Who knew it'd take so long to start a fire?

Meanwhile

Aya lit the lantern and descended the stairway into the cellar. The air was moist and musty, Aya struggled to adjust to it. She suddenly felt immense sympathy for the kitchen staff. Father would have to give them a raise for these conditions.

The stairs lead to a cramped hallway styled in much the same way as the kitchen; that is to say not at all. Down at the end was a doorway with a simple wooden plank door, bereft of any detailing or polish. To the left of it was a metal torch for lighting. Who keeps that lit, anyway? Who sweeps up the ash?

The opposite wall had several crates and barrels full of ingredients. Opening them would be a bit of a pain though. Aya decided to see if there were any sacks or other containers more easily accessed in the storehouse. She noticed a large fissure in the wall.

When Aya tried the door, however, it wouldn't open. It was blocked from the other side by a variety of piled objects. Aya sighed in defeat. Why can't it ever be easy?

Just then, Aya remembered the fissure. She held the lantern up to it, illuminating the area a bit. It seemed to lead all the way through. She couldn't fit through it, but she knew someone who could. She looked down at Snowball, who was sitting quietly in her dress pocket. She had forgotten to leave him outside the kitchen. Fortunately, the dog hadn't noticed.

Aya picked up the rabbit, who was rather nonplussed by the situation, and placed him in front of the fissure. "Please Snowball…"

Snowball had no earthly clue what was happening, but he was interested in exploring this strange opening. He gleefully hopped through into the storehouse. The room was primarily stocked with wine. Several bottles of it lay on a rack in the top right corner. One bottle had crashed to the ground, leaving a red puddle on the floor. Several casks of wine were stacked atop one and other, with one having burst open, soaking the ground. Several sacks of grain were stacked on wooden pallets. One stack by the door had collapsed, blocking it. Snowball quickly began munching on the grain, as it had been a while since he'd eaten. There were also several wooden crates next to the fissure, their contents unknown. As Snowball explored the room. In the top left corner near the spilt cask was a large mechanical device of some sort, possibly for grinding ingredients given the spices hanging above. Near the machine was a shiny object caught Snowball's eyes. Aya had trained him long ago to fetch shiny or interesting looking objects. He hopped over and grabbed a small piece of wire laying on the floor. There were no other traces of wire in the room, as they had run out a while ago. This scrap would have to do.

As he was heading back to Aya, he caught a glimpse of something. Two beady red eyes staring at him from the burst cask. A bottle of wine crashed on the ground. Snowball ran.

Snowball emerged from the fissure, a flood of wine following him. The pungent odor of the liquid was the only thing that let Aya know it wasn't blood. She scooped up Snowball and placed him back in her pocket. She noticed the wire in his mouth and took it. "Good boy!"

Aya began to return to the kitchen when suddenly the light went out. Aya tried desperately to reignite it.

Why won't it work?

She tried several more times in rapid succession.

Please…

Finally, the lamp reignited; the light from the lamp illuminated her surroundings. Aya glanced around, trying to get her bearings.

She glanced to her left and saw someone behind her. The figure was obscured in shadow, but she looked to be a girl, about the same height as Aya, with dirty blonde hair, dirty in both senses of the word in fact. Dark red circles formed under her eyes due to the light of the lantern. The girl gave a mischievous grin. Aya turned around, but saw nothing.

Was someone… behind me…?

Aya looked around the room, but found nothing of note.

Just imagining it…

But she wasn't, she couldn't have been. She saw her.

As she left the kitchen, she noticed the gem in the corner. Against her better judgement, she tiptoed over to the stone. She didn't know why exactly, but she knew they were important somehow. Snowball quivered in fear, but remained disciplined enough to stay still. Aya grabbed the gem and slowly made her way back to the hallway.

As she exited, she saw the soldiers hauling the last of their stands down the stairs. She gave a thumbs up to them, and Jerry gave one back on their behalf. Aya then made her way to the reception room to get to work. She wrapped the strips of cloth from the dress around the log and bound it with the wire. Finally, she drenched it with the oil from the vial she grabbed earlier. And now for the moment of truth.

Aya was somewhat nervous as she dipped the torch into the fireplace. She was all too aware of the risks. Still, she pressed on, there was no other option. The torch ignited and bathed the Reception Hall in a radiant light.

Aya quickly made her way to the basement. As she entered the back hallway, she three words written in blood. The writing was large enough to cover most of the floor. The statue too, was drenched in blood. The words would have been foreboding in any other circumstance, but they didn't tell her anything she wasn't already painfully aware of, and she was sick of these taunts. Instead, she was just annoyed at the way it was phrased.

"Dein vater mörder"

Couldn't they have written it right, at least? It's "Dein vater ist ein mörder". "Your father murderer" makes no sense! No one killed my father, it's the other way around!

Aya decided to ignore the message and head down to the basement.

"You get the food?" Jonny whispered.

"That's gonna be a job for more people, everything is too heavy on its own."

Jonny sighed "it's never bloody easy, is it?"

Reginald glared at him, but was too exhausted to admonish him. "Right, that hound should be done snacking soon. There isn't much left in that mess 'e's eatin'. We'll take care of it then."

Aya nodded and turned towards the pile of dolls. She dropped the torch onto the mound and watched them go up in flames. The screams of the dolls echoed through the hallway.

"IT BURNS! IT BURNS!"

"IT HURTS… HELP… ME…"

Aya ignored the pleas of the things. The soldiers looked on disturbed by the sight. Aya on the other hand, was elated. She basked in the glow of the flames and in the dying screams of the abominations.

Eventually, the fire died down, revealing the path forward. Smiled at her accomplishment while the soldiers looked on, still shaken by the screams. Aya turned to them. "Whelp, guess we better get going! You think that dog's gone yet?"

Reginald was suddenly reminded of when Aya ordered him not to kill the beast. The contrast was jarring. "We'll… we'll go check it out." He headed up the stairs and motioned for Jerry to follow.

Jonny stepped next to Aya and looked on at her handywork. He let out a whistle. "That sure was something eh?"

Aya smiled. "Thanks! The wire for the torch was really hard to get!"

"Really? Why's 'at?"

"Well, the door was blocked by something, so I had to send Snowball in to get it."

"Bloody hell! That's one well trained rabbit!" Aya beamed with pride at the comment.

"Yeah, then the wine started flooding the cellar. Snowball got out of there just in time!"

"Sounds like the little feller had quite the journey!" Jonny said, stroking Snowball's head.

"Yeah! The weirdest part was when my lamp went out. I kept trying but it just wouldn't light back up! By the time I got it, I thought I saw someone behind me!"

"Well, 'at not good! Who was it?"

"I dunno, I thought it was my imagination, but well… given the circumstances, probably not."

"What'd they look like?"

"A little girl, about my age with red hair. You see anyone like that?"

Jonny put his hand on his chin. "Can't say I 'ave, I'll ask the others when they come back.

Aya nodded. Suddenly, she remembered one of the pictures from the data.

No, it couldn't be… wait, of course it could. It'd weirder if it weren't! What am I thinking?

For some reason, now that she remembered the girl's face, the memory of her in the Storehouse no longer scared her. Instead, she felt oddly comforted by her presence. Who was that girl, and why did she seem so familiar?

I don't know what that machine in the storehouse was. Any ideas?

Also, apparently rabbits really can be trained like dogs to do tricks. they're quite intelligent.

I'm not sure how plausible it is that Aya has memories of people from infancy. I think I've heard of that happening, but I'm not sure.

I apologize if my corrections to the German grammar are incorrect, I don't speak it, I just used what Google Translate gave me. Terrible idea, but I had no choice. Again, open to corrections.