Hello this is a story that popped in my head and I hope it got out. It is basically a premise for a story that could lead to others or inspire someone to create something with such a theme of a hidden race inside of the population. Hope you enjoy, hugs, Sara.

A young woman in clothing that was more appropriate for a Native gathering walked into a research station near her land. The receptionist perked up at the woman's unusual dress as it was nearly unheard of for the Ukua'yata tribal members to venture passed their borders. It was so rare she had no idea that this woman was from this tribe. It was also a bit deceptive as the woman if given modern dress would only look partially Native American. The other thing was if the receptionist knew this woman was from the Ukua'yata tribe she would have run from the room in fear.

“Can I help you with something?”

“Yes, I come to see Doctor Tarnaud.” The receptionist had a hard time understanding the woman. Her thick accent and quiet tone nearly made the words sound foreign.

“Excuse me.” She got up and went into the back and a very confused looking Doctor came out.

“I am Doctor Sara Tarnaud.” The woman nodded as she curtsied. She then walked the way the doctor had come, forcing both women to follow after her. They held back their curiosity until the woman found a room with a couch to sit on. She carefully sat down and looked expectantly at the doctor.

“I am at a loss to how I can help you, miss...”

“ Nishtigwaan Ninde' Nimaamaa Laodamia I am called by my people. You may call me mother.” They looked confused as the doctor quickly grabbed a note pad and a pen.

“Mother? That is the name we call the woman who brought us into this world.”

“I know what you call your female life giver. This is how I am called and I find it would please me greatly if you child, will call me Mother.”

“Okay, Mother, but I am no child.” She looked at both of the women and then wave at the receptionist.

“She needs to leave, to go home, out of this box.”

“But she helps me and I can't fully help you if she has to leave.”

“I insist, as I am hail of body and spirit I do not need you to do anything, but listen.”

“Stacy please go home. It's alright.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, I am.” Stacy left the room and the strange woman looked oddly for a bit and then smiled at Sara. Sara was curious as to why the woman was here at this genetic clinic? She was even more curious as to where the woman came from.

“She is gone and now we can talk freely.” Sara leaned back mildly surprised that the woman's heavy accent vanished.

“Why were you talking like that?”

“Would she have gotten you away from what you were doing if I sounded normal? No, I do not think so. You may still call me Mother.”
“Mother? Is there a reason behind insisting on that name?”

“There is, but I have something to tell you and you will understand it better in the end. As for why I sought you out is, because you are of two spirits.”

“Two spirits?”

“I am from the Ukua'yata Tribe. That may not mean much to you as I am sure you have never heard of the tribe, but our actions you have heard of. We live in what you call The Forbidden Forest. You have two spirits, one female, and the other male.”

Sara's eyes widened in fear and shock as the woman smiled meekly. She had heard of the rumors of the forest and those that have wandered never to return. She now kicked herself for not researching more about the unknown tribe that guarded their land like demons. The no man's zone went from Munising to Dollar Settlement all the way south to US2. That this woman was in her clinic was even more surprising. The government had tried unsuccessfully to enter the area several times losing nearly five hundred men the last time.

“Two spirits means I am transgender?”

“Yes that is the word you modern ghosts use.”

“You call us ghosts?”

“Yes, as you are so pale of skin. I once was as fair of skin as you. Such a long time ago. That I will tell you my story, is that I believe that you will gain something from me that no one has offered to you before. All I ask is that you keep everything secret.”

“I don't need anything really. I also can hardly keep meeting someone from the...”

“Ukua'yata Tribe.”

“Yes, your tribe. No one has ever lived to tell of meeting one of you.”

“Oh, not all die if they wander into our land. Young children are guided back out, a witness is spared by losing his manhood to remind others never to come again, and some are taken in by the tribe. I am not here to tell of my tribe and their ways, but to answer a question that has bothered me a long time. I want you to map my genetics.”

“I could do that, but my research is monitored and much is guarded by the corporate office.”

“I know this, but I offer you a chance to become what you have known you are since you were just this tall.”

“I have known I am a girl since I was five. I am as much of a woman as possible. There is nothing that you could offer me.”

“Perhaps not, but I know I can.” The woman stood suddenly and starting undoing the ties to her ancient dress. Before Sara could protest, the woman was standing in front of her naked. Sara instantly envied her perfect figure. She was not so Native American as the clothing had suggested.

“What are you doing?”

“Just pay attention.” Mother waved her hands to indicate her body and slowly Sara's mouth opened as the woman changed right in front of her. She grew taller and her shape flowed from female to male in a couple of minutes. She was transfixed on the now male's groin.
“You're a shapeshifter?”

