During the following two weeks, taking advantage of the fact that things in the pueblo were peaceful under Mendoza's command, Diego and Felipe decided to handle the one thing that they had been postponing since Zorro was first created: having a few sets of extra clothes made.

More than once had the young don been forced to ride with half-wet pants or shirt, the items not having had the chance to dry out after being washed, or having been soaked by rain. That, in turn, was not particularly beneficial to his health, as part of his disguise – that of the sickly caballero – was a little closer to the truth than he wanted to admit even to himself.

So, while Luis Ramone was telling the Governor everything about his dark-clad plight, embellishing the facts as much as he could, thus making sure Madrid would soon hear about him, Diego dyed black one of his old white training shirts, as well as a pair of white pants. Then, having told his father that he was going to San Diego to buy some books, he headed for Santa Paula, Zorro's clothes and the newly-dyed ones in his saddlebags. On the way, he used theatrical props to disguise himself, making sure nobody would recognize him, then, at arrival, took a room at the inn under the name Salvador Gilarranz.

Shortly after, he went by a hat maker and ordered two black sombreros cordobéses made. The man promised to have them ready in two days, at the most.

Then, after buying himself a sword, that night, Diego dressed as Zorro, with the difference that he used the newly-dyed clothes instead of his normal ones, and made his way towards the small settlement's only tailor. After leaving him his normal pants and shirt, he paid handsomely to have five spares of each made.

The man finished most of the required items during the following day, while wondering if he should warn the authorities about the outlaw's presence there. He didn't have the chance to, in the end, since, after Señor Gilarranz left the tavern at noon, two days after his arrival, that same evening, Zorro went for his clothes, just before they were all ready, instead of on the following morning, as established.

Satisfied with his acquisitions, the caballero returned home, where he and Felipe sewed some conchos on the hats, similar to those on Zorro's original one.

ZZZ

Alcalde Luis Ramone returned to Los Angeles about three weeks after having left the pueblo, and, for a while, things continued to be peaceful.

In fact, during the following two months, while the Alcalde was focusing on finding the treasure he hoped was hidden on his new land, Zorro only had to ride out once, in search of some bandits who had abducted a teenage caballero in the hope to get a ransom from his father. The two men barely stood a chance against the masked rider.

Having captured them at night, after marking their clothes with a Z and taking the teenager back to his parents, Zorro took the thugs to the pueblo and, noticing Ramone had not posted guards in the plaza, he made his way with them to the jail, leaving them there for Mendoza to find in the morning. The Alcalde did nothing more than send the men to San Diego for their trial and sentencing, apparently not even interested in using them for a trap to capture his nemesis.

ZZZ

Seeing how things seemed to have changed, Diego also started working more on the hacienda, helping Don Alejandro and his men on cattle drives, assisting the mares giving birth to the new foals, and training the ones old enough, actions which made his father smile at noticing he was still just as good a horseman as he had been before leaving California.

Victoria also had the chance to notice his skills one day, when she came by the hacienda and spent some time watching him train the very wild mare he had brought home some nine months earlier with Tornado and their foal. At seeing him, the taverness remembered the young caballero she had fallen in love with all those years earlier, and soon found herself flirting with her friend.

He wasn't exactly displeased with her efforts, although, since he didn't believe the Alcalde had changed or that he might be capable of changing, for that matter – not that he didn't still hope so – and was quite certain that it was only a matter of time before he'd come up with a new ill-conceived idea to exploit or harm the people, he also refused to respond to her advances as he would have, had circumstances been different.

He did, however, started going to the pueblo more often, always stopping by the tavern to see the young woman. In order to avoid letting her realize he was going there to see her, though, Diego got into the custom of having lunch with Mendoza, having already realized that the man was a good source of information when it came to Luis Ramone and his plans. Besides, he also enjoyed the lancer's own version of his encounters with Zorro, which usually made the black-clad man appear like nothing more than a fool in a costume.

While pretending to believe everything Mendoza told him, inwardly, the caballero smiled wickedly considering how he'll make the Sergeant pay for his words. After all, if he could have his amusement at Zorro's expense, after the deed was done, why wouldn't Zorro have his own fun at the expense of the man who was slowly becoming his unmasked self's unlikely best friend?

ZZZ

At the beginning of June, just as Luis Ramone was becoming frustrated with his useless search, after not finding any other clue that the treasure he was searching for might truly be on his land, a fight broke up in the tavern.

