AN: In my defense, I did feel the need for this extra chapter, as well. So here's another 100% original one. I hope you enjoy it and promise to return to the episodes you know in the next installment.

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"Felipe!" Diego greeted and embraced his ward upon his return. "What is the news from the pueblo?"

The boy signed that everything was peaceful, and there was no trouble during the time they had been away, then asked how the wedding went.

"It was splendid!" Don Alejandro answered. "My cousin knows how to throw a party, and Diego will tell you all about it later. Right now, I am famished, and my son has a promise to keep and a secret to tell me."

The boy looked worriedly towards the De la Vega heir, who slightly shook his head to indicate that it was not THAT secret he had promised to tell his father.

"Indeed," Diego answered, wondering how to distract the older man from discussing a topic he was not yet truly ready to open. "Has the mail arrived by any chance while we were away?" He wondered and the boy nodded, then hurried towards the desk, bringing back several letters. "No book?"

"Are you expecting something?" His father inquired.

"Yes. A biography of Haydn by Albert Christoph Dies, which I had ordered months ago. It should arrive any day now. In fact, I was hoping it was already here."

"Oh, Diego!" The elderly caballero uttered. "You and your books!"

"Well, I have read everything we have in the library. I do need new ones to keep my mind busy." The younger man answered with a smile. "Oh… There's a letter from Grandfather." He uttered after checking the correspondence, immediately starting to open the envelope.

"There will be time for that later!" Don Alejandro interrupted as he sat at the table.

His son took a deep breath, realizing he could not derail the conversation once his father was set on a subject, and sat in his usual place. "Very well, Father, but please know that I want this conversation to permanently remain between us. I have no wish for anyone else in the pueblo to find out about my misjudgment. I'd be too embarrassed." He answered.

"Nobody will learn anything from me, Son! You can be certain of that. But, as your father, I believe I have the right to know."

Diego sighed before starting his story. "The young woman's name was Zafira. She was the sister of a friend and colleague of mine, Ricardo de Los Rios, who I might have mentioned in some of my letters to you."

The older man nodded. "Yes, you did mention him. Son of a merchant, if I remember correctly. Aspiring writer."

"He is a great writer… We co-authored several plays while we were in the theatre group together, and I must say he is extremely talented. He could become one of Spain's greatest writers if..." The young man paused for a few moments to wonder whether his friend was even alive anymore. "Ricardo brought his sister with him to Madrid after their father's death during a battle with the French." He continued. "She was barely 18, yet already very beautiful, well educated, vulnerable and strong at the same time. In some ways, I think she reminded me of Mother. Same spirit, same look in her eyes… at least when she looked at me." He said with a sad smile.

"Shortly after our first semester ended, Ricardo decided to join the rebels, leaving a letter for my friends and me in which he was asking us to look after his sister, informing us that, should any of us want to marry Zafira, should she agree to the match, he'd certainly consent.

"Since she already seemed interested in me, my friends encouraged me to court her and, to be fair, it took me a very short time to develop very deep feelings for her. When I decided to propose we were, together with the university's theatre group, at the estate of one of Grandfather's friends. It was a sunny morning I still remember, and I was more than a little nervous. I went by her room to find that she wasn't there. Since patience was not one of my virtues at the time, I wrote a note and slipped it under her door, mentioning that, should she feel as I did, I'd want nothing better than to make her my wife, yet urging her to consider that accepting a marriage proposal from me meant leaving everything and everyone she knew behind to accompany me to California."

"And she wasn't ready to do so?" His father wondered.

"I believe not, although she came to tell me that she accepted and wanted to become my wife that very day. I was reluctant at first, considering I could hardly imagine you not being there, at my wedding. But I was afraid she might change her mind if I tried to persuade her to wait, so I gave in. We agreed to meet later at the church in Colmenar, which was just a couple of miles away, and marry on the spot. I went ahead to talk to the padre about a special marriage license… but she never showed up. When I returned to the hacienda, I found out that she had left in a hurry that afternoon, taking all her possessions with her. I never heard from her after that, and left Madrid just a few weeks later to return home."

