A/N

Hallo again after a missed Friday I am back with a new chapter. My body decided last week I was not going to be allowed to do anything and so, that was that!

I can't promise to meet every Friday with a chapter but I will do my upmost. Even though this story is finished, each chapter still needs to be checked for spelling, grammar and glaring plot holes, so it will be completed, but I may miss one or two schedules, hopefully not too much in the future. I'm trying to get a wee bit ahead with the chapters now, so I will (hopefully) always have one to upload weekly, but life, eh, it often goes its own way.

Thank you to everyone who is reading this and an extra big thank you to those sending reviews my way, knowing someone is enjoying this out there makes it all worthwhile.

Extra thank you to everyone that put in their opinions about Uncas bracelets several chapters back, which allowed me to confirm it's 'Not gold' ;)

/

Erin sat and dozed; for how long she wasn't sure.

She awoke with a start as Cora's foot accidentally nudged her. She watched the young woman creep silently over to where Nathaniel sat. He was looking towards the trees they had recently emerged from, on permanent watch, but he gave Cora a nod of welcome. Erin yawned and glanced down at Alice who was trying to sleep, but the hard ground afforded no comfort.

Erin looked around her and noticed with a small jolt that Uncas crouched nearby, his eyes also scanning the tree line. Noticing she was awake he moved closer on his haunches and gave a nod that held the question if all was well.

"We're fine," Erin said in a whisper, gesturing to Alice. "Do you see anything?"

"No," he said, his eyes not averting from his task, but there was something in his tone that made her feel uneasy.

Then his muscles stiffened, his eyes narrowing at the forest, and he motioned with his hand for her to stay down. He pulled his musket up to rest upon a fallen log and aimed. Minutes passed with only the sounds of the night, Erin strained her hearing, and as the seconds ticked by, she began to doubt he had heard anything at all.

Somewhere in the darkness a loud cracking sound came, a clumsy foot upon wood, then it seemed the whole world went silent as the forms of men could just be seen materializing out of the darkness like smoke. There were the men who had been tracking them, made up mostly of Ottawa, but at the back came some haggard looking white men, dirty and bedraggled, their faces set in determination of finding their prey and cutting them down.

If they were discovered now...

Time stilled, slowing to an agonizing pace, and in that stillness, small huffed sounds of panic reached Erin's hearing. Soft little sounds, like the mewling of a kitten, and she turned, eyes wide, to see Alice, her face so pale as to be waxen, her expression full of terror. She was panicking and would give away their position at any moment.

Erin hesitated for only a second, but it was enough for Uncas to take control of the situation, and he quickly reached down, abandoning his weapon and grabbing the young girl roughly around the middle, his free hand covering her mouth with a gentleness that stunned Erin for a moment. He glanced up at her, his head moving in indication that she should stay down. Erin nodded and pressed herself to the earth.

Minutes passed like hours as they waited, hearing the voices of the men talking; in French Erin thought, but she could understand it, even though she'd never taken a lesson in her life.

They were scared, or some of them were, they refused to go further, they wanted to travel down to the river a few miles away, to rest. They argued a moment, and after stating again they would not go through this land, it was bad luck, the sounds of retreating footfalls sounded and relief flooded through Erin's body. They waited and watched until all the party were out of sight and hearing.

Finally, when it felt safe, they relaxed, and Uncas removed his hand from Alice's mouth. She looked dazed for a moment but then her eyes met his with a sweet shyness, her cheeks flushed, and then she looked away as if she knew she should not have looked at all.

"Oh Boy," Erin thought, with a little thrill of equal parts excitement and exasperation. It was not going to be that easy to stop these two coming together. Her only choice now was to find a way that took them far away from their fate. She let out a silent, frustrated breath and glanced up, seeing Chingachgook stood watching them from his own hiding place, he didn't look pleased.

/

They rested for what was left of the night, waiting for dawn to continue on their way. Alice retreated to Duncan's side at his insistence while Cora stayed near Nathaniel. Erin remained where she was, too full of adrenaline now to even think of sleeping. She avoided glancing up, knowing she'd see the burial platforms of many people, high above them, and a little unsure just how she'd feel about it.

"How did you know?" Uncas' soft deep voice drew her out of the folds of her blanket, and she stared at him a moment.

"Know?" she replied, blinking tiredly.

"That they were tracking us?"

She glanced away, thinking for a moment. This constant state of having to be on the ball with reasons and explanations, of manner and etiquette, was wearing her nerves thin.

"I had a funny feeling in my toe, just like Mary from the story." She couldn't help the sarcasm.

He considered this a little too deeply for her off-handed tone. "You often get such feelings?"

