When he wasn’t back on Earth patrolling as a ranger or spending time in the library, Ethan was the blacksmith for the farm, making horseshoes and most of the other metal items needed on the farm, like nails, horseshoes, hinges, tools, bands to hold barrels together. Working at the anvil, his long dark hair pulled back, scarred face lit by the fire heating the iron, he would create implements that were both functional and beautiful, adding elements of decorative work that were based on plant forms found in the woods and fields nearby. He had also learned how to make armor and weaponry — working and re-working, hammering together many folds of layered metal so the swords and knives would be both strong and flexible. Keeping the wood box full, getting water, or working hard to stoke the fires with the bellows, Mia helped at the forge, talking with him while he was making the metal into something useful and pleasing to look at. Ethan also participated in a long running series of chess matches involving James, Sofia, Dr. Adjani, Enoch, Wynne, Joseph, and Mother Tallis. Most often, Sofia would win, being a patient and unparalleled strategist. Mia would watch occasionally, but she didn’t have the patience to play. She preferred to play different card or board games in the Great Hall in the evenings. By joining various groups who did things together, Mia was learning the secret of entertainment in a small community — you don’t need to go out to a restaurant, movie, or a show to watch a performance. Instead, entertainment is the fun things you do with your friends and neighbors.
“A smaller place is better for appreciating people” was a lesson Mia had started to learn in Barrow Heights, and the truth of it was even more obvious in Ismarsettehka. She was convinced that the larger the population of a group or a city, the more individuals experiencing misfortune would disappear into the shadow and control of a small number of people with the talents, nerve, lack of empathy for others, and charm to capture the spotlight (and reins of power) for themselves. Generally speaking, in smaller groups with independent members, individuals are more valued for their unique contributions, and an average person can find a place where they are not shoved aside for other interests. She wondered, “If you have a large, densely-populated metropolis with countless skyscrapers, is it inevitable that there will be always be countless poor and homeless people who would live a better life in a smaller community where they have a greater chance to make a good life for themselves?” She recalled how Nimrod, the first tyrant and emperor, after building huge walls around Babylon to act as a prison enclosure (concentrating the population in one place), hunted people down that he then confined inside his massive city. Forced to live under the control of his great city, faceless citizens were drafted to work as slaves building the Tower of Babel.
She thought, “It’s strange. This tyrant Nimrod is much admired by transhumanists for changing himself into a giant after he was born a normal human, and H+ researchers hope to duplicate his achievement. They are also busy copying his paradigm for acquiring the power to rule an empire by designing their plans around the aggregation of as many humans as possible in one place. Everyone gathered into one software program, their thoughts and minds trapped inside a single network cloud or server farm where the ordinary person will totally disappear into the shadow and domination of a global technocracy, managed by an artificial intelligence and a small number of technocrats. Or in a preliminary stage, futurists’ plans include rounding up everyone from their personal property and herding them into mega-cities where they will live in tiny apartments, supervised and managed 24/7.”
For Mia, the realization that people were in danger of becoming anonymous ciphers suffering as faceless proles in a massive urban prison camp was another factor validating her determination to avoid the Geek Rapture at all costs.
Seeking relief from the consequences of her contact with the diabolical schemes and evil creatures she’d encountered at iCon, Mia asked Mother Tallis to teach her techniques to clear her mind of the MK Ultra conditioning. The first lesson started with basic toxic thought elimination. “Mia, you can not let any thought pass through your mind unchallenged. You have to capture every fearful or twisted thought and then bring that thought captive to Jesus for examination. In this way you can create an assessment of what is going on in your mind. God gives us a great blessing, an ability to take a step back and view our thinking from an objective perspective. We aren’t forced to stay stuck in our moment-by-moment stream of passing thoughts. We can evaluate what is happening in our own mind.” The goal was to discover any thought that seemed toxic, foreign, unexplained, or resisted her examination, and then concentrate on tearing it down, along with anything connected to it. She taught Mia the process for removing the unwanted “thought tree” while using a parallel process for building in its place a healthy thought tree based on trust in God to keep that branch of the implanted controlling thought from ever returning. And that was just the beginning of the process. It would take weeks, months, maybe years of work to clear her mind, and she would need a lot of follow-up later to totally eradicate the external control, repeating the steps as many times as needed until she was free. Total removal would be a lengthy procedure, but it provided hope to know there was a way to deal with this invader in her mind. She wasn’t helpless anymore. In addition, Mother Tallis said, “You should also begin an intensive study of Scripture. Whenever the Holy Spirit speaks in that still, small voice, whether it’s something to start doing or something to stop doing, obey that immediately. The best help you can ever find comes from hearing the Spirit and following his direction. So start training your ear to hear and then obey him.