It was nothing major, just two farmers competing for the same woman in a territory where young, marriageable Señoritas were scarce. The men had gotten drunk and decided to settle which one should marry her by using their fists instead of asking her to make a decision. The two ended up arrested, and the frustrated Alcalde decided to make an example out of them by putting the two in the stocks, and leaving them to stand in the middle of the plaza, in the burning sun, announcing that they'd be there for three whole days, to serve as an example to all those misguided enough to repeat their mistake.

Diego was in the cave, reusing the black material he had once used on the glider in order to design a new kite. In fact, he was trying to replicate one of Benjamin Franklin's experiments with electricity, when Felipe came to tell him about the two farmers and their punishment. Looking at the object in his hands, the caballero smiled as he got an idea. All he needed to do was make the kite a little bigger and give it the shape of a glider, even at a smaller scale, making it just big enough to fool all those unsure of what they were looking at.

ZZZ

The two men in the stocks, seeing the consequences of their ill-conceived actions, took little time to make peace and acknowledge that, should the young woman they both liked marry one of them, it was her decision who that person should be. They were just explaining that to Mendoza, hoping he might convince the Alcalde to let them go after having already spent some five hours there, when people started pointing up.

A black-clad, winged figure was visible in the sky just outside the pueblo, seeming to be heading towards the plaza.

Luis Ramone, at noticing the commotion hurried to leave his office, and his eyes soon found the black glider and its rider, causing the man to assume that it seemed so small because it was still far away.

"Shoot him! Shoot Zorro!" He ordered the lancers, and several of the men, muskets in hands, started firing towards the sky. Moments later, the device seemed to be rapidly falling and Luis Ramone smiled wildly, certain he was just about to see Zorro crash to the ground.

"To your horses!" He ordered his lancers at noticing the object had fallen behind a hill, about half a mile from the pueblo. "Bring me his body! I want to rip off that mask myself!"

His men hurriedly obeyed and, soon enough, the entire garrison was headed that way.

Victoria and most of the people who had also witnessed the device fall feared the worst for a few moments.

"Good afternoon, Alcalde!" The official heard a familiar voice from behind him, as everyone turned to see, with more than a little relief, the black-clad man standing right behind the Alcalde, sword in hand, pointed at Luis Ramone's back. "How nice of you to send the lancers to retrieve my kite! You really shouldn't have bothered, but I guess it worked out in my favor."

"Kite!" The older man mumbled.

"Yes. Now, be so kind as to free these two men. I believe a few hours in the sun were enough to help them clear their heads. Isn't that right, Señores?" He asked.

"Si, Señor Zorro." One of the two answered.

"We've learned our lesson! We will never again fight over a woman." The other said.

"No. In fact we will always be the best of friends from now on, no matter whom she chooses!" The first one uttered.

"Good. Because it will be snowing in Los Angeles before I marry either of you!" A young woman everyone recognized to be Fernanda Alonso, the señorita the two had been fighting over, stated from the tavern's terrace, an angry look in her eyes, her hands folded across her chest.

Zorro just smiled wickedly. "As you've heard, Alcalde! They've learned their lesson, and one more on top of that: a woman can make up her own mind. Now, please be so kind as to let them go!"

Luis Ramone frowned and did as asked. "One day, Zorro, I'll see you in these stocks!" He threatened.

"And, yet, I have a strange feeling that I might just see you in them first, Alcalde!" He answered as he whistled for Tornado, and the stallion showed up from behind the tavern. "A punishment should fit the crime! Remember that, or I will make sure to remind you during our next encounter!" He uttered from the saddle, marking a Z in the Alcalde's vest.

The man stared at it, then furiously watched the black-clad outlaw make his way out of the pueblo in the direction in which his lancers had headed.

ZZZ

After separating his men into four parties, Mendoza and four of his lancers were searching the area he believe as the most probable place for Zorro to have fallen.

"It's there, Sergeant!" One of the lancers pointed towards a bush tree, and hurried to retrieve the kite.

"How can it be this? It was ten times bigger when he last used it! It barely fit inside the cuartel's gates!" Mendoza replied, scratching his head. "And this is not Zorro," he uttered with some disappointment as he was brought back the kite and he could have a better look at the straw doll dressed in black, attached to it,

"Indeed, Sergeant! I believe I am a little taller!" Zorro uttered from atop the hill.

"Zorro? I knew this was a trick!" Mendoza said, both glee and disappointment in his voice.

"You know me well, Sergeant!" The black clad man replied.

"Now, Zorro, prepare to die!" Mendoza stated, taking out his sword as his men took a few steps back, imitating his gesture with very little conviction.

