find a way to unmask him somehow, so that she'd know for sure with whom her heart belonged.

"Don Alejandro," Victoria decided to ask as the caballero entered her establishment, two days after the incident with De Soto, "may I ask your advice on something?"

"Of course, my dear." He replied with a bright smile. "How may I be of service?"

She looked around the mostly-empty tavern, and leaned across the bar behind which she was standing at the time to whisper to the caballero: "I was wondering if you could help me find out who Zorro is."

Don Alejandro eyed her unsure of how he should react. He had promised Diego to keep his secret that afternoon when his son finally confessed to him that he was the pueblo's masked hero and had no intention to betray his confidence. On the other hand, while he mostly understood his son's reasons, he did feel Diego was taking too long to tell Victoria the truth, and his patience with him was running out.

"And how do you think I can help you?" He asked the young woman.

"I think that perhaps you might come up with a way to find out. You must have noticed things about him which could give us some clues! I have to find out the truth, but I don't even know where to start. I keep looking at every tall, dark-haired man who comes into the tavern, but none of them seem anything like Zorro to me." She answered.

"Then, perhaps, you are not approaching this correctly," the don replied pensively. "Perhaps, instead of looking at them and wondering who Zorro is, you should ask yourself who you'd want him to be. Trust me! Sometimes the mind refuses to see truths that are just in front of us; but the heart usually knows better."

The taverness stared at him as he courteously smiled, then headed for a table where some of his friends were sitting, leaving her to ponder his words.

There were quite a few tall men in the pueblo. Zorro was over 6 feet tall, and some twenty others were just about the same height. Yet, truth be told, she only wanted for one of them to be the man she had promised to marry. The only one who was nothing like him.

Victoria took a moment to consider whether her heart was trying to help her reveal a secret or just wanted for her to admit a truth she had long since forced herself to suppress. Since she did her best thinking in the kitchen, she headed that way and started chopping the vegetables to mix with the meat she needed for the evening's meal. When that was done, she moved on to the sauce, then stopped and glanced around, her sight resting on the notebook she had found in the trunk.

ZZZ

"Buenas tardes, Señorita!" Diego greeted her at entering the kitchen about an hour later, interrupting her train of thought. She looked inquisitively towards him and he smiled, apologized for disturbing her explaining he had come for an early dinner, and ordered a plate of enchiladas for himself and two more for Felipe and his father, who was just about to part with his friends and join his family at another table.

Victoria nodded with a grin, plated the meals, then stared at them for a few moments, as a thought hit her. It was a very long shot, but she had nothing to lose.

Moments later, she exited through the curtains, taking the plates to her devoted patrons.

"It's a new sauce recipe I've decided to try." She told them. "If you like it, I might substitute it for my normal one."

They all enjoyed their meal even more than usual, and Victoria smiled at seeing them devouring the food she had made, then pensively returned to the kitchen, again lost in thoughts.

The tall caballero noticed her absent-mindedness as she brought them a pitcher of orange juice sometime later, so he stood up, leaving his father and adopted son to again follow her to the kitchen. Victoria was just slicing some onions, which were causing tears to fall from her eyes.

"Is there something wrong, Victoria?" She heard Diego ask.

"No, Don Diego…" She said as she wiped away her tears. "It's the onion… So no, nothing's wrong… Except…"

"Except what?"

Except you love another woman and Zorro never seems to be around these days. Her mind silently replied. Focus, Victoria! She then chided herself. "Except I haven't seen Zorro in ages, and I am worrying about him." She decided to say out loud. "But it doesn't matter. I'm used to not seeing him for weeks, even months at the time." Victoria continued with a tint of anger in her voice, but also relieved to realize she was quite convincing. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"Oh, I was just wondering if you had the chance to see the Alcalde today. I went by his office to see how he's feeling, but he wasn't there."

That was not the first time Diego came to her for information, Victoria realized as he was talking.