"I'm so sorry, Son!" Don Alejandro uttered, getting up to fill a glass of wine and taking it to Diego. "Your mother, God bless her heart," he said as he returned to his end of the table, "once told me that it took far more than a couple of months to truly know someone, and what you feel for that person. I believe she was right. It may take years to truly know a woman, and deciding whom you should spend your entire life with is one of the most important decisions a man can ever make."

His son smiled, remembering that his father was about to marry a complete stranger, who turned out to be a crook, just six months earlier.

"Oh… I know, I know!" The don stated as he sat down, gesturing to the younger man, and Diego briefly wondered if he could read his mind. "I am the last one who should talk after I almost married that young woman! But I have years left, a decade if I am lucky. You have your entire life ahead of you!"

"You are not that old, Father! You really shouldn't speak like that." His son pointed out.

"I'm certainly no longer young, Diego…" The caballero replied, then noticed his son pushing away the wine glass. "Why aren't you drinking, by the way? You used to like wine before leaving for Madrid. Is there also a story behind your current aversion to it?"

"There is, indeed, Father! One ending with a duel which almost claimed my life." He answered.

"Well, you should have certainly known better! Your skill with the sword is appalling!" The don answered.

"It certainly felt that way on the night in question. I was lucky, though. My adversary chose to become my friend rather than claim my life." He replied, slightly changing the truth as he had been the one to decide against claiming Daniel's life the night they met. "However, I have certainly learned my lesson, and don't intend to repeat the experience." He continued.

The old don nodded as he finished his glass.

"Diego… I know I gave you permission to marry before you went to Spain," he said as a conclusion, "but I am glad you didn't marry while there, to be honest. And even happier you have returned in one piece. I might dislike your tendency to study, paint and play music as much as you do. I certainly don't understand your experiments. But I much prefer you doing that with your time than spending it on vices, like other young men your age. However, I do feel you should challenge yourself from time to time, act just a little reckless on occasion… Prove yourself!"

"Who should I prove myself to, Father?" The tall caballero inquired with a smile as they were both finishing their dinner.

"To yourself…" his father replied, "to the pueblo's señoritas…"

"Father… you've just listened to me recount how Zafira broke my heart. It is not mended yet, you know…"

"Oh… I also had my heart broken once, when I was slightly younger than you are now. A young woman I had known my entire life, and who left me to explore the world instead. But then, I met your mother, and I realized I couldn't have been happier with anyone else." He replied.

"Yet you were not left standing at the altar, as I was, never to understand why the woman you loved went away without even a word of goodbye." Diego pointed out, and his father agreed with a nod which expressed something completely different than his son believed, as the elderly caballero had no intention of just letting go of the subject without doing anything about it. "Now may I read my letters?"

"Only if you tell me what they say!" The older man joked as he also opened a letter he received from his relatives in Guadalajara.

They read in silence for a few moments and their ward came to bring them their desserts and refill their water glasses.

"Why don't you sit down with us, Felipe?" Diego inquired. "We've finished our private discussion, so get a piece of pie for yourself and join us! Oh… And can you ask Maria to make some coffee?"

The boy nodded and, minutes later, returned with a plate on which the cook had put a big piece of pie, double that she had sent for her employers, and dug in as soon as he sat down.

The De la Vegas exchanged an amused glance after watching him, and continued reading.

"What does your grandfather say?" Don Alejandro asked after a while.

"Well, he says the war has been taking its toll and the country is severely affected by the lack of food supplies. They are doing fine, but the estate has had a very low production the past year, the French troops took almost everything, so there's not enough left, and he doesn't know how they will manage." Diego answered, after which he checked the envelope and smiled.

"That is concerning!" His father uttered, preoccupied.

"Not as concerning as you might think." The young man answered.

"What do you mean? Your mother's family might be going hungry! How is that not worrying you?"

