Chapter 2

"Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things."
-Mary Oliver-

Cora lay awake in the dark of night beside Nathaniel, listening to the sounds of the forest around them. Nathaniel slept lightly, his breathing even and quiet. She looked up at the moonlit sky through the treetops, watching the thin clouds move apart across the heavens to unveil the stars. She remembered the story Nathaniel had told her the night they had met, about how the sun had drawn the stars from his dead mother's breast and cast them across the sky to remind him of her soul. That night he had said it was the Camerons' monument, and his birth family's. Now to her, it was also for her father, for Alice and Uncas, and for Duncan Heyward. A small, unidentifiable sound nearby had her suddenly alert and she sat up, relaxing when she realized it was only Chingachgook standing alone a little distance away. She got up carefully and approached him, taking a place beside him in silence. He turned his head and looked at her, then gazed back up to the sky, Cora following suit. A sudden break in the misty clouds revealed the full splendor of the vault of heaven, as if its steward had drawn aside a curtain to present a gift of divine beauty to those seeking its solace.

"My son has great love for you." he said.

"I do not doubt that." Cora replied softly. "I also have great love for him. He was willing…to sacrifice a great deal for me, and for my sister. You have all sacrificed so much for us. I cannot know how to thank you for all that you have done when you had no obligation to do it."

Chingachgook stood in thought for a moment before speaking again, still looking to the sky. "Once, many years ago, Wah-ta-Wah – my wife – was also taken captive by the Huron. They tried to make her the wife of one of their warriors. She was not my wife then, but I loved her, and she loved me."

Cora looked at him. "What did you do when they took her?"

"There was only one thing to do. I found her. I got her away and I took her back home to our people where she belonged. I made her my wife; she became the mother of Nathaniel when he came to us, and she gave me Uncas. She was a good wife and mother, a good woman. Smart, strong, beautiful. She gave me much joy."

"What happened to her?"

"She died of a sickness when our sons were very young. It was a sad time for us, and I miss her very much still."

Cora nodded empathetically, her eyes welling with unshed tears. "My own mother passed the same way, and I am sorry. Now you have lost your son as well, and I…I have some measure of guilt for your loss because it was for my and my sister's sake."

Chingachgook turned and looked at her, his eyes relaying deep sorrow. "You would not have been left to that fate. My sons have done the same as I did when their mother was made a captive, and I would expect no less from them. Uncas was a strong and brave warrior, and Hawkeye is yet. My heart grieves for the loss of my blood son, but I am proud that he died with courage and honor. I wish that your sister could have been saved as much as I wish Uncas could have been."

Cora looked away, tears spilling down her cheeks, and she wiped them away.

"I wish that as well. I cannot understand what she did, why she…I will never understand. I can make peace with my father's death eventually, and even perhaps Major Heyward, but I cannot find sense in the loss of Alice. I don't know if I ever will. All I can think is that she was scared and confused, and I think she must have loved your son and abandoned all hope with the loss of him. There is nothing else I can imagine except that all of it, everything just…broke her." She sighed shakily.

"That may be so. It seemed he cared much for her as well, and he could not let them take her. If that is so, perhaps they will meet now in the afterlife."

"I sincerely hope that is true. Your son was a good and brave man, and it comforts me to know that he cared so much to give up everything to save her. You have raised the best of honorable men, sir."

He cast her a sidelong glance. "Your father may not have agreed with you."

"I loved my father," she replied, "but he was not always right. He was grateful to you all for helping us, but his judgment was clouded by his sense of duty to crown law. You are right when you say that my people are a breed apart and make no sense. What we do may make sense to them in England, or even in the cities they have built in America, but it does not make sense out here among your people and the people on this frontier. Why they try to force it to I do not understand, but I will not turn a blind eye and pretend they are right to do it. This is a different world."

Chingachgook nodded thoughtfully and faced Cora, placing his hands on her shoulders with a gentle squeeze. "You are a good woman for my white son, and I see why he loves you. You are strong, sharp-witted. You speak your mind as my son does, and you are much like my wife. This is not the Yengeese life you are accustomed to, but you understand how to bend with the wind. You will learn. If you stay with him, you too will sacrifice much."