There were also fun ways to develop her mind, as well as more academic ways for strengthening and developing her thinking. Both Dr. Adjani and Mia enjoyed debating topics ranging all over the map. Literature — best author in each genre. Is a hamburger a sandwich? What about a hot dog? What caused changes in worldviews over time? Chocolate or vanilla? When did north become up, and has any other direction ever been considered up instead? Who was the most intelligent person of all time? The most influential? Mittens or gloves? Why was blue one of the last colors to be named with a specific word in any human language when the human eye can perceive more shades of blue than any other color?
Dr. Adjani said, “Did you know there is no word for blue in ancient Greek? It’s also not in the Koran, not in ancient Chinese stories, not in ancient Hebrew. And there are languages today that still don’t have a word for blue. They’ve done tests, and it’s difficult for people to see colors that don’t have a name for that hue in their language. So maybe that’s why Homer described the sea as wine dark and not deep blue. It may not have looked blue to him. The first to come up with a word for blue, the ancient Egyptians had started producing a fabric dye, a blue dye, and only then did they add the word blue to their vocabulary.”
“That is such a strange idea,” Mia said. “I would have never guessed that, not in a million years. Everyone’s eyes are the same, everyone has the capability to see blue. So not — noticing I guess you’d have to say — not seeing the color blue is a mental thing? Perceiving its existence is something you have to learn to do? You’re saying people really don’t see blue until they give it a name?”
Dr. Adjani nodded, “Yes. In color recognition tests, people without a word for blue had a difficult time distinguishing between blue and green. They can see it, but it’s a struggle. Not as easy as you’d think one of the three primary colors would be.”
Mia tried to imagine a world where no one had ever thought there was the need to name the color of the sky above them. Or that it might look similar to the grass below to anyone. She said, “Wow, I never realized how important children’s books are that have simple sentences like, ‘The ball is blue, the grass is green, the truck is red.’ We all need help learning to see what’s right in front of our eyes. To make distinctions.”
“Yes, and the bigger your box of crayons, all with names, the better to develop your perceptions,” Dr. Adjani said. “You’ll
be able to see even more of the colors that exist, won’t miss as much. Cerulean, cobalt, periwinkle, cornflower, indigo, ultramarine. Languages aren’t all created equal where it comes to naming colors. Even if they have a name for blue, some languages have a minimal list that barely covers the hues in the spectrum, while other languages like English have many more named colors. Bigger vocabulary and as a result, you won’t miss seeing colors.”
“I can’t imagine blue being invisible,” Mia said. She paused, then said, “But that’s not what you’re not saying, are you. People always see blue. It’s just liable to be mis-identified and lumped in with some other color. Unless you can name it, comprehend it, you’re mostly blind to it.” She paused for a moment, then said, “Kind of like me and the supernatural. I was blind to what was right in front of me until I learned it existed. And only then did I see that the supernatural was already in my life, had been all along.”
Then she told Adjani about the portal underneath Edgestow College, and he told her about the red-headed giants that had been found in the Wisconsin area. He said, “Everywhere people have found giant skeletons, you can bet there is a portal or gateway somewhere in the area.”
“Yes, I’ve heard that before,” Mia agreed. “And it seems to be the truth of the situation.”
“I’ve got a suggestion,” Dr. Adjani said. “Let’s give a talk for everyone next week where we present information about the giants and gateways, and then invite others to tell what they know, and last of all open things up for questions and discussion with the audience.” Joseph and Mia agreed that was a great idea. So Mia put up flyers around Enoch’s house and the dormitory behind the house, inviting everyone to the event the next Thursday evening. About thirty people met in the library to hear about giants. James and April Huse brought popcorn and apple cider for everyone. On her way to the front of the room, Mia passed Kit and Ethan sitting in the audience. Kit stood and gave her a hug. “Break a leg, Maminka!”
“Thanks, Kit! You and Ethan be sure to ask questions when we’re done talking. And tell any stories you know about giants.”
Almost everyone in the audience contributed a story, an experience, or asked a question, and everyone learned something new about the giants, and everyone who wanted to ask a question or talk about their ideas or tell a story got to have their say. At the end of the evening, a lively debate started about where current-day giants come from.
Pastor JT Robinson had some closing words. “We have all heard Enoch speak about the eshet cha-yil, the valiant woman, a wife that a wise man would do well to find. A valiant warrior woman who is skillful and does excellent things, whose price is above rubies. But God doesn’t want just valiant women — he wants all his people to be cha-yil, to be valiant warriors. Am I saying we will all fight in a militaristic battle against an army of giants? No, but we each have a role to play in the supernatural battle we are in, we each have a unique place to stand, a unique place to protect, where we can do valiant things. Whether we do battle against giants using a sword or whether we battle on the home front by praying for God to send help to defeat every giant, we each one of us need to stand up and be cha-yil. God needs cha-yil women and cha-yil men who will be valiant wherever we are posted. And don’t think you need to be part of a large army before you can act. One single person who dares to be cha-yil is enough for God to use to bring a victory. Being available is so much more important than we can imagine. It just takes one David to face down the giant Goliath, one Noah to rescue humanity and all the animals from the biggest flood ever, one Daniel to defy the king’s order forbidding prayer to God even though he ended up in the lion’s den. Later, that harsh law was overturned and the evil men who proposed it were thrown themselves in that den of lions. Jude tells us to ‘contend earnestly for the faith.’ I pray we will each do that, whatever giants we face.”
