You found the river the other whorlings had suggested you take. But once there, you couldn't find any whorlings to help you downstream. Or were you supposed to go upstream. No, can't be downstream, that led to the edge and to a grand waterfall falling hundreds of feet. You debated about whether you should go back for more information when the water rippled and two forms surfaced.

"Oh, the human finally made it here," the brightly coloured male said to the more subdued female. He then spoke to you, "I am Algae, and this is Kelp. We're supposed to help you get upstream..." here he paused a moment, "I hope you don't mind getting wet, I don't see how you'll be able to avoid it. But we'll make sure you won't drown."

You climb between the two blue fins on the male's back and with the female leading the way, you start off down the river. A short distance along the way you spot a small gryphon whorling sitting on a rock beside the river. She smiles as you ride by, and Kelp calls out, "Good morning Serenity!"

The river grows wider and the current stronger. Tributaries empty their water into this growing waterway and you found you had to hang on pretty tight to make sure you didn't get washed off Algae's back. Kelp was now swimming in back in case you did lose your grip.

Glancing to your right, you catch a glimpse of a lithe whorling running alongside the river, keeping pace with your entourage. At first you feared one of Sabre's goons, but Algae just called out, "Hey Serpent! What's up?"

Serpent struggled to keep up, finally spreading his wings taking to the air, "Not much for me, but I see you two are up to something."

"None of your business," Kelp replied with a grin and Serpent laughed. "Yeah, probably better if I don't know."

After what felt like rapids, though of course nothing so dangerous as that, the pair bring you to the river bank, cold and wet. You thank them for the ride up the river and they bob their heads in farewell before swimming back downstream.

"HiHi!"

It was a small grey gryphon whose silvery coat had this weird shimmering effect that made it difficult to look at her. You ask if she is the only whorling like that, she giggles. "I'm not a whorling! SunBlind won me in a colouring contest some years ago. She thought I might like to live with the gryphon whorlings because I look like a gryphon. But I'm not really sure that I'm a gryphon, I might be a griffin, though I don't really know what the difference between the two is. The Everrealm is also home to a creature called a Grimmorph, and I might be one of those, but I'm not sure about that either. So we don't really know what I am, but I like living here so I don't really mind. My name is Peeps."

Did Peeps breath at any point during that extended paragraph? You weren't sure. You were startled by the arrival of a blue male whorling.

"Hi Peeps, whose your new friend?"

"Flit!" Peeps exclaimed and pounced on the newcomer. She was so happy to see him, and he didn't seem to mind the attention. It seemed like Peeps was too busy to do any introductions, so you decided to wander on your own. You were supposed to be safe from Sabre's clutches here.