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"A hero isn't someone who doesn't fear death. A hero is someone who has finally found something worth living or dying for." Nathaniel thought while the silence of the twilight-lit cabin settled around him.
Chingachgook had said that statement over and over. So many times that Nathaniel couldn't remember the first time he had said it.
Nathaniel often wondered how many of the things Chingachgook taught him had come from the Mohicans and how many came from experiences during his life.
Of course Chingachgook knew the value of human life. Perhaps he understood it greater than anyone else. He understood how vastly important it was to have people to love and depend on. How important it was to have someone to belong to.
Nathaniel sighed. His father had been right.
As far back as Nathaniel's memory stretched, he had been fiercely proud of belonging to no one.
When his family had been murdered when he was two, the only one that owned Nathaniel was the Maker of Life who had shaped him. He voiced his freedom proudly with no shame in his voice.
***
"You call yourself a patriot and a loyal subject to the Crown!" barked the angry British officer.
Nathaniel looked pointedly at the enraged man, who seemed somewhat pleased to have made a point.
His large hands resting on Killdeer's muzzle, Nathaniel replied smugly, "I do not call myself "subject" to much at all."
***
Nathaniel snorted in amusement. That had worked well for him. Not a day later, he met Cora Munro who was now his wife.
She had quickly made a "loyal, subject" out of Nathaniel. She had become his queen and suddenly, he did belong to someone.
Methodically cleaning Killdeer, Nathaniel let his gaze wander over the cabin's rough wooden walls. Nathaniel's thoughts slowed down some. He thought about how he met Cora on that cursed British-led trek to Fort William Henry.
He, Uncas, and his father had no debt to the contingent of brightly-dressed British soldiers. Nor did they owe anything to some officer to save his two daughters. Still they brought life-saving aid to them.
That hadn't been the first time that they had helped people who had no connection with them but it had been the most significant to both Uncas and Nathaniel.
He remembered the first time he ever set eyes on Cora. She knelt on the earth as she held her trembling sister to her breast. Magua had Cora in his sights, preparing to aim. Cora appeared so strong and so unfearing that Nathaniel briefly wondered if she wasn't British at all. Perhaps she was a chaperone for the younger girl.
After the fighting ceased, Nathaniel and his family had decided to accompany the remaining British Officer, Duncan Heyward, and the two girls to the fort. Out of the corner of his "hawk eyes", Nathaniel spied Cora reaching down to one of the freshly fallen corpses and removing the slain man's handgun from his remains.
He was impressed by her protective nature and her unwavering confidence. Nathaniel smiled faintly. He knew that, for Cora, courage never meant the absence of fear. She had been deathly afraid. Nathaniel remembered thinking that maybe not all British people were alike.
He remembered tracking Cora, Alice, and Duncan during the long, excruciating trip to the Sachem at the Huron Country. He remembered how much exhaustion pulsed through his veins as he restlessly followed Magua. Uncas' nose bled along the trail out of the sheer pressure of the run.
Then a new thought came to Nathaniel's mind. Would he run miles upon miles to save Cora from a certain hostile fate? Would he do it again?
Or would he leap dangerously out of a waterfall again? Would he once again take shelter beneath the falls only to be discovered hours later? Would he willingly jump a hundred or more feet out of the falls to his potential death in the currents beneath?
Nathaniel remembered the sleepless nights, the hunger, and the seemingly endless chase. For someone who didn't care to belong to someone, Nathaniel had sacrificed a lot.
Nathaniel glanced out the window and saw Cora taking down the laundry from the clothesline. Her black knitted shawl loosely hugged her back.
Beginning a new life with Cora had been a major change in Nathaniel's life. He was used to traveling everywhere and never staying in the same place. Now, however, he was doing something he had never done before. He was staying put.
Nathaniel never dreamed that he would give up his way of living for anybody, especially not a wife. Now, Nathaniel couldn't dream of any other way he would like to live. He loved the new normal.
Yes, Nathaniel thought, I would do it all again to have this.
But he almost didn't have this either.
Nathaniel remembered fleeing from the Hurons and taking shelter under a waterfall. Behind the watery curtain, he recognized that he might die there. Most importantly, Cora might die there. He wasn't afraid of the fall itself. He had been afraid of what would happen to Cora when he left her behind.
Nathaniel realized that he had never been fearless. It wasn't because Nathaniel was reckless and didn't value his life. The truth of the matter was that Nathaniel simply valued Cora's life much, much more than his own.
His father's words had finally begun to make sense. Nathaniel had never considered himself a 'hero'. He had just protected those who needed him.
He had spent his whole life being proud of belonging to nobody. But reflecting now, belonging to someone wasn't the weakness he had thought it was. Having someone and belonging to her gave him responsibility. He had someone to protect, to love, and most importantly, someone worth living for.
The cabin door opened and Nathaniel set the freshly cleaned Killdeer to the side. Cora bustled in with a basket that held the laundry. She quickly swooped her dark curls out of her face and set the basket down on the floor.
"Are you hungry?" She mused as she headed to the hearth.
Nathaniel had started to fold laundry for Cora and nodded from where he sat. "Food sounds good."
Cora took the rabbit that Nathaniel had shot earlier and began to skin it.
Nathaniel smiled as he watched his wife. Cora looked up and stared back. Her lips quirked into a teasing smile.
"What are you looking at, sir?"
Nathaniel grinned at their frequent tease.
"I'm lookin' at you, miss."