"I only saw him in the morning as he came by to say hello and to thank me for the breakfast I had sent to him." She replied. "He's done that since he's lost his memory. Judging by his behavior, he seems quite a different man."

"I see… So you don't think he's made any progress in remembering the last few years…"

"It didn't look as if he has!" She answered.

Diego nodded pensively.

"You might want to take a drink and keep the liquid in your mouth as you cut the onions." He then advised her just before returning to the taproom. "It helps prevent the crying."

Victoria watched him leave with a frown and took his advice which, surprisingly, proved right. Books. I'm sure he's got that from one of his books! She silently replied to the inner question about how did the caballero know kitchen tricks.

The De la Vegas made sure to compliment Victoria once again for her food before leaving, then exited the tavern, when they saw De Soto riding into town. He seemed quite distressed and, as soon as he reached the garrison, he shouted for his lancers to form a rescue party informing them that Sergeant Mendoza had fallen down a ravine some four miles north of the pueblo, where he remained unconscious and, probably, badly injured. Don Alejandro, Felipe and Diego exchanged a glance before hurriedly heading home.

A little over half an hour later, Zorro was checking the place he had heard De Soto mention, and soon found the Sergeant with a broken arm, but otherwise in good condition. He descended the ravine to reach him. After studying his broken arm, he repositioned the bones — an action causing the poor lancer to faint. Then, after searching the nearby area, he devised a makeshift splint, which he tied with a bandage from his saddlebags to keep the bone in place. Finally, he placed the arm into a sling he tied around Mendoza's neck to hold it elevated and close to his chest. When that was done, Zorro helped the Sergeant onto Tornado, and the two of them rode him towards Doctor Hernandez's house.

On the way back, however, they met with the patrol De Soto had organized, and the lancers pointed their muskets straight at the black-clad man. It was already getting dark, so he wasn't very worried they might actually hit him, should they shoot. Still, galloping away with a wounded man was not his idea of a good rescue.

"I'd suggest you put down your arms or you might injure the Sergeant!" Zorro told them, as De Soto signaled for his men to stand down.

"Wh… Who are you?" His former schoolmate asked, pretending not to recognize his nemesis.

In truth, De Soto's memory loss only lasted some twenty hours, until he had the chance to get a good night's sleep and properly recover, but, when he saw Mendoza's attitude towards him as the Sergeant brought him his breakfast the following day, an idea occurred to him about how to finally rid himself of Zorro. For his trap to work, however, he needed to convince everyone, his nemesis included, that he was a changed man, and the memory loss made for a perfect way to achieve that.

"What do you mean who am I, Alcalde? Have you suddenly forgotten me? I'm hurt!" The masked outlaw replied, faking to be upset as he took his right hand to his chest.

"I apologize, Señor, but I seem to have lost my memory. I meant no insult." De Soto stayed in the role he had assumed. "But I do appreciate you helping my man. We can take it from here, Señor..."

"Zorro. My name is Zorro." He answered. "Do you really not know who I am?"

"As I said, I'm afraid I have no memory of the last six years, Señor Zorro, since before I came here. I hope you don't feel offended, but, to be fair, the only person I know here is Don Diego de la Vega, and I only know him because we used to be friends in University." He added that information in order to convince the masked man that he was once the type of person who Diego would befriend. "But, may I ask… why are you wearing a mask?" The Alcalde continued the conversation to his men's puzzlement. "And why on Earth were my lancers about to shoot you for helping my Sergeant?"

"I'm sure Mendoza can give you all the information you require. Now, if you'll excuse me!" He replied as two of the lancers helped Mendoza off Tornado's back, just before Zorro saluted taking his hand to his hat, then steered his stallion east to make his escape. No lancer followed him this time, as they were all waiting for De Soto's order, which never came.

"Thank you very much for your help, Señor!" The Alcalde instead shouted after the masked outlaw. "What an interesting fellow!" He then uttered with an admiring smile, just to convince his men.

As they headed for the pueblo, he asked the lancers to recount everything they knew about Zorro, seemingly repulsed by his own actions against him while laughing on the inside at their credulity.

