Kass shook her shoulders as she stepped back into the water. It wasn’t freezing and the air in the cave was on the warmer side but Kass still found herself fighting the urge to wrap her arms around herself to keep warm. Being in water would still be dropping her body temperature. Best she got this done quickly and kept moving when she could. She waded back in and with no hesitation threw herself feet first into the deep section. With the rate the water was flowing through that tunnel, going in head first wouldn’t have gained her much speed but it would have greatly increased her risk of crashing into something. The one rule of fast moving rivers was always keep your feet facing downriver.

To Kass the river seemed faster than last time. Even though she stayed under until she felt the rope catch. Once she felt it go tight she made for the surface. She almost made the same mistake as last time, her instincts to use her physical muscles over her powers. She was still a bit wary as she faced her palms downward and imagined a force pushing out from them, lifting her up to the surface.

It stared out okay, until she broke the surface. Once her hands were out of the water the force shifted drastically thrusting her upwards with such energy that she’d likely find a bruise around her middle later where the rope pulled her at an angle. She hoped Cat didn’t think she’d tugged twice. The surprise of suddenly flying upward, and then in a sudden curve thanks to the rope, took away her focus so the next second she was plummeting straight back into the water.

Once under she pushed again almost immediately, but this time once she breached the surface she tried to slow it down. She had a lot difficultly getting it right. Once more she overdid it, as well as the time after that. On the forth try she got it about right and caught herself on the way down, managing to make herself hover about a foot above the surface and upside down.

Now she just had to maneuver the torch. Unlike Amanda who could cast magic with just a thought. Kass had to use her hands, typically both of them, but as she currently carried the torch in one hand she had to focus her energy though the other one. But it was delicate. She felt like she was balancing on a precipice, one wrong move and she’d tip into the river again.

She kept the torch wrapped up, then as carefully as she could she switched it on. The cave lit up. Beneath her a black rippling river. To the true left a slick black wall. To the right, a rocky black beach. Kass sighed in relief and nearly pitched back into the water with a gasp.

With one hand she carefully untied the rope. She briefly wondered how she would find it again but she would worry about that later. Worst case she could try swim back up with her powers. It was probably an optimistic thought but she knew she wasn’t going to be able to find Indi tied into the end of a rope. What she really hoped, was that from wherever Indi was, once Kass found her, she’d be able to find another way out. That too was probably optimistic but then Kass had been in worse situations before. Sometimes all you had was going forward and dealing with things as they came.

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Now, she just needed to get herself to shore. Easier said than done. Holding something in place was much easier than moving it, doubly so when the thing in question was herself.

She tilted her hand away from the beach and herself and thought a ‘push’ in that direction. She erred on the less is more side of things figuring that was the safer option. However, finding herself dropping down toward the water way too soon she overreacted in the other direction. Another push downwards sent her flying into the wall by the beach. As she careened towards it she imagined an elastic force field just off the rock and was surprised when it worked and for a brief moment she was suspended inches from the wall before gravity took hold and she went crashing onto the rock below.

She yelped as she struck them but she hadn’t been so far off the ground that it had done more than maybe bruise her. She groaned and rolled over, lay for a minute staring at the ceiling, vaguely lit by the torch still in her hand, then sat up and looked around.

The beach was maybe a metre wide at most but it was enough, and it continued down following the river for quite some way.

Kass shone the torch ahead but she could only see several metres. Somewhere up there in the darkness she could hear the sound of water falling. Not a good sign, but then Indi was a shielder, a waterfall was probably less dangerous than an underground tunnel. Still it motivated Kass, forcing her to find her feet. Best to find Indi soon. It would be good to keep moving too.

She followed the bank for a few dozen metres. It didn’t disappear into the water but it did harden up into solid rock rather than pebbles. Kass found it more slippery going, almost falling back into the river at one point.

She stopped and caught her breath after one near slip. It wouldn’t do to be carried off by the river, although one part of her did wonder, if she threw herself into it, would it just take her to Indi. A part of her considered it. It was the same feeling you get when you stand on the edge of a cliff and imagine yourself jumping off, the call of the void. Kass felt it as she climbed along the edge. It excited her a little, not knowing what was coming, even what she might do herself. But the logical part of her brain kept her moving on the rocky shelf, cautious step after cautious step. Even with her own powers, going in the water was too dangerous.

She pondered what Cat might do if she were here instead. Kass had noticed the same reluctance in Cat before the tunnel that she’d seen when they’d tried to cross the river. Not enough that anyone who didn’t know Cat would have questioned it. But Cat was always the one running head first into stupid dangerous situations. Sure she was fit and competent and she did have good reactions but still she often bordered on reckless. She didn’t hesitate. But at the water she had and Kass once again wondered why.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she reached the source of the sound of the falling water. It was as she had guessed, a waterfall. She crept to the top, probably closer than she should have, and peered over.

Had it just been the torch light illuminating the room she wouldn’t have had a chance in hell at being able to see the bottom of the falls. They were a good 30 metres high at least and fell straight down into a dark pool below. The river continued on from there but it did seem a lot calmer. As she’d already discovered though, looks could be deceptive.

Luckily for Kass the room below was a cavern home to some strange species of fungi that illuminated the space with a eerie blue-purple light.

“Indi?” Kass called out loudly to the cavern, just in case Indi happened to be there.

But her call was cut off as her footing shifted. The call turned into a yelp as Kass tumbled right off the waterfall.