The Between is not a safe place for people made of physical matter. Most people... die pretty quickly on exposure. Luckily for Lantry this particular bit isn't empty and he's bundled up by something that isn't quite a world... yet.

The being wakes for the first time in response to this stimulus. It stretches part of itself through the hole and into the world it came from drinking in knowledge and building an understanding of how things are.

It samples the flood of knowledge. It's a delight, absorbing knowledge and... passing it on. That will be its purpose.

It will also need a name. Learning. For the moment, Learning is their name. The meaning... not a word in a particular language.

With that decided they start reshaping themself. Sturdy stone halls and shelves filled with books and scrolls. Carefully crafted labels written in raw meaning. Desks and chairs of the finest craftsmanship.

That's enough to be getting started with. They carefully deposit their catch into one such chair and allow them to wakeup.

...

Well, he's alive. That's a plus.

And in... a library. A rich library. If these shelves are representative, they have a lot of books, maybe as many as the Citadel did.

He pokes his chair. Also significantly nicer than just about anything he's seen, this wouldn't be a bad pick as a throne.

Well, no sense sitting here where someone has neatly placed him. What kinds of things are there on this near shelf?

This particular shelf holds the Chronicle. And it looks big enough to hold all of it.

Well, the head librarian clearly has excellent taste. He browses through a row to get a sense of the organization, and then heading toward the most recent entries to see how long before the fall of the Citadel they got their last update.

Though he's not going to go out of sight of the chair he landed in. Just in case.

It appears to be fully up to date with not a single volume missing.

Some of that had barely been scribed, let alone shelved, let alone copied for dissemination to the few places that asked for it. He checks and... yes, that was his last field report that he was told was confirmed for inclusion into the Chronicle of 429 TR. On a scroll, not bound, but it shouldn't even have been in its final accepted form yet.

Which means... some bullshit ritual magic, or worse, Archon magic, has grabbed him.

That is never a good idea to get involved in, even if the archon does have excellent taste. Though he remains alive, and that remains a plus.

"Hello? May I perhaps speak to the owner of this library?"

Ah, a request. That can be accommodated. They shape a body for themself and insert it nearby clothed as someone of reasonably high status but not an Archon.

"Greetings." The being says. If he's listening carefully though he can tell that they didn't actually make the sounds of that word but instead imprinted the meaning onto the air? his mind? one of those.

He does notice that and it is not reassuring but there is clearly an Archon in front of him so he will be doing his damnedest to be polite and deferential now.

"Ah. Thank you, madam. If it's not too much trouble for you... how did I get here, and where might 'here' be?"

"You departed your world and I caught you before you dissolved. This place is a part of me. I have anchored myself to your world."

He now has additional questions.

"And... who are you, milady?"

"I've chosen the name of Learning. If you mean to ask for more information on what sort person I am. I'm still figuring that out. You and your world woke me up."

"Ah. ...I take it I should not assume the conventional rules of magic apply, and thus you are not necessarily an Archon as I would otherwise assume."

"Correct. I am known to no one but you."

"Pleasure to meet you, Learning. I like your library. I lived in what was probably the best one in the world and I do believe this one is better."

"Thank you. It is easy to achieve quality with access to every work ever written. The difficulty is with overall organization and other aspects of making the collection accessible and useful."

"Not all librarians care overly much, in my experience. But good organization has a certain innate appeal."

"The purpose of this library is to pass on knowledge. It won't be as effective if people can't find things."

"Our Elder Sages would agree in principle, but in practice the main goal of the libraries of the Vellum Citadel was to have knowledge, rather than share it with others. But if you prefer something better structured for the public, I would be happy to assist."

"I would appreciate assistance. Return to your approximate previous location is also possible."

"Best not to return too quickly regardless of anything else, there was a battle going on. How are other parts of the library organized? The Chronicle here seems to be in fine shape, but I suppose that's easier than most subjects since it includes its own order by the titles."

"Currently I've organized by the language a work is written in and then by the general subject and then by the title. I don't have a good way to organize untitled works beyond when they were authored."

"In most places date of authorship ought to split out into two categories for before and after conquest by Kyros - which will also affect the subject matter, since one of the Overlord's nine laws is 'setting the standard of what can and cannot be known'. I suppose that requires you know where it was written as well as when, which isn't quite the same as language..."

"Before and after conquest isn't something I know instinctively. I do know where things were made though."

"I can find you a timeline of the conquests accurate to within a decade at worst, Brother Fossil Word's Introduction to Imperial History has a reliable summary."