Qeya River i'm fixing a hole

after offering the news to Valette, she'd cut due north until she'd once again found herself encased beneath the shadowy foliage of the Maplewood. but for some reason she could not quite explain, the comforting closeness of the trees felt more like a trap, a squeeze. 

and so she didn't stop, heading north until the branches thinned out and another plain stretched out before her; this one cut through by a watershed and hedged in on one side by a towering mass of rock and ice. 

she'd been here, of course, and made her slow way toward the river, bringing to mind the spots at which the bank was most accessible. she made her way towards one of those now, tail still at her hocks as the guilt from this detour began to trickle down her spine. she ought to turn right back and head home. 

she approached the river anyways, for her throat had been dry since speaking with Valette. it was not a moment after she bent to drink the mass came careening down the bend. a mass was the past way to describe the dark thing, for she couldn't immediately determine what it was. her ears folded back, twitching, and suddenly the mass lurched beneath the water's roar. the gasp was just enough, heard barely above the roar, to tell her that the thing was alive, and too big to be some prey species she couldn't find herself caring enough about to throw herself into the river. 

yet she did, and was caught suddenly, violently, in the torrent. it was easy enough to angle herself towards the thing, the river aiding her in that. it was somewhat harder to grab hold of it's pelt, and it was hell to hold herself and the thing (at least, partly - Dawn had never done this sort of thing and most of the torrent seemed to be crashing into the thing's face) above water. legs kicked out against the current, angling for the opposite bank (it seemed easier than turning herself, and the thing, around)