The river

Sue dove into the river without hesitation and began swimming upstream after a moment’s thought. There was a risk he’d be able to hear her, but more of a risk he would guess she would try and silently float downstream.

She swam as silently as she could, past banks hung with vines and rainbows of flowers, until she found her path blocked by a waterfall. A smaller stream joined the river just below the falls, venturing up it until it was too shallow to swim, too shallow to wade, and finally ended in a steaming swamp. Quite literally steaming, in fact; Sue realized there must be hot springs beneath as she watched a patch of mud bubble and boil.

The swamp might be tricky going, but it would hide her tracks better than the jungle would…