A Journey of Two

Chapter 5

Anna groaned loudly for what seemed to be the thousandth time. "Ugh, where is this stupid well? It has been two days, and we have yet to find a well!"

Elsa closed her eyes and let a gust of air escape her nostrils. Even when they were children, Anna had never really been the patient type. "Pabbie told us to travel south, so if we keep on going, we should eventually find the Well of Wisdom."

Anna tossed her head back to look up at the cloudy skies, and huffed. "It better be some special well. I mean, why a well? This Mimir dude is supposed to be the Smartest Man Alive, right? So, why choose to be associated with a well for his wisdom? Why not something like, I don't know, a library? The Library of Wisdom. Yeah, those buildings seem like they could house a smart person. What's a well good for? Most people have running water from taps nowadays anyway. If you ask me, going to a well every day just to draw water doesn't sound like a very smart thing to do –"

"Shh, shh, Anna."

"Don't shush me while I'm talking, that's rude."

"No Anna, look! I think we're finally here."

When Anna looked in the direction that Elsa was pointing, which was towards the foot of a hill, all expectations of a grand well seemed to crash and fall before Anna. Instead, she found herself approaching the most tattered and worn-out well she'd ever seen in her life, and that was including pictures of wells she had seen in books. The well seemed oddly out of place. There were no houses nearby, no stables, no farms. Nothing. It was just a well in the middle of nowhere.

"That's –" said Anna, barely able to conceal her disappointment, "– the Well of Wisdom? Oh, we are so screwed."

"I don't understand," said Elsa, dismounting Fjora, "Mimir's home should be close by, but there doesn't seem to be anyone else in the area. Where could he be?"

"Maybe this isn't the well we're looking for?" asked Anna tentatively.

"Maybe. But this is the only well that we've encountered during this entire trip so far. And who knows if we will see another one again. I have a feeling that this is it. This is the Well of Wisdom. I'll go up to see if anyone lives on the other side of this hill."

"Why don't I go with you?" said Anna quickly. She was uncomfortable at the thought of being separated from her sister and being left alone. Experience has taught her that it could only end so well.

"Don't worry Anna, I won't go far. I'm only going to the top and back again. It'll only take a few minutes, okay?"

"Okay," said Anna reluctantly.

As soon as she watched her sister take off on Fjora, Anna turned her attention back to the well. She circled it, taking in every aspect of it. As she walked around the well for the third time, she suddenly noticed something odd.

'Hey,' Anna thought to herself, 'where's the bucket?'

The rod at the top of the well was wound with rope, but nothing else was attached to the other end of it. It was just dangling over the well, its frayed ends swinging gently in the wind. Anna walked closer to get a better look.

'Hmm, the rope must've snapped.'

She peered over the edge and looked down into the well. It went down a very long way, and at the very bottom, Anna could just barely make out the surface of the water below, mirroring the clear skies above. Except for the fact that it was pretty cloudy that day.

"What in the world?" said Anna out loud, looking down again into the well, and then back up at the sky, and then back down into the well again. Goosebumps started to crawl up her skin. Something about this well seemed strange to her. She was pulled out of her own thoughts by the sound of approaching horse hooves.