"I'm disappointed, Sergeant," The masked man uttered, unsheathing his sword. "Disappointed to find out how little you and your men care about your tunics."

The lancers exchanged a glance, swallowing hard.

"The Alcalde is nowhere in sight." The masked man continued. "Consequently, he doesn't have to know you simply gave me that kite. You can say the five of you fought valiantly for it. You can even say you managed to injure me. Who will know?" Zorro stated as he approached the lancer holding his newest toy, and who chose to simply give it to him.

"You are not getting away so easy, Zorro!" The Sergeant stated as he attacked, finding himself easily disarmed and with a new Z on his tunic.

Zorro then smiled admiring his work, and put his sword back as none of Mendoza's men challenged him. "Have a good day, Señores!" He wished them as he mounted and rode off on Tornado, holding the kite with his right hand.

ZZZ

The following day, after Mendoza and his men had made sure to recount for the Alcalde how each of them managed to injure Zorro, even if just causing him some scratches, every man in the pueblo was asked to submit to an inspection.

"Alcalde," Don Alejandro said when Luis Ramone and his lancers showed up at the hacienda, interrupting their lunch with Victoria, "this is a most improper demand! You don't seriously believe that either I or my son could be Zorro?"

"You and Don Diego? That would be amusing." Luis Ramone answered slightly amused. "But two of your vaqueros, Benito Montoya and Pedro Gomez do fit his description. Since Zorro first appeared to free you and the Señorita from jail, it also stands to reason that he might be an acquaintance of yours, even an employee, perhaps."

"Alcalde, my father is a much loved and respected member of this community, as is Señorita Escalante Anyone would have a reason to help them. Besides, going by your logic, I could also be him, since I am also about as tall as he is." Diego pointed out mockingly.

His father and Victoria both chuckled at the thought.

"Don't make me laugh, De la Vega!" Ramone stated. "I am not here to waste my time."

"You already are, if you believe either Benito or Pedro is Zorro." The tall caballero replied.

"I'll judge that for myself." Ramone answered, squinting his eyes at him. "But, since I am here, how about we eliminate all suspicion about the possibility that you might be Zorro, De la Vega?"

"You're not serious, Alcalde!" Don Alejandro muttered, hands folded across his chest.

"Alcalde," Diego asked before his father said anything else, "where exactly was Zorro injured?"

"Mendoza?" Luis Ramone asked.

"Twice in the left forearm, once in the left leg, once in the right shoulder and once on the chest… he has a rather big cut there. I know, since I caused it!" The man recounted the already-established story.

"For propriety's sake, considering there's a lady present," Diego said, taking off his jacket and rolling up his left sleeve, "I can agree to you checking my arm."

No wound was visible there and, even if the Alcalde signaled for his men to roll Diego's sleeve up a little further, none was found.

"I believe that should suffice to prove my innocence?" Diego wondered.

"Your shirt." Luis Ramone asked after taking a few moments to think. "Unbutton it!"

"Alcalde!" Don Alejandro warned.

"Señorita Escalante can always choose to look away!" Luis Ramone said, dismissively.

With a resigned grimace, Diego unbuttoned his shirt to reveal there was no trace of injury on his chest. "Satisfied?" He wondered.

Luis Ramone just frowned and signaled for his men to leave as Diego buttoned up his shirt, heading for the hacienda's stables to find the more obvious Zorro suspects.

"Do you think they will find him?" Victoria worriedly asked the two men after the official and his men exited the house.

"If Mendoza says the truth and Zorro was, indeed, injured, there is a very good chance that they might find him." Diego answered. "But, knowing the Sergeant, I'm not sure we should worry for Zorro just yet." He added with a kind smile.

As he had anticipated, no injured man was found, and the Alcalde gave up his pointless search a few days later, convinced that Zorro was, most probably, someone who kept himself hidden and was not known to live in the area.

ZZZ

Several more weeks of relative calmness ensued as life went on in the pueblo. At the end of June 1812, though, as the sun had been scorching the earth unobstructed by even a drop of rain for over two months at that point, the Los Angelinos started facing a different problem than the tyrannous alcalde: drought.

Streams and fountains started drying out and the inhabitants of the area started relying more and more on the fountain in the plaza. Its source was subterranean, and, while nobody knew, at that point, where it originated, the one certainty everybody had was that it never dried out since the pueblo had first been founded and the fountain first built.

And, as it was usually the case in Los Angeles, when things seemed at their worst, one could always count on Luis Ramone to make them worse as he found the drought to be a golden opportunity for him to extort some more money from the people in the pueblo he was there to govern.

