"Alice! Aliiice! Come on out, dear, it's mother! I promise we won't be angry! At least let me see your face! Aliiice? Are you here?" With a worried expression on her face, the woman in the red robes scanned the deck of the ship, flying over us and looking about frantically.
"Uh, excuse me, ma'am?" Renko called out to her. "You must be Alice's mother, yes? I'm sorry to say she's not here. She just sent us with a message for you."
"What?" The woman said, whirling around to face her. "Alice isn't here? I thought she'd finally come home!"
"You weren't listening, mother" Louise said as she caught up to her mother and landed on the deck. "You must have only heard every other word out of my mouth. I said some of Alice's friends had arrived and wanted to talk to you."
With a broken-hearted, crestfallen expression, the woman turned toward the other newcomer, the one wearing the maid's apron.
"That's what she said," the maid confirmed with a nod.
"Oh Yumeko, she hasn't come back. She must really hate me after all. I must be the worst mother in the world."
"There, there, lady Shinki. I'm sure you're only the worst mother in this world on the technical basis of being the only mother in this world."
"I'll never see her again, Yumeko! I'll never hear her voice again," she cried, floating back upward and embracing the maid, who awkwardly patted her on the shoulder.
"It'll be alright, Lady Shinki. Don't your want to hear Alice's message?"
"What? She sent a message?"
"That's what I was trying to tell you, mother."
"Well what is it?"
"I don't know, her friends have it."
Watching the scene unfold above us, it was clear from the way they referred to her and the reverence in their demeanors that the white-haired woman must be the same 'Lady Shinki' we had been told of, the Administrator and possible creator of this world, but seeing the way she shamelessly and messily sobbed against her maid's chest, it was a little hard to believe.
Seeing us staring up at the proceedings, Yuki flew over closer to her mother. "Umm, mom? Everyone's staring at you. These people are all visitors from another world. Shouldn't you... see if they're safe, or something?
Regaining some measure of self-control, Shinki straightened up and wiped her tears on one voluminous sleeve of her robe. Then, she took a deep breath, composed herself and turned to face us, standing with all the poise and dignity she could muster despite the tuft of hair still sticking up from her head at an odd angle, secured with a childish hair tie.
"Ahem. Welcome to Makai, travelers. What business brings you here to this world of my creations?"
Before any of us could respond, Louise floated up to her mother's side, whispering quietly to her.
"Oh! You're friends of Byakuren's?" She raised a hand to the side of her face in surprise, her face lighting up joyously. "She'll be so happy to see you, I'm sure! It's so rare for her to have visitors, how delightful!" Her brief attempt at manifesting a stoic profundity seemed to have already ended. Any semblance of official bearing was further ruined once she recognized Reimu and Marisa. "Ah! You two! You're here again? Don't tell me the tour agency has started up again."
"Nah," Marisa said, smiling up at her. "We're not here to cause any trouble. We're just a pair of tagalongs this time."
"Reluctant ones." Reimu added. "They're the ones who are here to see the nun." she said, pointing toward captain Murasa and the others."
"I see," Shinki said, looking the group over. "How is it that you all know my friend Byakuren?"
"We're all her disciples," Shou volunteered, stepping forward. "We've come to release her from her imprisonment here."
"Oh! You're the disciples she was always talking about! After a thousand years you've come! Oh she'll be so happy to see you!" Shinki waved both of her hands frantically at her face as she began to tear up again. "Oh Yumeko, isn't it wonderful?" She wailed and collapsed once more onto her maid's chest.
Yumeko let out the smallest of sighs and once again patted Shinki gently on the back. "There, there, Lady Shinki. Please don't cry."
"It's just such a wonderful story, Yumeko! These girls, who she trained and raised up so long ago, coming after so long to free her from her prison, their hearts filled with selfless admiration even after all this time. Look at the state of their ship, they must have had to go through so much for her, and all out of a sense of love and duty."
Yumeko seemed to be trying very hard not to roll her eyes as she fished a handkerchief out of a pocket on her apron and handed it to Shinki, who took it and wiped her tears, before blowing her nose into it noisily.
"Forgive me," Shinki said turning back to the Myouren group, "but it is a lovely tale. I'll happily lead you to the Realm of Truth where Byakuren is imprisoned, but I'm afraid I can't let you in or her out. There is a very powerful seal on that place, which my position forbids me from breaking."
"Lady Shinki," Shou said, sounding like she was on the verge of tears herself, "we would be most grateful for your guidance. Before mother Byakuren was sealed away, she placed most of her power into this ship we're standing on and this pagoda I'm holding. The ship was enchanted to find her, and this pagoda was enchanted with the power to break any seal. She must have anticipated that some day we would come looking for her. If we were to go to her, I'm certain we could set her free without you having to do anything, if that would be acceptable to you."
