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\nMaite nodded and, taking Kepa\u2019s hand, walked down the path back toward the dock. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat was it like?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat was what like?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeing dead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI died before\u2026\u201d began Kepa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBai,\u201d Maite cut him off. \u201cBut last time, it was at the same time you touched the zatia, instantly returning us here. This time, you were dead for a while before I found the zatia. What was that like?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAh,\u201d said Kepa as he understood Maite\u2019s question. \u201cTo be honest, I\u2019m not really sure. I can\u2019t remember much from between when I was shot to when I woke up next to you. It\u2019s almost like it was instantaneous, like all of the other times. Except, I remember sort of watching over you, like it was some sort of distorted movie. It\u2019s all very hazy, like a dream that you know you had but you can\u2019t remember the details.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOr a nightmare. I can\u2019t imagine being forced to watch all of that and not being able to do anything about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m just glad you found the zatia pretty quickly. If it had taken days\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOr years,\u201d interrupted Maite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kepa nodded. \u201cOr years, it would have been hell, watching you struggle, powerless to do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maite stopped in the middle of the path and pulled Kepa\u2019s arm so that he turned to face her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe need to do everything we can to make sure we aren\u2019t left alone in one of these bubbles again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t\u2026\u201d began Kepa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maite put a finger to his lips. \u201cI know you didn\u2019t mean to get shot, and I really don\u2019t think there was anything you could have done differently. But, we need to be more cautious in the future. I got lucky this time. But, I can\u2019t do this without you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNor I without you,\u201d whispered Kepa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maite shuddered. \u201cI don\u2019t know what would happen if we both died in one of these bubbles without finding the zatia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019d have to wait until someone else did,\u201d echoed Garuna in her skull. \u201cYou\u2019d both be like ghosts, passively watching the bubble, unable to do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kepa felt Maite\u2019s hand suddenly go cold. \u201cWe need to talk to Marina,\u201d she said as she turned back to the path.<\/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":"\u201cWe should go,\u201d said Kepa, breaking Maite\u2019s somber reverie. \u201cThe last boat will be leaving soon.\u201d Maite nodded and, taking Kepa\u2019s hand, walked down the path back toward the dock. \u201cWhat was it like?\u201d she asked. \u201cWhat was what like?\u201d \u201cBeing dead.\u201d \u201cI died before\u2026\u201d began Kepa. \u201cBai,\u201d Maite cut him off. \u201cBut last time, […]<\/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-6584","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-1Ic","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6584","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=6584"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6585,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6584\/revisions\/6585"}],"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=6584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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