The next day, after the tiny one-room schoolhouse let them leave, the pair went to visit the castle.
"Slow down!" he shouted as he picked his way between the enormous glacial boulders that Anne pranced on top of without a second thought.
"Speed up!" she shouted in reply, throat bubbling with laughter.
She reached the castle before him, and ventured in, considering herself an expert in old, run-down castles... or at least this one. After all, she thought, I've been here before!
Adrian saw her go in, and finally arrived at the wooden door himself. He shivered as he put his hand to the latch, but couldn't think of anything that might have caused it. His hesitant hands lifted the latch, and he followed his friend.
She was not in the main foyer, and he could not hear her joyful laughter. All the stories of monsters flooded his mind, and the green hair, rotten teeth, and smell of old age seemed to come crashing in upon him, when a hand on his shoulder made him start and leap around and...
"Look at this!" said Anne, hand on his shoulder. She took his hand and tugged him down a narrow corridor, where torches, again newly lit, almost replaced the afternoon sun. After climbing a tiny curving stairway that made their eyes spin from dizziness, they reached the roof of the castle. Gargoyles decorated the cardinal points, spouting water that sparkled like diamonds. On an impulse, Anne ran to see if they were indeed spitting jewels, and was only rewarded with wet hands. But leaning over the side of the wall, she had a view she guessed none other in her village had ever seen. Blue met with blue on the horizon, at the river she knew was several miles away. The rest was somber green and brown, and closer still was her village of golden straw-topped cottages, the villagers not even big enough to seem doll-like at this height.
As Adrian sat by her, she commented, "I want to go there, someday."
"Where?"
"Where the horizon meets the land. I was told once that if you go to where the sky meets the land, then you will be truly happy."
Adrian lay back on the stone that was becoming warm with sun, eyes half-closed, hair shining blue, it was so black. "Maybe we will someday. And bring back stories that the people here never dreamed of." A moment later, he added, "Do they see us, down there?"
"No." Anne replied. "And that's good, because your mother is trying to find you."
Adrian abruptly sat up. "Laundry day! I promised her I'd help!" he said as scampered off.
"I'll stay up here a while longer," Anne called after him.
"No need for us both to work!" he called back, voice echoing from down the stairs.
Eventually, she, too, grew sleepy in the sun, sitting on the warm flagstones, and dreamed of faraway lands.