The swim wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t the most difficult thing, either. The man passed her, and sat on the shore, once again clearing his boots of water as she was still getting carried down the current. When she finally reached the other side, she was a hundred yards downstream from him, and she was exhausted. She climbed to a dry area and simply lay there for a few minutes, concentrating on her breathing. Fortunately, it was still morning, so it wasn’t terribly cold out, but the sky was still overcast, so she wasn’t going to be able to just lay there for a while and dry off easily.

Her stomach began to rumble, and she knew that she needed to get up and actually wring her clothing out, as well as get her back so that she could eat something before they continued. Hopefully the man at least kept her bag out of the water, as he had promised. She took a few minutes to get up and meet him partway, beginning to get grumpy from the time that they were spending traveling. As usual, the man didn’t say much, and she was honestly beginning to miss the yelling and screaming that went on in her own home. She took the bag when it was offered, laying it over her shoulder, and took another drink of water. She would have to move a bit slower, because of the thick fabric of the dress, and the way it threatened to cling to her legs, but she didn’t really have a better option. 

Hopefully there were no thieves about because she was certainly not being stealthy as her feet made wet [i]squish[/i] sounds with every step that she took. The next few hours, once again, passed in silence. She ate an apple as they walked, growing hungry for more but not adventurous enough to just try something random that she saw growing. She dried, for the most part, but the sky never really did clear up. She made him stop again so that she could excuse herself and relieve herself in the woods another time, feeling like it was only her who had to do other things while they walked. This man was apparently content with walking until the season changed.

“How much further is it till we reach a proper town?” Rhys asked upon returning to him. She was getting really tired, and she wasn’t sure how many more days of walking she could manage. Her body was not built for this sort of thing, and she knew she would be absolutely horrid company by the morning.