"Oh yes, my toes often detect danger." She cast the words carelessly, tired and done with it all for a moment. When she looked back at him, his expression was far too serious, trying to understand her words. This made her smile and warmth unfolded back in to her body giving her a second wind.

"I'm teasing you." She smiled at him, hoping he got the joke.

"Teasing?" he replied, as if testing the word out upon his tongue.

"Yes, a jest," she affirmed, "you are very fun to tease."

They shared a look and then he smiled very briefly, the skin on the bridge of his nose wrinkling, as if this had indeed been a good trick she had played. They were quiet for a moment.

"I just had a bad feeling," she finally said, knowing she couldn't be flippant forever. "I thought it was best to be safe than sorry." She shrugged.

"Safe than sorry." He repeated the phrase as if it was the first time he'd heard it, and Erin tried not to laugh at the thought that she was blowing his mind with all these new expressions.

Erin found herself studying him for a moment in a way she hadn't had time to do before. Soft leather buckskin leggings covered most of his legs, wrapped close about his calves with leather fastenings. His hair was perfect, the style so sleek that Erin guessed he must have used some kind of oil or grease to keep every flyaway in place. His shirt was a dark colour of burgundy. At his waist was a wampum belt and a worn looking leather belt with a brass buckle, upon this was tied an array of weapons, and various tools and sundries hanging in pouches and bags - he was like the 1750's version of Batman. Every item was essential to his survival and this pulled her thoughts back to a more serious tone.

"It must be a hard life, out here," she finally said, wanting to fill the silence.

"Can be," he said simply. "Winters are hard." His attention was back upon the tree line.

She shivered inwardly at the mere thought of being out in the wilds come the chill winds of October.

"You never thought to settle down somewhere?" Erin asked.

"Sometimes," was all the answer he gave her, his eyes still gazing into the depths of the forest.

It was beginning to feel like pulling blood from a stone to get him to talk, but Erin wanted someone to talk to, anything to take her mind off all that was going on around her, she wanted to feel that connection to another human being. She reached about in her mind, looking for any bond they might share.

"I like your tattoos." She tossed out the conversation opener like they were both attending a house party.

He turned to her then, his eyes studying her for a long moment, and Erin suddenly felt a ball of dread that she had just offended him.

She gestured to her own forearm and then pointed at his, making sure her intent was understood, hoping she wasn't being obnoxiously rude.

"They are marks of protection," he explained, without her having to ask. "My father did them for me, just as his father did them for him. My brother has the same."

She could feel his thinly veiled cynicism and knew in that moment that he perhaps thought she was mocking him.

"Well, I think they look cool," she said, rushing to reassure him.

He looked thoroughly confused now, his head tilting to the side as if she had said something very strange. "No, they're not," he said, and before she could react he had grabbed hold of her hand and placed it gently on his arm. "See, it's just my skin. It's warm."

Erin felt both disconcerted and highly amused. "Yes, I was wrong. They are very warm." She tried not to laugh.

He smiled, that nose wrinkle appearing again and Erin thought it was adorable. He was genuinely pleased she understood him.

"I have one too," she said, enjoying the feel of having a link with someone here, of perhaps making a true new friend. She turned, and gently forced the edge of her chemise over her shoulder, exposing the form of her own tattoo, a green shaded Luna Moth.

He was silent for a long moment and she felt his fingertip glance like a whisper across her skin, but when he still didn't say anything she turned back to him. He was again studying her with those dark intelligent eyes, searching her face as if she was the strangest creature he had ever come across. Erin bit her lip in apprehension, she'd made another mistake, women like her were not known for having tattoos here.

"It's very common where I come from," she hurriedly explained, "for women to get these... marks."

"Where is your home?"

Erin cringed at having to repeat the lie, but did so anyway. "Russia."

He nodded as if this explained everything, but his eyes still remained narrowed, the feeling not quite reaching them.

"Where did you get your marks? At sea?"

"Eh... yes. At sea, on the ocean." She told a half truth, the tattoo parlour had been called 'Oceans of Time' after all.

She thought he was going to ask more probing questions and mentally prepared herself for his attack, but his aloof expression suddenly dissolved into a small grin. "You are very strange, Miss Cooper," he said, that crease of humour upon his nose, and Erin laughed lowly feeling the tension between them lessen.

"I know," she said with some self deprecating humour, making him chuckle all the more, "I get told that a lot."

Erin studied his tattoos again, her eyes lingering over the dots and lines encircling his wrist, the long straight lines that shot down his forearm into points, looking like the ends of stars. She counted five golden coloured bangles.

"Are they real gold?"

