Ninovan (Hypernaturals 10)

Ninovan History

There has been another conversation occurring at the same time as Molly, Tala, and Vera's. Plus Alexander's helpful offers.

Morgan was just finishing up explaining how we came to find this place to Tobey and Simi. How we followed the clues. The sisters. The book. The symbol.

"Now that I related our tale, could you tell me more about the history of Ninovan?" Morgan asked.

"Sure. I can tell you the legends and stories. Clues left behind. What we think we know." Simi answered. "When the first people reached this magnificent land however many thousands of years ago, they spread out across it. There were millions of people in what we now call North America. There was traveling on the rivers and on foot. Nomadic peoples and those that liked to remain in one place. The oldest story about here is kind of Adam and Eve sounding at first. A Medicine man from one group and a medicine woman of another met near here. I say it was probably a Medicine woman and man: who knows? The important part of the story is not their gender, but that they were healers for their people. Shaman, if you prefer. It is not a story about a great romance or anything like that. Even after all this time it has not been romanticized and morphed into something like star crossed or fated special lovers. Once you understand the culture of Ninovan, that makes sense. The story instead is that they, both of them, used their sensitivities to others to understand their issues. They were practiced in what passed for medical things of the day. Herbs and plants and whatnot. Their special gift was to sit with someone and talk to them and give them advice on things. Sort of like Oracle's. They found a great deal of human contact to be painful. Too many people, too many problems. They decided that they would form an alternative way of exercising their craft. They wanted to help, just not everyone all at once. They created a place, and people came to them, but one or two at a time, and with limits. Others who devoted themselves to these shamans as acolytes established themselves as gatekeepers. They required people to prove their need to get in."

"The flapper system. A story as old as time." Morgan commented.

"I suppose. Their intentions were good." Simi shrugged. "Word of this place and its special people got out, and a third woman who also wanted to not have to feel others pain all day long every day joined them. The story is she came from far away. She looked nothing like the first two. With her came variety. Diversity. Then two more arrived from even farther away, a man and a woman. Different yet again. These special people were all humans, and they gathered because they were healers that also needed solitude to be able to heal. Heal others and themselves. They had 'sensitive souls'. Like monks, in a way. The outside world painful to them. This arrangement allowed them to help others but also to nurture themselves and one another. Nurture and protect their children. No one knew who the father of any given child was, and no one cared. That seems unlikely. When I mate with a white man and have a child, you know my child is ethnically mixed. Light eyes. Lighter skin. Something. That is not important. What is important is that the shamans or whatever you want to call these early medicine people knew that you have to take care of yourself before you can help anyone else. Enlightened selfishness."

I raptly listened to Simi. She is an excellent storyteller. I noticed everyone else is too. Even Alexander stopped trying to get Vera to have sex with him to hear this.

Simi went on."As I said, in the origin story, the first Ninovan's had children. Various mothers and fathers with each other. Their empathy meant that they knew when another desired them. When another wanted them to go away for a while. Who needed space, and who needed love. These people made rules about always being honest with each other and never allowing each other to be taken advantage of by the outside world. The outside world could come to them for help, but they could not stay unless they were also special. If they also were simpatico to the Ninovan cultures and if they brought genetic 'gifts' then they could possibly remain. They valued diversity over almost anything else, but there was one immutable selection criteria. Being exceptional. That is a wide-open requirement. How do you define exceptional?"