{"id":6310,"date":"2023-05-11T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-11T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/?p=6310"},"modified":"2023-05-10T22:28:50","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T22:28:50","slug":"the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-151","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2023\/05\/11\/the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-151\/","title":{"rendered":"The Adventures of Maite and Kepa: Part 151"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>While Kepa half expected a group of thugs or French soldiers to be waiting for them, the building was abandoned, just as Josean had promised. He reached down to help Maite up before really surveying the room. They seemed to have found themselves in a small apartment, which at one time must have been quite elegant but now had fallen to ruin. It wasn\u2019t so much that the decor had been destroyed, it simply had been neglected for a very long time. The furniture still stood where the past owners had placed it, but now it was covered in dirt and cobwebs. Paintings of regal figures stared down at them through their grime covered surfaces. Kepa couldn\u2019t help but feel judged by those icy stares. Light spilled in from high windows that prevented passersby from seeing inside but fully illuminated the room.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/maite-and-kepa-v3b.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4558\" width=\"277\" height=\"387\" srcset=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/maite-and-kepa-v3b.png 369w, https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/maite-and-kepa-v3b-215x300.png 215w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 277px) 100vw, 277px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Adventures of Maite and Kepa<em> is a weekly serial. While it is a work of fiction, it has elements from both my own experiences and stories I&#8217;ve heard from various people. The characters, while in some cases inspired by real people, aren&#8217;t directly modeled on anyone in particular. I expect there will be inconsistencies and factual errors. I don&#8217;t know where it is going, and I&#8217;ll probably forget where it&#8217;s been. Why am I doing this? To give me an excuse and a deadline for some creative writing and because I thought people might enjoy it. Gozatu!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>As he looked around, Kepa noticed some faint footprints on the dusty floor.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been a while since anyone used this place,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maite nodded. \u201cI guess hardly anyone knows about this place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kepa and Maite continued to explore. In addition to the living space they had crawled in, the apartment had a small bedroom and dining area, but little else.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI guess if it were too big, people would have noticed,\u201d said Kepa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHard to hide a mansion in the middle of town,\u201d replied Maite with a smile.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kepa pulled a blanket that covered one of the chairs, waiving to Maite to sit while he brushed the dust off another before collapsing himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhy does it seem that each of these bubbles becomes increasingly more challenging?\u201d he asked with a sigh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maite shrugged. \u201cWho knows. Maybe we just have bad luck.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDo you think Marina is here?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEz dakit. But I\u2019m not sure I want to run into her if she is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kepa nodded absently. \u201cAgreed. She is starting to become a wild card herself.\u201d He futily looked around the room as if hoping to find the zatia right in front of him. Dejected, he slumped deeper into his chair. \u201cWhat now? How do we find this stupid thing?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maite heard the familiar voice rumble in the back of her head. \u201cDo the zatia not have affinity to one another?\u201d asked Garuna, almost rhetorically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maite sat up, suddenly alert. \u201cGaruna just gave me an idea\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI almost forgot we had a third wheel,\u201d interjected Kepa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maite ignored him. \u201cHold out your hand,\u201d she continued, \u201clike this.\u201d She held out her hand in front of her, palm up. Kepa reluctantly mimicked her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNow think about the zatia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kepa closed his eyes, focused his thoughts on the zatia. For a moment, nothing happened. He thought he felt a slight tug when he was interrupted by Maite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere!\u201d she exclaimed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kepa opened his eyes. Maite had stood and her arm was pointing in the direction Kepa had felt the tug. Maite turned to Kepa, her eyes wide with excitement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think we know where to go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>If you get this post via email, the return-to address goes no where, so please write <a href=\"mailto:blas@buber.net\">blas@buber.net<\/a> if you want to get in touch with me.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While Kepa half expected a group of thugs or French soldiers to be waiting for them, the building was abandoned, just as Josean had promised. He reached down to help Maite up before really surveying the room. They seemed to have found themselves in a small apartment, which at one time must have been quite [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2640,864],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa","category-bubers-basque-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/maite-and-kepa-v2-01.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2sYNu-1DM","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6310"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6311,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6310\/revisions\/6311"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}