ZZZ

Victoria had just closed the tavern and was heading for the kitchen, thinking about everything the lancers had hurriedly told the entire pueblo about the Alcalde's change of attitude towards their masked hero. She placed the candle on her working table and was about to reach for the lamp when a voice startled her.

"Buenas noches!" Zorro greeted as he came out of the shadows and reached to reveal a red rose which he had been holding in his sash, offering it to her.

"Zorro!" She exclaimed, accepting the rose and taking it to her nose to inhale the delicate flagrance. "I missed you!" She told him with a smile, happy to realize that her heart beat faster when he was near. She did truly love him. All her doubts were nothing more than an effect of his absence from her life those past few weeks.

He smiled back and reached to kiss her, a kiss that caused a shiver down Victoria's spine. As they parted, she looked at him dumbfounded.

"Diego?" She suddenly asked.

The masked man opened and closed his mouth a few times, before he recovered enough to speak.

"What did you say?" He asked her.

"Diego! I can't believe this! You're Diego! All this time, it was always you, and, like a fool, I never saw it before!"

"Why… Why would you think I'm Don Diego?" He wondered, his mind trying to find a way to convince her she was wrong without bluntly lying to her.

"Well, if you're not him, you are either Don Alejandro or Felipe. Don Alejandro you are not since I saw you rescue him several times, and Felipe can't speak and was just twelve when you first showed up! So that only leaves Diego."

"And what, may I ask, made you reach such conclusion?"

"Will you deny it?" She inquired, folding her arms across her chest.

"No. I don't want to hide myself from you anymore, Victoria." He answered after a few moments of hesitation.

"Good." She replied as her surge of temper gave way to relief. "It was your father… I told him I needed to find out who Zorro is, and he told me to focus on who I'd want Zorro to be. So I did. I just can't believe it worked!"

"I still don't understand…" He confessed. "How did you know?"

"It was the new recipe for the enchiladas sauce which I only served you and your family for dinner! I added a new spice to my original recipe, which I had never used before… and that seems to make a great difference. My grandmother mentioned it in the notebook I found in the old trunk. It has a particularly aromatic smell and taste to it, one which I felt when I kissed you just now."

"Outed by spices. It's a good thing the Alcalde never thought of that!" He confessed with a smile and newly found admiration for the taverness.

"It wouldn't have worked for him, anyway! You never kiss him." Victoria replied with a chuckle. "So… I'm the woman you're in love with?" She asked.

He nodded, a sly grin on his face.

"You think I'm perfect?" She proceeded to inquire.

"To me, you most certainly are."

"You feel lost when you look into my eyes?" She wondered, as she felt like drowning into the big blue pools looking back at her.

Again he nodded. "I'm quite hopeless, you know? All I want to do every time I see you is take you into my arms and kiss your sweet lips." He confessed.

"In that case, what are you waiting for?" The young woman replied teasingly, a wicked grin on her face.

ZZZ

Diego was particularly happy the following morning as he raced his father and adopted son to the pueblo. He had not told them the reason why he was in such a good mood, but the two of them had little to do but notice the look Victoria gave him as he entered the tavern.

"You told her, didn't you?" Don Alejandro asked as they sat down and she hurriedly brought them a pitcher of lemonade.

"I did not. She tricked me, and I have you to blame for that!" Diego replied with a grin, watching her head towards the kitchen.

"Me? What did I do?" The old don asked innocently just as Mendoza nailed a poster to the tavern's terrace wall.

The three of them gazed at each other and, like everyone else, Victoria included, exited to read it.

"De Soto is issuing a full amnesty for Zorro?" The taverness wondered, glancing at Diego.

"Under the condition that he comes to the pueblo two days from now, on the King's birthday, and publicly removes his mask." Don Alejandro continued.

The tall caballero starred suspiciously at the poster, then followed his father, Felipe and Victoria inside, just as the De Soto also entered the tavern.

