Turtleback Lake [m] crashed my car to feel again

I disagree, the woman stated a bit more pointedly this time. Of course she would, as that too seemed to be an opinion that would be held by more wolves than not.

Did the stranger know what Cole had been trying to do? Had she stepped in anyway, because her belief in it was that strong? If so, the ghost had to respect the hell out of that action. Having the courage to act on convictions was a level above just holding a particular opinion.

To the second part, Colette provided a small shake of her head. ”No. Not.. intentionally, anyway.” She certainly didn’t blame the wolves of her pack. How she felt and what she’d done wasn’t on them.

”My own deeds. I don’t deserve salvation for what I’ve done. I should be dead.” The ghost answered. There were so many times, so many deeds for which she should’ve perished that luck or some other random occurrence had managed to save her from. It’d been the undeserved kindness of strangers that’d helped her past the eye injury initially.

Then Reika, a year ago, when she’d been nearly starving. Now this woman.

When would it stop? Would it ever?

No, but it had been done all the same. Andraste bit the tip of her tongue to withhold bitter judgement or to lash words too quickly. She'd rather the other woman speak her mind fully first before anything further was said.

I should too. Yet I still stand. I simply assume that when I am meant to actually die, it'll happen. I do not seek it out. Then her lips curled with what could only be called misplaced humor. Although perhaps with picking fights and dragging strangers free of misery, I do seek it too.

A wet tail slapped the earth once as she dared to slide down to her stomach. A more comfortable position even if it left her prone.

I do not believe us to be very different. Maybe only different in how we handle things.

I should too the other posited, causing Colette to wonder, briefly at least, why the other thought that. But for now, the ghost couldn’t bring herself to care enough to ask. Cole could scarcely imagine another wolf having committed or been complicit in many of the atrocities she’d seen, but it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility either.

Still, though, the stranger’s comments were intriguing. Mentions of seeking fights and presumably other past deeds similar to this one. With no judgment, but instead, an inkling of humor.

The ghost shifted a little more, so she could still better yet see her savior.

”Difference in how we handle things is not insignificant,” Cole chose to comment, confused by but also curious as to where that line of thought was going.

”What would keep you going, keep you from giving in, if you felt you no longer wanted to live with yourself?” That was the big question. From where she sat, they were far less alike than the other seemed to believe - but in this rare instance, the ghost was open to being proven wrong.

It was a weighty question and in a moment Andraste became a stone carving. Rough edges in her face with a thoughtful type of look. The answer had always been clear to her in one way or another and yet she knew that instinct was not heavy upon everyone.

Challenge. Change. The unknown.

How much had she left behind when she had grown exhausted of a life lived? Her daughters understood, lovers and followers had not. The names she had been called rolled a mile long. Let her daughters handle them now.

I shed a life to come here. I am not who I was before when I must walk new lands, see new faces. I seek to change my very being in new experiences.

She might have found the answer borderline cliche had anybody spoken it to her, instead she only viewed it as wisdom when spoken from her own lips.

Perhaps you needed only a new face... Her voice teetered on something warm and ripe with possibilities.

Challenge, change, the other spoke. She sought to change her very being with new experiences. It sounded a little too much like an overused platitude for Cole to find much inspiration in it anymore. Especially when she’d more or less tried that in her attempt to make a home among the others back at the falls.

Given that the other didn’t hesitate in providing her answer, though, Colette did believe it come from something genuine. If the stranger had benefitted from that outlook, Cole was happy for her. The ghost wasn’t about to judge or condemn that.

A new face..

The comment earned a soft chuckle, though she wasn’t entirely certain she’d taken it in the direction as the other meant.

"I’d be happy with just a second working eye,” Cole murmured in jest, though the humor was short-lived.

"Have already tried that, though. It doesn’t matter how many new faces or places I see, the memories and curses always follow. Never seem to be able to escape them. What I want is peace.”

The sort that could only really be granted by one thing. Colette had held on for so long, and now it didn’t feel like she had anything left. No more strength, no more will to persevere, not even for the others. She still couldn’t bring herself to care if that sounded selfish. ”I appreciate what you’re tryin’ to do, really. But you’re wasting your time on me.”

Perhaps she was wasting her time, she had not yet decided. Yet the woman seemed open but hardly receptive to the words of Andraste. Content to believe in her curses, her crimes. Andraste had not come to be a faith changer and she would not force the woman to change if she truly believed she was so hard-stuck in her ways.

Maybe I am.

No hatred, no exhaustion. Merely a statement to compliment the woman's own idea. Stated as plain as the weather.

Perhaps you may be willing to do a good deed, before you banish yourself to any kind of...outcome.

It was selfish and the tentative way her voice carried showed that she surely knew it.

Maybe I am wasn’t the response Cole had been anticipating on that front. Perhaps there were more similarities between the two of them than she’d originally thought. That, along with the second statement, caught her attention more than anything else had as of yet. Enough to prompt the ghost to finally push herself up, a soft, pained breath escaping her at the move.

Her side and chest still burned, but not as much as it had. And the woman’s words.. reminded her of what Chan had said once.

"And what would that be?” The ghost inquired, wondering if perhaps it would be some sort of payment, or debt owed for the other’s actions. It didn’t sound like that, whatever the request, Colette would try to honor it.

And it would give her a chance to tell the wolves of the falls she was leaving them, instead of leaving them wondering. Like they all were with Caspian, Rieka, and others. She supposed they deserved that courtesy.

The woman seemed most receptive to this of all. A flash in the pan chance at redemption, a moment of good on the way out perhaps. Andraste might have felt sick to grapple this advantage if it clearly had not brought such relief to the other's suffering.

Point me in the right direction, before we part. I need somewhere to be, to grow again. It was a tall order and she was very much aware of that. Yet she knew nothing of these lands. Already she had roamed so far before she had seen another again. The first face had been a whining child that she had punished, the next (and the now) was a woman she had hoisted from the water.

Andraste imagined she could carve out her place anywhere if all of these wolves continued the trend.

Point her in the right direction was the request, and a simple one, at that. Yet a part of Colette wasn’t sure she wanted to oblige it, and she found her gaze drifting away. Something about the idea of sending someone off to replace her at the falls didn’t feel quite right. But in the end, didn’t they deserve that courtesy as well, if she was going to leave them?

”I can..” the ghost murmured, clearly conflicted.

”I’ve been with a group that’s.. half a day inland. That way,” she gestured with the tip of her nose, before bringing her focus back to the stranger. ”I could take you there. Have also heard there’s a group in the mountains a few days south of here if you prefer that terrain.” It couldn’t hurt to offer the option if this stranger preferred the mountain lifestyle.

”But..” the ghost started, brow furrowing in contemplation. ”If challenge and new things are what you seek, why not attempt to build something of your own? Maybe I’m wrong, but you don’t strike me as someone who is content to remain a follower.” The statement was spoken with a note of uncertainty. It was not that she doubted the other's ability, far from it - if this woman desired leadership, Colette didn't expect it'd be very challenging at all for her to acquire it.

But it was also entirely possible Cole had misread her, and that this woman didn’t want the responsibility that went along with leading others.

She was given two choices.

Unknown mountains would be harder to traverse, no guarantee in safety. Nor exactly any guarantee on acceptance either. Which would be a waste of her time to go so far and be declined.

With what bodies?

She laughed, low and grim yet warm.

Perhaps I will not remain a follower forever, but without bodies and connections to build upon, the fruits of my labor would be useless, wouldn't it?

And there was no reasons to not shake things up in an already established place, no? She did not even need leadership to have outright power or strength.