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Nkera had been walking at the tail of the group so he’d been lucky enough to avoid tricky ground that suddenly swallowed a good number of lions – and a noisy canine Nkera believed belonged to one them. He ran to the edge, only showing some signs of caution once he was peering down at his fallen comrades. Thankfully, there didn’t appear to have been any serious injuries from what he could tell and they did have a couple of Medics in the group if he wasn’t mistaken.

“Can you get back up?” While it was interesting to know about the water at the bottom, returning to the cliff seemed like a priority right now. It wouldn’t do to get a great part of their force stuck down there just a few hours into their expedition.

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“Oh, oh, oh…!” Baise started, the words escaping her as she saw a few lions disappear right in front of her eyes. She ran forward and nearly fell off the edge, concern obvious in both her expression and voice. These were the few moments in her life when she wondered if not pursuing the Medic profession like many of her siblings had chosen might've been a mistake. Even though Baise had an impressive tolerance to pain, she truly hated to see others getting hurt when she could do nothing about it. “Are you alright?! Is anyone hurt?”

There was some kind of dog down there, she realized belatedly but that barely registered as she realized that her aunt Arevik was at the bottom as well.

“Do you think you can climb the walls?” she asked, her voice filled with doubt. It was a bit steep…

Eying the child close to him, Fari wandered over blue eyes akin to steel even while attempting a smile. He... really wasn't good with social interaction, even so, he tried. "Do you need help getting out?" He searched the pit they were currently in, noticing the water below he stared at it for several seconds a satisfied look on his face.

If they already found water here than perhaps this trip wasn't a waste of time. Maybe they could use this area as a new watering hole or place to hide when off on missions. In any case, he was rather content with the finding, even with the amount of characters near him. However...

Growling lightly as the jackal stared protesting rather violently about his role in checking the waters. Fari looked down to the child once more than back up at the area he was once located above.

"Shall we?"

Water, huh? Veru's expression visibly brightened. Another stroke of luck! He wondered just how big it was. But with the ledge blocking his view, there was very little to do except find a way to navigate down there. He noticed Morag doing the same, and followed her line of vision.

There was no direct path down, at least to the ledge where the others had fallen to. The best that one could do, without falling that is, was to rapel onto a large boulder that was slightly higher up than the ledge, and then use that to complete the jump. His shoulders tensed. Hopefully, there was a way back up.

Veru crouched, and then leapt across the ledge, landing on the boulder a few paces away. He had to dig his claws into the stone to keep from overshooting it. Once he was onto the stone, it wasn't too far a drop down to the others. As soon as his paws hit sand, he stalked out to the ledge to see what the water looked like.

The pool of water was not far below them, oddly serene despite its harsh surrounding. The water was murky from silt, but was colored a rather appealing shade of green. It looked like the cave ins had trapped the water in a kind of natural dam. It was no river, or even a stream, but it was probably more water than Veru had ever seen at one time in the Motoujamii.

He turned towards the female who had addressed him. He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised that the first impulse was for them to swim. He glanced back down, eyeing the water skeptically. It seemed safe enough. "Alright. It looks like we can get across on the other side of it."

Deciding it was best if he took the plunge first, Veru moved towards the edge and then jumped. The fall was a bit higher than he had been expecting, and the water bit back as he hit. After a moment of sputtering, Veru found he couldn't complain. It was still chilled from the morning air. "Just make sure you can swim, its pretty deep!"

arrow Into the water!

If you can't swim, now is the time to find a buddy...

Asami was pacing back and forth on the rock above, staring down at the people who had fallen. Cliffs simply didn't exist in the lowland swamps and she'd generally avoided anything to do with them in the Motoujamii.

Now her head was reeling.

A gargled shriek pooled out of her mouth as Veru jumped and she closed both her eyes. The rock was a long way down, and she was no dare devil. Couldn't she just stay up here?

Another lion leapt to the rock and she could hear a loud splash from down below. Water. She licked her parched muzzle.

"Can someone catch my bag?" she called down to anyone who had taken the leap to the rock before her. The last thing she was going to do was jump with it!

"Wait, I just got OUT of that, you want me to go back IN?" Moe began to back up, only to get lifted and tossed again. The distinct sensation of flying through the air twice in one day was a strange one, something he wasn't really keen about. He was even less keen, though, about the water that rushed up to greet him. As soon as his head popped from the surface, he glared at Luut. "I hope you SINK for that!" The jackal then began to paddle, following Veru across the water to the other side.