Cora gave a small, rueful smile. "The life I have left behind me held nothing for me but surrendering my own judgment and freedom to a husband I likely would not love. I was not meant for that, I know it in my bones. Here with you I have more freedom than English society or marriage ever would have allowed me, and in Hawkeye, the prospect of a husband who loves me and respects what I am as much as I do him. I cannot ask for more, sir, even if the circumstances in which I was delivered to this new life are twisted with grief. I only need time to learn how to move forward and to face the coming time without my sister, for she was all I really had in that old life."

He patted her shoulder gently and let her go with a deep sigh. "As I must face the future as the last of my people in a changing world, without the comfort of my blood son. As Hawkeye too will have to walk a path without his brother. This will be a new kind of life for all of us." He looked up again and gestured at the sky. "But they are there, after all, guiding us, reminding us that they were here for a time, and so they will not be forgotten as long as we remember them."

Cora's eyes welled up again. She took his hand in hers and squeezed it affectionately. "Thank you," she whispered, "for everything you have done, everything you have given." She kissed him on the cheek and retreated to where Nathaniel slept.

As she lay down beside him and pulled the wool blanket over herself, he turned on his side toward her and she saw that he was awake. They gazed at each other in silence for a moment before he reached out his arm and pulled her close to him, wrapping her in his steadfast warmth, and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. With a small sigh, she laid her head on his shoulder. They both drifted into sleep, and Chingachgook was soon to follow.


They rose at dawn to continue on their way. Nathaniel and Chingachgook had debated after they had left the mountain and had finally agreed that it would be best to head back to the frontier northwest of Albany and try to reconnect with some of the colonial militia who had farms there. With Fort William Henry taken by the French, who had by now moved on elsewhere to fight, the prospect of immediate danger from Ottawa or Huron war parties was significantly diminished, and with Magua dead and the remainder of his party moved on north, it was unlikely anyone even knew they were still alive. They traveled as quickly and quietly as they could into the afternoon, when they finally reached cleared farmland where a small house with a barn and outlying cabin could be seen at the other side, a wisp of smoke rising from the house's chimney. They made their way around the fields to approach and remain visible. As they came closer, Cora saw a light-haired, dark-eyed boy of perhaps fifteen come out the front door, holding a musket.

"Hello, Alasdair!" Nathaniel called out. "It's Nathaniel Poe and Chingachgook!"

The boy lowered the musket, relieved, and waved at them. "Praise be to God, Nathaniel Poe! Father! It's all right, you can come out!" Presently an older, sandier-haired version of the boy stepped out of the house and headed their way, smiling as he approached.

He looked vaguely familiar to Cora, and after a moment she remembered seeing him just as they had arrived at the fort, and again later with Nathaniel and the militia captain in her father's office.

"Jaysus Mary and Joseph, Nathaniel, you made it out alive!" he exclaimed with a heavy Scots brogue. The two men embraced, then the man shook Chingachgook's hand, clasping his forearm. His gaze shifted suddenly to Cora. "And who might this be?"

"Ian MacKay, Miss Cora Munro. Cora, this is my friend, Ian, and his eldest son Alasdair." Nathaniel squeezed her hand.

"Hello, Mr. MacKay, Alasdair, I'm pleased to meet you." She gave a small curtsey. Ian looked at Nathaniel and then at her, somewhat taken aback.

"Aye, I remember you now. You're one of Colonel Munro's daughters."

"I am. Sadly my father and my sister did…not survive." Her eyes darted away.

"I am sorry, miss, truly." Cora nodded in acknowledgement. Ian looked back to Nathaniel. "There's been news up and down the frontier that William Henry fell to the French and those leavin' were attacked by the Huron. We had no idea what became of you. The French burned the fort to the ground."

"There's a bit of a story there," said Nathaniel gravely, "and there was indeed an attack. Lot of casualties. Some of us managed to escape."