He gave her a sharp look but then relaxed, deciding whatever dark thoughts had crossed his mind in that moment were unwarranted in this current situation. "You ask a lot of questions." He raised an eyebrow.

"I get told that a lot too. My father used to call me 'blight' when I was a child, as in, I was his blight on peace and quiet."

This answer seemed to amuse and relax him. "They are for trading, easy to carry and they tell people who I am, what my place is."

Erin nodded, knowing who he was, he was Uncas, the well respected son of Chingachgook, last of his kind.

He eyed her with what looked a lot like the scepticism given to a child who asked very silly questions.

"Not gold," he affirmed, looking away.

She pushed her palms against her skirts, feeling them sweat a little as a different kind of adrenaline rushed through her veins. She was talking to Uncas, one of her favourite characters of all time. Her touch rustled something within her pocket and an idea sprung to her mind.

"Do you want something to eat?"

His eyes came to her face, his brow furrowed, suspicion clouding his eyes.

"It's sweet and..." She pulled out one of her candies, it was an alarming shade of green and blue. She held it out to him and he stared at it a moment, a tiny hint of disgust pulling one side of his mouth downward.

"It's good." She popped it into her mouth and chewed, before retrieving another from her pocket, this one orange and red, a little less inedible looking.

He looked doubtful but his good manners won through and he took it off her, surprise flicking across his features at the smooth texture of it. He hesitated, looked at her long and hard, and then seemed to decide something and bit off a tiny piece.

He chewed thoughtfully for a moment, before his face relaxed and a pleasant smile flowed through his expression, reaching his eyes, which glinted with amusement. "It is sweet." He took another bite.

"Yeah," Erin said, through the last of her own mouthful. "It'll rot the teeth right out of your head."

"What?" He paused mid bite, his easy manner vanishing, replaced by concern.

"No, sorry, it's just an expression. It's a joke. Teasing."

He nodded, appearing not wholly reassured, and when he thought she wasn't looking he tossed the candy behind him with a nonchalant air, quickly wiping his fingers upon his leggings.

"What about your necklace? It's pretty." Erin hurried on, ignoring his actions, not wanting to break their meeting just yet. She was slowly getting to know the real man behind all her adventure-laden childhood imaginings.

He looked annoyed, like she was a pest buzzing around him, for a short moment before he seemed to find patience and relaxed.

"Do you always pry so much?" He quirked a dark eyebrow at her.

"Yes," Erin said, unashamed, and he softly snorted, shaking his head with a wry smile. "I like to learn about people. I want to learn about you."

Uncas looked at her steadily for a moment. Erin could feel that same suspicion gleaming out from his gaze, trying to pierce her armour and gauge if she was being fully honest. He thumbed the silver pendant connected with black beads for a moment as if pondering if he should tell her. "It is the arrowhead from my first buck. I was ten. My Father was very proud."

Erin felt the smile flow on to her lips at his acceptance to play along. "But you have no arrows." She allowed her gaze to wash down him, reaffirming her words with her eyes before returning back to his face.

He let out a soft exhalation of amusement. "Tradition," he offered, with no real further explanation, only saying a few words in his own tongue that were not meant for her. "Honour the old ways."

"And your earring?" Erin asked whatever came to mind now, wanting to know as much as she could, placing each piece of information deep in her memory. He looked a little unsure, and Erin placed a hand to her ear, thinking he hadn't understood, but his eyes met hers and she saw he had, it was just something he was reluctant of speaking about.

"My mother." He gently tapped it, sending the silver pendulum swinging from the hoop in his ear. "This way, she is always with me." Again he gave no clarification to his words, expecting them to be enough to satisfy her curiosity and so she had to be content.

"I'm sorry," Erin said, feeling guilty, knowing these sombre words meant his mother was no longer living.

"I was younger than Lizzie Cameron when it happened." He shrugged, but tension remained in his shoulders, his eyes drifting back to the tree line as if he couldn't help but always be on watch.

"I see," Erin said, not really knowing what else to say.

Silence descended over them suddenly, making the whole situation feel very awkward.

"You should sleep." He cut the tension like a knife with his words. "I will keep watch."

Erin pulled the blanket back around her shoulders, suddenly feeling drained. "Aren't you tired?" She suppressed a yawn.

"Like a dog on a hot day," he said, a smile lighting up his face, that crinkle appearing again, and Erin felt a little flutter against her belly.

"OK" was all she managed, and she turned onto her side, abruptly lying down upon the ground, pulling the blanket up over her head.

'What the heck was that Erin?' her mind flared at her.

She shrugged inwardly in reply, not feeling the nonchalance she told herself was there, at all.

A/N

I would like to meet anyone out there who would NOT get a flutter from talking to Uncas! Poor Erin!