“That is what they call it, but not exactly. I am what some would call Fae. Others would say Elven, but at one point I believe I was as human as you were. I am 600 years old not really sure.” He sat back down and covered himself with his clothing.

“You look so young. Elven?”

“Yes, but I am not as far as I know. I live as long as they do and so do many of my children. It was only fifty years ago that the government tried to come and tame us, but like all before they failed. What I learned was that the world was a terrible place and it was no longer in our interest to remain separate. This is how I found you and how I have protected my tribe from killing more than a few wayward hunters every year. Again this is not why I am here.”

“Okay, I get that, but how could you help me?”

“I can make you female down to your very foundation. You would have your moon come and become with child if so desired.” Sara was stunned. There was no way she could believe her, him, but seeing him change in front of her was more proof than she needed. Slowly she found herself nodding as she started to cry. All her life she had fought to become the girl she was inside. Her transition had helped, but her main drive in her work was to find a way for the body to do what surgery could only mimic. This mother was offering this to her for what?
“Why would you do this for me? What possible reason could you have to reveal not only that you are hundreds of years old, but that you can choose which gender you want to be?”

“Ah, now you wonder, as you believe. My reasons are my own, but I would like to see how human I am if at all. You could do that for me.”
“You want me to test you and then compare you to human DNA?”

“Yes that is what you call it. I would like to know why I am different.”

“You? What about your tribe?”

“They are all my children. Some are just changed by me and others are directly from my womb. This is how I survived the many plagues. How they survived the sicknesses that were brought to this land.”

“Okay, I think I understand what you want, but I find your story a bit hard to swallow.” Mother smiled as she was expecting this. She formed her body back to herself and got dressed. As she sat back down, the woman was fidgeting on her chair.

“Do you require a break? I would like to visit what you call the throne.” Sara laughed at her obvious attempt at humor. She guided the woman to the bathroom, and they both relieved themselves in stalls next to each other. Sara's mind was going a thousand miles an hour wondering about how different was this woman to be able to change her shape and sex after only a few minutes. What genes would be responsible and could it be induced in humans without direct contact with her? So many questions bounced around in her head. She really needed to eat something just to slow down a bit. As they walked out of the bathroom a delivery service was waiting in the lobby and was nearly ready to leave.

“Can you pay the servant for his troubles? I doubt my silver would cover such a meal.” Sara blinked for a few seconds and then shook her head as she went to her cabinet where her purse was stashed. The smells of a local dish and fries made her stomach growl as she paid him. She could have given him a few ones, and he would not have noticed so intently was he starring at the strange woman. If he only knew about her, he would run screaming from the room. Sara took the meal and mother walked into the back and straight to the little lunch room they had without a single hesitation. It bothered her that they ate in silence, but her gestures brought another wonder to who she was.

“Most interesting meal these pasties are.”

“I like them as you don't get them anywhere else.”

“True. Now as I was saying I was born some time around the first wave of the plague. I never got it myself as I watched our entire village fall to the sickness. I was a young man then of maybe twelve summers. I was a blacksmith's son and I spent nearly a year burying everyone I had ever knew. The plague had come to us through a few nobles as they fled the cities. Some of their servants must have had it and it spread to others quickly.”

“Once I put the last soul to rest I was very numb, angry, and cursing the very nobles who had not survived their attempt to flee. I took everything that I could. Gold, silver, gems, jewelry and the clothing that fit me. I felt I had inherited from everyone and a small part of me felt it was a way to remember them. I traveled all of Europe helping other villages bury their dead until the plague had run its course.”

“As I grew older and educated I used the money I had gotten wisely and earned more over the years. When I settled down I was happy again and in love as much as I could be. I had a family a wife and a child in the next few years. As my wife and family got older, so did I. However, it was much slower than they were and I went through times where my hair would start turning gray, but would go brown again.”

“I was only starting to think about that I was different when the plague hit again. It took my family and my wife from me, but left me with my son. I did what I could and raised my son as best as I could. As he grew up to be a man we were thought of as brothers. We wandered around Europe for several decades. As time goes in a circle, so did the need for more than the two of us in a family. We both married sisters, and they never knew we were father and son.”

“We had children, and they grew up until another wave of the plague ruined our family. His son didn't survive, but not from the plague as he was killed because of his acne. Of all the things to die from. I had a daughter this time, and she was precious to me. We moved on to another country and did well as traveling story tellers. I have so many tales inside this skull of mine. As my daughter came of age, we were in no position to settle down. I had not noticed, but my son fancied his half sister. I was mad when I found out, but having lost so many to the plague, I realized if they were happy and that we were left untouched by the plague then why forbid it. It was not like we believed like the Christian and Catholics did.”

