Part 2: A girl and her father
Peals of laughter echoed through the house from the four-year-old girl, playing in the halls as the servants watched on in amusement. From across the home, in his office, Oswald heard the familiar sound and smiled, tightening a bolt on his newest gift for her. She was heading toward him, so he hid it in a drawer and went back to schematics for his balloon, a difficult task. His vivid idea of a blue balloon sailing through the skies of London and over the sea was one thing, but the creation of such an idea would be impossible without schematics and planning- the step he hated the most. His office door opened, and he turned to see his daughter run in, wearing a pinafore and her brown hair tied in a long ponytail. "Hi daddy!" she smiled, instantly running over to his desk, something held in her hands. "I found a treasure!" she giggled, proud. He opened her tight little fist and found a curved piece of shiny metal, possibly broken off from a window. "It is my bracelet!" she smiled, demonstrating by putting it on her arm. "I can see, it looks very pretty on you!" Oswald grinned, the little girl giggling joyfully in response. "Daddy, what are you drawing?" she asked, as he lifted her onto his lap. "I'm making a special balloon!" he responded, Evelyn taking the pencil and Oswald giving her a new sheet of paper to draw on. With shaky lines, she tried to copy the balloon, getting the basic shape right and adding scribbles for details he added, before drawing something in the basket, where the control panel would sit. She drew three figures, two large and one small, before nodding and smiling. "What's that, Evy?" he asked, pointing at them, and Evelyn smiled. "It's you, mummy, and me, daddy!" she grinned, pointing at each person in turn. Oswald's eyes became misty. "Of course…" he whispered, stroking her hair as she leaned into him.
Months later, Evelyn and Constantine sat together in the garden, inside a gazebo where a stained glass ceiling cast rainbow light down on everything. A butterfly flew inside the decorated room, Constantine managing to get it to land on her finger, Evelyn watching in awe. Constantine smiled. "Evelyn, did you know that a butterfly means change is coming?" she asked, the four-year-old vigorously shaking her head. Constantine smiled again, before gazing off as the butterfly landed on a nearby pillar, Evelyn watching it intently. Constantine looked at the girl's focus, her eyebrows arched and her mouth in a frown, giggling and interrupting her daughter's thoughts. "What are you laughing at, mummy?" she asked, and Constantine sighed with contentment. "Nothing, sweetheart. Just how amazing my little princess is." She giggled once more, Evelyn beaming. "Well mummy, if I'm a princess, then you're a queen and daddy's a king!" she laughed, Constantine also smiling. "I think your dad is a wizard, actually." She whispered, making Evelyn laugh. "Wizard Oswald…" the little girl contemplated- it didn't sound quite right. Constantine tickled Evelyn, her laughter resounding across the garden. "What about Wizard Os?" she suggested, Evelyn nodding as she laughed and laughed. "That sounds perfect!" she smiled, Oswald coming back from work to find the two of them giggling together.
One evening, Oswald came home to find Constantine in bed, ill and covered in some sort of rash. Evelyn, unattended, was outside, playing imaginary games and oblivious to her mother's suffering. Their driver was out getting food for the week, so in a moment of haste, he grabbed Evelyn and told her to hang onto him, cycling across London until he reached the doctor, begging him to help his wife. The trio boarded a coach, Oswald's bike making it very cramped, and he urged the driver to make haste, anxious. Out of nowhere, Evelyn hugged him, hard, and he responded by holding her too, all while the doctor asked various questions about Constantine. Upon reaching the house, the two men ran inside, Evelyn going to sit in the gazebo despite it being dark. She spotted a frog on the path and chased it, before her father called her inside, a strange look on his face. This alone made Evelyn confused, and she made sure he knew she didn't understand what was going on. "Daddy, why do you look like that?" she asked, Oswald suddenly choking back tears and turning from her for a moment. "Evy…I have some bad news." He whispered, the two standing in the hallway as the doctor approached, shaking his head. "Lady Constantine has died, Mr Stirner." He spoke, Evelyn's heart skipping a beat. Oswald couldn't believe his ears. He planned to tell Evelyn that her mother wasn't getting better, but to hear she was already dead shook him to his core.
In the next few months that followed, Oswald grew weary, unable to face leaving the manor and instead spending time with Evelyn and working in his office. The balloon trip to Omaha was steadily approaching, and he had no reason not to go, apart from his daughter. She would be fine, everything was provided for her and he could easily find her a tutor and aides, but something would be missing. She had become clingy since Constantine's death, always wanting to be by his side and refusing to go anywhere on her own, except those rare occasions when one of her toys would escape the manor's grounds and she would chase it, lost in her fantasies. To make matters worse, Constantine's favourite book, 'A Little Princess', was nowhere to be found, and Evelyn had probably taken it to remember her by. No use pressing her, but he hoped she would at least take care of it.
One particular day, he was finalizing schematics for the balloon, Evelyn drawing on loose papers in the corner, when she suddenly asked an impossible question- "daddy, can you promise never to leave? I don't want you to go into the clouds like mummy did." She whispered, Oswald dropping his pencil with disbelief. Here he sat, preparing a great voyage, but the person he treasured most was begging him to stay with her. Tears filled his eyes. He would keep the trip a secret from her, forever. "Yes, Evy. I'll never leave you, not like mummy did." He responded, the little girl beaming. "Well, Evy, seeing as you're always with me, do you want to help me make something?" he asked, holding up the finished schematic. The little girl nodded enthusiastically, her face in a big grin. "Yes, yes, YES!" she laughed, the two immediately setting out in a coach to find supplies. Oswald would have to leave eventually, but he would always come back, back to the house he'd earned, and to the daughter he loved. That was the promise he made that day.
