The Place
The Scale Pits are a cluster of pits sunk in black stone, and the cluster is 600 m wide and 80 m deep, and the pits keep the quarrel and the word. The stone of the pits is black where the scale has settled, and the black is the pits' way of saying the quarrel is kept. The scale that covers the walls is grey at the rim and black at the bottom, and the grey is the pits' only light, and the light is what the scale keeps. The broken wings that hang from the walls are white where the bone shows through, and the white is the pits' only fire, and the fire is what the wing keeps. The largest pit, the Quarrel Pit, runs 50 m across, and the walls of the pit are 80 m high, and the height is the pit's only roof, and the roof is what the stone keeps. The air in the pits is thick with the sound of the quarrel, and the quarrel is the pits' only voice, and the voice is what the air keeps. The entrances are few and low, and the three of them are 2 m wide and 1 m high, and the lowness is the defense that the stone keeps. This is the place where the quarrel is kept, and the keeping is the pits' only harvest.
How They Live
The Drakes keep the pits in the stone, and the pits are not a house but a quarrel, and the quarrel is kept in the scale. The drakes do not build, because the pits were cut before the current clutch, and the clutch only keeps them, and the keeping is the clutch's only work. The pits were cut by the first clutch, and the cutting is the pit's only building, and the building is what the stone keeps. Light comes from the scale, which glows faintly in the dark, and the glow is the only fire the pits have, and the glow is the pit's way of keeping the night. Food is the pit itself: the small game that is kept in the scale, the quarrel that is kept in the word, the wing that is kept in the bone, and the scale that keeps the craft honest. The eating of the game is the pit's only eating, and the eating is the pit's way of keeping the hunger. Water is drawn from the springs below the pits, and the water is carried up in vessels of bone, and the carrying is the pit's only trade. In the warm months the quarrel runs loud, and the loudness is the pit's way of keeping the year. In the cold months the quarrel runs low, and the lowness is the pit's way of keeping the debt. The day is measured by the quarrel, which is also the calendar, because the pit is the only clock the scale needs.
People
Home of the Drakes, whose clutches are counted by quarrel. There are twelve clutches in the pits, and the twelve are the pits' only population, and the population is kept in the scale. Each clutch keeps a shelf of its own wings, and the shelf is the clutch's only house, and the house is what the bone keeps. The oldest clutch keeps the Quarrel Pit, and the keeping is the clutch's only rank, and the rank is what the pit keeps. No wingless thing is welcome in the pits, and the not-being-welcome is the pit's only law, and the law is what the stone keeps. A visitor who steps into the scale is already in the word's path, and the path is the pit's only welcome, and the welcome is what the entrance keeps.
In Stories
The place where the quarrel is the only honest thing, and the thing is the word, and the word is the scale, and the scale is the end. The Drakes keep the count of the broken wings, and the count is the pit's only word, and the word is what the scale keeps. The quarrel of the pits is the quarrel of the sky, and the sky is the only roof that ever mattered, and the roof is what the wing keeps.