The Brilliant Star slowly adjusted its heading beside the coast. The paddle wheels on either side of the hull let out a low groan as it began to accelerate, sailing gradually into the boundless mist, faster and farther away, until it completely vanished from Duncan's sight.
Duncan stood at the bow of the Lost Homeland for a long time, gazing toward the direction where that silhouette had disappeared into the thick fog. Even after it was no longer visible, he continued looking that way for a long while before finally withdrawing his gaze and seeing the Gothic doll in her splendid dark purple dress standing beside him.
The doll had also been looking into the distance, and almost at the same moment as him, she turned her gaze back.
Meanwhile, the plump white pigeon had landed on Alice's shoulder, tilting its head and staring fixedly at its master with its tiny black eyes.
The Lost Homeland was quiet now. There was no longer Shirley and Nina's bickering, no Morris forever gazing out at the sea or bowing his head in thought, no Vana sitting on a barrel and carving charms, nor Agatha appearing and vanishing in strange places. Upon the broad, empty deck, only the captain and the doll stood together.
And that abstract, gluttonous fat pigeon.
"They've all left..." Alice muttered softly after a long while.
For a moment, Duncan could not tell whether Miss Doll was expressing sentiment or merely stating a fact she had only just realized.
When everyone else left, she alone had stayed behind without a second thought, with an attitude so natural and self-evident. Duncan had never given her any instructions, nor had she asked anything. It was as though she had known from the very beginning that she had to remain, even treating