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Steampunk
She pulled the lever, and the Athenaeum Airship began jolting forwards on its large velocipede wheels. The open windows clattered in their frames and let in a wind that whipped her braids back along with her scarf. Steadfast, nowhere did the pilot's eyes wander until she grabbed the throttle and pulled it farther back, tipping the Airship back on its oversize wheels and setting its batlike wings flapping as the Athenaeum lifted up into the sky. Stepping out of the controls area, the pilot yanked sharply on a bellpull. A horn let out a loud, comical squawk and a boy wearing airship goggles and a mischievous expression popped his head down the skylight. The girl snatched the goggles off his head. "That's where my goggles got to?"
The boy grinned and hopped down from the skylight, bowing a bit. "Isn't that what your little-brother-librarian-sidekick is for?" Turning serious, he continued, "What's our next city? Did you see the trunk of books I managed to get at that antique shop in that last town? A steal! They're really good too; some of them actually aren't falling apart at the bindings."
The pilot-girl rolled her eyes halfheartedly. She might never let her little brother see it, but he really was a good librarian-sidekick. "Yes, we've got to sort out those books you found. Come on, the Airship can fly itself for a few hours, and we must get those books on the shelf before we get to the next town." Turning, she gripped the railing of an old iron spiral staircase and descended to a lower floor. Here, below the deck where she piloted and her brother kept watch over the wings and the steam engine, was the Athenaeum itself: the library. Leather poufs filled the space between half-full bookshelves. The girl opened the window seat between two bookcases and pulled a needle and thread, as well as a bottle of glue, from the repair kit she kept there. As her brother descended into the library with a battered trunk, she opened it to reveal even more stacks of books. "It was a good find," she admitted. "But like all good things, it can always be better if we make it so." He rolled his eyes at her waxing philosophical, but took the glue bottle she offered him and sat down on his own pouf, checking book spines and applying glue.
A steam horn squawked. "Come on, we're almost to the next city." Her brother tumbled the unfinished books into the window seat's storage and scrambled up the spiral stairs behind her. As he climbed to the rooftops to sight the town through the clouds, she pulled down her goggles. Before her, clouds scudded past as she lowered the Airship down into a field. Before she could stop her brother, he'd given an ear-piercing whistle and sounded the squawky horn of the Airship again. Children and adults spilled out of the town buildings towards the airship taking up the town common, holding baskets full of books.
Children tugged at their mothers' skirts as they waited their turn in the "magical house" of the Athenaeum. The girl had thrown open the windows, and shouts of the children running around the commons followed her down the stairs to the Athenaeum floor. As her brother set the last books on the shelves in order, she threw open the doors. "Come one, come all! Visit the Athenaeum Airship, home of books you need! We fly from city to city to bring you from your world to a world far away!"
And as her brother, swarmed by little boys, went over to find some serial novels for his flock (though closely watched by slightly disapproving parents' eyes), the pilot-girl took a basket of books and wandered out onto the common.
"Come one, come all. I'm here, the Athenaeum girl, with books for those who don't want to venture from your world; books that are here, right now."
Happy reading!
~Citali
The boy grinned and hopped down from the skylight, bowing a bit. "Isn't that what your little-brother-librarian-sidekick is for?" Turning serious, he continued, "What's our next city? Did you see the trunk of books I managed to get at that antique shop in that last town? A steal! They're really good too; some of them actually aren't falling apart at the bindings."
The pilot-girl rolled her eyes halfheartedly. She might never let her little brother see it, but he really was a good librarian-sidekick. "Yes, we've got to sort out those books you found. Come on, the Airship can fly itself for a few hours, and we must get those books on the shelf before we get to the next town." Turning, she gripped the railing of an old iron spiral staircase and descended to a lower floor. Here, below the deck where she piloted and her brother kept watch over the wings and the steam engine, was the Athenaeum itself: the library. Leather poufs filled the space between half-full bookshelves. The girl opened the window seat between two bookcases and pulled a needle and thread, as well as a bottle of glue, from the repair kit she kept there. As her brother descended into the library with a battered trunk, she opened it to reveal even more stacks of books. "It was a good find," she admitted. "But like all good things, it can always be better if we make it so." He rolled his eyes at her waxing philosophical, but took the glue bottle she offered him and sat down on his own pouf, checking book spines and applying glue.
A steam horn squawked. "Come on, we're almost to the next city." Her brother tumbled the unfinished books into the window seat's storage and scrambled up the spiral stairs behind her. As he climbed to the rooftops to sight the town through the clouds, she pulled down her goggles. Before her, clouds scudded past as she lowered the Airship down into a field. Before she could stop her brother, he'd given an ear-piercing whistle and sounded the squawky horn of the Airship again. Children and adults spilled out of the town buildings towards the airship taking up the town common, holding baskets full of books.
Children tugged at their mothers' skirts as they waited their turn in the "magical house" of the Athenaeum. The girl had thrown open the windows, and shouts of the children running around the commons followed her down the stairs to the Athenaeum floor. As her brother set the last books on the shelves in order, she threw open the doors. "Come one, come all! Visit the Athenaeum Airship, home of books you need! We fly from city to city to bring you from your world to a world far away!"
And as her brother, swarmed by little boys, went over to find some serial novels for his flock (though closely watched by slightly disapproving parents' eyes), the pilot-girl took a basket of books and wandered out onto the common.
"Come one, come all. I'm here, the Athenaeum girl, with books for those who don't want to venture from your world; books that are here, right now."
Happy reading!
~Citali
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