The Place
The Silent Spires is a city of pale stone, and the city stands on a plain of grey, and the spires rise 900 m out of the stone, and the stone keeps the record and the witness. The stone is white where the record is kept, and the white is the city's way of saying the record is kept. The surface of the city is a constant grey shimmer, and the shimmer moves with the day, and the shimmer is the city's only movement. The Witness Tower is the tallest of the spires, and the tower rises 1,200 m, and the top of the tower is where the witness stands, and the standing is the city's only word. The Record Hall is the largest of the chambers, and the hall runs 200 m long, and the walls are lined with the record, and the record is the city's only book. The plain around the city is bone where the wind has cut it, and the bone is the city's only ground. This is the place where the record is the only honest promise, and the keeping is the city's only harvest.
How They Live
The Observers keep the city in the stone, and the city is not a house but a record, and the record is kept in the witness. The observers do not build, because the spires were cut before the current witness, and the witness only keeps them, and the keeping is the witness's only work. The spires were cut by the first record, and the cutting is the city's only building, and the building is what the stone keeps. Light comes from the grey shimmer of the stone, which glows faintly in the dark, and the shimmer is the only light the city has, and the shimmer is the city's way of keeping the night. Food is the city itself: the record that is kept, the witness that is stood, the silence that is kept, and the promise that keeps the record honest. The keeping of the record is the city's only eating, and the eating is the city's way of keeping the hunger. Water is drawn from the springs of the plain, and the water is carried up in vessels of stone, and the carrying is the city's only trade. In the warm months the shimmer runs full, and the running is the city's way of keeping the year. In the cold months the shimmer runs thin, and the running-thin is the city's way of keeping the record. The day is not measured, because there is no day. The record stands, and the record rests, and the city is the only clock the promise needs.
People
Home of the Observers, whose city is counted by record. There are seven witnesses in the city, and the seven are the city's only population, and the population is kept in the stone. Each witness keeps a line of its own record, and the line is the witness's only house, and the house is what the stone keeps. The oldest witness keeps the Witness Tower, and the keeping is the witness's only rank, and the rank is what the tower keeps. No moving thing is welcome in the spires, and the not-being-welcome is the city's only law, and the law is what the stone keeps. A trader who stands on the plain is already in the witness's path, and the path is the city's only welcome, and the welcome is what the plain keeps. A human trader calls it the Silent Spires, because the spires make no sound, and the making-no-sound is the trader's only word.
In Stories
The place where the record is the only honest promise, and the promise is the witness, and the witness is the silence, and the silence is the end. The Observers keep the record of the plain, and the record is the city's only word, and the word is what the stone keeps. The promise of the city is the promise of the record, and the record is the only book that never ends, and the ending is what the hall keeps.