"I think I'm getting the idea," she says. "So when do we meet the rest of the collection, anyway?"

"Whenever you like. The rest of the swans live in the village by the lake; the rest of the guests live in the castle; my daughter lives in the northwest wing."

"You have a daughter?"

"Yes I do."

"Okay, I won't be rude."

"Thank you."

"You probably have guest rooms, right?"

"More than I could possibly need!"

"Then we'll go pick one. Any recommendations?"

"There's a hall near the library if you like libraries. There's some with good views if you like good views."

"I vote library!"

"I'll fly you there."

He does that, pausing in the library itself along the way.

When they arrive in a guest room on the appropriate hall, Fia kisses Serik very emphatically.

"Your library is amazing!"

"Please put some clothes on before you run off to investigate it - I don't know how you are at conjuration, but there's a magic wardrobe in every guest room - the rest of them might not mind as much but I know my daughter would be unpleasantly surprised by naked people wandering the halls, and while there is a spell for that, it's inconvenient for everyone if you make the castle prevent you from running into anyone who doesn't want to see you naked. And if you need my attention for some reason, I hear my name whenever it's spoken on this mountain. You can get food by sitting down at any table where food looks like it might belong. I think that's all the conveniences I haven't told you about yet."

"Thanks!" Kiss. "Anlei, I bet you care what room we're in, pick one and come find me to tell me what it is. I am going to the library."

And she pulls something out of the magic wardrobe - it even provides shoes, how extremely convenient of it - and gets very rapidly dressed and dashes off to look at the books.

If she looks around enough, she'll find a woman sitting at a table with several books open in front of her, writing in what appears to be a thick journal.

The woman is not, herself, a book, so she is of strictly secondary importance.

That is reasonable. She does, however, look up and see Fianari. 

"...Hi!"

"Hi! Wow, this library, huh?"

"I know, right? ...Although I've been here for a while, now, so I guess I find yet a third not-a-swan more surprising."

"He got in a fight with my girlfriend and they burned our house down so now we're, like, the nice kind of kidnapped?"

"...Okay, that's a new one."

"That's Anlei for you. Hi, I'm Fia. How seriously should I take him when he says he's the Emperor of Ansaith and goes around calling us Lady Anleisin and Lady Fianari?"

"I mean, he was the crown prince of the Ansati Empire back when there was an Ansati Empire, and the Last Emperor is dead, but I don't think he's under the illusion that it really still exists...semi-seriously, I think?"

"No, he didn't sound like he thought it still existed, just like if it did he'd be in charge of it. Okay, thanks. I think it started as a joke with Anlei but I wasn't there when they had their whole thing."