I stand before the mountain.
How do you get a mountain's attention? Well, you climb it.
Even when you're journeying, sometimes you just have to put in the long, hard slog. Anything else would have been defeating the point.
It takes me the better part of the night to make any progress. Then a second night and a third. Long enough for me to wonder if maybe there's some trick, some track, some shortcut I'd see if I was more clever.
The view of Jotunheim and the seas and the slivers of worlds beyond from the summit is incredible... and that's when I get my first sign of life, calling me back down.
I end up inside a cave near the summit. There's a being there, wearing a humanoid form, and I'm not sure if it's for my benefit or if he actually putters around in this shape when he doesn't feel like being the mountain. For all that we're in a cave, he's tall and broad enough that he fills the space, making me feel small.
We make introductions, and he asks me why I'm here.
"I'm learning earth."
"Why not the valley floor, or one of the smaller mountains? Why here?" I can't tell if he's annoyed or curious or... there's not a lot of emotion in his voice.
"Honestly, this was the first thing I thought of, and I'm too stubborn to change to something easier once I get a bug in my ear."
That, he laughs at. It's a booming laugh, reminding me of my grandpa when I was little, or Santa Claus.
"I will keep you busy," he told me. "When you're ready to leave, let me know."
Busy is so far a lot of control exercises. Maintaining myself in cold and warmth, handling pain, that sort of thing. Being, well, rock. I am largely left alone. I'm pretty sure he expects me to give up, but I've been through this kind of exercise before.
Sure, I'm confident I can outwait a mountain. No way this will end badly.