Quixotina fell silent for a long moment, her eyes lost in some distant memory. The twilight began to paint the sky in orange hues, and the first chirping of crickets announced the end of the day. Carlos exchanged a worried look with Tassi.

  "You... are you okay?" he asked, softly.

  "You don't have to continue if you don't want to," Tassi added, placing a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder.

  Quixotina took a deep breath, as if emerging from deep waters, and wiped a stubborn tear with the back of her hand.

  "I'm fine. I've gotten over it, or at least learned to live with these scars. In fact, I prepared myself to tell my story today. I've been preparing since the day you killed the Boitatá." She stared at the horizon. "This is the second time I've told everything. The first was to Aqua. Anyway... let's continue."

  She closed her eyes for a moment, gathering strength.

  "The next day, I felt... dirty. Inside and out. A deep disgust for myself and for that man I called my husband. I cried until I had no tears left. My mother had always told me I would feel this way, that every woman felt this way after the first time, and that it was our divine duty to satisfy our man. So... I endured it. For weeks." Her voice cracked. "I was so consumed by sadness that I had completely forgotten about my uncle's gift. Until one day, unable to take it anymore, I went up to the highest point of the mansion. I looked out the window, at the stone courtyard below, and thought about jumping. I thought it would be the end of all that suffering."

  She paused, and Carlos could almost feel the cold on the back of her neck at that high window.

  "It was then that I remembered my uncle's words. 'Never apologize for dreaming.' That memory was like a thread of hope. I ran down the stairs, almost tripping over my own dress, and went straight to my room. Finally, I grabbed the book and started to read."

  A bitter smile appeared on her lips.

  "And, to be honest, I was deeply disappointed. That wasn't a knight's book! It was a satire, a mockery of knightly books. The protagonist was a crazy old man who fought windmills thinking they were giants! And the women... the women in the book were far more capable and smarter than any damsel in distress from the stories I loved. I hated every page... until I reached the end."

  Her gaze softened.

  "On the last page, there was a necklace. A gold necklace, with a gem of deep wine-red. And a message from my uncle, brief and direct:"

  'My dear Luíza, if you are reading this, it is because you have stopped dreaming. Don't stop. The world is at your feet. My only regrets are not being able to help you more and not having said 'yes' when you asked me if you could be a knight. I tell you now: you can. But you will have to fight hard for it. This necklace contains the Gem of Strength. You are an adept. Just channel your magic to feel your body strengthen. With it, you can defeat any dragon or monster in your path. Remember everything I taught you. And know that... some monsters wear human form. And when fighting monsters, one can fight a little dirty.'

  Quixotina then looked at Carlos and Tassi, her eyes now dry and determined.

  "And then? What do you think I did, after reading that letter and holding that necklace in my hands?"

  She didn't wait for an answer.

  "Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I put the book and the necklace away and just sat there, more confused and lost than ever. I was still a child, after all. I didn't fully understand what he meant. But... the urge to jump from that window was gone. I decided I would endure a little longer, until I figured out the answer."

  "Life went on. Besides my 'conjugal duties,' I had to accompany my husband to social events. We would leave the mansion in a carriage and travel through his duchy. The mansion was sumptuous, full of gold and tapestries, but the duchy... was a place of poverty. Thin people, wearing rags, empty eyes. They said the harvest had been bad, but in the mansion, there was so much food that it was leftover, and the excess was thrown away." She clenched her fists. "At the nobility's balls, the same hypocrisy. I remember a maid who accidentally dropped a crystal glass. It was a scandal. They yelled at her, called her filthy, useless. My husband was one of the loudest. The maid's mistress hit her with a piece of wood, right there, and everyone laughed. Laughed! They were so different from the nobles in the stories... but then again, they were exactly like my own family."

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  "That's when I understood. Finally. The nobility I saw was the real one. There were no noble and just knights. And the damsels... well, the damsels had to save themselves. Then I remembered the letter: 'monsters also assume human forms.' It all made sense. And the book too. Don Quixote wasn't a fool for dreaming, he was a hero for insisting on dreaming in a world that had forgotten dreams! He was crazy because he believed in an ideal that didn't exist, but he fought for it anyway. And that became my truth. If Quixote was mad, then I would be too. I would no longer be Luíza, a name imposed on me. I would be the knight Quixotina de La Mancha!"