"Uncas?" Ian questioned softly, noting the young man's absence.

Nathaniel gave a shake of his head, his eyes hard as flint. "No. We lost him to the Huron trying to get Cora's sister back from them. Neither survived."

Ian's face fell and his brown eyes welled. "Ah, damn it. I am so sorry, my friends. Please, come in. You look exhausted. Sarah's got bread in the oven, and Nathaniel, Jack's been holed up here the last two nights since we got back from the fort – didn't want to chance anyone comin' to look for him at his place. We sent word with Alasdair to his family so they wouldn't worry."

They followed Ian inside the house, where they met his wife Sarah, a kind, handsome woman with light brown hair and blue eyes, their younger son Aidan, and a little girl named Maggie. A baby girl of perhaps five months slept in a cloth wrap on Sarah's front while she kneaded bread dough. A blond-haired, blue eyed man seated at the wooden table stood, greeting Nathaniel and Chingachgook. Cora had seen him in her father's office at the fort as well, and recognized him as the captain of the colonial militia. He turned to her and clasped her hand in his.

"Miss Munro. I'm Jack Winthrop. My sincerest condolences for your father and sister."

"Thank you, sir," She replied. Jack smiled kindly at her and turned back to Nathaniel as the men sat down at the table, making inquiries about the events of the past days.

Sarah took one loaf of bread from the oven and replaced it with a second, then turned her attention to Cora with a gentle smile. "You've been through a fair bit, Miss Munro, and your clothes are worse for the wear. Come with me." She gestured for Cora to follow her into another room, where she and Ian slept. Cora sat down on the edge of the mattress while Sarah unwrapped the baby from her and placed her gently in a wooden cradle. "There you are, wee Aileen," she crooned. She went to a small wooden dresser and opened a drawer, pulling some items out. "I don't have much in the way of clothes, and they might be a bit big on you, but what I've got will serve you so we can wash and mend what's salvageable of yours in the morning." She held out a bundle which Cora took, containing a blue flannel nightgown, woolen stockings, a plain linen shift, and a utilitarian gray petticoat and short gown.

"Thank you, Mrs. MacKay, this is very kind, and I will very much appreciate the use of these until I can deal with mine. And please, you must call me Cora."

"Only if you call me Sarah," she smiled, sitting beside Cora. "I'm to understand you've lost your father and sister?"

"Yes." Cora nodded, and her eyes glittered with tears. "And a family friend who was a soldier."

Sarah shook her head grimly. "Lost my own father at Culloden Field twelve years ago, and my brother too. Ian and I came here when the English cleared the highlands. Alasdair was just a wee thing then. I can't imagine what you've seen in these past few days, bein' right in the thick of it as you were."

"My father was killed by a Huron named Magua in the massacre as we left Fort William Henry, the same who instigated an attack on us as we traveled to the fort on the George Road a few days before. We had no idea how dire the situation was at the fort, or we would never have gone. Nathaniel and his father and brother saved us on the George Road first, and during the massacre managed to get myself and my sister to safety. Our friend was not far behind us, but the Huron found us soon enough. They took us to a Huron village. Their elder sent my sister with this Magua. I was to be…burned alive." Her voice shook as she spoke.

"Where were Nathaniel and his family then? They weren't with you?"

"They had to leave us at Glens Falls, there was no gunpowder and he feared everyone would be killed if the Huron found them with us. I told him to go, he promised they would find us and they did. He came alone to speak to the elder and tried to save us. He…he told them to let me go and take him."

Sarah made a hissing sound. "Sure and that man is a brave and selfless fool as always, God love him!"

"Our soldier friend, Duncan, he was translating for him, and somehow he decided to tell them to take him instead. I suppose he knew Alice and I would never survive at all without Nathaniel alive, so…they agreed, and before I knew it they had let me go and taken him away. He knew what he was doing, he was hollering at us to get out, and we had to…to leave him. Nathaniel, he…took care of it before it was too bad for Duncan." Tears streaked down her face.

Sarah Took Cora's hands in hers and squeezed. "And your sister?" she asked quietly.

