This was the first time since their reunion that Lucrecia saw such a complex, heavy, and warm expression on her "father's" face. Before this, her father had smiled at her and shown many humane behaviors, but for some reason, she always felt that there was a vague sense of disobedience behind those smiles and words and deeds. She always felt that it was the "kind appearance" that her father tried hard to pretend after losing his memory in the subspace.
This feeling of disharmony made her feel vaguely uneasy all the time. However, at this moment, she finally saw some heartfelt emotions on the other person's face, a sense of guilt and regret that was difficult for others to understand, but she didn't know whether this guilt was directed at her.
I still don’t know enough, the witch sighed softly.
I thought I had more or less caught up with you.
The Lost Homeland eventually fell into the warp, and it's a good thing you didn't catch up.
Duncan shook his head, then took one last look at the quietly floating moon, turned and walked towards the connecting bridge leaving the platform. "Go back first, Lucy."
Lucrecia was a little surprised: "Aren't you going to study it for a while?"
"I'm not a scholar, and I don't have any professional research methods or equipment." Duncan waved his hand. "I just want to
It’s just a matter of seeing it with your own eyes, but how to uncover its secrets is up to professional scholars.”
He paused for a moment and added: "I will stay in Breeze Harbor during this period. I will keep an eye on your progress on the moon. If other elves encounter the same thing as Taran Aiel, please tell me immediately.
"I understand." Lucrecia nodded immediately in response. Then she hesitated for a moment and asked, "Can I tell Sarah Meier's Palace about your arrival? Of course, I won't tell more people casually..."
"As you wish." Duncan nodded.
You can tell whoever you want, their reaction to it is none of my business.
Lucrecia lowered her head slightly: "Yes."
A moment later, a rotating and spreading flame door suddenly appeared on the front deck of the Lost Homeland, which was staying on the sea surface somewhere outside the luminous geometric body. The door opened with a crackling sound of human flames, and Duncan stepped out of it. Alice, who was holding a large mop and several other mops to scrub the deck, ran over happily and said, "The captain is back."
Duncan waved his hand to disperse the flames behind him, looked at the Gothic doll in front of him with a mop in his hand and a happy smile on his face, and simply nodded: "Yeah, I'm back."
"Did it go well?" Alice threw the mop aside and looked at the captain happily. "You were gone for a long time. Did you talk a lot with Miss Lucrecia? Did you go to that 'ball'? What does it mean..."
"Ah..." The mop that Alice had thrown aside suddenly jumped up and hit the doll lady on the head with a wooden pole. Then, it jumped on the deck and ran to the bucket to wash itself. Alice covered her head and looked at Duncan blankly and aggrievedly: "Why did it hit me? It almost knocked me off."
Duncan looked at the doll lady whose emotions were simple and distinct, her smile just now and her current distress. Unconsciously, the boredom and loss that had accumulated in his heart quietly dissipated a little, but Alice was still feeling aggrieved.
"You'd better check and see if that's a deck mop. Maybe it works in the restaurant." Duncan laughed.
He reached out and touched Alice's head, then asked curiously, "Also, I've always wanted to ask you, the mop and bucket on this boat can do the cleaning by themselves, why do you insist on washing the deck yourself?"
"I'm here to help." Alice puffed out her chest confidently, "It's so tiring for them to wipe it themselves."
Duncan's eyes twitched, and he turned his gaze silently, looking at the mops and buckets that were cleaning the deck quickly not far away, as if they were afraid that if they were a step slower, they would be caught by someone to "help". After a moment of silence, he shook his head: "Are you happy...
... .Just be happy.”
Alice nodded in confusion, and then saw
Duncan turned around, as if preparing to go back to the cabin, and she couldn't help but ask: "Shipmaster, are you going back to rest?"
"Well, I'm a little tired."
"Captain..." Alice looked a little worried. She walked over and tugged at Duncan's sleeve. "Are you okay?"
"Why do you ask?" Duncan stopped in confusion and turned to look at the not-so-bright puppet.
"Because you've been sighing a lot these past two days, and you've been spending more time in the cabin than outside. Miss Nina thinks you're worried about something, but she's too embarrassed to ask you." Alice answered honestly.
"Also, you looked very bad when you came back just now, as if... you had a lot of things in your heart. But now you look better than before."