“We had settled again and I finally thought we could stay, and we were left untouched by the plague for several decades. We learned and did business and profited from the local nobility as land holders. We worked the land and local trades. War came to our land, and we were forced to join in to defend against the enemy of the time. My wife died in one of the sieges and I nearly lost my second son, but our bodies are not as frail to injuries as you humans are. M first son and daughter had two children of their own and as healthy as I.”

“We sold all our land and moved very far as we found out about the New World. All the way to Jamestown and as soon as we got there we moved further inland. The six of us wanted a place we could live unmolested by any plague. As my first son and I had served in several wars, we had no problem fending off any aggressive parties. We learned the languages and moved slowly over the land learning much more about the native people that lost their land, traditions, and respect from disease, war, and predication.”

“Some time during our travels I started to change for the first time. We all did bit by bit as we added their dress to ours and the like. By the time we found the Ukua'yata Tribal grounds we looked just like them. That I had changed to female along the way as I feared marring one of my grand daughters. True one of my sons or grandsons would be the same it didn't turn out as such as I found I could not resist a local chief's son.”

“Through him I warned of the white man and got the tribe and other local tribes to guard against any that were not red of skin that they were demons only good to practice silent killing. Trappers, hunters, explorers, and settlers all fell to the knife or bow. As other tribes thinned and died, they were losing their traditions, their way of life, and their will to alcohol, my people thrived. My sons soon joined me in motherhood and my daughters to manhood. We spread through the loose tribes of the Ukua'yata. We affected any of those we had joined with even without a child coming from our union.”

“This is why I insist on being called Mother as I am the mother of the tribe as it now stands and I have kept it from falling like other tribes to the white man. We are the last to hold fast to the tradition of the Great People that lived with the land. However, as we see planes flying over head our villages are no longer safe even as much as they blend with the forest. Our fields are signs that someone lives nearby. This is why I am coming forward to you. To record my people and establish our identity in this world. I fear I might be too late.”

“No and I don't see why you would have to.” Sara was torn by this woman's emotions. Sure part of her was in conflict as this woman admitted that she had caused many to die just for being lost or daring not fully knowing the risks, but on the other hand she had done what any country would have done and protected their land from intruders. She would do anything this woman wanted her to do.

“I buried my first son last week. He was a great chief to our people. My daughter followed him this morning, and they both looked as young as I am now. I offer you a chance to be who you want to be if you can help find out why my children are starting to die.”

“I will do anything you ask. If I can figure it out than you will have your answer, but what if it was just their time? Are you afraid of dying?”

“If you have lived as long as I have then you may understand that I am not. However, I fear that if I die, my children will be soon to follow and that we will lose everything. Run you tests, see if there is something to cause this or nothing. I will give you your heart's desire.”

“I will need more than just a sample from you. I would need to test nearly everyone to find the cause if there is one. You are different enough that anything I find might be normal for you, but concerning for us to have.”

“That is all I ask, but to keep it secret as much as you can.”

“One question, how will you help me change?”

“The easiest is for you to become my husband.”

“But I have had my bottom surgery. I am physically female.” Mother just smiled as she took my hand.

“Then I will be your husband for you.” Sara watches with interest as the woman turned into a man again. Her heart jumped as she felt strangely attracted to him. So much that she lean forward and gave him a slight kiss.

Months had passed and Sara had not only figured out what the cause was, but she had figured out it was being caused by an external source. With the Ukua'yata Tribe going public and the cause being from a rogue agency within the government support for the tribe went viral. The local population that had lived with the threat of the tribe reacted in many ways and one of the negative results was some actively tried to enact revenge against them and others left the area. The positive results was that the government agreed to a treaty that ceded half of Upper Michigan to the Ukua'yata Nation.

Sara was still researching the genetic map of the Ukua'yata people and all the possibilities to help many around the world. That she had figured out the difference in how they lived so long was a result of having a quadruple helix. She vowed to keep this discovery secret to her grave. She sighed at the same time as she smiled while rubbing her belly. Her child was not going to let her stay up much more tonight. Their joining was only going to be for that one night, but she had fallen for Mother hard, and she could not see living without him ever.

Tomorrow would be a long day as several transgender were coming to get their first treatment. This was one discovery she was going to give people like her the body they needed to be truly themselves.