His heart yearned to think that somewhere just over the dunes, Shenzi was there. He wondered if she heard his call. Did she ignore it? Did she think he abandoned her and chose the Lagoon over their friendship? He couldn't blame her. She told him to think before fighting someone else's war and he went anyway cause he felt he owed it to Cullen. It was a stupid decision and now he faced the consequences. He'd been on quite the adventure in the meantime to make up for it but he felt those consequences still. There had been friends made along the way and alliances so maybe in the end, it would all be worth it. But until then, he had to face the uncertainty of not knowing where Shenzi was and if she even wanted to see him. The stallion before him was silent but attentive and Collision was grateful for that. He didn't seem to dismiss him for his association with the Lagoon but the paint stallion could see his wariness and he respected that. The lagoon didn't have a good reputation and he accepted that. It was part of why he left, after all.

By the end, the bay stallion's words were short but to the point. When he called him her bright star, Collision felt his chest swell with hope that she still thought well of him. But at his next comment about falling from the sky, the overo winced as if physically wounded, his gaze dropping in shame as the words rolled over him. Maybe if he had more pride, he would have protested the other stallion's right to scold him. But he justified it in his mind because Maslakhat had taken the mantle of being her protector, if not now then at one time and perhaps he'd even become her friend. His words might as well have come from her own lips and Collision felt the disappointment behind them just the same. Guilt washed over him as the stallion went on to say the mare was under his protection and free to see who she wanted. So that must mean she might be around even now, but staying out of sight. The idea made his chest tighten with more shame. Did she fear he would take her back to the lagoon? Had her opinion of him really shifted so much? Or was this her way of punishing him for his decision to go to war?

He knew he deserved her disappointment. He only wished she would scold him in person so he could see she was okay. He had no reason to doubt the golden bay stallion. He only wished he could see her, if only one last time. He nodded. "You're right. I went to war when she told me not to. Loyalty to the herd was all but beaten into me growing up so I felt that's what was owed to Cullen when he called for soldiers. I wasn't thinking for myself and that's my own fault." The stallion went on again, saying he could see he was here to atone and no longer associated with those from his past. Collision shook his head. "No, I'm done with the lagoon and Cullen." The desert stallion's next words were intriguing though and the paint lifted his head in surprise and curiosity, ears pricked as he studied Maslakhat's features. "You think she would want me to seek vengeance against the lagoon?" He scowled. "A justified action against someone who wronged her, perhaps."

He couldn't see Shenzi asking him to attack a whole herd but if something had happened to her in his absence, something more than the little he knew, there would be punishment if he had anything to say about it.