Mara had just gotten back from a rough trip to the Storm Coast and was making her rounds checking in on everything and everyone. She had always been a bit of a micromanager and even though she wasn't the leader of this rag-tag group, Mara couldn't help being a bit of busybody and make sure everything went the way it was supposed to.

The next thing on her literal to do list was Cole. The strange man had carved out a small piece of her mind without either him or her realizing it. He was always on her mind, or in a corner of her mind. Perhaps it was some anxiety that she would forget him. Mara had always been praised for her memory, she hated the idea that in this area she couldn't trust it.

Also, she just worried about him. Nobody was happy when she decided to let him stay, but after running the Cadash family business and dealing with and in the Carta for a few years now, Mara had long since gotten used to people not agreeing with her decisions. It's not like she could ever make everyone happy anyway. Mara shut up all of the malcontents by informing them that if they would like to be the Herald and if they would like to make all of calls, then they should by all means. It's not like Mara asked to make decisions, everyone else just seemed determined not to.

Mara wouldn't admit it because it would ruin the carefully crafted wall of distance she keeps between herself and everyone, but she sort of likes Cole. He's strange and his connection to the Fade confuses her (the Fade confuses her). But when she was fighting Envy within her own head. When she was alone with nobody to turn to while she was tortured in ways she had never thought possible, Cole had helped. He hadn't wanted anything in return, just to help. Mara didn't know how to deal with someone like that, everyone wanted something, but she could recognize how valuable he was. So if he wanted to stay, he stayed.

Cole still had a hard time fitting in though, mostly because nobody could ever find him (which put everyone on edge). He appeared and disappeared randomly and nobody who interacted with him seemed to remember it at all. Mara was a bit jealous. She no longer had the luxury of playing the vanishing game. Still, Mara was able to find him when she wanted to.

She finds him on the roof of the little house (though really its just a large room) that was given to her. The thought crosses her mind that perhaps he was waiting for her but she shakes it off.

"Hello Cole," she calls up to him, scaling a ladder that she had requested and sliding on the roof beside him. Cole makes room for her.

He nods in his strange way, his hat flopping about and obscuring his face. He doesn't look her in the eyes, but then he rarely does.

"Did you want something?"

"You were talking to everyone one, I was next." It ought to be a question but it isn't. Mara shakes her head ruefully.

"Yes, I wanted to see how you were taking to Haven. We haven't really spoken since you joined," Mara says trying to keep her tone similar to Cullen's, a commander who cares, but keeps distance between himself and those he's in command of. It's the tone she uses when she talks to everyone. They don't want her to be a person, they want a symbol and Mara is happy enough to oblige.

Cole looks at her strangely, "You left, after I arrived," he points out.

Mara nods her head, not knowing how to respond to him just stating a fact, "Restless. Checkmarks on a piece of parchment. Flurry of movement. No time to stand still. Moving is better though. Thoughts that flurry around are stilled by movement. Keep moving."

"I'm staying in Haven long, if that's what you're trying to say," Mara cuts off. She hates to be rude but she doesn't want Cole to continue, "We're going to the Fallow Marches…" she trails off looking off and to the side at Solas arguing with Sera, probably about some elfly thing. Blue eyes roll, but lips, chapped from the cold air, tilt up slightly. She turns her head back to Cole, "Do you want to come?" She asks on impulse. Not sure what quiet makes her ask.

Any doubts disappear from her mind when she sees Cole's thin lips turn upward. His smile makes her lips tilt a bit but she smoothes it out. She can't show favoritism.

"I want to help," Cole says, looking at her like a puppy.

Mara shakes her head. There is a haunted look about him but there is also so much sweetness and hope. She doesn't understand how someone can be so young and so old at the same time, "Alright then, we leave at dawn."