"Magua took her with his war party as we left the camp. Uncas went ahead after them to get her back, and we followed. As we caught up, Uncas was fighting him. He fought so hard, but…" she shook her head. "He killed him and pushed him off the side of the mountain. After that I do not know what happened to Alice. We were right there, she was about be rescued, but I don't know, she…she just…leapt off the mountain after Uncas. I don't understand it. Chingachgook killed Magua, but it won't bring them back," she sobbed.

Sarah had a hand clapped over her mouth and tears in her eyes. "Lord above have mercy, it's more than anyone could bear!" She exclaimed. "I am so very sorry for you, my dear girl. You've lost everything."

"Not everything. There is still Nathaniel. Some of that life I don't mind losing. But I mind losing Alice and my father very much, and though I was angry at Duncan for other things at the time, I never would have wished that on him."

"Of course not!" Sarah hugged her. "I cannot imagine what you must feel right now, or them two out there losing Uncas like that. Thank God the three of you at least were spared. Thank God for Nathaniel coming after you like that!"

"I am so grateful to him, to all three of them. Nathaniel is a Godsend. Truly. I would be lost without him." Cora wiped her wet face with her shift sleeve.

Sarah gave her a thoughtful look but said nothing, instead rising and taking Cora's hand. "Come now, let's check that bread and get supper on the table. You must all be fair starved by now."


After a supper of rabbit stew, squash, and fresh bread, which was incredible to Cora after so many days of not eating enough, she helped tidy up while Sarah nursed the baby and Jack and the other men talked more.

"Jack, I'm thinking it's safe for you to get back to your family in the morning." Nathaniel said. "What British are left from William Henry are likely now at Fort Edward, and it's anyone's guess how many even know you all lit out, dire as the situation was at the time."

"You might be right, and I don't want to keep hiding here like a bloody poltroon. Munro knew, as did his officers I'm sure. No way of knowing how many survived. Any records he kept were likely burned or lost, but who knows. Lucky for your neck they probably think you're dead. God willing, nobody gives us a second thought now." Jack replied.

Cora turned to him. "General Webb made you a promise, Mr. Winthrop, and my father did not honor it. If there is any trouble for you, I have no qualms about speaking on your behalf, as I did for Nathaniel when he had him arrested for sedition. Though I believe after the attack on those leaving the fort, there would no longer be any doubt that you should have been released to see to your homes. There had certainly better not be."

Jack's eyes widened, his mug paused halfway to his lips. Nathaniel stared at her, his expression unreadable, and cocked a brow.

"What?" Cora huffed, staring back at him. "He was going to hang you, and he refused to listen to reason. I heard the whole thing on my way to the surgery, as well as Duncan lying to him about what happened to the Camerons. I loved my father, and Duncan was my friend, but I make no excuses for such behavior."

Jack gave a low whistle and clapped Nathaniel on the shoulder. "Well, my friend, you were certainly right when you said you had a reason to stay and not come with us, and I see it's more of a reason than she's better looking than me!"

Nathaniel's eyes softened as they fell on Cora. "I'd make the same decision again."

Ian cleared his throat. "So Nathaniel, Chingachgook, what are your plans?"

"Not sure yet," Chingachgook replied. "We'd planned to winter with the Delaware and perhaps head to Cantuckee in the spring, but I don't know what we will do now."

"Cora will have some business to settle with her father's passing, as she's the only remaining direct kin." Nathaniel got up and moved to her side to take her hand. "So there's that to discuss further. And then, too, there's the matter that she might have agreed to be my wife…"

Sarah, who had been quiet up to now, gasped and stood from her chair, holding baby Aileen, looking incredulously from Nathaniel to Cora. "Truly, Nathaniel? You're to be married?"

"Yes," Cora answered softly, her eyes shining as she gazed lovingly at Nathaniel. The kitchen erupted with exclamations and congratulations.

"So," Jack said with a grin, "La Longue Carabine has finally met his match! I never thought I'd see the day you'd settle down, my friend!"

