Chapter 272

Chapter 272: Turning North

Duncan paused in his work of cleaning the leftover glue from Alice, as if he were listening carefully to some distant sound. After a moment, he lowered his head again and used a soft cloth to wipe away the bits of debris on the table.

Alice blinked, looking at the captain with curiosity: “C?captain, w?what just h?happened?”

“Morris received a letter from a friend far away, and he is not very sure about what that letter says,” Duncan smiled as he stood up. While he went on cleaning the thin layer of dried glue from the joint in Alice’s neck, he said casually: “He wants me to help him check on the situation.”

“A friend f?far away?” Alice’s head, resting on the chart table, gave out a stuttering voice: “Is h?he in d?danger? Are we g?going to r?rescue him?”

Not much glue was left on the neck joint, and it was much easier to clean than the glue stuck in the hollow of the head joint. Duncan quickly dealt with the bit of dried glue and carefully finished the last strokes of wiping. Then he bent down and lifted Alice’s head, handling her as if she were a work of art, and gently set her back in place.

“We may be going to save someone,” he said softly as he turned the doll’s head left and right, “but we may also be going to help him rest in peace. Either way, we have to sail very far.”

As the doll’s head settled into place, the dull look in Alice’s eyes suddenly became lively. She gave her head a small shake, like a puppet that had just been given a soul, and her speech became smooth again: “Ah, then where are we going?”

Duncan put away the cleaning tools and looked toward the misty enchanted sea chart.

On the enchanted sea chart, the small light that stood for the Sea Mist was moving slowly. It had already sailed some distance away from Pland.

“North,” he said in a low voice, his gaze falling on Goathead. “Raise the jib and the topsail. Turn north—follow the Sea Mist.”

“Aye, Captain!”

……

Heidi set a small brown medicine bottle on the coffee table. About three?fifths of the clear potion inside was still left. In the slowly sinking evening sunlight, the liquid reflected a soft golden glow. In those ripples of gold, tiny bubbles seemed to rise out of it again and again, flickering near the surface without rest.

“This is the last dose. It is a little stronger than the medicines you used before. You can take it when you go to sea, three drops each time—though I suggest you start taking it now as well,” Miss Psychiatrist raised her head and looked at the gray?haired old captain in front of her. “As a captain who has spent half his life on the Boundless Sea, you should take better care of your health.”

“Thank you for the advice, Miss Heidi. I know my own condition,” Lawrence was neither impatient nor very warm. He picked up the bottle in curiosity and held it up in the sunlight to look at the bubbling liquid through the glass. “…It is a very pretty potion. Is it bitter?”

“A little, but mostly it tastes of herbs. I also added some honey to cover the bitterness,” Heidi said. “It will not be hard to swallow.”

As she spoke, she lifted her head and glanced at the sky outside the window.

The Sun was slowly sinking, and its slightly orange?red light shone through the glass window into the living room.

This was the home of Lawrence, captain of the White Oak. As an old and seasoned captain, Lawrence had filled his living room with many items that proved his years at sea—coral specimens taken from shallow coastal waters, models of wheels and ships, totems from distant city?states, and a large rack against the wall. It was packed with awards and souvenirs given by the Explorer Association, the city?state authority, and the four great Churches.

Now all these things that stood for glory and memories were submerged in the slanting sunlight, coated with a layer of golden glow that slowly faded.

It was time to leave. After the Sun went down, it was no longer a good time to go on with mental counseling.

“I should go,” Heidi let out a small breath and rose from the sofa. Her gaze fell on the bottle in Lawrence’s hand. “Please do not forget to take it. It can help you resist the mental strain brought by the Boundless Sea.”

“Thank you. You have already helped me a lot,” the gray?haired Lawrence also stood up, a sincere smile on his face. “I will walk you out.”

Heidi was escorted to the door by the old captain, but before she left, she could not help looking at Lawrence a few more times and saying: “I have one last piece of advice. Your condition is still fairly good compared to other captains your age, but you really have reached retirement age. You should think about handing the White Oak over to a reliable successor.”