*One morning, as the De la Vega fountain finally dried out, days after all the others in the territory did the same, Diego volunteered to go to the pueblo and return with some barrels of water, enough for, at least, a day or two. Felipe went with him, certain he'd be needing his help.*

Victoria, noticing them come to the pueblo from one of the tavern's windows, hurriedly headed downstairs. Taking a pitcher and a fan Diego had sent her as a present from Spain, after looking into the mirror and arranging some stray strands of hair, she made her way to the fountain and to the back of the line of people waiting to get water, just as her friend and his ward stopped the wagon barely a few feet from her.

*"Don Diego, you've come for water too," she said instead of a greeting.

"Yes. Our well ran dry this morning." He answered, putting down a barrel he had just taken from the wagon.

"It almost makes me wish that I lived in San Francisco." She said, as she started using the fan.

"San Francisco, does, indeed, have two things we sorely lack: an abundance of water and cooler weather." The caballero replied.

"Three things. They also have a good-natured alcalde." She said with a seductive smile, looking at him.

"Yes. Unfortunately, our Alcalde is unique." He stated, pensively, glancing away from her in order to avoid staring.

Just moments later, as if invoked, Luis Ramone stomped into the plaza preceded by Mendoza and most of the other lancers, while several of his remaining men rode in from other sides, surrounding the people there, and pushing the crowd away from the fountain.

"Señor Alcalde," Victoria uttered with ire at seeing their actions, "if your men want water, they should stand in line, like the rest of us!"

"My men are not here to refresh themselves, Señorita!" He stated.

Holding up his left hand, Mendoza immediately helped his commander climb to stand on the edge of the fountain, so that everyone could see and hear him. From there, he announced his decision to decree a state of emergency for the duration of the drought, rationing consumption to one bucket of water, per person, per week - a quantity Diego couldn't help himself from declaring "ridiculous" -, and imposing a fee for any additional resources people needed.

Seeing how everyone was thirsty, certainly against such an absurd idea clearly aimed at extorting them, and, most worryingly, prone to act before properly weighing the consequences of their actions, Diego tried to appease the spirits by calmly warning the Alcalde that he had gone too far and, should he persist in his ill-conceived decision to tax the water, he'd have an uprising on his hands. Several minutes later, he was escorted to jail, and Felipe was driving the wagon back to the hacienda to get Don Alejandro.

The day was a win for the people. After a small rebellion following Diego's arrest, in which the lancers and the Alcalde found themselves targeted with enough vegetables to make salads for the entire garrison, Don Alejandro managed to get Luis Ramon to back down. Mendoza freed his friend before his commander returned, hoping he might forget that he had even given the arrest order – an expectation which proved to be a correct.

As Diego realized, though, Luis Ramone did not sit idly by after being defied in such a manner. Instead, he sent Mendoza to collect all the taxes due by those late with their payments, an action Diego had anticipated. What he didn't anticipate was that a small prank on his lancer friend would end up with the man discovering the source of the pueblo fountain's water. He also didn't anticipate that said source was right on the border of the Alcalde's new lands.

After Mendoza told the official about his discovery, not even suspecting how the man might use that information, Luis Ramon had the lancers block the water flow,*thinking it was a great opportunity to both use the lancers to dig the land (in the hope they might just stumble upon the treasure) while pretending to be building a road, and to get money from the people.

ZZZ

"Diego!" Don Alejandro called a few days later, after returning from the pueblo at seeing his son stable Esperanza.

"Yes, Father!" The young man answered as he put down the brush, and wiped his hands on a stable cloth, heading for the old caballero.

"I've just returned from the pueblo, and you won't believe what happened!" The older man said as he handed the reins to his mare to the stable hand. "The water source feeding the plaza's fountain dried up!"

"Without the water in the plaza, the pueblo will not survive." Diego replied, dumbfounded.

"Well… There is one water source still remaining… unlikely as that seems." The older man said. Diego tilted his head expectantly. "A source on the Alcalde's land, if you can believe it!"

"That land is dry for most of the year…" Diego replied.

"That's what I told Victoria. Somehow, during a drought, though, it contains the last water resource in the territory. I think you should get a few barrels, and go at once to get more water. With this drought, who knows how long that source will still be available? At least he offers it for free!" As the older man turned around and headed for the house, Diego remained watching him, certain something was afoot.

*"The only thing the Alcalde ever gave away for nothing was his lash." Diego told Felipe as he and the young man were driving a wagon towards Luis Ramone's land a little while later.

