is a weekly serial. While it is a work of fiction, it has elements from both my own experiences and stories I’ve heard from various people. The characters, while in some cases inspired by real people, aren’t directly modeled on anyone in particular. I expect there will be inconsistencies and factual errors. I don’t know where it is going, and I’ll probably forget where it’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\u201cYou did it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maite gave him a weak smile. But before she could respond, images of Catalina\u2019s life and death flashed through her mind. Her body shivered uncontrollably. Kepa, thinking she was cold, pulled of his jacket and wrapped it around her body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s ok,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maite pushed herself up so that she was sitting, Kepa to her side, bent over on his knees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat happened, after I got\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShot?\u201d finished Maite. She paused. \u201cNot yet. I\u2019m not ready to talk about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kepa simply nodded. He remembered how hard it had been for Maite when Donny McCowen had shot him. He assumed that she was upset about him being shot again, this time leaving her alone to find the zatia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maite stood and looked around. It had gotten dark, which puzzled her as she thought they usually returned to the same time they had left. It hadn\u2019t been quite dark when they touched the zatia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow long have I been out?\u201d she asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA couple of hours,\u201d replied Kepa. \u201cYou were breathing, but it seemed like you were in a deep sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAlmost like a coma,\u201d murmurred Garuna from deep in her mind. \u201cLike a medically induced coma. You are welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maite\u2019s blood started to boil. Her fists clenched as her face contorted in anger. \u201cWhat the hell did you do?\u201d she shrieked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kepa took a step back. \u201cI didn\u2019t\u2026\u201d he began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maite sighed, all of the anger released at once. She nearly collapsed, but Kepa rushed to her side, keeping her from falling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNot you,\u201d she said, looking up at him. \u201cThe damn AI.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou needed rest,\u201d replied Garuna. \u201cI made sure you got some. If you over tax your body, I\u2019ll die too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGreat,\u201d she muttered to herself. \u201cI\u2019ve got a built-in nanny.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maite leaned on Kepa\u2019s shoulders and looked out beyond the water. The city, Donostia, was so beautiful. The lights from the apartments facing La Concha reflected off the rippling water. She could hear the faint sounds of people in the streets, enjoying the pintxos, zuritos, and kalitxikis. A wave of jealousy washed over her. It felt like she would never enjoy another day in her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you get this post via email, the return-to address goes no where, so please write blas@buber.net<\/a> if you want to get in touch with me.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Maite opened her eyes. It was dark and for a moment she wondered if, somehow, she had messed up and this time she had truly died. But as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she started to make out a face hovering over her. It was Kepa, looking down at her and smiling. \u201cYou did […]<\/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-6582","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-1Ia","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6582","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=6582"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6583,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6582\/revisions\/6583"}],"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=6582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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