A Day in the Life of A Gnome
By Golg
I am Golg. I live in the land of Bism. I am hoping that someday, somehow, this account will reach the home of His Honor who killed the Witch, above the Shallow Lands. He was very curious about my home, so I hope to inform him and his kin. The best way to do this is with an account of a day in my life. Yesterday is as good as any.
I woke up on my sleeping cocoon. You probably do not know shat a sleeping cocoon is, being surface dwellers. It is a cocoon made of living, growing diamonds and rubies and emeralds, and we sleep in them.
I wriggled out of the cocoon into my small shelter, made of living stone. I stood. I then walked out along the great main road where my home is located. Because you have never been to Bism, I will describe it for you. The street is made of living, growing rock, and the city is grown of precious stones. I have heard that in the Overlands, cities are not grown but built with your hands from dead things. Uhh! Here, cities and buildings are grown and cultivated. So much more civilized.
Directly in front of me was the Palace of Fire, where the King of Bism holds court. It is not actually made of fire, of course, but there are fires growing all around it on the firestones, small gems that burn, particularly in the presence of anger or malice.
The part of the Palace not obscured by the flames is made of shining emeralds. They glow in the light of the river of fire, and juice is constantly dripping from them for the sustenance of the people of Bism.
To my left was a row of wildly different-shaped houses. Some looked like perfect cubes , others like pyramids, and still others like the likeness of a gnome. They were made of all kinds of precious stones, and there were hundreds of gnomes milling about them.
To my right was the Raw Garden. There, stones were allowed to grow as they would, weedgems and all. This was where a few gnomes were working at juicing and picking. There was a fence of lava between myself and them. This was merely to keep the weedgems from infecting the rest of Bism.
At certain points along the road, it diverged into other parts of Bism. I walked down the road toward the place where I made firecrackers every day. As I went, a rather tall, burly gnome with two long horns coming out of the side of his head approached. He had a long red tail with a small tuft on the end. His skin was blue, and he had a single eye in the middle of his forehead. It was Gremforge, the Metalsmith,
"How goes it there, Golg old boy?" "Just great, Gremforge. Off to make firecrackers, I am. Throwin' a party tonight. Lots of fireworks. You want to come?" "How can I resist an offer like that?" "Great! See ya then!"
I continued walking down the road, and there ran into a pretty(at least by my standards) femal e gnome named Lavina. She had two gorgeous eyes, both a stunning shade of purple, a wonderful face with beautiful peach skin, and hooves like a goat. She had wonderful spiky orange hair. "Oh hi, Golg. How is the firecracker business today?" At this point I kind of got tounge-tied, but managed to invite her to the party I was having that night.
Finally I arrived at the Pit of Powder. I took out a shovel and dug some powder, which I placed in my pockets. I then wandered over to my shop, where a gaggle of gnomes were lined up to buy fireworks.
"Good morning, ladies and gents! And how are you all on this fine day?" "Great, Mr. Golg." "Yeah, just fine." "I suppose you'll want some firecrackers then?" "Oh yes, please!"
And so, I managed to spend a good portion of the day selling fireworks. When business calmed down, I was able to make a few firecrackers. It is very contemplative work, making firecrackers.
As I sat there, pouring powder into the fireworks, a salamander came to me out of the small fire I had in my workshop.
It said "Hail Golg, who spoke with the King of Narnia in the Shallow Lands."
I replied "Hail, salamander of the flame, who was there at the formation of Bism." This was the customary greeting between a gnome and a salamander.
The salamander responded "I am here to ask a small favor."
"Anything, wise one." "I would like a firework that shoots up into the air and explodes in the shape of a salamander." "Come and pick it up in three days."
And so I set to work on this special firework. After a couple of hours, it was time to head home for the party.
At my dwelling, it was quite a party. There were fireworks, Gremforge showed me some hammers and picks he had been making, the music provided by my friend Altari was wonderful, and I even worked up the courage to get a word in with Laravin.
In that conversation, we learned much about each other. We are going to visit the Gardens of Elrogan tomorrow. They mark the site of the Last Battle of the Last War, after which all Bismonians were sworn to peace. As long as both cities keep their agreement, there will never again be war in Bism.
All in all, a good day in Bism.
Sincerely,
Golg.