Wood, burning a risk, and metal, and fabric. The base of such a large contraption, and something which cost him a lot of money. His trading company had given him a grant for transportation, a thousand pounds at his disposal, but it was already diminished with just the base of his balloon. He then came up with a brilliant idea, leaving Evelyn tying knots just as he had taught her. He took his bicycle to his old factory, paying for his old furnace and having it brought to his house, dismantling it in his workshop- formerly office- and using the mechanical arms he had used for the library as supports. They would help to activate his mechanisms and maintain the heat and equilibrium of the metal ring sustaining the balloon's fire. Necessary supports- the flame would be suspended above his head- and also a good way of maintaining it without danger of him burning himself. Evelyn, meanwhile, was tying the knots for the basket, the ropes eventually attaching to the sides of the fabric balloon to keep the basket suspended. He burned a wheel, using Evelyn's "bracelet" as a centre due to it being circular, and began working on the complex mechanisms of controlling everything inside the balloon. He bought a portable stove, creating a compartment which automatically fed the heat of the stove up into the ring, giving fuel to the fire without necessary input. He also stowed a box of matches, for this same purpose, and a suitcase full of special keepsakes and items. He installed his seat- his plush office chair- and nailed a photo of Constantine, Evelyn and himself above the control panel, always near him. Evelyn played with the compartments sometimes, he'd find buttons or toys inside the drawers, but occasionally he forgot to check and would only find them when they jammed a mechanism. But, it was all in good fun, so he forgave her. His creation was almost finished- adding the steam tanks allowed everything to be self-sufficient, Oswald only needing to steer. His two fabric and metal wings opened with a click of a button, a compass above the wheel showing him the direction, and he would fly to Omaha overnight, under the cover of shadow.
After five months, the balloon was finished, and ready for a test flight. Evelyn wanted to practice for the "real balloon ride", so she climbed in with Oswald, sitting in the corner of the basket and watching her father operate the balloon. They kept it anchored, though, so it wouldn't actually fly away, just rise until it was above the manor, before he let out all the steam and extinguished the flame, landing them safely on the ground. As they rose, Evelyn stood up and watched, the gazebo becoming small below her and able to see the entire roof of the house, giggling with excitement. Oswald smiled, taking a deep breath of fresh air. If they kept rising, maybe they'd see Constantine, but that was silly, and dangerous. Instead, he pressed the button to extinguish the flame, the steam hissing out of the valves and sending them down, Evelyn peeking over the edge and smiling at her father, who grinned back. The test flight was successful, now time to do the real thing.
That evening, Oswald took Evelyn to a hotel, letting the servants and her future tutor know to get her in the coach the next morning. He told her tales of mermaids and mystical fairies, of lands of cogs and gears, of lovers and princesses, keeping her awake until it was very late. Then, he turned off the lamp in their room, opening his little suitcase and pulling out two miniature balloons, one red and one blue, matching the one they had in their garden. He held one out to her, letting her light the candle inside, before doing the same with his own, walking out on the balcony and letting the blue one fly, Evelyn rushing to do the same. The two toys floated away in the wind, Big Ben chiming twelve in the distance and Oswald kissing his daughter's forehead, his eyes shining with pride and sorrow. He had only been with her four years, but those years had been incredible, moments of beauty which were ingrained in his heart. Evelyn reached out to hug him as the balloons floated far away, the two watching as they disappeared in the mist, Oswald picking up Evelyn and holding her in his arms, tears filling his eyes. He decided to tell the sleepy child one more tale, a tale of a magical pearl capable of revealing one's true self, something he'd heard long ago as a child. As Evelyn fell asleep in his arms, he smiled, closing the curtains and putting her in her bed, tucking her in and letting her sleep. Then, he left a wrapped box inside her small suitcase, seeing the familiar cover of Constantine's favourite book inside. Hastily, he wrote a letter on some notepaper and left it inside the book's cover, before rushing outside, hailing a coach and being taken away.
Evelyn felt the cold breeze rush over her- her father had forgotten to close the window. It was around one in the morning and she was freezing, wrapping herself in her duvet as she stepped outside and looked at the darkened city. Constantine used to say the city never slept, but Evelyn was sure it did, simply due to how quiet it was. She gazed up at the few stars in the sky, before a loud noise startled her, the clanging of metal ricocheting through the streets. Behind the buildings across the street, a shadow rose up, blue as the ocean and a bright orange candle burning inside it. In her drowsiness, she wondered if one of their balloons had looped back to them, before it hit her. Her father was leaving without her. She discarded the duvet and ran into the streets in her nightgown, screaming for her father. But, he didn't respond. She chased his balloon as a crowd of sleepy residents appeared, confused and awestruck at the contraption above them. Evelyn ran back upstairs as it drifted away, hoping she could call out from her balcony. Breathless, she raised her voice over the crowd and yelled the one thing she wanted to remind him: "Father! I love you!" A call echoed back through the night, but it was impossible to decipher over the crowd, and then he was gone, flying far away.