In the City of the Seekers

It couldn't have been colder for an early April evening. The snowflakes fell onto the frozen concrete ceaselessly, one after another.
A young woman, her known name Aaliyana, strolls through the snowy streets of Moscow in search of something very dear to her. She remained quiet throughout her walk but also vigilant, completely aware that what she was looking for was close by. Nothing but the faces of strangers passed her while she walked.
Aaliyana tried her best to blend into her surroundings and succeeded. Up to this point, no one questioned her, not who she was nor where she was going.
She wanted to keep it that way.
It took long enough to get to where she was, and no one was going to take her from it.
Aaliya ceased for a moment and looked up above to the architecture before her, suddenly breathlessly its unusual beauty. The way the city lights reflected off the stained glass windows made for one of the most bewitching sights she had ever laid her eyes on.
Aaliya sighed at the wonderful image. It seemed that it was just yesterday that she dreamt about this exact moment in time.
The unlit street was the only thing that stood between her and her dream.
"Well.. I guess it's just about time." She smiled, feeling the aura of secrecy hidden away within the building.
Aaliya looked up above her and gazed at the cloudy sky in awe. Everything about this moment was just beautiful. Here she was, standing before the beautiful City of Snow. She found the power to walk up the stone stairs that layered away from the building right in front of her. She paused before the doors.
"This is it." She took a deep breath and with one great push, the doors revealed before her an unending library. The never ending amount of books were the ultimate beauty of the entire library.
She took her first steps inside the grand library and thought it was all a dream.
Then, Aaliya recalled the note her cousin handed to her before she boarded her flight to come to Russia.
She stumbled around in her pocket and took out the note. Aaliya unfolded the piece of paper and found both the address for the museum she had to go to next to meet her cousin at and the author she needed to search for. According to her cousin Alex, the man was exiled for his literary works and no one had heard from him since... He is rumored to still be on the run, hiding in Siberia.
Nonetheless, Aaliya made her way between the book shelves and began her search for the mysterious book.
A good two hours passed and she found herself on the second floor, looking for a sign of the said author from the note. She searched high and low, making it to the very last shelf at the farthest corner of the library.
All the surrounding books even started to look the same, but she knew they were more different from each other than anything. She sighed heavily and climbed up the ladder before her. Step by step, her patience had begun to run low. She searched the last shelf and found no sign of the exiled author.
This was the last straw.
Aaliya angrily climbed down the ladder and sat down against the bookcase she had lastly searched.
"It's hopeless, what the hell was I thinking?" She slumped down and held her head to her knees.
In a fit of anger, she punched the ladder with her fist, which caused multiple books to fall down, one after another. Three books fell down from the very top shelf and the final one clunked her right on the head.
"Well, s***.." She mumbled as she picked it up off the floor beside her.
One look at the book and her eyes lit up like a lightbulb.
"N-No way..." Aaliya picked herself up off the ground and stared intently at the book as if it were made of solid gold. She took out her phone and quickly dialed her cousins number on the small dial pad.
"Alex, I c-can't even explain it!" Aaliya's voice raced on.
"Slow down, what happened?" Alex responded to her cousins excitement.
"The book! It just fell on me!" She sounded happier than anything, especially for someone who had a book fall on them head first.
"That's...great?" Alex asked herself, then understood the excitement of the occasion.
"Ohh, wait, that is great!"
"Listen, I'll be in Moscow in three days and I'll bring what I have," Alex took a deep breath and continued.
"Hopefully, we can find what we're looking for." Thereafter, a few minutes of silence followed. The two of them were thinking the same thing, worried about what was to come after their meet in Moscow. They didn't know what to expect.
If the information they found proved accurate to what they had stumbled upon previously, their bloodlines would be directly related to a long line of nobles possibly making them the last ties known in that region.
It would mean that the two of them had an everlasting family history, but also meant they would have to keep this information exactly how they found it: A secret.
A secret that would stay strictly between her cousin, herself, and their deceased ancestors. Hopefully, they could keep a secret...
Aaliya grinned, ready to take on whatever would come her way.
She didn't realize the phone was still on until she heard an incoherent noise.
"Alex, I'll see you in a few days, in the meanwhile, I'll read this odd concoction of words you sent me to find and see what it's about." She snickered as she skimmed over the first few pages, utterly confused by the words in front of her.
"Good luck. You might need the help of a translator."
"Actually, I think I can do it myself.." Aaliya responded as she stared at the first few words of the page and then closed the book. She placed the book in her bag and began to pack the rest of her things up.
"Alright, call me if you need anything."
"Thank you." She flipped the phone shut and slid it into her pocket.
Nothing ever gave her this kind of joy, but this experience was the ultimate exception.
She made her way out of the library with a whole new outlook on life. Her family always had a special place in her life and this was an achievement, a milestone, that they would be utterly proud of. Though this was a wonderful find, it meant just as much bad as it did good. Someone else could have this information just as easily as she and Alex did.
As the night sky blessed the city of Moscow for another night, Aaliya walked down the street she had came from but almost completely different from the person she was before she walked in the library. Across the road, a tall street light stood in the way of the small, pale flakes that came down from the damp sky above. A dark figure leaned against the light post and finished off their cigarette before flicking it on the ground. The person began to walk off into the night, with only a long black coat swaying behind behind them, following the young lady that had just exited from the library, but also keeping a safe amount of distance from their target. They crept away into the night, leaving behind nothing but a cigarette stub that promptly went out with the next cold breeze.