They followed the path of a river through the mountains, keeping, as Nathaniel had forewarned, from any major trails or roads, until the river itself emptied out into a broad valley surrounded by rolling hills and wide blankets of pine trees.
As always, the men's steps were agile and sure-footed as they moved across the forest floor, rifles held aloft, the pace clearly being slowed by the presence of the women. Even with her skirts bunched high in her hands, Alice could barely hope to match their stride. They were as much a part of the natural landscape as the trees and rocks, and in their easy, fluid movements she was reminded of nothing so much as the muscular grace of an animal's gait.
Uncas had not spoken to Alice, nor she to him, after her discovery of the carving. She had waited almost all of the first day of travel for him to approach her, but he did not, and she lacked the courage to say anything, or even simply thank him for his gift. Her stomach clenched in tight knots with the idea that they would never have a chance to speak before they departed company, nor properly bid each other farewell, but she still could not broach such a topic, especially as he kept his distance, seemingly so preoccupied. All that was left to her was to snatch furtive, low-lidded glances as she followed behind his retreating form.
Their second day of travel dawned cold and clear. By the mid-point of the afternoon, as Alice began entertaining visions of finally stopping for the night – although she knew it would probably be hours before that time came – Nathaniel slowed their pace and turned them towards a broad copse of cedars. As they moved into the shaded woodland, the ground began a gradual incline downwards, finally leveling out onto the rocky bank of a rippling spring. She first noticed the unpleasant smell, hanging heavy and fetid in the air, then the delicate arcs of steam that seemed to tumble from the top of the water.
Nathaniel had halted a pace or so from the water's edge.
"Our stop, miss."
"Why? What for?" she asked as she approached him carefully, watching her footing over the loose rocks.
He grinned.
"We thought you might like to have a hot bath."
Alice was taken aback. On the one hand, the thought of washing out in the open, where anyone could come along, and, worst of all, immersing herself within that particular smell, was not appealing in the slightest. On the other, it was a hot bath. She hadn't been fully clean for months.
He seemed to take her indecision as an acceptance.
"Here, we'll give you both some privacy," he said, looking at the two sisters. "We'll just be up at the top of the hill. Yell when you're done, so'n we can have a wash, too."
The three men began to trek back into the trees, gradually disappearing against the foliage.
Alice looked over at her sister, whose raised eyebrows indicated that she was seriously considering Nathaniel's recommendation. Cora moved over to the water, trailing her fingers in the steaming surface.
"Alice, it's warm," she said, pleadingly, as she began to unlace her bodice.
And with that, she gave in.
They both quickly stripped down to their shifts and waded in, their darkened hair trailing in watery plaits down their backs.
Alice felt wonderful; she was light and buoyant, the tips of her toes shifting along the spring's sandy bottom as she moved into the central depths. Above all, she was gloriously warm, the heat and damp causing a shimmer of perspiration to break out across her temples. She could no longer even notice the smell.
She lifted her feet up and with her open palms made a few tentative strokes into the water. Flipping onto her back, she floated idly, her eyes caught for a moment within the vastness of the pale blue sky. She felt free, untethered, as if bound by nothing but the faint lap of the water. Her thoughts eddied and swirled around one another, loosing into unfamiliar patterns and shapes.
What would it be like to live in such wildness, to be so unbound? How would it feel to be surrounded not by walls, but solely by open sky?
Cora's voice pulled her back. She had not realized how long they had been in the spring.
"Are you ready?"
Alice nodded, her eyes surreptitiously scanning the tree line and finding it empty.
They moved out of the water – the first few moments a vicious assault from the chill – and into the wooded area just beyond the spring's reach. There they would wait for their shifts to dry out a little before getting dressed again. Alice slid onto a relatively clean rock, wringing out her hair and combing it through with her fingers, as Cora called out to Nathaniel that they could come down.
She could hear them as they made their way to the water's edge, packs and rifles being discarded among the rocks, the soft sweep of fabric and leather stockings against skin. There was a short series of splashes and then another.
Turning her gaze a little to the left, Alice realized that the men were only obscured from her sight by a low-hanging branch. She reached out tentatively, pushing it aside just a few inches.
The two brothers stood half-emerged in the spring, faded tattoos marking their chests, one pale and one bronze, a study in contrasts. But there was clearly such an ease between them, borne, she knew, from shared experience and life-long fraternity, that they seemed almost of a matched set. She watched as they began to tease and chaff one another, just splashing at first, but then escalating to a full-fledged contest of will as each grappled and fought to pitch the other head-first into the water.
It pained her a little to see Uncas laughing and smiling so widely at his brother's playful attack. How long had it been since he had looked so happy? She thought about all the ways that she had seen him – ferocious in battle, all savage eyes; laid low and weak by an opponent's knife; pain etched across his features as she ran from his embrace – and realized that this moment, just as he was now, was how she wanted to remember him, how she wanted him to appear when he at last arrived in her dreams.
She didn't understand this feeling within her. How could her heart beat so wildly and yet feel so heavy? Why could she not turn away, as if she would never have her fill of looking at him? She wanted to reach out, as if he was merely an arm's-length away, and lay her hand across the wide sweep of his face.
"Alice!"
As she released the branch, it swung back into place with a jolt, loosening a handful of autumn leaves that fluttered shyly towards the ground. She turned her gaze downward and refused to meet Cora's eyes.
A/N: For all you fact-checkers out there, I know that Saratoga Springs is not actually geothermal. But isn't it so much more fun this way?