After saying what she wanted to say, she did not wait for his answer. She simply gave a small polite bow and said goodbye before leaving.

The figure of Miss Psychiatrist walked toward the car parked at the corner of the street, and Lawrence let out a light sigh and turned back into the living room.

His wife was leaning with her arms folded against the nearby doorframe, looking this way with some displeasure.

She was a tall woman. Though now she was getting old, one could still see a hint of the grace she had in her youth. She stood there as if she were once again standing on the deck of a ship…still that famous female explorer on the Boundless Sea.

But the mood of this former explorer was clearly not very good.

“Day after day, it is either Church inspections or a psychiatrist coming to the door. Just what kind of trouble did you cause out there!” She glared at him and raised her voice. “And what is with that medicine bottle? You never said your mind had gotten so bad you needed drugs just to keep going.”

“It was not as if I wanted to run into that ghost ship,” Lawrence glanced at the bottle in his hand and shook his head helplessly. “But it is fine now. The whole city?state went through the Vanished incident, so no one cares about the White Oak anymore. As for this medicine…it is nothing. After spending so long at sea, it is normal to have the odd hallucination now and then.”

His wife did not answer. She only stared at him for a long time. After several minutes she sighed: “Still not retiring?”

“I want to search a bit more…” Lawrence said, not very sure of himself. “After all…back then there was never any clear news of their deaths…”

“You are going to die out there sooner or later!” His wife raised her voice again and pointed at Lawrence’s nose. “What was that? It was a great storm on the Boundless Sea! A storm like that passes, a ship goes off its route, and an entire crew disappears without contact—that means they are dead! Do you understand?

“Look at yourself. How many years have you been searching? You are long past the age of retirement. The captains who started with you and had some sense have already retired. Now they can at least enjoy the savings they built up over half a life. And those foolish ones who held on like you—what ends did they meet? Drooling in bed? Lying in the graveyard? Locked up in an asylum?

“I am telling you to take this medicine right now. Then tomorrow go do the handover. Give the White Oak to one of those trusted men you trained from when he was young. Come home and live out the rest of your days on your pension. Do not damn well wait until the day you die in some storm too. I cannot carry that worry for you…”

Lawrence listened to his wife’s scolding as her voice grew louder and louder. He only gave a mild smile and did not argue. At last he set the small brown bottle back on the coffee table and said: “Let me search one last time.”

His wife finally fell silent. She stared at the bottle on the table. After who knew how long, she let out a breath that still held some anger and muttered as if giving in: “Where will you search this time?”

“North,” Lawrence said calmly. “The first place. The waters where the Black Oak met the storm. I have just taken an escort job to Frostholm…”

His wife did not say anything. She only waved her hand in silence.

……

Morning sunlight spread over the streets, and Pland was slowly waking from a night’s sleep.

Vanna bent to step out of the car and narrowed her eyes a little in the sunlight. At the end of her gaze she saw the familiar sign of the antique shop she had visited once before.

The shop was already open. A thin, small girl with black hair and a black dress was sprinkling water at the door. Another girl about the same age was hanging the open sign on the front door.

If she remembered right, one girl was named Shirley and the other Nina—the latter was the shopkeeper’s niece.

Vanna rubbed her forehead and tried to recall her last visit to the antique shop. For some reason, some of the details now felt strangely blurry.

That only made her more sure she needed to come and take a look today.

A subordinate’s voice came from inside the car: “How long will you be away?”

“Within an hour,” Vanna answered. “Just wait here for me.”

“All right.” The young guardian in charge of driving nodded in the car, but still reminded her with some worry: “Please watch the time. Today is the day the Storm Cathedral arrives in Pland. You must attend the welcoming ritual in person. Bishop Valentine asked me to remind you. Also, this stop was not on our schedule…”

“All right, all right. You have already said that several times,” Vanna waved her hand, looking a bit helpless. “I know everyone is nervous about the Storm Cathedral docking this time. I will watch the time.”

“…All right, then I will wait here for you.”