Work Text:
June, 1758
If Alice had not promised Cora that she would go and forage her strawberries yesterday, she would most likely be spending most of the day in her bed. She did not plan on having a night terror last night and that is why she felt exhausted and her body ached. She had promised Cora though and it would be better for her to be away from the home, and her sister’s curious concern. Alice always felt more at ease after time in the nearby woods anyways. Taking time for herself, after she has a particularly rough spell, outside is one way that Alice has found to ease herself. It is on mornings such as these that Alice longed to feel her Papa’s arms wrapped around her, there there my girl. She missed her Papa and a piece of her will forever be missing with him. This past April was a whole year since Cora and her lost him, a year since Nathaniel and his adopted family the Mohicans, Chingachgook and Uncas were thrown into their lives. A whole year since the battle happened and their lives were forever changed.
Just a short walk through the woods nearby their mid-sized longhouse that they all partook in building, there was a field where strawberries bloomed and beyond that was a stream that flowed down about four miles to a small waterfall. Alice had explored the wild nearby their temporary home and had come to know the land well. No matter how short the walk, Alice carried the knife that Uncas had given her for her own protection. He had claimed it from Magua after his father killed him. The girl who would have flinched at the thought of carrying a knife was long since gone. Now Alice made sure to have it on her body at all times. The ladies in London society would faint at the sight of Miss Alice Munro, she thought as she carried the basket for the strawberries in her other hand.
A year had passed but wounds were still healing. Can-tuck-ee was still in the future but they all had to take their time getting there. Nathaniel would not push his brother, Uncas’ wounds were more severe than hers. For the love of her sister, and her, she suspects, Nathaniel would not push forward until Alice was ready herself. Plus Chingachgook was waiting for the spirits to tell him. Alice wore scars on her skin from her ordeals, but her wounds were mostly inside; hidden from the human eye. They all knew she suffered from night terrors but no one talked about it. At least not to her directly. Cora was the only one. Her old sister fussed over her, even after she became a wife. Nathaniel and Cora were married not too many months after Chingachgook slain Magua. She was Cora Poe now. Alice was the last of the Munro clan.
By the time Alice had reached the strawberry field her cheeks were flushed and little beads of sweat rolled down her forehead. The humidity was high for a midsummer day and there was hardly a cool breeze. She could hear the faint trickle of the flowing stream nearby and for a moment she considered forgetting strawberries. She decided the stream could wait, first the strawberries. Alice had only just knelt to her knees to forage before a rustling in the nearby brushes caught her attention. Her blue eyes searched the green leaves but could spy nothing so she listened. A few seconds passed when two small fighting birds came barreling out from the brush. Alice jumped slightly and hunched her shoulders up to her ears as her eyes followed them. She inhaled through her mouth and out through her nose more than once, trying to calm her thumping heart. She thought that it would burst through her chest by the way it was beating.
Another sound came from behind her, a snap of a twig, and Alice was upon her feet in a moment, knife in her hand slightly raised. She was ready to defend herself if she needed. Uncas emerged a moment later from the way of the stream, his hands raised and steps steady as if he were approaching a scared doe. When Alice realized that it was him she lowered the knife immediately and dropped her shoulders.
Uncas cocked his head to the side in question as he gave a nod in her direction.
“Two birds were fighting in the brush. They came flying out,” Alice explained. She brushed a piece of loose hair out of her eyes. Her heart had calmed down some, it no longer felt as though it would pound through her.
“Your sister said where you were,” Uncas was taking his time to approach her. The wound on his side had healed for the most part but he still needed to take some more time mending. He fought a great battle on the cliff.
“Should you be out this far?” Alice carefully watched as he walked to her. “How do you feel today?”
Uncas nodded: “I am well.” He finally stood before her and held up his hand to her face.
Every time he stood before her, Alice was made aware of the Indian man’s height over her. His knuckles were cool against her cheek, she couldn’t help but to lean into him. Uncas was always a soothing balm for her, no matter what ailed her.
“What troubles you?”
She could not hide from him. No matter how hard she pretended that she was fine, Uncas was always able to tell. He had come to know her better than she knew herself, or at least she thought. Even when he asked, his voice was gentle and soothing. She could listen to Uncas talk for hours.
“Another night terror,” Alice replied.
Uncas gently pulled her to him, molding his body with her own. She wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her nose into his shirt, drowning herself in his scent. He had saved her in so many ways, ways she did not realize a young woman could be saved. Uncas gently untangled her blonde hair with one pair of his fingers while the other pressed firmly into her lower back, holding her firm against him. Holding onto him helped to remind Alice that she was here, he was alive and well. Magua was killed by his father, she held his knife to prove it so. A war honor from battle that belonged to her, Uncas had come to explain to her. By Chingachgook killing Magua she not only avenged the harm done to his son, but he also avenged Alice. He had accepted his son’s choice, Native woman or not. He had never seen his son moved by a woman before, Alice was the keeper of his heart.
She held onto Uncas for a moment more before she pulled back just enough so that she could look at him. “I am happy you are here and that I am with you.”
“I am with you,” he replied as he leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers, brushing the tips of their noses together. He would stand for her and with her, always.