"So shines a light in the dark." Sarah smiled softly. "Will you stay here with us as our guests? Just until you have time to make decisions about the future and marry?" She looked to Ian, and he nodded in accord.

"We'd certainly be happy to have you here. We've got the cabin, Alasdair's been sleeping there time to time, and Jack, but now that he'll be able to return home you're welcome to stay as long as you like. I could use the extra help around here if you're willing."

Nathaniel looked to Cora, who readily agreed. He and Chingachgook conferred quietly in Mohican for a few moments, then Chingachgook nodded and spoke.

"Your hospitality is generous, and we are grateful. We will stay here, it will be good to be among friends. It will be good for us to be still for a time."


Sometime during the night, Nathaniel woke with a start, a sheen of sweat on his face. He had been dreaming of Uncas. Of running. Of panic. Of being too late. He blew out a shaky breath and sat up, driving his hands through his hair. His father still slept a few feet away; they had taken to the cabin floor and given Cora the bed. He glanced over and saw it was empty, the sheet rumpled at the foot and the wool blanket missing. He got up and slipped on his shirt, stepping quietly out the door into the moonlight. Cora stood a little distance away gazing up at the sky, barefoot in the grass in her borrowed nightgown with the blanket from the bed wrapped around her. He approached with enough sound to let her know he was there, stopping behind her to slide his arms around her and pull her back against his chest.

"You couldn't sleep either?" she whispered, leaning her head back onto his shoulder.

He placed a soft kiss on her neck where her hair fell aside. "Mmm. I was, but…dreams." She turned her face toward him and gently nuzzled beneath his jaw in a gesture of comfort. He drew in a deep breath and let her warm presence calm the tremble within him. "I miss him."

"I know. I miss Alice too." She looked back up to the heavens. "I think often of that night in the glade when you told me about the stars. It comforts me to think of it as their monument, scattered across the sky in points of light to remind us of their souls." His arms tightened around her, and he nodded his head as he pressed his face into her hair, finding he could not bear to speak while he let his sadness wash over him as it needed to. She seemed to understand, one hand wrapping over his, the other stroking his arm, as they stood in silent solidarity together for long moments as it passed.

"Did you really try to talk your father into releasing me?" he murmured against her ear.

"It wasn't so much talking as fighting, but yes, of course I did. How could I not?"

"I'm sorry you fought. Obviously it did no good."

"No, he wouldn't release you on principle. And Duncan…Oh, I was so angry at him for lying, and then he had the audacity to suggest that you sent me to beg, and said I was only doing so because I was infatuated with you. As if the fate of these people mattered not at all and I was operating at the whim of feminine hysteria. I wanted to throttle him. He was only angry because I told him I wouldn't marry him."

Nathaniel jerked his head down to look at her. "Come again?" He raised a brow. "Marry him?"

"He asked. I didn't love him, he was my friend and I felt nothing beyond that. I had told him I would consider it to be kind, but after I heard him lie to my father about what happened to the Camerons, I refused altogether. I could never do it, especially not then when there was you."

"Well, that certainly explains a great deal," Nathaniel said gruffly. He turned her to face him, keeping one arm around her and brushing her hair back from her face with the other hand. "You didn't have to fight with your father over me. I never would have asked it of you."

"I know, and I made my own choices. I think he suspected how I felt about you, though he never said it outright. Under different circumstances he might have even liked you, but he was so deeply entrenched in his sense of military duty, and was so desperate when no reinforcements were coming that he could not see past it to the welfare of the militia. I told him that if he had so little regard for these people, then the sooner the French blew the English out of America, the better it would be for them, and he could count me guilty of sedition too for saying so. I had no idea then…if I had known what was to come I would not have let that be our last conversation. I loved him, but I felt in my heart that he was wrong, and - and I love you too, and I could not let you be hanged, not when I had only just found you," she finished with a tearful whisper.

Nathaniel hugged her close, hurting for all the conflicted emotions he knew she must feel. "I am sorry, ndah. I wish this had not been so difficult for you."

