Tanya's Legacy

Rebecca didn't have much to look at as they descended the long staircase. It was completely straight, and the brick walls which were uncomfortably close to begin with, seemed to close in the further down they went. For nearly 10 minutes they walked down the seemingly endless stair, until at last they arrived at a small wooden door. Sirene opened it, revealing a small room lined with books, at the centre of which there were three green chairs around a table. It was at this point she realised the automaton was no longer with them.

"Sirene, what happened to the-"

"They don't come down here." Sirene answered, cutting her off. "Now then, a gift?"

Sirene started looking around. Natsuki's library was perfectly preserved and for a moment she remembered the last time she was in here with Natsuki and Julia, a thousand years ago. Simpler times, she thought to herself. It only took a couple minutes to look around the room, and she found nothing amiss.

"What did she leave?" Sirene asked out loud.

"Tell us more about Tanya." Sergei suggested. "Would she have encoded it in the books?"

"We'd easily spend a year here reading every book and the Duchess doesn't have that kind of time." Sirene pointed out.

"I don't think he meant like that." Rebecca said, looking at the bookshelves. "Books are out of place."

"How can you be so sure?" Sirene asked, looking at the books.

"Natsuki was a meticulous man, I can tell from this library. There's a dozen languages in here, and each language is arranged by subject. There's seventeen books in the wrong category sections, and three books in the wrong language section."