Lake of Wisdom: Fantasy

The lake of wisdom was always present in her mind as she grew up. The idea of it, the touch and taste and feel of it--though she had known neither, she merely imagined what it must be like. She thought it might be like when she burned her wrist against the skillet that she was using. It had hurt so much that at first she didn't feel it at all, and then the pain swept in. She though it might be like that when the lake at away the flesh of the wise ones. She knew she had only two options when she came of age: obey the wise ones, or become one. And as that day grew closer and closer, she became more and more frantic in her thoughts, trying to calculate a way that she could do neither. For all her life, she'd hated abiding by the rules of others, and she knew the wise ones let their power rest most lightly on the young girls who might choose to try the lake of wisdom.

Inspiration: A dream I had--thought I should transfer the info over here.
Story Potential: High
Notes:Weird third-person dream. There was a town run by women with no hands, only silver cups covering their wrist stumps. They could tell anyone to do anything, and that person had to do it. They were the wise ones. The town was very Pilgrim-esque; women wore long black dresses with white collars, etc.

There was a lake, the Lake of Wisdom, near the town. Young women could choose to row out onto the lake and dip their hands in the water. They would receive true wisdom, but the lake was so strong, their hands would dissolve.

One of the wise ones was found to be an imposter. The young woman was seized and they pulled the cups off her wrist stumps. Underneath was a horrible mass of scarring, and it was obvious that she had chopped her hands off. She said that all she wanted was to not be ordered around, but she couldn't bear the thought of undergoing the Lake of Wisdom's trial.