The Place
The Tinker Hollows is a hollow of small, clever workshops and odd little gardens, and the hollow runs 3 km through the hill, and the hollow is 40 m deep, and the hill keeps the tinker and the scheme. The earth is brown where the workshops are kept, and the brown is the hollow's way of saying the scheme is kept. The surface of the hollow is a constant drip of half-finished things, and the drip is the hollow's only movement, and the drip is the hollow's way of keeping the day. The Workshop is the largest of the rooms, and the workshop runs 60 m long, and the workshop is where the Gnome keeps the tinker, and the keeping is the hollow's only word. The Garden is the smallest of the rooms, and the garden is 10 m wide, and the garden is where the gnome keeps the scheme, and the keeping is the hollow's only secret. The Tinker Wall is the lowest of the rock, and the wall runs 200 m along the base, and the wall is where the tinker stands, and the standing is the hollow's only defense. The air of the hollow is green where the garden grows, and the green is the hollow's only breath. This is the place where the tinker is the only honest thing, and the keeping is the hollow's only harvest.
How They Live
The Gnome keeps the hollow in the hill, and the hollow is not a house but a tinker, and the tinker is kept in the scheme. The gnome does not build, because the hollow was dug before the current scheme, and the scheme only keeps it, and the keeping is the scheme's only work. The hollow was dug by the first tinker, and the digging is the hollow's only building, and the building is what the hill keeps. Light comes from the tinker, which is small and bright and never still, and the tinker is gold where it burns, and the gold is the hollow's only fire, and the tinker is the only light the hollow has. Food is the hollow itself: the grain of the garden, the small game of the hill, the scheme that is kept, and the tinker that keeps the word honest. The keeping of the tinker is the hollow's only eating, and the eating is the hollow's way of keeping the hunger. Water is drawn from the springs of the hill, and the water is carried down in vessels of metal, and the carrying is the hollow's only trade. In the warm months the drip runs full, and the running is the hollow's way of keeping the year. In the cold months the drip runs thin, and the running-thin is the hollow's way of keeping the scheme. The day is measured by the tinker, which is also the calendar, because the hollow is the only clock the scheme needs.
People
Home of the Gnome, whose hollow is counted by tinker. There are three tinkerers in the hollow, and the three are the hollow's only population, and the population is kept in the hill. Each tinkerer keeps a line of its own workshop, and the line is the tinkerer's only house, and the house is what the hill keeps. The oldest tinkerer keeps the Workshop, and the keeping is the tinkerer's only rank, and the rank is what the workshop keeps. No large thing is welcome in the hollow, and the not-being-welcome is the hollow's only law, and the law is what the hill keeps. A trader who steps into the Workshop is already in the tinker's path, and the path is the hollow's only welcome, and the welcome is what the wall keeps. A human trader calls it the Tinker Hollows, because the hollow sounds like a thing always about to be finished, and the finishing is the trader's only word.
In Stories
The place where the tinker is the only honest thing, and the thing is the scheme, and the scheme is the word, and the word is the end. The Gnome keeps the very small, very sharp secrets of the hollow, and the keeping is the hollow's only word, and the word is what the hill keeps. The tinker of the hollow is the tinker of the scheme, and the scheme is the only thing that never ends, and the ending is what the workshop keeps.