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\nShe pushed open the door. \u201cI\u2019m back!\u201d she called as she threw her keys on the table and made her way to the bedroom. The shower at the end of the run was always the best part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She stopped in her tracks as she passed through the bedroom doorway. Kepa was up on his knees in bed, naked, but that wasn\u2019t the strangest part. The spectre of a woman floated in front of him, seemingly oblivious to his nakedness. Maite could see through her to the bathroom on the other side. The apparition was of a young woman with tanned skin and long blond hair that flowed behind her as if a gentle breeze lifted it up off of her shoulders. She was dressed in a loosely fitting golden, almost metallic gown that also flowed down and across her body, rippling as if some unseen force was pushing at her. As Maite stared in disbelief, the woman\u2019s image shifted. The almost golden hair turned raven black and her skin, almost glowing, turned pale and white. Her gown also changed from bright gold to silver. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cKepa\u2026?\u201d squeaked Maite as she just stood there, dumbfounded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Kepa and the floating woman turned to look at her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maite pointed at Kepa\u2019s waist. \u201cYou\u2019re naked,\u201d she stammered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kepa blushed as he pulled the sheets around him. He then turned back to Maite. \u201cMaite, this is Amalur and her daughters Eguzki and Ilargi.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The woman, who had looked quizically at Kepa as he covered himself, turned back to Maite. \u201cAgur,\u201d said the woman, greeting her formally in Euskara. Maite could understand the woman\u2019s dialect, but it had a flavor of something ancient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maite wasn\u2019t sure if she should bow or what, so she simply replied \u201cAgur.\u201d As she did so, the woman shifted again, this time to a somewhat older woman who wore earthy colors. Her hair was long and brown and full of curls which bounced in the unseen force that seemed to buffet her. She was as beautiful as her daughters, but had a sadness in her eyes that betrayed some suffering that her daughters had been spared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo,\u201d began Kepa as he stood up off the bed, the sheets clutched in his hand as he tried to cover his nakedness. \u201cI was goofing around, drawing symbols in the air with my magical finger, and she popped in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maite\u2019s brain still seemed to be short circuiting. \u201cMagical finger?\u201d was all she could muster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kepa held up his hand, his index finger extended. It began to glow. \u201cThe zatia\u2026?\u201d he ventured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAh, bai,\u201d Maite nodded. She shook her head to break the fog. \u201cYou drew the Amalur symbol with that finger,\u201d she continued, putting the pieces together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kepa nodded. \u201cAnd then she appeared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI guess I\u2019m glad you didn\u2019t draw some symbol of an evil demon or something,\u201d said Maite as she plopped down on the edge of the bed. She looked up at Amalur, who floated above them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNow what?\u201d she asked.<\/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 panted as she reached the apartment door. She wasn\u2019t sure why, but the steps up to the apartment were always the hardest. She was always tempted to take the elevator but had yet to succumb to that temptation, pushing herself to climb the four flights of stairs up to their floor. She pushed open […]<\/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-6830","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-1Ma","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6830","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=6830"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6831,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6830\/revisions\/6831"}],"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=6830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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