I changed the rating to M because I want the option of making it steamy!

Chapter 7

We had come to an Indian village the next day. Uncas said it was a Huron village. He was hoping that by making an appearance there, his father and brother would find us, or one of the villagers would know where to find them. Before we drew close Uncas turned to me and said "These people will not at first know whether we are friend or enemy. Whatever happens, stay calm. No harm will befall you." I clung to his hand nervously as children playing on the outskirts caught side of us and ran away. I was paranoid beyond belief. It was one thing to walk and speak with an Indian, but to set foot in an actual Indian village…never in my life had I thought I would find myself in such a place, with no other of my kind by my side. My fears were exacerbated by a handful of men who suddenly surrounded us with raised spears and muskets.

Uncas showed no alarm. He kindly held my hand as we were marched into the centre of the village which consisted, at first glance, of smoky fires and many roundly shaped wooden huts of varying sizes. A real crowd gathered around us though I hardly paid attention to the people, my eyes being glued to the ground in terror. They were talking now, many at once, and Uncas made no reply. Perhaps he did not speak this language? Then how was he to tell them we meant them no harm?

He raised his hands, and the weapons around us were raised accordingly. Then, to my surprise, he pulled his tunic over his head. There was confusion around us, more talk, and some of weapons were lowered. An old man, dressed differently from the rest (clearly a man of authority of some kind) made his way through the crowd, which readily parted for him. He walked right up to Uncas and touched one of the tattoos on his chest, one that resembled a turtle. Then he spoke, and everybody else grew quiet.

Uncas replied to him easily. All weapons were lowered now and the hostile faces grew friendlier. We were led to one of the fires and offered food and a place to sit. The old man continued to talk to Uncas, to my dismay, as I was dying to ask him what had transpired. I had to wait long. Many men came to speak with him. We sat at that fire and ate and drank until darkness began to descend.

I started growing very fidgety, and Uncas, noticing my discomfort, called for one of the women who to my delight spoke some English. She showed me where to wash, where to go to relieve myself, and where I would sleep, which happened to be in the biggest hut in the village. "This the chief's hut" she said. "Big honor". She pointed to one of the furs on the ground inside the hut. Several small children were already asleep in a different corner, two with their mothers stretched out beside them. The chief must have several wives, I thought with discomfort. I lay down on the fur and tried to get comfortable as more people came in and lowered themselves onto the ground of this considerably large building. I did not see Uncas. Late into the night I could faintly hear him conversing outside. The comforting sound of his voice lulled me to sleep.

On the next day I finally had a chance to speak to Uncas. He apologized for his lack of attention, citing as reason the customs of the tribe that he was compelled to observe. The turtle on his chest had identified him as a Mohican, a tribe well known to others for its honor and bravery and mourned for its near demise. The chief had recognized Uncas as being one of the last ones and bestowed great honor on him by promising protection and a place in his hut for as long as we wished to stay.

"Have they heard of your brother and my sister?" I asked. "Not yet, but I am confident that they will hear of us and come to meet us here. " After pondering this for a moment, I had to ask who he told them I was. He looked me straight in the eye and answered "I told them you're my woman". Then he chuckled, because he saw how beet red my face became before his voice turned serious again. "It is best if you do not tell anyone who you really are. Your father…he had enemies, you understand, don't you? And you must also know that some of the men here took part in the attack." At this my face drastically lost its color. "They are assuming that I did so too and that I took you as my captive. It is best to play along. I don't know how much we can really trust these people."

After hearing this I became increasingly more uncomfortable in my surroundings. We continued to stay however, waiting from word from our relatives. Uncas bedded down in the same hut with several people in between us. As I watched him go to sleep, I thought of what he had said, "my woman", and the way he had looked at me when he said it. My heart beat faster at the memory. What did that term mean to these people? Certainly it did not mean we had to sleep together at night, but then again none of the men and women in the hut slept beside each other. It also didn't mean I had to pretend anything during the day.

Actually, I was largely ignored, I thought with some bitterness. Uncas never had time to talk to me; he was always talking to the men. I did not really see any of the men having conversations with the women though, so perhaps he was just following their customs? The only ones paying attention to me were the children, to my utmost joy. I love children. These children, in particular, were a delightful bunch. I loved their brown skin as much as they loved mine. Their smiles were like the sunshine itself. They would follow me around, the older girls carrying babies. I would often have to endure my hair being braided (none too gently) and I didn't mind. Many a baby fell asleep in my arms, and I would continue to hold them throughout their nap until they would awake and needed their mothers. That is how I filled my days at the Huron village. Once I became aware that Uncas was watching me with the children, a faint smile on his face, and it made me happy.

By now I had resigned myself to the fact that I was hopelessly in love with Uncas. He was so different from any man, white or otherwise, I had ever known. He held himself so dignified, yet he was completely unpretentious. I tried not to appear to follow him around the village but in truth I did it without thinking. The sight of him was like food and water to me. I spend many evenings pondering whether he might return those feelings of mine. He had rescued me on several occasions, comforted me and put his life on the line. But had he really held me in his arms under the waterfalls, had his lips really kissed my forehead and his fingers stroked my hair? The memory was becoming hazy. Had I been hallucinating? If it was real, would this be something anyone would do for a mere friend?

The thought of my sister also was never far from me. I started to fear the worst although there was no one to talk to about it save for Uncas, who was not often available. What if they would not come to meet us here? What if something happened to them? The thought was unbearable, along with the fear that I would be stuck in this strange village for the rest of my days, my relationship to Uncas forever in limbo.

When we had been at the village for about a week when the people had some sort of celebration. I could tell because the fires burned late and they were singing and dancing in their strange, mesmerizing way. The children were not put to bed at the usual time and many were still lingering around the fires with their parents after nightfall. I stood a little ways off, clouded in darkness while gently swaying a sleeping toddler to the rhythm of the drums. I kept my eye out for Uncas though he was nowhere to be seen.

