i was thinking about how no one actually knew arthur had died on that mountainside. except dutch and micah, no one knew for certain. john didn’t, sadie didn’t. no one did. sure arthur implied he knew he wasn’t going to make it out alive when he left john, but.. no one knew.

which makes me think about charles finding him. how many days afterwards would it have been? he was still at the reservation, he didn’t even know the pinkertons had come. he didn’t know what happened at beaver hollow, how john and arthur fled. he must have arrived long afterward.

coming upon the empty camp, miss grimshaw’s body, tracking john and arthur from the hollow, no idea where they might have gone or what happened, where dutch is, where micah is, what happened to sadie and abigail.

maybe he finds arthur’s horse. long dead. probably scavenged by animals and carrion birds. but he knows it’s her, knows her anywhere, knows the saddle blanket arthur bought to match her coat, the trinkets he kept in her saddlebags. and there’s john’s war horse not far from her.

follows the trail of blood and boot tracks, slipping in mud, frosted over. he wouldn’t have known arthur was dead. not until he found him. touched him, frozen and pale. he wouldn’t have had any idea. sure arthur was sick, but.. dead on a cliff side. cold and alone. what happened?

even john didn’t know. he didn’t stay to find out, as arthur wanted. and again, he’d surely have assumed, but he didn’t know. he would never have found out had charles not reappeared in st denis. wouldn’t have known if arthur was alone when he passed. if he was still up there.

didn’t know if arthur was killed by micah, or dutch. didn’t know if his body was ever found, if he saw dutch again, if he managed to confront them. no one knew!! arthur who died making sure john could escape with his family, sadie could escape, tilly and mary-beth. charles too.

he tried so hard to make sure they could get out. and he knew he didn’t have long left, but nobody else did. nobody else asked. no one comforted him, or thanked him, or tried to make sure he got out too. no one was with him in the end. and no one even knew when he finally fell.

it just. breaks my heart. he spent so long saving other people. keeping his family safe. rescuing them, protecting them, as best he could. and in the end, though it was his own sacrifice to make and he made it willingly, no one tried to save him. no one came to look for him.

except charles. charles alone went back. charles looked for him. charles was the only one who ever tried to find out what happened. and made sure even if he was too late, that at least arthur had a proper place to rest. so he didn’t spend eternity rotting on that mountain alone.