Arevik gave her cousin a flat look. "Oh, Luut... You're having fun with that, aren't you?" When he grinned at her, she shook her head. "And I thought you were REALLY quiet around Uncle Rowtag, too..." Well, body language quiet. She turned to the water, watching Veru, then crouched. How was it that Rowtag did this...? In fact, that stripe-legged lion with the bat wings on his back and shoulders did it, too. Grabbing the ledge with her front paws and shifting her hind paws forward, the green-eyed white lioness pulled with her front legs and shoved with her back, propelling herself forward. Taking a breath, she anticipated the water rushing up to greet her as she splashed into it. When she surfaced, she shook her head, clearing her ears and snorting water out of her nose. "I think I can live a lifetime without doing this again!" She began to paddle after Veru and Moe, her white body standing out against the green of the water.

Luut watched the jackal swim away, then Arevik. Well, this didn't look too hard... And he'd done pretty well during the deluge. The hulking red lion hunched down, his shoulders and rear wiggling, before he jumped. The sensation of flight was, to put it simply, amazing... And the falling was NOT. Nor was the hard bite of the water as he did a belly flop. There was only a moment to grab a breath before the water closed over his head, and Luut began to claw at the water. After what felt like forever, his head broke the surface and he gasped, one of the few sounds the lion ever made. He looked around, his odd pale eyes trying to help him find orientation. He then went for the side of the water Veru was on, powerful legs paddling him rather clumsily.

Nkera sighed as Veru took the plunge, shaking his head slightly at what he was about to do. He could swim well enough but the mountain lion still very much disliked the feeling of being submerged underwater. There was no other way but to follow the white lion and Nkera jumped to the ledge and then to the water without hesitation. The concept of keeping the group together made sense in theory though Nkera would’ve liked if Veru had found a solution that had kept him on dry land.

His head broke the surface as the Guard clenched his teeth in order not to take in any water before he started paddling forward, his usual frown firmly in place.

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Baise didn’t know how to swim. Or rather, she’d never tried it before though she’d heard that swimming was intuitive by nature. She jumped on the ledge and watched the lions paddling below for a moment before jumping, all four paws wiggling in a rather amusing way until she touched the water. She hadn’t expected to go so deep and yet it felt like an eternity to someone who wasn’t used to holding her breath.

She took a deep and slightly panicked breath as her head broke the water’s surface, paddling madly in an effort to remain afloat. She wasn’t going down but anyone could tell the young huntress was struggling and it wouldn’t be long until she depleted her energy completely.

Mat watched as lions began to jump into the water. She glanced over the edge of the ledge, frowning just a bit, her ears pressing against her head. It was a pretty big drop...and those lions were splashing an awful lot. But then someone came over to her and her friend, and she looked up at the white lioness. Ooh...a pretty gold bracelet? That was all she needed to know!

"Okay!" she said with a laugh, jumping off the ledge without hesitation. Thankfully her small size kept the belly flopping to a minimum, and although she wasn't the most coordinated at swimming, she managed to splash her way forward. The going was slow, though...a bit of assistance would probably be required further down the line.

Kasoro blinked in surprise as the cub lept into the water, but he let her go. Someone was asking for help. He turned and looked up, spotting Asami still up on the first walkway.

"Toss it here," he offered, waving a paw at her so she knew who was speaking to her. Not that there were many still on the ledge...most were starting their leap or had already entered the water. He wasn't too keen on joining them, so any stall was welcome. Water didn't sit well with the lion for some reason.

Swimming? Well, wasn't that dandy! Volkeno had never been swimming before, but she was sure she was going to like it. Something about the water seemed so very inviting, after all! She grinned from ear to ear, still pretty amused just from the whole 'falling on top of Ubawa' thing. "Let's get going, Ubawa! It seems like we're going to go swimming."

"I don't know how to swim, and you're still on top of me!" Grumped Ubawa in response, his mood working the opposite direction of Volkeno's. For every minute she grew happier, he grew conversely unhappy. To think- he could have been sleeping in his den right at that moment, resting up for someone trying to join the pride through battle.

"You'll learn quickly, I'm sure. And you can keep close to me- of course I won't let anything happen to you!" She sprang into the water then, more or less entering the water with a massive belly flop. Though it stung, the rush of cold aided in her recovery, making her smile once more as she surfaced. "Come on! The water is amazing! And look! Swimming isn't so hard!" She paddled along, imitating some of the others she had seen making their way across.

Ubawa couldn't have made a louder, more vexed sigh as he jumped into the water, splashing down with as little grace as Volkeno. When he surfaced, the first thing he did was glare at her through a soggy mane.