Chapter 2 – Teaching good manners

They walked into the tavern and sat at one of the empty tables at the back. From there, they could see Victoria working hard, busy like a diligent bee. It was late in the morning, around noon, and some customers were already ordering meals.

"That barmaid is pretty," Esteban said, pointing at her while she moved along the tables graciously. "Well, pretty is an understatement, a shortcoming of judgement. Stunning, I meant. I hope I get to know her well soon."

"She is Victoria Escalante, the tavern owner and a dear friend of mine, so behave yourself," Diego said, annoyed with Esteban's attitude.

"I see. She is not that kind of tavern wench then."

"She is certainly not."

"Pity."

Victoria spotted them and approached them quickly, carrying an empty tray under her armpit.

"Good morning, Don Diego," she said with a radiant smile, always happy to see her friend. "Can I get you something for you and your companion?"

"Good morning, Victoria. This is Esteban de la Vega, my cousin from Madrid. He arrived at San Pedro today. Esteban, this is señorita Victoria Escalante."

"Encantado," Esteban said, standing up to delicately take her hand to kiss it lightly.

"Nice to meet you too," she said, flattered by the gesture of the handsome caballero. "Welcome to our pueblo."

"Nice to be here in the presence of such unusual, charming beauty," he said with an enchanting smile.

"Can you get us a jar of lemonade, please?" Diego said, interrupting them shamelessly and abruptly. "It's so hot outside."

"Yes, certainly. Are you staying for lunch?"

"No, we'll return to the hacienda. My uncle Emilio is also there, so we can't stay long today."

"All right. I'll be back in a moment. I'll prepare some fresh lemonade for you." She cleared the table quickly, placing some empty glasses on her tray, and headed for the counter.

"What are you doing? I told you she is not that kind of woman," Diego whispered with a stern face after she left.

"Yes, you said that," his cousin replied also whispering. "Instead, she looks like the kind of woman who could push me into the right direction and make me want to settle, you know? I only want to know her."

"Well, be careful there. She is Zorro's girlfriend."

"Is she? Are they engaged?"

"I guess. I don't know. They've been seeing each other for a while now."

"Well, I'm not afraid of anybody, and Zorro is no exception."

"If you say so," Diego said, sighing, giving up.

They kept silent for a couple of minutes, watching Victoria coming and going. She stopped to serve wine at a table occupied by five rough-looking travelling vaqueros with equally rough manners, who were giving her a hard time.

"Look at that bunch of low-lives. Someone should teach them a lesson in polite manners," Esteban said.

"Leave it. She can take care of herself."

Diego wondered how busy Zorro would be if he had to scare off any misbehaving customers at the tavern. Thankfully, as his relationship with her was well known in the territory, most men would leave her alone, afraid of Zorro's reaction otherwise. However, he had never seen those men before, and it would not be the case today.

"Get your hands off me!" Victoria cried when one of the vaqueros tried to grab her bottom. She lifted the wine jar then and poured some of its contents over the man's head. The other four men at the table laughed out loud, but that man got angry and stood up quickly, grabbing Victoria's wrists. She dropped the jar, that shattered on the floor, splashing wine all around.

Esteban sprung up from his chair and was at Victoria's side in a flash. Diego stood up as well and followed him.

"She said "get your hands off"!" Esteban shouted, pushing the man away from Victoria.

The vaquero replied throwing a punch to his face, but Esteban was faster and dodged the fist. He replied with a hard blow that knocked the vaquero to the ground. His four friends stood up then, and attacked Esteban all at once.

Diego grabbed Victoria and pulled her away from danger. From a side, holding her in his protective arms, he realized his cousin was fighting like a professional boxer, delivering hard punches all around him, making it hard for them to get near him. He relaxed then, as Esteban didn't seem in much need of help.

"Please, Diego, do something!" Victoria cried, upset by the commotion.

Right then, one of the vaqueros managed to grab Esteban from behind, holding his arms, and another one took advantage to hit his abdomen hard a couple of times. Diego got into the fight then, pushing that man away from his cousin. Immediately, another vaquero confronted Diego, throwing wild punches at him. Diego managed to dodge a couple of blows and then he replied with a right hook, knocking his attacker out cold. Then, too late, he realized his mistake when he saw Victoria looking at him with her jaw dropped, impressed by this action.

Damn! Why did you start this stupid fight in public, Esteban? Diego thought, stopping in his tracks.

He saw another man approaching, and reverting to clumsy Diego, he let him reach him without covering himself efficiently, while Victoria was watching. As a result, he received a direct hit on his left eye, which made him drop to the ground, falling on his back on top of the spilled wine.