Duncan looked at the doll in front of him with some surprise. He didn't expect that Alice, who seemed to be heartless and confused, would actually observe and pay attention to these things, and he didn't expect that she would just grab him and say all these words. Maybe it was because she didn't think much in her daily life that she didn't know how to hesitate and hesitate? Duncan had some unreasonable associations in his mind, but he looked at the doll in front of him, which still had a worried and confused face.
But he didn't know what to say. After all, even in front of the knowledgeable Lucrecia, there were too many things he couldn't explain clearly. "You don't understand.
. "After a moment of silence, Duncan shook his head, "Things are very complicated, so complicated that I can't explain it to anyone. Not to mention you, even Morris may not understand it!"
Alice just blinked and said without hesitation: "Then you can tell me too."
Duncan was at a loss for words: "Didn't I just say that you are
I don’t understand…”
"But I don't understand a lot of the things you say normally." Alice said as if it was a matter of course. "There are a lot of things I don't understand, but you still tell me. I am very suitable for listening to people talk about things. I will listen whether I understand it or not."
Duncan's expression suddenly became a little subtle. Listening to the straightforward and even proud magical logic of this silly puppet, he couldn't find any rebuttal for a moment. Alice was still staring at the boatman in front of her.
She didn't think it was shameful that she didn't understand many things normally, nor did she think that there was anything wrong with what she said at the moment. She thought about it, she was curious, so she said it. If there is something in her heart, just say it out. In Alice's not complicated worldview, everything works like this.
She suddenly ran away, ran to a nearby place, picked up a large wooden barrel that was half her height, and placed it on the deck near the ship's side railing. Then she picked up another one and placed it next to the large wooden barrel. She climbed onto the barrel nimbly, smiled and waved to Duncan: "Captain, please sit down too. Miss Vanna said that if you enjoy the breeze and look at the sea, you will feel very happy."
Duncan hesitated for a moment, then suddenly laughed. This puppet was trying hard, using her limited knowledge and experience, to find a way to make Panchang feel better. Duncan walked over and sat on the barrel side by side with Alice. His mood did not change because of the sea breeze, but it did get a little better.
"Alice."
"Um?"
"Let me ask you a question." Duncan pondered. At first, he tried hard to think about how to make Alice understand the concepts of "moon" and "starry sky", but now he suddenly realized that he didn't need to explain these complicated things to her at all.
“If you live in a place, and there is something that is unique to the place where you live. It can never come from anywhere else, and it can never belong to anywhere else. As long as you see this thing, you will know that it comes from there…”
Alice thought for a moment and asked curiously, "Like I'm living on the Lost Homeland now, and you're the only captain of the Lost Homeland?"
Duncan was stunned for a moment, then hesitantly said: "Your analogy is not quite right... but it can be understood roughly this way."
"Oh, and then what?"
"Then you leave there and you can't go back."
Duncan's tone suddenly became a little low.
You arrive in a very distant and strange place, where everything is different from home. You have lived here for a while and want to find your way home, but suddenly...
, you saw that 'thing', that thing that theoretically could only appear in your hometown and should never be seen in a foreign land...
Duncan finished speaking, but Alice was still thinking blankly. But after a while, she suddenly laughed, "Then I must have returned to the Lost Homeland."
"Return to the Lost Homeland?"
What you said, I can understand it this way, you are the only captain of the Lost Homeland, one day I was sent to a place far away from the Lost Homeland, and I couldn't find the way back to the ship, but you suddenly appeared in front of me, then I must have gone home, after all, wherever you are, that is the Lost Homeland. "
The puppet smiled happily and looked at Duncan with confidence, "What you said can only appear in
Hometown, and now it appears in front of you, which means you are home now. "
Alice finished her theory and then
She turned around, put her hands on her chin, leaned forward, and smiled brightly: "Captain, is this a brain teaser?" Duncan was a little dazed. He stared at the doll lady on the wooden barrel opposite. When the sea breeze blew from the side, Alice's silver-white hair flew up, just like her always bright and cheerful mood, and then he laughed. "
Yes, it's a brain teaser, and now we all understand it.
He jumped down from the barrel and said to Alice with a smile, "There's one more thing."
"Um?"
Your posture was unsteady, still leaning forward, your chin propped up with both hands. Alice was stunned when she heard that, “Huh?”
The next second, she heard a slight cracking sound from her neck.
"Boer..."
Alice fell to the ground twice with two gurgling sounds. Then, her signature stuttering voice could be heard from the deck... "Captain, help... help... help!"
… ”