"Hear that?" Prism turned to Emeryl. Quietly, Emeryl lifted his ears.
      "Yeah... a lot of running water... It's too loud." Emeryl answered.
      "My thoughts exactly." Prism nodded.
      "What? What thoughts?" Eric begged.
      "The river must be flooding." Bentora replied.
      "From what?" Eric asked.
      "Rocks and people falling out of the sky cluttering it..." Blake trailed off.
      "What rocks and... oh." Eric got it. Behind them Leiko tracked her feet through the dirt to make dust clouds. She appeared lost in thought, with her eyes glazed over as she stared down. Blake hadn't taken much time to think, possibly he didn't want to.
      "And here we are." Bentora announced sarcastically. A few withered bushes barely lined the river. Several other plants reached out of the water, obviously overwhelmed by the flooding river.
      "Where's the bridge?" Eric asked.
      "Washed away?" Blake sighed.
      "No, I think it's further up there." Leiko pointed upstream.
      "Might as well look, we don't have anything else to do." Bentora pressed on.
      "She has a point." Eric added. The group turned parallel to the river before they reached the bank. They made certain not to get too close due to the dangerously high levels of flooding. Mist sprayed in their faces, and those with cuts and bruises felt grateful for the cool soothing drafts.
      "There it is!" Leiko unhitched herself from Emeryl's cloak, running up front.
      "Careful!" Prism insisted. It wasn't nearly the secure bridge he planned on but an old log that stretched from one side of the bank to the other. He could estimate the distance at approximately fifteen yards across, which was fairly small for a flooding river. The floodwaters pushed under the log, bobbing it up and down but not removing it from its position.
      "That's not too bad." Bentora tested the end of the log with her foot.
      "Ok everyone, it looks safe." Prism carefully stood on the edge. The log was about one foot wide, which gave him enough room to balance.
      As always Prism led them. Bentora tiptoed behind him, then Blake sleeked over. Following him was Eric, Leiko and finally Emeryl. Before Emeryl had reached the halfway point Prism was across. The bobbing prevented them from rushing, causing them to take every step carefully.
      Being the smallest Leiko didn't need as much space as the others did so she strolled across normally. One of the bobs caught her off guard and tipped her over. Emeryl grabbed her ankle as she toppled over and fell into the water, dipping completely under.
      When she tried to scream her face sunk under the water. The pressure of the river yanked on her, dragging Emeryl as he tried to hang on. Behind them Eric stabbed the sword into the bridge and used it as a grapple so he could grab Emeryl. With his weight he yanked them both out, Leiko being soaking wet.
      "Aaa!" Leiko hacked out as she coughed up some water. Emeryl bundled her into his arms and rushed across the bridge with Eric's support.
      "You two ok?" Prism caught him on the other end.
      "The water was freezing!" Emeryl shivered.
      "We need to get you two dry, I'll start a fire." Prism glanced around for wood.
      "No need, I smell fire. This way." Bentora trotted around them. Leiko strangled Emeryl's mantle in her fingers. She was freezing with water soaking everything she wore, and he kept her close to him, making certain she didn't catch pneumonia.
      "Are you sure?" Prism asked.
      "Yes, of course. Don't you have a nose." Bentora nodded. As Emeryl held Leiko Blake flung off his cloak, wrapping it around her. Gratefully Emeryl smiled at him but Blake refused to accept acknowledgement.
      The group followed Bentora as she led them towards the fire. There was some scarce shrubbery, but mainly a valley of rocks and dirt lay before them.
      "Stop!"
      They halted abruptly as Eric tripped clumsily over a rock. Little people at about three feet high came out carrying spears that appeared twice their size. All of them had rough leather covering them, with their light brown hair pulled into a knot. A dozen of them swarmed around, surrounding the group.
      "Ne, those fires must be in your village! Quickly, we need to dry her off," Emeryl rushed up, "She got soaked in the river."
      "We don't help drows here!" The leading guard snarled.
      "But she's just a child!" Emeryl retorted in shock.
      "They aren't going to help her, she's a drow." Blake replied lowly.
      "Get away from our town!" Another one shouted. The others cheered him at this, and they held their positions firmly.
      "But if you treat them like this you're no better then they are!" Eric snapped, "Besides, Emeryl's wet too and he's not a drow."
      "They won't help us." Blake repeated.
      "Turn around and go back!" the leader demanded.
