{"id":6812,"date":"2023-11-29T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/?p=6812"},"modified":"2023-11-29T01:19:48","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T01:19:48","slug":"the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-173","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2023\/11\/29\/the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-173\/","title":{"rendered":"The Adventures of Maite and Kepa: Part 173"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sorry for the silence. I was on work travel and then I caught COVID just in time for the holiday. Feeling much better now and finally testing negative. Stay safe and healthy, everyone.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell,\u201d said Maite as she climbed back into the car, \u201cthat was a bust.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
The Adventures of Maite and Kepa 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

\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d replied Kepa as he pulled the car out onto the road. \u201cWe learned that these symbols are related to ancient Basque beliefs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo?\u201d asked Maite exasperated. \u201cHow does that help us?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa shrugged sheepishly, feeling slightly reprimanded. \u201cI\u2019m not sure, not yet. But it\u2019s more than we knew before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite nodded. \u201cThat\u2019s true.\u201d After a moment\u2019s silence, she added \u201cSorry for snapping at you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa let out a sigh of relief. \u201cNo worries. This is frustrating for both of us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the zatiak – the magic of these witches – is related to Basque mythology, what does that mean?\u201d asked Maite rhetorically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat the Basque gods were real?\u201d ventured Kepa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite shook her head. \u201cNot necessarily. I do admit that there are things beyond our understanding here, but I\u2019m not ready to recognize the existence of prehistoric gods.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDoes Garuna have any theories?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t bothered to ask it, to be honest,\u201d replied Maite. \u201cBut, it can\u2019t hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa watched as Maite laid her head back, having what he must imagine was one of the strangest internal dialogues any person has ever had. He just wished he was privy to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo,\u201d asked Maite in her thoughts. \u201cWhat does this mean? This symbol of Amalur and her daughters?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garuna rumbled from the depths of her mind. \u201cI find it somewhat insulting that you only want to talk when you need something.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy else would I talk to you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo I can learn more about your time and the world around us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo you can take it over?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a silence before Garuna finally responded. \u201cI don\u2019t know what the symbols mean. The ancient Basque gods are nothing more than myth. I have never seen any evidence that they are more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat about the zatiak? Might they not be evidence?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are evidence of something. But what, I cannot say. They are beyond my experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey were. But now they are an intimate part of your experience. They are why you are here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat is true. But I have not had the ability to really analyze them. One sample does not make for a representative set.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI guess we\u2019ll have to find more for you to analyze then.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat would be\u2026 desirable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite sighed. She feared what Garuna would do with the power of the zatiak or, worse, with her body holding that power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She shook her head, as if waking from a deep sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got nothing,\u201d she said aloud as she turned to Kepa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell,\u201d he replied. \u201cI guess we file this one away until we can learn more.\u201d<\/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":"

Sorry for the silence. I was on work travel and then I caught COVID just in time for the holiday. Feeling much better now and finally testing negative. Stay safe and healthy, everyone. \u201cWell,\u201d said Maite as she climbed back into the car, \u201cthat was a bust.\u201d \u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d replied Kepa as he […]<\/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-6812","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-1LS","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6812","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=6812"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6813,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6812\/revisions\/6813"}],"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=6812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}