She nods.  "Does the house proper have a key of its own, or is it some sort of magical relic effect?  Or...whatever you have."

"There is a key, though I'm not sure where it is. Last one forged by Serena Blackwood herself, and people say it always find the Librarian, though I'm not sure what that means."

"Right.  Key's magic, that works."

Her hand snaps out to grasp the manor key, but it does not show up.

"...Apparently insufficiently so.  I suppose I'll have to fix that, when I have the chance."

(She knows how Archons work.  She will make her story bend to her will.)

"Ah, here it is!" Timothy exlaims, pulling out a small box, and opening it to reveal a key. 

"For the Keeper's Lodge?"

She'll carefully secret it away in one of her many pockets.

"Yes. It's right past the bridge. Oh, I'd advise to be careful on the bridge, hasn't been maintained since the fire."

"The fire, you say."

...She's going to have to rederive Preservation, isn't she.  For goodness' sake.

"It's not as dramatic as it sounds, though still quite dramatic. Only Crucible Tower was actually on fire, but it was a very large fire, and everyone in the House fled. Both Collers, the Governer sent from the Bureau, and van Lauren, eleventh librarian, are presumed dead in the event."

"...Librarian is not a job that leads to peaceful retirements, is it."

Well.  She was going to have to become an Archon or a Spire-Keeper to survive Vendrien's Well and the Edict of Execution as things were.  That wouldn't be peaceful either.

"Not always. Mazarine, Strathcoyne, Brulleau, Greene, possibly Levinsen, depending on how you count, Blackwood, all retired peacefully. But things do tend to happen around Librarians, that is for sure."

"Well.  I'd hate to get bored.

"Is there anything else it is important that I know?"

"van Lauren was known for his forbiddings, the closing of ways, I'm not sure whether he placed any on the House, but wouldn't be surprised. Other than that, can't think of anything."

She adds

Edict of Opening?

to her to-do list.

"My thanks, Rector Timothy, for your time, your knowledge, and your tea.  It has been a pleasure meeting you and Terrence."

"Thanks to you too, Fatebinder Ophelia. May Hush House prosper again under your management. I'll collect my history notes for you."

"May your works prosper."

And now, she has a house to approach.

The House is rather obvious. The bridge is a bit dilapidated, but not really a challenge compared to navigating the cliffs during a storm. Keeper's Lodge stands near its end.

That's nice.

She's going to the front of the House proper, however.  There's rules to these things.  (And she has just enough hubris to prefer to not reside in the groundskeeper's abode of her mansion.)

The Great Gate stands before her, locked. Above it, are five inscriptions, in the same style but different languages. The one she can read says "BOOKS ARE THE MEMORY THAT DOES NOT DIE". The keyhole is rather large.

It's already miracle enough that she knows the one; she'll have to look into the others.

...The key has not, technically, yet entered into her possession.

But that does not need to stop her.

The faint sense of something waiting within her did not fade when she was cast from Terratus.

And while she believes that in the 'normal' course of events it would have germinated upon the claiming of a Spire...

She can claim a Library as well.

She remembers the shape of the magic well enough, for all that the Edict is not truly the key as much as her own legend, yet unformed.

And so she proclaims, as she traces an invocation of the Sigil of Force, which some call the Sigil of the Spires of Terratus themselves:

"Hush House of the Isle of Brancrug, you have summoned me to serve as your Librarian.  You have dared presume upon and interfere with my duty as a duly invested Fatebinder, who is called to serve impartial Justice unto conflicts irreconcilable.  For far lesser offenses have lives been rendered forever forfeit by Tunon's Court.

"But I am not only a Fatebinder - and it is by the assumption of my Archonate, of powers that could well be equal to Kyros Themself, that I choose to claim you and show mercy.

"It is evident that a Spire of Terratus you are not.  But the Edict I last spoke has shown me the shape of a claim to be made, and so I make it."

She thrusts her hand forward, Sigil invoked, and twists the lock open from meters away.

"And an Edict I so declare, that I, Fatebinder Ophelia Vaudelle, shall take unto myself command of Hush House, as forfeit for this presumption, until I see fit to uncoercedly release it.  So I have declared, and so shall it be."

The force of her declaration meets the outer Threshold of the House, and the power that waits at it. For a second it even seems to halt, yet then it continues, for it is the nature of that power to permit passage when passage is to be permitted. The lock clicks, and the gate opens to the inner yard. The gardens are heavily overgrown, but the pats between then are accessible, leading to two of the towers (one with a broken glass roof), and to the central building.

Do either of the towers seem to be obviously the Crucible Tower?  Though, at the moment, she's less 'exploring and collating information' and more 'clearing the grounds of any obvious nastiness'; she's still on combat alert.

None of them look like charred wrecks. Most of the grounds seems to just be overgrown, with weeds and vines of various thorniness levels, though there's a faint buzzing coming from one of them.

...Buzzing like bees or buzzing like the smell of a lightning strike?

Like bees. 

Oh, wonderful; honey is a positive delicacy.  She hopes she can maintain it.

A cursory review of the buildings for obvious hazards seems merited at this time; after this, she will be seeking paper and ink.