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Patience had loved her grandfather more than almost anyone else in her family. He told the best stories and jokes, and always knew exactly what she wanted and when. He never made her feel like just a little kid, but instead like a grown up. He was the best, and she visited him often.
Her favorite story of his was the one about his sister and a healer. His sister was very sick, but a kind lady fixed her up with magic. Patience didn’t really believe in magic, but she did believe her grandfather. So if he said that magic was real, it must be.
Her grandfather also told her that the healer had gone into the mountain and never come out, so he could not thank her properly. He’d wanted to thank her, however, so he had been trying to find her for years.
Patience had joined him on some of his trips. They were very fun, and she always had a good time with him. He always brought two things with him on his trips, however. A knife, to fend off anything that tried to hurt him, and a rope, to help him out if he fell down a hole. She thought it was kind of silly of him. After all, no bears would dare fight her grandpa! He was far too strong and brave.
It never really registered to Patience that he was old. He had always been old to her, in the way that anyone older than her was. But the truth of how old he was hit her when her mother came to her, very late at night, and told her that Patience’s beloved grandfather had died from old age.
Patience had sobbed for hours. Her brother could not comfort her, nor her mother or father. She was inconsolable. Who would tell her jokes and stories? Who would take her on hikes? Who would make pancakes just the way she liked them?
The funeral was a sad affair. She hadn’t been able to stop hoping that her grandfather was playing some elaborate prank on her. But when he hadn’t popped out of the casket, saying “Gotcha, peanut! That was a good trick, huh?”, she knew it was real.
It took a few months of Patience waiting for something to fill the void that her Grandfather’s passing had left before she realized that she had been waiting for the wrong thing. She had been waiting for someone to come to her, but perhaps she should be trying to find someone. And she knew just who.
The kind woman that her grandfather had been looking for! She just had to find her, and then all would work out. She would’ve helped her grandfather achieve his goal, and she’d have a link to him as well.
The very next day, Patience set out. She did not have a knife or rope like her grandfather, but a toy knife and a very long ribbon instead. She thought the ribbon looked much nicer than the heavy rope her grandfather had been carrying, and the toy knife was the closest thing she could get to the real thing.
She searched the woods, and found nothing. She was not discouraged. Her grandfather had looked almost his whole life for the kind healer, but hadn’t found her. It would take time.
She set out every day for two weeks before she found the hole. It was huge, easily big enough for at least four of her. She stayed to the edge, but in her heart she knew that this was where the kind lady had gone. So she sat and listened to the air rushing through it. It seemed a peaceful enough place.
Patience stayed there for an hour, then went home. She returned every day for months, sometimes just listening. Other times she told stories. She didn’t know if the kind lady would hear them, or if she would ever come back out to talk to Patience, but she figured she could wait and see.
After three months, Patience’s mother got nervous and told her to stay away from the hole. “Bad things have happened there,” she said anxiously, “Stay away from it and stay safe, darling.”
Patience did not listen. She snuck to the hole one evening and sat, feet dangling over the ledge in a form of rebellion.
She sat there for a while, then felt a sharp tug on her ankle by something. Startled, she jumped slightly, and the jump sent her over the edge, into the pit. She screamed shrilly, hoping her mother had followed her.
But nobody came, and Patience fell into the underground. As she fell, Patience hoped that perhaps the kind lady would find and help her.
And thus began Patience's search of the Underground.