The Place
The Scale Pool is a pool of black scale and warm water in the deep marsh, and the pool is 300 m wide and 15 m deep, and the pool keeps the scale and the oath. The surface of the pool is a constant shimmer, and the shimmer is the scale itself, and the scale is what the pool keeps in the water. The scale of the pool is black at the bottom and white where the light touches it, and the white is the pool's only fire, and the fire is what the scale keeps. The mud around the pool is brown where the water has dried, and the brown is the pool's way of saying the year is kept. The largest shallows, the Oath Shallows, run 40 m across, and the water there is 2 m deep, and the shallowness is the pool's only floor, and the floor is what the scale keeps. The air above the pool is thick with the smell of the marsh, and the smell is the pool's only voice, and the voice is what the air keeps. The pool has no entrance, because the pool is the entrance, and the entering is the pool's only door, and the door is what the water keeps. This is the place where the oath is kept, and the keeping is the pool's only harvest.
How They Live
The Lizard Men keep the pool in the marsh, and the pool is not a house but an oath, and the oath is kept in the scale. The lizard-men do not build, because the pool was cut before the current brood, and the brood only keeps it, and the keeping is the brood's only work. The pool was cut by the first brood, and the cutting is the pool's only building, and the building is what the scale keeps. Light comes from the scale, which glows faintly in the dark, and the glow is the only fire the pool has, and the glow is the pool's way of keeping the night. Food is the pool itself: the small game that is kept in the water, the scale that is kept in the mud, the oath that is kept in the word, and the patience that keeps the oath honest. The eating of the game is the pool's only eating, and the eating is the pool's way of keeping the hunger. Water is the pool, and the pool is the water, and the lizard-man drinks and scales and remembers in the same warm shimmer. In the warm months the pool runs high, and the running-high is the pool's way of keeping the year. In the cold months the pool runs low, and the running-low is the pool's way of keeping the oath. The day is not measured, because there is no day. The scale stands, and the scale rests, and the pool is the only clock.
People
Home of the Lizard Men, whose broods are counted by scale. There are eight broods in the pool, and the eight are the pool's only population, and the population is kept in the scale. Each brood keeps a shelf of its own scales, and the shelf is the brood's only house, and the house is what the scale keeps. The oldest brood keeps the Oath Shallows, and the keeping is the brood's only rank, and the rank is what the pool keeps. No dry thing is welcome in the pool, and the not-being-welcome is the pool's only law, and the law is what the scale keeps. A visitor who steps into the scale is already in the word's path, and the path is the pool's only welcome, and the welcome is what the water keeps.
In Stories
The place where the scale is the only honest thing, and the thing is the patience, and the patience is the word, and the word is the end. The Lizard Men keep the count of the shed scales, and the count is the pool's only word, and the word is what the scale keeps. The oath of the pool is the oath of the marsh, and the marsh is the only ground that ever kept, and the keeping is what the mud remembers.