"I am worried, Father. About all those I love and left in Spain while a war was still going on. But this letter is not worrisome as such, because it's just a decoy." Diego explained. "The markings on the envelope indicate that it has been opened before reaching me. The French started checking the mail to the colonies a couple of years ago, to make sure no troops are being called home to help vanquish them, find out what nobles conspire behind their backs, make sure no gold is sent away, etc. Sometimes, the mail wagons are intercepted by the Spanish troops, which also check the letters, occasionally destroying them, but usually, in an effort to find out what nobles are still faithful to the Monarchy. Grandfather knows that very well.

"What this letter truly tells me is that he has hidden away most of the provisions, and wants the French to be convinced the farm just didn't produce much. He told me of such a plan a couple of years ago, after he first made the deal with Joseph Bonaparte. The way he refers to the French 'taking' the food, also indicates that he expects Madrid to be retaken by the Spanish troops soon enough, and the King to be returned to the throne."

"If that is so, Diego, why write to you with such false news?"

"Because he knows I am perfectly aware of how to interpret it, and he needed to fool the French into making them believe he truly doesn't have more supplies."

His father nodded. "He's an old fox, your grandfather!" He exclaimed, causing Diego to exchange an amused glance with Felipe.

"What does my Aunt say?" Diego then asked him, trying to avoid letting him think too much at what he'd just said.

"She and her daughters, together with their families were finally able to return home at the end of last year. They found the property in a sorry state as the revolutionaries made sure to burn down the house after taking everything of value. But they started rebuilding and give thanks for having made it out just in time. Many of their friends and acquaintances, women and children included, had been executed when Hidalgo and his men took the town."*

Diego said nothing but exchanged a sad glance with Felipe.

"At least that murderer is dead now! What sort of a padre leads an army to cause a massacre?" Don Alejandro stated, enraged.

"I wouldn't count on the revolution being over, though, Father! From what I hear, some of Hidalgo's men have eluded capture, and will be continuing the fight. Win or die… there's no other option for them." He answered.

"You don't think it will spread to California, do you?"

"It's hard to say. The situation is complicated, but California is a newly settled land. There are still very few people here and the situation is different than in the rest of New Spain. The Indians are more numerous than the settlers, and they no longer seem interested in rebellion. And, as long as they will be treated fairly, they won't be, and they won't let themselves be manipulated by others seeking land and power for themselves." Diego uttered. "But we must be prepared even for such a scenario, just as we must be prepared that Spain might not be ruling the colonies for much longer."

His father nodded. "If Independence is proclaimed at some point, we might lose everything we own. Everything my father and grandfather built with their own hands!"

"Let's hope that doesn't happen," Diego answered with a smile. "We belong to this land as much as it belongs to us. I can't imagine living anywhere else."

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Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, as Diego had guessed, the De Laras were, indeed, doing well, and their patriarch's strategy bore fruit. Inspired by the stories about Los Angeles' masked avenger which they had read in Don Alejandro's letters to them, the Count's sons were riding at night, wearing black hoods and masks covering the bottom half of their faces, leaving baskets of supplies anonymously to those most affected by the famine. Once or twice, they made narrow escapes when French troops tried to stop them, but things begun to improve when the Spanish retook Madrid, in August of 1812.

Señor Mateo and his wife had left Spain just a few weeks before Diego, the young caballero's former tutor having accepted a position in Havana. The couple was more than happy to find themselves living in what, at the time, seemed like a paradisiac place. There, in June of 1812, they welcomed their first child, a daughter, which was followed in the years to come by three sons.

After graduating, Emmanuel Dos Santos decided to follow in his father's footsteps, and join the fight to free his country. He soon rose through the ranks, thanks to his brilliant mind, swordsmanship, loyalty and courage. Diego barely received a couple of letters from him since they had parted, and had, thus far, replied to neither since his friend warned him against it, especially considering he was moving a lot with the troops fighting in Catalonia, and their letters were many times intercepted.

As for their other friends, Armando Martinez, joined his father's practice, training to become a lawyer, while Javier Montero Esquiver left Spain soon after graduation, and returned to North Africa.

Finally, Ricardo died around the time Diego left Madrid. Unbeknownst to his friends, he had succumbed to a bullet injury he had received during a battle with the French, while he and the rebel group he had joined were trying to liberate Segovia. His sister had done her best to help him, keeping vigil at his bedside day and night, and telling him all that had happened to her since he had left. Ricardo died peacefully, relieved at the thought that his only sibling would end up marrying one of his closest friends, and have a happy life by his side.

