About halfway from Beorn's house to Mirkwood, they came across a small river. Alders and willows dotted its shore and long plants waving in the water obscured the bottom. It was nowhere near as large as the Great River, but it was no little brook either.

The company dismounted to look around and decided to cross first and then have lunch on the other bank amongst the shade of the trees. Luckily, the little path they had been following led them straight to a little ford where the water bubbled among the rocks. Kili tested the crossing, jumping from stone to stone. He reached the other bank dry-footed and climbed up the slow slope of the bank to have a look at the lands beyond. Before long, he came back into view and skipped over the stones in the river, throwing in one or two acrobatics along the way.

"Crossing the river shouldn't be a problem," Kili said. "The distance between the rocks is good; it looks like Beorn was considerate to smaller folk for once. Even Bilbo shouldn't have too many difficulties and neither should the ponies. The lands beyond the river look much like the ones before: meadows interrupted by little hedges and forests."

To make entirely sure that the ponies would have no difficulties crossing the river, the dwarves unloaded some of the packs and carried them themselves. Fili and Kili led the way, followed by their uncle, Dwalin and Balin. Dori, Nori and Ori came next and Oin and Gloin after that. Bilbo was behind them.

Kili had been right about the small distance between the stepping stones and Bilbo had no problems jumping from one to the next. When Bilbo looked down at the bubbling water below his feet, he was rather glad that the stones were easy to cross. Before this adventure had swept him out of his door, he might have refused to cross the river, but now, he had faced down trolls, goblins, strange mountain creatures and wargs and found his courage.

A loud splash and a curse from in front of him tore Bilbo from his thoughts. He looked up and saw that Gloin had slipped on a wet stone and while he had managed to catch his footing, his pack had tumbled into the water and was now drifting away, taking some of their spare clothing and food away.

Bilbo only considered for a moment and then jumped off his rock and ran after the pack amongst the dwarves' alarmed shouts. The water went up to his waist and was rather colder than he had anticipated for July, but that wasn't the worst part. The river had seemed to flow along quite calmly and the ford had only seemed to speed it up a little, but now the water was pushing against Bilbo's legs relentlessly.

Bilbo managed to grasp the pack just before it left the shallow area of the ford, but at the same time, he lost his footing. Bilbo clung to the pack with one arm and floundered about with the other at the same time to stay above water as he tried to regain his footing. He could not feel the ground below him and with jolt, he realised that he had been swept into the deeper part of the river. This, however, did not mean that the water flowed much slower here like Bilbo had hoped.

Bilbo had just enough time to regret not learning how to swim with his cousins when his uncle Isengar had offered to teach him before something long and slimy wrapped around his legs as he tried to reach the bottom of the river. Bilbo kicked at it as panic rose in him but only succeeded in getting more tangled. He flailed and got a mouthful of water.

Bilbo barely registered the loud splash from the far bank, but suddenly, arms wrapped around him.

"Hold still," Thorin commanded and Bilbo managed to fight down his instincts to struggle and let himself be hauled to safety instead.

When they reached the bank, the other dwarves gathered around Bilbo as he regained his breath.

"Are you alright?" Bofur asked, dropping down beside Bilbo.

"I'm fine," Bilbo gasped, still clutching the pack.

Thorin huffed and strode away wordlessly.

"Why on earth did you do that?" Bofur asked. "It was just a pack and Fili could have easily pulled it out with his stick."

Bilbo looked in the direction Bofur had gestured and saw Fili standing by a willow that leaned out over the water, holding a long branch with a hooked end.

"Oh."

"Indeed. It's a good thing Thorin knows how to swim. His mother insisted he learned it because her brother drowned. I still can't understand why you would jump in after a mere pack!" Bofur shook his head.

Bilbo lowered his head and glanced down at himself. He was drenched to the bone and one of the water plants was still wrapped around his calf. He looked rather like a drowned rat and not at all like the great adventurer he had deemed himself to be earlier.

"I... I think I wanted to be thought fierce." Bilbo whispered.

Bofur laughed. "You wanted to impress us? By saving a ipack/i? We've seen you face down wargs to save Thorin. You don't need to prove you're fierce!"

"I think that was the problem. I was pondering how strong my Took side has become when the pack fell in and... well, I didn't really think."

"Then please do think in the future! I'm not sure if the funeral expenses cover death by recklessness."

Bilbo nodded. It was probably best not to mention that there was little hobbits wouldn't do to save their lunch from ruin.