Why do I always end up in situations like this? Naia thought to herself, sighing in exasperation. The young female was stranded on a large, slippery rock in the middle of a pooling river, still trying to remember how she had gotten herself into this mess. The day started out boring enough—just a few hours ago she was strolling casually alongside a trickle of water flowing through the bottom of the Pass. She had been lost in a saccharine memory, thinking of the family she had left behind several weeks ago, and it came as quite a surprise when suddenly she found herself splashing through the shallows of a small stream. By this point, the walls of the gorge were too steep to climb, so her only choices were either to press forward alongside the stream or to go back the way she came. Instead of turning back, as a wiser wolf probably would have, the brash explorer continued onward, picking her way through the muddy bank. The stream continued to widen though, and eventually she was hopping from rock to rock as she made her way upriver. Naia was graceful by nature, but the series of increasingly difficult leaps had required every bit of her concentration. Now that she was stuck though, she broke her focus to survey her surroundings.

When she looked up and noticed for the first time the mighty waterfall before her, Naia forgot how to breathe for a moment. There was something magical about theses lands-- It seemed like just as she habituated to the enchanting scenery around her, she would stumble into someplace even more beautiful and rare than the last. Naia tore her gaze away from the scene, renewing her effort to reach solid ground. The river that had been holding her prison had given way to a swimming hole at the base of the waterfall, and the pool was surrounded by a thin, rocky beach. Good enough, Naia thought, if only it weren’t so far away. Thinking maybe she could backtrack and find a dry way to reach shore, she looked back for the boulder she had jumped from last. Too high, she assessed with disappointment. She began to reluctantly consider the idea that she was going to have to jump into the pool in order to make it ashore. Naia certainly wasn’t afraid of water, but it was near freezing outside. Hell, it was snowing earlier this morning! She eyed the water in front of her paws dubiously, taking a few deep breaths in an attempt to work up the courage to jump.