A month later, it was time for the fair and carnival held every summer at Ismarsettehka. Everyone helped to set up a big tent in the field next to the orchard and brought tables, chairs, everything needed down from the house. It was a wonderful day of games, contests of skills, and great food. Smaller booths and tents offered a wide variety of delights to buy — delicious snacks (roast turkey legs were popular), beautifully made crafts, colorful works of art, sparkling jewelry, medicinal tinctures made with locally grown beneficial plants. There were fun things to watch or take part in — footraces, contests showing off strength and physical agility, archery contests, horse races, competitions to determine best baker, best green thumb, Some of these contests (horse racing, baking, produce and flower judging) were taken very seriously by participants, but most were fun and funny to watch. Like the dog agility races, blind man’s bluff played in a large open area, and the various throwing contests featuring the perils of catching things like water balloons or raw eggs. There were also events and programs where individuals gave performances to exhibit their talents, like the solo musical performances and recitations. Kit and Mia put on a sabre fencing demonstration while others offered exhibitions of their skills in juggling, dancing, and oration for the audience’s approval. And there were events for everyone to participate in together, like folk or circle dancing. By the end of the day, Mia had won second place in the archery contest, Ethan first place in the trivia contest. Sofia won the lottery drawing and was crowned “Monarch of the Fair,” which gave her the right to conscript any fairgoer into participating in the contest of her choice. She nominated Preston to join in the greased pig chase — he came in second behind nine-year-old Callum. In addition, there were hay rides, canoe trips down the river, a zip line running between the archway at the top of the hill and the main building. When the sun sank below the horizon, Mia felt like she hadn’t seen half of what there was to do at the fair. As the sky darkened into night, everyone shared a wonderful potluck meal together outside under the open sky while watching a one-act comedy performed on stage (written by Wynne, starring Preston), and then there was a musical concert, followed by fireworks. The fair concluded, everyone walked back to the great house under the starry night sky, carrying lanterns to light their way, laughing and talking about their favorite part of the day at the fair.
The next day in Enoch’s library, Mia and Wynne were discussing the history of the zodiac, focusing on the traditional story that Adam (or maybe his son Seth) was the originator of the Mazzaroth, the use of the stars in the twelve constellations on the ecliptic that could be seen every night to tell the story of the God’s provision for salvation, before the story was written down in Scripture, before the zodiac was corrupted and reduced to fortune telling. Back on Earth, Wynne (Dr. Gwyndolyn McPhee) had been a brilliant mathematician and computer scientist and had taught at a prestigious university. At Ismarsettehka, she had discovered a love for astronomy and searched the night sky with a large reflecting telescope to learn more about the distant stars and planets to see what discoveries she could make, what signs there might be there to provide warnings or announcements. Enoch left his desk in the back of the library to join them in the discussion, being familiar with the real history behind the stories.
As the conversation unfolded, Mia was surprised to learn that Wynne had never sworn allegiance to God. Given her own experience, she had assumed it was a non-negotiable requirement for living at Enoch’s home. When she asked her how she had answered when Enoch had asked her to choose a side, Wynne replied, “I told him that I couldn’t choose something I didn’t believe in, but that I could absolutely swear to be loyal to Enoch himself, no matter what. So that is what I promised. Having promised to faithfully serve Enoch, I was admitted as a part of the company.”
“And we’ve been very happy to have you here ever since.” Enoch smiled at her and said, “You’ve made valuable observations and contributions that no one else could have done for us. Which includes contributing a voice of healthy skepticism, providing us with a measure of balance.”
“Well, what a grand compliment that i
s, Enoch!” Wynne replied. “It’s been my pleasure to offer my perspective and help wherever I can. You know, though, I’ve seen so many things that I have already changed my thinking, and now I am willing to admit to the existence of the supernatural. But I’m still not convinced to believe in the existence of the personal God you believe in. Not quite yet.” She looked at her wristwatch. “Oh my, look at the time! My contribution today is to be the chef, and if I don’t get to the kitchen, no one will get any lunch today.”
After Wynne left, Mia looked at Enoch, her eyebrows raised. He answered her unspoken comment. “Did you really imagine that everyone needs to respond in exactly the same way, to make the same decisions and choices as someone else? Or that everyone here thinks exactly alike? Or is it that you wish that you could take back your choice?”
Mia said, “No. No, I am still happy I chose to be on God’s side. My loyalty continues undivided. But I do think it would have been easier for me to walk a graduated path. You know, choose to be on your side, and then after seeing that worked out well, then choose to be on God’s side. Instead of having to give up my side for God’s side all at once.”
Enoch said, “So you think you were treated unfairly?”
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