  "With this new mindset, I created a plan. In my husband's room, there was a decorative suit of armor on the wall. Horrible, tasteless, with an... emphasized codpiece. But, near it, was a beautiful sword, with a Gem of Light." She closed her eyes, reliving the scene. "I waited for him to fall asleep, pretending to read. He didn't even care what I did, as long as I fulfilled my 'duty.' As soon as his snores filled the room, I took the necklace, channeled my magic, and felt a wave of power course through my body. I took the sword from the wall... and cut his throat. He didn't even make a sound."

  She opened her eyes, and there was no remorse in them, only a cold determination.

  "I felt nothing. He was a monster, and I was following my uncle's advice. Then, I screamed: 'Help! Guards!' and hid behind the door. When they entered, one by one, I cut them down from behind. It wasn't chivalrous, but I wasn't fighting knights. I was exterminating pests. I kept screaming and fighting until no guards were left in the hall. My white dress was completely red, soaked in blood. When the servants arrived, frightened, I told them, crying, that an assassin had killed everyone. They looked at me, at the dress, and didn't seem very convinced. But, at that moment, it didn't matter."

  "I could have stayed. The mansion, the wealth... it could all have been mine. But I hated that place. I hated that life. I decided to destroy it the right way. The next morning, I gathered all the servants. I asked them not to say anything to anyone. I took them to my husband's treasury, took only a handful of coins for myself, and gave all the rest to them. I ordered them to distribute all the food from the pantry to the hungry people of the duchy." Her eyes shone with a sad pride. "I had never seen such disbelief and then such joy in those people's lives. In a few days, the mansion was almost empty of provisions."

  "When there was nothing left to do, I took my things—the book, the necklace, the sword, and that disgusting armor—and prepared to leave. Some servants saw me and asked, desperately, what they would do without me. I was surprised. I thought they would be happy to be free."

  '"That is something you must decide," I said. "You have food and money. You can do whatever you want."' She paused, imitating her softer voice from that time. '"How about... you go after your dreams?"' "And then I left. And I never looked back."

  Carlos thought, stunned, Holy shit... I don't know if I'd have the same courage. What a story... Tassi, beside him, seemed to share the same sentiment, her face a mixture of horror and admiration.

  Quixotina, exhausted from the narrative, stretched, her bones cracking slightly.

  "After that, I just wanted to disappear. To go to the most distant place possible. What could be better than the New World? A place with real monsters to defeat, cannibal tribes to fight, cities of gold to discover!" She laughed, a bitter sound. "Of course, I was naive. The reality here was... different. And, to make matters worse, during the journey I discovered I was pregnant. When I arrived, I saw that this was nothing more than a place where Indians were exterminated to make way for plantation owners and their slaves."

  Her face, however, softened into a genuine smile.

  "But there was a little place where things were different. Where there were no nobles or slave masters. A place where free people fight for their own freedom. This place. As a knight, it was my duty to help in that fight. And I needed a safe home for my daughter. Of course, I later found out that nothing is so simple... even here has its contradictions. Perhaps there is no place in the world where the true ideals of nobility prevail. But this one... this is the closest I've ever found."

  "Luckily, the pregnancy was still in its early stages and I managed to arrive. At first, I wasn't well received for being white, which was to be expected. But Aqua... Aqua saw that I was pregnant, alone, and scared. She took me in. She was the first person I told my whole story to. With her help, I gave birth to my beloved Dulcinéia." Her eyes filled with intense love.

  "Ganga Zala himself coveted me for his harem, but Aqua protected me again."

  "What a story... you are a true warrior," said Tassi, her tone laden with deep respect.

  "I fully agree," Carlos chimed in, shaking his head. "In your place, I don't know what I would have done. I just know you made the right choice. That man got the end he deserved."

  He thought for a moment, then frowned.

  "Just one thing... why did you bring his armor? That... peculiar piece??"

  Quixotina puffed out her chest with pride.

  "The quality of the metal was excellent! And what knight doesn't need good armor? I asked Nia to make a few alterations, of course. I was so happy to find a female blacksmith!" Her eyes shone. "You've seen the final result. Isn't it... wonderful?"

  Carlos looked at Tassi, who bit her lip to contain a laugh.

  Ahhh, so it's that armor with the sculpted 'boobs'... that walking false advertisement. 'Wonderful' isn't the word I'd use... 'eccentric' maybe, or 'curious'...

  But, looking at Quixotina's hopeful face, illuminated by the last light of day and an unshakable faith in her own knightly dream, he didn't have the heart to tell the truth.

  "It is," he said, his voice a little hoarse. "It's truly... wonderful."