At this point I had grown very, very tired of this place. The woman who spoke some English had been available to me whenever I needed something though she had made no attempt to further befriend me, and I had kept to myself at Uncas' request. I was truly lonely and still dealing with the grief of losing my father. The thought of it brought tears to my eyes, and in the darkness I let them fall over my cheeks unchecked.

"Alice." The voice made me spin around. Uncas had come up behind me. "I have good news. Your sister, my brother and father will be here in the morning. They have just sent word." My face broke out in a smile, my tears forgotten. "So they are all right? Nothing has happened to them?" Uncas just about snorted. "Nathaniel will not let anything happen to your sister. I was never worried about them."

Then there was silence, though he made no move to leave. "Alice. You are a good woman and I…want to ask you something." Another long silence followed. Was he searching for words? It was hard to read his face in the dim lighting. I stopped rocking the child. "I want to ask you…I hope I am not offending you…"In the awkwardness that followed, he looked at the ground, then took a deep breath, looked me confidently in the eye and said: "I want to ask you to stay with me. To be my wife. I have thought about it greatly. I am the last of my people and am free to choose whomever I love. And that is you."

My heart stopped beating for what seemed like a minute. I lost faith in my ears. Was I hearing this correctly? I realized he was waiting for an answer, but my speech had left me, so he continued. "I realize I am asking much of you. I cannot offer you an easy life, but I promise to always protect you and provide for you. And I will always love you" he added quietly. I found my voice then, and instead of shouting what my heart felt, I said the "proper" thing. "I…I shall have to think about it" I whispered. He nodded in understanding. "If your answer is yes, we can be married here among these people, before we leave. If you wish to." Then he stepped away, back to the light of the fires and the people.

My world was spinning, my heart singing. On shaky legs I went in search of the child's mother. Upon returning her I found my spot in the hut and unsuccessfully tried to quiet my racing heart. I attempted to think of his proposition in logical terms, weighing my options, looking at the reality of what he suggested, but all I could do was hear his words again, of how he loved me. He loved me! He wanted to marry me! I wanted to shout with joy. He felt about me the same way I felt about him!

The drums were quieting outside, the fires burning lower. The other inhabitants of the hut sleepily made their way to their sleeping spots. Uncas came in too and lowered himself onto his fur. His back was towards me and I watched him intently, and the fire in me came alive again. If he wanted to marry me that would mean he wanted to sleep beside me at night, kiss me, touch me, have children with me…

I knew very little about what transpired between a husband and wife in their intimacy, save for one incident I had the poor luck of witnessing as a child of 10 years. The memory came to me unbidden and unwanted. I had stepped onto a balcony that faced the back courtyard of our estate, where the servants had their entrance. There I saw movement beside the cellar stairs out of the corner of my eye. A man was standing behind one of the kitchen servants, her skirts pulled up. She was bent over, and he was moving against her roughly. They were mating like animals! That was the first thing that had come to my mind then, and I was shocked to learn that humans would do the same thing that I had often seen dogs do. I had run inside disturbed and confused and not mentioned it to anyone. Of one thing I was certain; nobody would ever do that with me!

I tossed around on the makeshift bed, banishing the unwelcome memory. It would not be like this with Uncas and me, it could not. Life with him could only be beautiful. I would forever be safe in his arms. What harm could possibly befall me in his presence? But then I also thought of what my relatives in England would say if they heard of this union, what scandal it would cause. I could not expect any of them to understand. Would Cora even understand? Would there be any other couples like us anywhere in this land? What kind of community could we live in where there would be acceptance, save for an Indian village like this? Was it even legal?

These thoughts began to plague me greatly as I continued to watch Uncas' back late into the night, when everywhere around me snoring and soft breathing took over the air, and Uncas himself seemed to be asleep, his shoulder slowly rising and falling. His hair lay in a heap behind him, his earring glistening in the darkness. I thought about how difficult it had been for him to ask me to marry him, how nervously he had struggled for words. How utterly adorable he had been in contrast to his usual stoicism. At this I smiled to myself. I had fallen in love with him in spite of the odds against us. Should I turn him down, would I ever find a man as noble and brave and selfless as him? Or even as handsome?

I realized something important, then. In his world, he had done me a great honor. He was the last of a respected tribe, and he could have had any girl from any other tribe, a girl well trained in the arts of survival in this harsh land. There were many beautiful ones, even in this place here. Instead he chose me, a completely helpless foreigner who had never had to do a thing for herself and had yet to be taught anything at all about caring for a man, a family, a household. Not an easy decision for him either, I was sure. Yet he wanted me, and I wanted him, and I would follow him to the ends of the earth…he would never fit into my former life, so I would have to fit into his, and he was worth any sacrifice.

My mind was then made up. I slowly arose. Careful not to awaken anyone, I tiptoed around the sleeping bodies that separated me from the man I loved. I knelt beside him, lowered my face and whispered his name into his ear. He sat up instantly, his eyes rapidly blinking away sleep. My heart melted once more at this, and I wondered briefly what he had looked like as a child.

"I have thought about your proposal" I whispered. He stared at me intently. "And I am honored to accept." I smiled at him shyly. His face came very close to mine. Was he going to…? His lips touched mine briefly, and then again. We were kissing. He moved them against mine in a way that could only be described as delicious. And it was like Cora said; I was falling and falling, never wanting to stop. My hands clenched and unclenched helplessly, wanting to touch him but afraid to, as his beautiful mouth slowly made love to mine, and his hands freely went into my hair. I gasped for air when he drew back. "I will talk to my father tomorrow" he said, his own voice ragged. "We will wed in a few days".