"The other two founders are on the south side of town," Yoshi added, as they passed together through the doors.

Inside was a cavernous library; books lined shelves that stood stories high, illuminated by pools of light scattered on their edges. The floor itself was not busy, but many of the tables that ranged between the doors and the shelves were taken up by small clusters of people, talking or studying or reading. Liya heard a snatch of foreign language as she passed one of the tables, and peered over the shoulder of a snoring bear with a pierced ear. A tiny purple construct with a long beak and stilted legs was poring over a book written in Aetherian, and seemed to be translating as it read aloud to some other language entirely.

Liya blinked, looking around. "It's almost like a regular library, " she remarked. "Almost."

They'd reached a pair of elevator doors set in the one bare wall. "Is it?" Yoshi asked, sounding amused, as he pressed one of the call buttons. The doors slid open instantly.

"Yeah," Liya answered as they stepped into the elevator, and added archly, "An' I've been in a library, before you ask. It just had a lot of water damage."