His suspicions proved grounded. The water was, indeed free, for everyone to take as they needed. However, getting to it could only be done by paying a tax.*

Since not even Zorro could ethically oppose a tax imposed to cross through someone's private lands, Diego spent the rest of the day studying several maps of the pueblo and the nearby lands, then devised a small test.

The four years he had spent learning chemistry at the university came handy when, *at testing the water samples from the plaza fountain and the source on the Alcalde's lands, both samples proved to have the same origin, thus confirming his suspicion that their source was one and the same.

The following day, after devising a plan with Felipe to distract the lancers for long enough to set out the explosives, he spent barely a few minutes defeating Mendoza's men, who, by that point, had very little will left to fight the masked outlaw, then made his exit after marking Mendoza's tunic and making sure the water would resume its flow.*

ZZZ

"Buenas tardes, Señorita!" Zorro greeted Victoria as he arrived at the pueblo to see her prepare her wagon.

"Zorro?" She exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"I bring good news." He told her. "As it turns out, the water source feeding the plaza's fountain has not dried out, only just encountered a temporary obstacle. Since that obstacle has now been removed, there is no more need for anyone to go in search of water on the Alcalde's land."

"I was just about to do exactly that." She confessed with a relieved smile. "That obstacle you mentioned… it wasn't the Alcalde's doing by any chance, was it?"

Zorro tilted his head in confirmation, a sly smile on his lips as he parted with an 'Adios!'

Victoria watched him head towards the back of the church – where he waited to make sure the fountain restarted working – then hurried to give the good news to everyone else in the pueblo.

*Luis Ramone exited his office at hearing the people gathering around the fountain, and immediately reminded them that the only water source in the territory was on his land. He hadn't even managed to utter the last of those words when the fountain stated working again, leaving him dumbfounded.

"It's a miracle!" Victoria mocked him. "A miracle by the name of Zorro."

Just as she said that, looking towards the pueblo's gates, the Alcalde frowned at seeing the black-clad rider, saluting before making his exit.

Mendoza and his men returned about an hour later, and recounted for his commander how the masked outlaw had managed to, once again, outsmart them.

By the time Diego returned to the pueblo, this time in his caballero clothes, he saw the Sergeant standing in the middle of the plaza, in the scorching heat, sweat falling all over his face. Asking Victoria what had happened, he soon found out that it was thus how the Alcalde had punished his lancer for allowing himself to be, once again, duped by Zorro.

The caballero smiled pondering how even the weather seemed to be against Luis Ramone, as he had already noticed the rain clouds gathering above the pueblo and the surrounding area, signaling that the drought was, at least for a while, over.

However, out of friendship for Mendoza and feeling partly responsible for what the man had to endure, he did also resolved to take to him a glass of cold water, just to offer him a little relief until the rain would finally come.

*"Mendoza!" They heard the Alcalde call just as the Sergeant had taken the water, and the good man dropped the glass before he had the chance to drink even a sip. Luis Ramone's order for him to put the water down was not even necessary at that point.

Just as the Alcalde was heading their way, chiding Diego for interfering with the running of his garrison, the caballero felt a couple of raindrops falling on his face and inwardly smiled.

"Sergeant, don't worry! In a moment you'll have all the relief you need." The young don uttered with a smile, after denying any interference.

"I gave order that there shall be no relief for Mendoza" The Alcalde contradicted him, just as Diego was hurriedly making his way towards the tavern's terrace.

"Even your orders may be countermanded by a higher authority!" Diego pointed out as he did a 360 degree turn, stopping for barely long enough to face the older man before continuing towards the terrace.

"There is no higher authority! I am the Alcalde! I am the supreme authority!" Luis Ramone shouted at Diego just seconds before the rumble of a thunder was heard. Another thunder and a flash followed, then the rain started falling, drenching everyone in the plaza in a matter of seconds.

"Almost, Alcalde," Diego said from under the terrace, just for himself, "but not quite that supreme."

A resigned look on his face, Ramone slowly made his way towards his office. Diego glanced with amusement towards him and Mendoza one more time before making his way inside the tavern, while the Sergeant grinned delighted with the coolness brought on by the rain.*

Later that afternoon, after having to face the wrath of the dons and farmers alike, Luis Ramone had to promise to use the money he had gathered from the people being forced to cross his land in order to find new water sources for the pueblo. By then, over half of the crops planted that spring had already died, so everyone agreed that a better solution for the future was needed if the pueblo was to survive and prosper, so that promise served to appease the people. With a little push from Zorro, the Alcalde even kept his promise, soon ordering a geology report.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

AN: Excerpts in this chapter are from the episode "Water" written by Ron Friedman.