"No matter what happened, I would have ended up losing it all anyway. If not for you, we would have all been dead before we even reached the fort. If you had left with Jack and the others, I would have lost you then and never seen you again, and we would have been killed in the massacre. If Webb had sent reinforcements, my father would have hung you and I would have never forgiven him. If Duncan hadn't traded places with you, you would have died for me. My sister and your brother might still live in some scenario, but otherwise no matter how I go back over it in my mind the only conclusion I can reach is that any other way, I would have lost you along with all of them, and I could not bear that. In that I understand Alice's despair, if she loved your brother so. As it is, by the strange grace of God you are with me, and being able to love you, and be loved by you, is still a gift I never thought I would have."

He took her face in his hands and kissed her with reverent gentleness, pouring what he had no words for into the soft, slow caress of his lips against hers. Her arms lifted around him, enveloping them both in the blanket, and he could now feel the warm, lush curves of her body against his through the single layer of the nightgown she wore. He thought that he could stay that way forever, wrapped in her love, shielded from the world by it. He had never known such a thing.

"Cora," he sighed against her lips, "I ache for you, do you know that? I would have gone to the ends of the earth to bring you back to me."

She buried her face against his neck and let out a ragged breath. "I would have waited for you. You burn inside of me like those stars in the sky, and I would have waited a lifetime to feel you again."

He held her fiercely in his arms, closing his eyes and breathing her in. They stood a long time like that, shrouded in comfort together in the dark night. Eventually they returned to the cabin. Neither of them wanting to separate, he lay down with her on the bed, covering them both with the blanket. She nestled against his solid heat, her head beneath his chin, and they slept together for the last few hours before sunrise would bring a new day.

"Cover me with kisses, dear

Lighten up the atmosphere

Keep me warm inside our bed

I've got dreams of you all through my head

Come to me, my sweetest friend

This is where we start again

Start again"

-John Rzeznik & Gregg Wattenburg-


AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Ndah means "my heart" in Mohican. Nathaniel uses this endearment for Cora interchangeably with the Delaware aholkwësit (beloved one).

Thank you to everyone who is following, reading, and leaving reviews – those are very helpful! I'm so glad to know people are enjoying this story. This chapter is sort of a gateway to the future, so it rehashes some things from the film, and a little bit of history from the books. I know some of what is going to happen from here, and some if it is still being ruminated on, but it should be an interesting ride. Personally, I'm enjoying developing Nathaniel and Cora as a couple. In the film, and in the books, he is a very forthright and blunt person, though he is almost always kind. Cora is similar – she doesn't really hold anything back. Nathaniel is also often brave to the point of recklessness. In the film he's got that blunt, tough exterior, but to me you can kind of see his soft gooey center too, especially where those he cares about are concerned, and in the way he treats Cora. The way they look at each other kind of melts your heart, and even at the worst of times he is so gentle with her, and is always touching or holding her.

It took me some time to figure out what to do with the militia characters. I wanted some of Nathaniel and Chingachgook's friends back in the picture, and I almost had them go to Jack's, but I had to think that he probably wouldn't have gone home immediately since he was the militia captain and the British army would have known where to find him, so I sent everybody to Ian. Ian was a bit part in the film, so I enjoyed creating him and his family. At that time in history, there would have been Scots immigrants scattered across American settlements – many of them would likely have been Jacobites or other highlanders who escaped or were forced to leave their homes in Scotland in the years following the battle of Culloden Field in 1745, when England launched a brutal campaign to incorporate highland culture into the rest of Great Britain and break down the clan system. That's a much longer story than I can tell here, though.

There is a challenging dynamic with Cora and her father from the film perspective (the book was vastly different there). On one hand, he's her father and he was murdered, and of course she is going to be very sad about that. On the flip side, he was also going to hang the man she fell in love with, and they fought hard about that as well as the militia/settler issue, so she was understandably pretty angry with him preceding his death. She has the same issue with Duncan, who was her good friend and then made her lose all respect for him in the time before he died (and subsequently redeemed himself). Exploring the aftermath of that is harder than I thought, so I hope I've done all right with it.