"Is that true, Alcalde?" Victoria hurriedly asked at seeing him. "Are you truly offering Zorro a pardon, or is that just another one of your traps to capture him?"

"It's no trap, Señorita, I assure you." De Soto replied quite convincingly. "I don't know why this… feud I understand to have had with our masked hero has gone on for so long, since, as you know, my memory is not what it used to be. However, after he helped Sergeant Mendoza, and my men told me about the many other times he helped the garrison, even saved my own life, I felt it was only just to offer him a full pardon."

"Conditioned by his agreement to unmask." Diego stated.

"Of course, Diego! I feel that, after all the man has done for this pueblo, for every one of us, he does deserve that people finally grant him – the real him - all the gratitude he is owed." The white-haired man replied.

"Then why condition the pardon by him unmasking? He could very well be allowed to choose whether or not to do so." The tall caballero insisted.

"No, no… you don't seem to understand, De la Vega! The man is a hero. I'm conditioning the pardon by him offering us the chance to celebrate him as such! Not to mention that I have every hope to convince him to help me and my men also in the future. For that to happen, it would be useful to know where to find him. Now, if you'll excuse me…" De Soto uttered, inwardly annoyed with the younger don, yet happy with his very convincing answer, as he invited five of his lancers to share his table, and surprised them all by offering to pay for their food and drinks.

Lunchtime came and went as the three De la Vegas avoided discussing the subject on everyone's mind that day. Some twenty minutes before siesta, as only five clients other than them remained, all fervently talking on the terrace, Don Alejandro decided to join them, eager to find out their opinion on the subject of the amnesty.

Seeing that Pilar headed for her home, Diego headed for the kitchen, leaving Felipe alone in the taproom after winking at the younger man as a sign that he was counting on him to keep an eye on the tavern.

"Do you need any help?" He asked the woman he loved at noticing she was washing the dishes.

"I'm just about to finish." Victoria replied with a chuckle as she took a cloth to wipe her hands. "But it's good to know you don't shy away from such chores."

"There are quite a few other chores you'll find I never shy away from, either." He answered as he leaned in to kiss her.

Soon enough, Felipe, who had taken out a book from his sash and started reading it, certain that his adoptive father would take his time in the kitchen with Victoria, heard a knife falling, and stood up somewhat worried, heading towards the colored curtains. As he pushed them aside, he rapidly retreated at seeing his father's shirtless back as he was kissing the taverness, who was sitting on her worktable, her hands roaming his back.

"We should stop." Diego uttered, as he, himself, was unwilling to do so.

"Yes, we should." Victoria confirmed as she reached again to kiss him.

"We need to get married soon." Diego proceeded to say as their lips parted again, and Victoria focused hers on his neck.

Moments later Mendoza walked through the entrance door and into the taproom.

Felipe was just returning to his table and, instinctively, tried to stop the Sergeant who was headed towards the kitchen.

"Hola, Amigo! Do you know if the Señorita has any leftovers from today's lunch, by any chance?" The lancer asked as he absent-mindedly tried to avoid Felipe by taking a step to his right. The younger man pretended to be also trying to avoid him, but chose to step left, thus, again, stopping Mendoza.

In the meanwhile, Diego and Victoria, who had heard the Sergeant's voice in the taproom, were hurriedly getting themselves presentable, the caballero reaching for his discarded shirt, putting it back on, and tucking it into his pants as Victoria was buttoning it.

The taproom dance between Felipe and Mendoza continued for a few more moments until the Sergeant got impatient and put a hand on the young man's shoulder to pin him in place as he stepped left and finally continued on his way towards the kitchen.

Felipe turned around as the lancer opened the drapes to find Victoria washing the already-clean dishes and Diego drying them with a cloth, and breathed out easier at realizing he had bought them enough time to avoid being caught.

"Oh, Sergeant!" The caballero greeted. "Just the man I wanted to see! I had promised Victoria to help with the dishes, but I now remembered I had some work I needed to do at The Guardian. Would you mind taking over for me?"