Instead, as the town came under siege, Zafira was forced to remain in Segovia. The leader of the rebel group her brother had joined, a young man called Joaquin Correna, did his best to protect her and put her talents as a nurse to a good use. Then, just as soon as they were able to leave the town, together with some of his men, he accompanied her to Madrid, where she first headed to the university, searching for the tall caballero she still loved.

Correna, who, by that time, was already in love with her, was also the one who consoled Zafira when she found out that the young Californiano had neither waited for her, nor left her any message, leaving Spain before the end of his last semester.

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After making sure his 'mother' was safe and had all she needed to survive and remain well hidden, should the French come for her, Gilberto Risendo, born De la Vega, together with his men, switched sides during the siege of Segovia. They, thus, joined the Spanish troops, bringing with them useful information about the town's defense. They also fought bravely, proving themselves of great value to their new commander.

As soon as the siege was over, Gilberto, himself, gave the order for the execution of the remaining French soldiers, and insisted on pulling the lever when the time came for his former commander to die. He did so cursing Gilberto's name, and promising the traitor that he'd burn in hell.

As a sign of gratitude for their efforts and help defeating the occupying forces, the Spanish commander who had led the siege accepted Correna and his men into his ranks. United by a deep-rooted hate for the invaders, Joaquin and Gilberto got along rather well for a while. That lasted until, almost a year later, during the battle for Madrid, the former rebel turned army lieutenant accidentally witnessed Risendo and Hidalgo mercilessly killing a teenager after he had accused them of having murdered his family in order to steal their food for the French.

When Joaquin confronted him, he found himself pierced by Gilberto's sword and left for dead.

It was by mere chance that Zafira and two of his men found him in time and nursed him back to health. By the time he recovered, though, the man who had almost killed him already had enough influence with the generals to be considered untouchable. Furthermore, since he had disappeared during the battle, then turned out alive and well, all Risendo needed to do was to tell his commander that he had seen the Lieutenant and several of his men run away during the battle. Joaquin and his friends were declared deserters.

After having sacrificed themselves and their friends to the cause of independence, they now found themselves condemned to death by the very people they had fought with and who chose to believe the words of a traitor. Correna had no intention of becoming a victim, though.

That was how, about the same time Diego was returning from Rafael's wedding in Santa Barbara, Joaquin, several of his men who had decided to remain loyal to him, and Zafira, were leaving the old world behind aboard a transatlantic ship destined for Veracruz.

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"Sebastian!" Don Alejandro greeted his friend at seeing him, a couple of days later at the tavern.

"Don Sebastian!" His son also greeted the caballero, although his attention was on one of the nearby tables, where some rough-looking men seemed to be overdoing it with the tequila.

"Hola, Alejandro! Diego! How good of you to join me!" The man replied, folding a letter he was just reading, as the older don sat down.

"If you'll excuse me," the younger caballero uttered, "I just remembered that I left one of my experiments unsupervised. I need to return home at once or risk making the hacienda unlivable for a few days."

"Well… Go, then! And in the future, make sure you check on your experiments before leaving!" His father replied.

"Señorita, another glass, por favor!" Don Sebastian addressed Alicia as soon as he and his friend were alone, and the young woman hurriedly obeyed. "Señorita Escalante bought some very fine wine this year, don't you think so, my friend?" The man asked at pouring some of the red liquid for his friend.

"What? Yes…" Don Alejandro answered. "Have I interrupted anything?" He wondered, pointing towards the envelope still on the table.

"Oh, no, my friend! I just received a letter from my sister, Clara, who lives in Monterey. She and her daughter will be stopping by my hacienda on their way to Mexico City in a couple of weeks."

"Her daughter… The one you mentioned before… Rosa, I believe…" The elderly caballero uttered as his wheels started turning.

"Rosita. Indeed." The other don confirmed.

"So… She hasn't married yet?"

"No. Not yet. My sister mentioned that several caballeros had tried their hand at courting her, but her standards are, apparently, quite high." Don Sebastian answered.