      "You want to fight little midget people?" Bentora held up her fists.
      "No! We don't want to fight!" Prism stopped her, "Listen, we can't go back because we're running from the drows."
      "Go back!" he answered.
      "We're not going back." Blake replied, "Step aside or we'll go around you."
      "Try it." He dropped further to the ground into a fighting stance with the spear. The other hobbits followed suit.
      "Wait!" Emeryl walked to the leader, girl in his arms and dropped to his knees, "Please help us." Without any visible weapons except a rod tied securely by his belt and a baby spider nestled in his hair the hobbit didn't feel threatened.
      Raising his spear the hobbit stood as tall as he could over the kneeling elf, "You can come in, for one night, then you have to go. And we'll be watching him." He pointed the spear at Blake.
      "That's fine! Thank you!" Prism bowed lightly, rushing the group by before anyone stirred up trouble. The hobbits were quick to follow with weapons in hand.
      Only a few minutes away was a small town. Literally. The average hut stood about six feet tall. They were scattered everywhere in some sloppy, unidentifiable formation. Bonfires clustered the middle of every clearing, behind the protection of rocks and fed plentifully with dried wood.
      Emeryl darted over to the first one, setting Leiko by it. They both rubbed their hands and wrung out their clothes, trying to get warm.
      Hobbits stared at them queerly as they rushed in, being much taller, more colorful and having unusual shapes compared to a hobbit. A few of the villagers even spit at Blake as he entered, even as he was loosely followed by guards.
      "Here, put on that robe Blake gave you. I can heat up something and iron out your tunic... I just need a pot or something." He peered around. The closest thing he had was a kettle. As he searched she slipped into the oversized cloak, using it as a curtain when she pulled off her tunic and soppy shoes.
      "Ma'am? Ma'am?" Emeryl dashed over to a female hobbit strolling with her two children, "Ne, do you have a pot I can borrow? Please?" She seemed taken back by his abrupt approach, but nodded lightly without a word. They scuttled off, running into one of the houses.
      A few seconds later she nervously came and handed him a small pot.
      "Thank you!" Emeryl charged back to the fire. He not only wanted to steam the water out of her clothes, but he wanted to be near the fire as well.
      "You two doing ok? Need anything? Emeryl, your robes are still damp." Prism joined them. Bentora plopped Indian style to their side with Eric. Lastly, after going by several slanderous remarks and being spat at numerous times, Blake lay down on the opposite side.
      "No, I'm fine. How do you put up with that?" Emeryl asked. He was silent a moment, then perked his pierced ear.
      "You mean me?"
      "Yes." Emeryl shook the pot over the fire.
      "Not any worse than home." He yawned.
      "Wow, I miss my home. My dad always tried to be too perfect, but everyone liked him. And my mom made the best cookies." Emeryl replied.
      "I hope the kids ok. I left him in charge of the shop." Prism mumbled, "I really don't like leaving the shop much."
      "I want to go too, I want to see what Alan did." Eric added, "I've missed him so much."
      "I bet Lafia is wondering where I went." Bentora twitched an ear.
      "Hey, kid." Blake leaned comfortably on one elbow.
      "What?" Leiko yipped.
      "Not you. Him." He pointed at Emeryl.
      "I'm not a baby." Emeryl huffed.
      "Yeah, yeah, whatever turns you on... Where'd you learn to do those ice tricks? I thought priests were healers." Blake asked.
      Emeryl's face reddened a bit as he looked at everyone, "Promise not to laugh?"
      "Of course we won't." Prism reassured him.
      "I promise I will laugh." Blake pledged.
      "Ignore him." Eric replied.
      Fidgeting in his seat, Emeryl took in a deep breath, "Well, I didn't want to become a priest... My mom and dad wanted me to. But I wanted to become a mage like you guys, so I went to study water magic at the shop when I lived in Ephesus, but I accidentally froze my finger once so I got scared and became a priest like my parents wanted."
      When he finished Blake did as he promised and burst out laughing. Leiko tried not to, convincing herself that he needed to iron out her clothes first.
      "You're still young, you can still go back." Prism patted him on the back.
      "Yeah, I'm older than you, I don't even know how to read." Eric replied.
      Emeryl flushed, embarrassed, then tried to regain himself, "Well, Blake, what was your family life like?"
      "Family life? Hmm..." he thought back to when he actually lived in his town.