"You are just trying to get out of helping me!" Victoria protested with some fake ire. "But, I guess, the Sergeant does need to earn his extra food, doesn't he?"

"I… I'm sorry, Señorita, but my arm is broken, you see…" Mendoza replied, not even wondering why had not Diego asked Felipe to help, or why he was there in the first place. Truth be told, other things occupied his mind at the time. "I'm afraid I wouldn't be of much use to you for a while, unfortunately." He informed them, inwardly glad his arm was broken as it made for a very good excuse to get out of various tasks he didn't want to perform.

"Yes, you're right, Sergeant!" Diego conceded pretending to just then notice his friend's injury. "I see that in your state you couldn't do much here. I guess I'll have to fulfill my promise and get to the newspaper later. But, tell me, Mendoza, how was it that you've broken that arm?"

"It was an accident, Don Diego. I was riding with the Alcalde to show him around the pueblo – he doesn't remember much since he hit his head, as you know – and his horse must have gotten frightened by something because he reared and frightened my horse, just as we had reached the edge of the ravine where Zorro found me. So my horse threw me off, and I fell. When the Alcalde saw that my arm was broken, he told me to stay put and went to get help, but Zorro was faster."

"So he just left you there? Why didn't he try to help you back on your horse?"

"My horse had already run away… And the Alcalde did tell me he'd be back shortly." Mendoza confirmed. "Now, I actually came because… because the doctor told me to take good care of myself so that my arm would mend soon, and I thought an extra plate of your tamales would do wonders in speeding up my recovery, Señorita."

ZZZ

"Son… I wanted to discuss with you about this amnesty business." Don Alejandro told Diego as the three of them were riding to the hacienda that afternoon.

"It's a trap." The tall caballero simply replied. "De Soto is just faking having lost his memory. What I can't figure out, though, is why he is offering Zorro a full pardon if he remembers everything. What is he hoping to gain from doing so?"

"You realize it's rather strange to talk about yourself in the third person, don't you, Diego? Anyway… what makes you think that the Alcalde remembers everything? Earlier today he asked me if I was raising cattle or horses. He seemed to genuinely not know…"

"Oh, he's a good actor, but he slipped up several times. I used to also do that when I first became Zorro, but I was lucky enough that nobody noticed." He said, somewhat amused by the predictable frown on his father's face. "You see," he continued, "for one, he told Zorro he only remembered Diego who had been his friend in university, which is not true since we were never very close… Which, in turn, made me wonder why he would lie about that, if not to make himself seem as the kind of person who would consider me a friend, despite all the faults I pretend to have, and which have always made him dismiss my public persona as - to use his favorite word to describe me - 'useless'.

"Secondly, he told the entire pueblo that Mendoza was gravely injured and unconscious, despite the fact that he knew fully well that the Sergeant had only broken his arm, and was perfectly able to ride back with a little help at mounting his horse. There was no need for a rescue party, which meant that all he truly wanted was to have Zorro ride to the rescue. And he gave me plenty of time, since he took twice as much as he should have in getting to him, even though he knew perfectly well where Mendoza was.

"That was also another clue. He supposedly doesn't remember the territory, but was perfectly able to indicate exactly where he had left the Sergeant, for the whole pueblo to know, thus making sure that Zorro would hear about it." Diego stated.

"So you are not accepting the amnesty?" Don Alejandro wondered.

"Oh, I am. It's too good an opportunity to miss… I still wonder why he devised such a trap, though. Is he planning to capture me – which he should know would not work –, or is he trying to get rid of me another way? Perhaps that's it!

"If everyone knows who I am, my days as Zorro are over, and he practically gets to rid himself of any future threat I might pose. Then, all Ignacio needs to do is hire some thugs to attack us when we least expect it, or simply provoke me until I decide to do something that might land me in jail or worse, and he'd get his vengeance.

"Yes… That pardon might just be the most brilliant trap he has concocted to this day." Diego concluded as his father and Felipe shared an inquisitive glance before looking expectantly back at him.