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tunned for a moment, I looked around, mouth open in a smile. The round building was filled with books, the walls from floor to ceiling completely covered. Bookshelves lined the walkways and filled the space in between. I could not have read all the books in this place in even my substantially extended lifetime.
Levent followed tentatively behind me, glancing at the people who had turned to stare at us. As soon as his eyes met theirs, they turned away and returned to their books. I distinctly watched one individual stare a hole into their book as we walked by, just to avoid eye contact.
I glanced at the kin, making sure his pass was still tacked to his chest, and then plunged into the library. Touching the spines of the leather-bound books with my hands, I did not know where to start. After about ten minutes of wandering, I decided to focus and find something for Levent to occupy himself with. He was nice enough to accompany me, I did not want him to be bored out of his mind.
“Here,” I said, walking into a small nook. Scanning the spines, I grabbed a book and handed it to the dragon-kin.
“What’s this?” he asked.
“It’s a book on some of the greatest artists of the last three centuries,” I said, flipping it open for him. “I don’t know much about you, Levent, but I know you draw better than anyone I’ve ever seen. I figured you might be interested in stuff like this?” I turned the page to a printed replica of one of the artist’s works, a detailed and extensive portrait of a woman in a temple.
The dragon-kin shrugged, but took the book out of my hand.
“I’m going to go see what they have on Delfaethan culture, and on inventions like Aenlilea Senior is making. I had no idea anyone’d come up with stuff like that. You can stay here if you want,” I said.
Levent nodded. As I left, I watched him grab a chair from a section away and dragged it into the little nook. I smiled a little as I went to research my own subjects. I felt like I had done something good.
I must have spent a good few hours shuffling through books on the Delfaethans and recent inventions. I learned a little more on the dynamics of the Aenlilea family – women were considered dominant in their culture, but inferior in the western Dinaeon Republic. I also found a little more on how to fuel the airship Aenlilea