[Naria]

Narleah spent most of the night awake and in pain. She did however, in the wee morning hours, manage to close her eyes and find some rest. She awoke chilled, but no worse of wear. The pain had subsided and she was ready to set off again.

The dwarf stomped through Mirkwood hoping that she was still on the right track. As she walked on she couldn't shake the depressing gloom the forest was offering her. Narleah was getting increasingly annoyed by this and found grumbling unmentionable words under her breath was of some help. Suddenly and quite literally, she fell onto a rocky beach. She stood up and noticed a river, one that went in both directions for a very long way and one that was very wide across. Narleah just stood staring at the rushing water in disbelief. Some time had passed before she blinked her eyes relieving herself of the trance she was in.
She thought for a moment of how to cross and began to pace back and forth, back and forth. She happened to notice while pacing that there were some tree stumps and boulder size rocks on the other side of the river. The gears in her head started to work and an idea came, I could throw my rope across and it should wrap around either a stump or a rock.

So that is what she tried...and tried....and tried. With three failed attempts, Narleah quickly came to the realization thtat she was just to damn short to throw the rope far enough. She had to think of another way to conquer her obstacle. She decided to give swimming across a try. With her pack abover her head and using her hands as a support she slowly waded into the water. The water rose higher and higher until it reached her waist. Narleah gave a quick look back to where she had come and for a moment thought about turning back. She gave a heavy sigh and thought better of the idea while continuing forth. While pushing her legs through the heavy under current she noticed that the water was getting lower and lower with every step forward. Narleah had reached a sand barge. With a big grin on her face, she knew at once that she was going to be able to throw her rope at the new distance she was at. She gave her rope a huge heave ho and on the first try the rope grabbed a stump.

Her day had turned into an adventure that she would not want to repeat any time soon. Narleah was exhausted and hungry. She found a patch of grass under a tree near the beach. She had a small fire going in no time, ate and felt sleepy...sure enough sleep is what she did....finally.