Maite looked around. This time, she was certainly back in her own time, standing at the end of the hallway in the airport in Bilbao. She looked out the window where she was greated by the rolling green mountains and the baserria speckling the hillsides. There were no throngs of people dressed in strange garb, nor massive skyscrapers surrounding her in every direction. She was home.
Kepa stood next to her, also soaking in the moment. He looked over at her and smiled. “Ongi etorri etxera,” he said.
She returned his smile. But it was immediately replaced by a frown. She hesitated a moment before whispering, “Garuna?”
A voice popped in her head, as if coming from a back corner of her mind, somewhat faint and distant. But there was no mistaking the emotionless tone that responded to her. “I am here,” it said.
Maite sighed. She had hoped that the magic of the zatia would somehow have purged Garuna from her as she traveled back in time. But, she wasn’t so lucky.
“Is it there?” asked Kepa anxiously.
Maite nodded. “It is.”
“What do we do now?” asked Kepa.
“What do you mean? We’re home now, until the next adventure,” replied Maite.
“I mean, about Garuna. You have this massive intelligence from the future in your head. Won’t that disrupt the timeline?”
“How do you mean?”
“Doesn’t it know things we aren’t supposed to know? How history unfolds? What discoveries are to be made? Even how to make nuclear fusion a reality?”
“I guess that is true.” Maite paused. “Garuna?” she asked. “Who created you?”
The flat voice popped back in her head. “I was created by…” The voice fell silent. “I cannot remember.”
“What did it say?” asked Kepa impatiently.
Maite held up a finger, indicating him to sush. “Garuna, what year was it that we just came back from?”
“It was…” Again, the voice was silent. “I cannot remember.”
Maite turned to Kepa. “Garuna has lost all memory of its own time.”
“Wow. Ok,” replied Kepa. “I guess that isn’t a concern, then.”
Maite nodded. “While the zatia didn’t erase Garuna from my mind, it did strip Garuna of all knowledge of the future. It will only know what it experiences from now going forward.”
“So, what now?” asked Kepa.
Maite smiled. “I could really use a nice warm bath and then a night out with friends.”
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