Hearing the captain's instructions, Alice immediately began thinking very seriously—then looked even more seriously into Duncan's eyes. "What's an escape pod?"
Duncan was not surprised in the slightest. If this Miss Doll ever stopped dropping the ball entirely, that was when he ought to panic—but the current situation was not much of a problem. After several incidents, he had confirmed that while "Alice" might be muddleheaded about many things, the operational state of "Navigator Three" had always remained fairly functional. That ancient and powerful spatial navigation system... lay within Alice's "instincts."
Now, all he needed was for those instincts to realize that this manor was missing a part—at least in theory.
"It's a missing part of this 'Alice Manor,' but you don't need to understand exactly what it is," Duncan said casually when he saw the doll still staring at him with wide, curious eyes. "Do you remember what I told you about the Frost Queen?"
Alice thought for a moment. "Which thing? There were lots of things, but I don't think I remember all of them..."
"Lei Nuola took a room from this 'manor' of yours. That room is the escape pod I mentioned. She has now 'ridden' that escape pod to the Ashen Lands at the edge of the world, and I need to locate her," Duncan explained patiently. "It's alright if you don't understand yet. I'll try to guide you through the process of 'understanding' it."
Alice listened with only a vague understanding, but once the captain finished speaking, she quickly nodded. "Oh, then what should I do now?"
"Stay here. Keep sitting beneath this 'tree,' and maintain your 'connection' to this manor, just as you did when you analyzed the route through the external barrier," Duncan said, raising his right hand. A cluster of Eerie Green