He found himself wasting away hours in a crude infirmary, nursing his wounds, but like Ada, his presence of life and understanding were quickly vanishing. He would sit "brooding and pining for his lost self" (23). Inman was tired of the killing, of assisting a war that he no longer could reason to fight. Distraught by his conflicting emotions, Inman figures Cold Mountain "a place where all his scattered forces might gather" (23). His journey was calling for him, "he lies looking at the window that seems to frame a painting: road, wall, tree, cart, and blind man selling peanuts, and plays counting games" (17). Inman would pass through this window one last time and start his quest towards Cold Mountain. The struggle of surviving war is no longer a threat to Inman, now his survival depends on evading the threat of the Home Guard. He is no longer a soldier he is now a fugitive. Inman and Ada are now in motion to travel parallel journeys that in the end, will redefine all they know and influence both characters to mature in such ways that they will no longer recognize who they were in their past. .
Monroe's teachings mirrored in Ada's understanding of the lands, he diminished the power and significance of what the lands offered by referring them to them as "only a shadow of a divine thing" (377). At the depths of Ada's despair, clearly failing at surviving on her own, Ada encounters a young lady Ruby. Ruby has known survival since a young child and understands the lands that intimidate Ada. Through Ruby's assistance, Ada will learn to appreciate the lands and what they have to offer. Ada will be expected to expand her knowledge, not of books, but of surviving on the farm and Ruby will guide her along the way. As Ada begins to understand that Ruby's teachings are much more meaningful than those of any Greek Mythology book, she begins to disagree with Monroe's ideas.