"And… You said she was beautiful? Intelligent? Accomplished?"

"My friend, I haven't seen her in at least five years, but, according to her mother, she's the most accomplished young woman in Monterey, and a beauty without equal." The don answered. "But what is the reason for your sudden interest in my niece?"

"Oh… Diego." The don muttered.

"You want to marry off your son? Well, then… I would like nothing better than to become related, Alejandro, but Diego hardly seems interested in anything beyond his books and art."

"And those experiments of his… She does like art... Your niece..."

"Of course, she does! What young woman doesn't? In fact, from what I hear, she is a very talented painter. Might even rival your son."

"Indeed… So… You say she will come to Los Angeles soon?" Don Alejandro asked.

"Yes. According to Clara's letter, they will be here…" the man uttered pulling out his letter and opening to check the date "on the 28th."

"Perfect! Then it will be my honor to organize a party at the hacienda in their honor. It has been so long since I've seen your sister that I barely even remember her. It will provide a good excuse…"

"For the two young people to get to know each other…" Don Sebastian continued, and his friend raised his glass with a sly smile.

"Let go of me!" They suddenly heard Victoria's voice.

The two dons turned to see a well-built, rough-looking man trying to force the young woman to sit on his lap, while another man sitting at his table was trying to do the same to Alicia.

Don Alejandro immediately stood up and tried to defend the young women. "Let go of them! This establishment is not like others you might be used to. These Señoritas are decent women." He uttered as he neared the group.

"Really? And if we refuse to let them go, what will you do about it, old man?" The thug asked as he took out his knife and pointed it at the caballero.

"Don Alejandro!" The taverness uttered, scared for her protector.

"I'd suggest you put that knife down before you injure yourself with it!" A commanding voice was heard, and everyone looked up to see Zorro standing, arms folded across his chest, on the balcony.

"You must be that outlaw everyone's talking about!" The thug holding Victoria said as he pushed her away and stood up, eyes fixed on the black-clad man. His companions did the same, and Alicia took her chance to get away from them. "I hear your corpse will fetch me a good bounty!"

"I fear, Señor, you'll have to wait for a very long time if you want to see my corpse. Too bad you don't have that much left." As he said that, Zorro jumped to suspend himself by the candelabra and landed just behind the group.

Sword in his right hand, he then proceeded to disarm and incapacitate the thugs, ruining a table in the process – which was smashed to pieces when one of the rascals landed straight on it after receiving a punch from the masked man, who then proceeded to carve a Z on his bottom – and several plates – which Zorro used to throw at two of his adversaries' heads in order to knock them out.

"Give up or I kill her!" The last thug standing threatened as he grabbed a young woman who had made the mistake of not getting away in time, holding his knife to her throat.

Zorro smiled and lowered his weapon as he saw his father right behind the man. Soon enough the thug fell to the ground, unconscious, in a red puddle.

"Such a loss of good wine!" The masked man uttered as he smiled at Don Alejandro, and the crowd cheered for them both. "I am sorry about your table, Señorita." He then turned to tell Victoria. "I promise to make up for it."

"There's no need, Señor Zorro! It's just a table. If it hadn't been for you, who knows what might have happened!" She answered.

Hearing the lancers outside, the masked man took her hand to kiss it, then saluted before making his way up and through one of the rooms before Mendoza and his men arrived.

"Are you alright, Victoria?" The don asked as she was still looking at the door through which her hero had disappeared.

"I don't know how he does it, but he's always here when I need him!" She told him, a dreamy expression on her face.

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*Just a short note to mention that Padre Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla was a real historical figure who started the War for Mexican Independence in September 1810, recognized today as a father of the nation. He also led an army of some 90,000 civilians who attacked and killed both Spanish Penisnsularea and Criollo elites, many of them innocents who were never given a trial, nor shown any mercy. On the other hand, he also decided against attacking the Capital despite knowing his men would be able to take it (a decision which ended up costing him his life, but spared those of the people living in the most populated city of New Spain). He ended up captured, tortured and executed on July 30th, 1811.