Brilliant. A black eye and a ruined shirt. Thanks, Esteban, he thought while staring at the ceiling, blinking in pain.

While Esteban struggled with two of the vaqueros, the man who had punched Diego drew a knife. Diego stood up then, grabbed a chair, and with a swift move he smashed it into that man's arm, taking the knife off his hand. Seemingly off balance, he fell dramatically again with his momentum, back to the puddle of wine. He had made his move in such a manner that, to the untrained eye, it looked like clumsy Diego had attacked and missed another man with the chair, only hitting the knife by chance before falling back on the floor.

Victoria looked at him with embarrassment, taking her palm to her face.

"Stop it!" an authoritarian voice said then. Alcalde Luis Ramón came into the tavern with Sergeant Mendoza and a few more soldiers in tow. "What's going on in here?"

Everybody stopped at once, and they all looked at him. The vaqueros let go of Esteban, and Diego used a table as an aid to get back on his feet unsteadily, slipping on the wine twice.

"Splendid! De la Vega in a fist fight… and I have missed it. What a pity," he said when he saw Diego stumbling with an obviously bruised, swollen eye. "And, who are you?"

"I am Don Esteban de la Vega," he said proudly, standing up straight with his head held high, but he soon slouched again, taking a hand to his bruised ribs with a painful gasp.

"Another De la Vega… what a pleasant surprise," Ramón said with his best sarcastic tone. "Señorita, can you tell me what happened here?"

"Yes. These men were extremely rude. They molested me and when Don Esteban came on my aid, they attacked him. One of them had a knife."

"Mendoza, take these men to jail. That will teach them some manners. Everyone, I want to make clear I won't tolerate that kind of behaviour in my pueblo," Ramón said looking around, addressing everybody present in the tavern, happy to save the day and play the good guy for once without Zorro's interference.

"De la Vega, go home and take care of that eye. Put a raw beef fillet or something on it before it turns blacker than coal," he said, chuckling, leaving the tavern to go back to his office.

ZZZ

After the alcalde and the soldiers left, Diego had to endure a disturbing display of affection from Victoria, who was over herself with gratitude towards Esteban, and took her time to dress his bruised ribs while Diego was left to tend for his eye by himself, without much fuss from his beloved.

"Is that all right?" Victoria asked while securing the bandage tightly. "Does it hurt?"

"A little," Esteban said, puffing, "but I'll be all right, don't worry. Thanks, Victoria."

While sitting at a table, holding the raw piece of meat against his eye, Diego could not help himself but to feel extremely jealous of his cousin. He knew such jealousy was immature, silly and unfounded, but he could not shake that feeling off easily, even less when he saw him holding her hands for a brief moment.

"It is unfortunate Doctor Hernández is out on a visit right now. You should have those ribs checked at some point. Should I leave him notice to go to visit you at the hacienda?" she said.

"No, don't worry. That won't be necessary. I am sure you did a superb job here," Esteban replied with his best smile.

Diego shifted on his chair, uncomfortable, clearing his throat then. He could not wait to get out of the tavern to get back home and change his wine-stained, stinky shirt and trousers.

ZZZ

"Diego, what happened to you? Did you fall? You got a black eye!" Don Alejandro said when they arrived at the hacienda.

"No, not exactly, no, not falling. Some men were molesting Victoria, and Esteban got us into a fight. I think I might have fallen into a fist, if anything."

"And a puddle of wine, for the looks of it," Don Alejandro said, pointing at his clothes.

"No! Already?" Emilio said, looking at his son in shock, and then enraged. "You've been in Los Angeles for less than two hours and you are already fighting? I can't believe this!"

"I had a good reason this time, Father. Those men were molesting the lovely tavern owner."

"See, Alejandro, I told you! I don't know what to do with him!"

"I've done nothing wrong, Father."

"You haven't? You got your cousin involved in a fight, and he is injured because of you, and all of this to defend the honour of a tavern wench?!" Emilio exploded. Diego and his father looked at each other, upset by these words.

"Excuse me, uncle, but Victoria is a friend of the family and you shouldn't talk about her in those terms," Diego said, serious.

"I'm sorry, Diego. You are right; I don't even know the woman. I'm too upset. I just can't believe we travelled half way around the world and nothing has changed. We are back to square one!"

ZZZZZ

A.N. – This story should take place in season 4 in the NWZ series because Victoria already has Zorro's engagement ring, but I think the crazier character Alcalde Luis Ramón would be more suitable in this story than De Soto, so allow me that inconsistency. Thanks.