Hearing that, it certainly explained why Nazrin had been so eager to retrieve the pagoda from Renko. I wondered how something like that could ever have ended up in Korindo to begin with.
"Oh, that sounds wonderful. I hope it works for you. Now which one of you is Alice's friend?"
"Well, Marisa's probably closer to her than anyone else," Renko said with a grin.
"What? Don't make this my problem!" Marisa called out.
"Well it's true is all. Who's broom was Alice riding on when you fought against the Sage of the Moon? You brought her doll with you down into the Underworld too."
"What's this? Alice was fighting? You were bringing her into battles?"
"Hold on, neither of those was my idea. Alice is the one who reached out to me."
"So she's willing to reach out to you, but not her own mother? What is it that you have that she didn't have here? I would have taught her anything she wanted to learn."
Seeing that Marisa was in over her head and Renko was enjoying the show too much to intervene, I stepped forward. "Excuse me lady Shinki. I'm another of Alice's friends. I have the message she asked us to carry to you."
Shinki turned to face me then zoomed forward with surprising speed, instantly drawing so close she was nearly leaning into my face.
"Umm, she said to say that she's doing well, and that you needn't worry about her."
"Is that all? Did she say she was coming home?"
"I asked her about that," Renko said, drawing Shinki's attention away from me, "but she didn't seem to have any interest in the idea."
Shinki stumbled as if she had been struck, took a step backward, then turned and flew back to her maid, wailing "Yumeeeko! Alice hates me!"
"There, there, lady Shinki," Yumeko said with another practiced suppression of a sigh. "Perhaps she's just wrapped up in her studies. You know how obsessed Alice could get."
"But she never even sent a word, Yumeko! And now she says she won't come back! She must hate me, what other reason could there be?"
"When she left, she left a note saying she would return once she had mastered the art of being a puppeteer, remember, my lady? Perhaps she's still working on that."
"But she's my daughter, Yumeko! What is a mother's purpose but to protect her children?"
"To allow them to make their own way in the world, lady Shinki, which Alice seems to be doing."
"But she's still a child, Yumeko! Please tell me you'll stay by my side at least! What would I do if you decided to leave, Yumeko?"
"Make another of me, I presume."
At that Shinki dissolved into sobs, weeping openly on Yumeko's chest once more. Any dignity descending from her role as the Administrator of this world was long gone at this point, and it was hard to imagine that she could even be related to someone as reserved and detached as Alice. I began to wonder if Alice had perhaps left home as a result of her mother's overbearing nature. Behind Shinki, Louise, Mai and Yuki were all watching their mother with tired, awkward expressions.
"Lady Shinki?" Renko called up to her from the deck of the ship. The Holy Palanquin was still proceeding slowly along its course, so she had to turn to keep addressing Shinki as we moved towards, then past her. "Alice did say she would like to stop by for a visit at some point. She couldn't give me an exact date, but she said 'soon' when I asked. From everything she had to say when I talked to her, I never got the impression that she disliked you at all."
"Really? Is that true?"
Shinki detached herself from Yumeko and charged at us, her eyes still red, easily catching the slow moving ship and zooming once more into the midst of us. "Well, that was the impression I got, anyway," Renko said, flinching back from her.
"I'd be overjoyed to welcome her back for a visit any time of course. But if she doesn't hate me then what's been keeping her away all this time? Has she fallen in with a bad crowd? Is she being lead astray by a bad influence? What kind of people does she spend her time with?"
"Alice? Uh well, she's a pretty solitary person, really. She comes into town to perform for the children occasionally, but the only person I've ever seen her visit regularly is Marisa."
"Marisa?" Shinki asked, whirling around to look at the witch. "Her? The one who came and blew up half my city?"
"Well, the two of them live close by. I don't live in the Forest of Magic myself, so I couldn't really say how much time they spend together, but they've worked together to resolve Incidents several times. Oh, that reminds me, Marisa, did you ever manage to beat Dragon Quest 3 with Alice?"
"Nah, she just got killed every time I tried to make any use of her. Then the toy stopped working so I gave it back to Sanae."
"It didn't stop working, the battery just ran out. I told you we could recharge it," Sanae mumbled.
"Alice got KILLED?! You were trying to use her?! Explain yourself, human!" Shinki thundered, turning back toward Marisa.
"Now hold on, it wasn't like that! It was just part of a little game I was playin'! I picked her up in town to go after the demon king, but she turned out to be totally useless is all."
Shinki didn't say a word in response, but she didn't have to. The skies spoke for her as thunder and lightning suddenly pealed across the heavens, erupting brilliantly from a cloudless sky. "Corruptor!" Shiki shouted accusingly, as six ephemeral, multi-colored wings erupted from her back and she floated up off of the deck. "What have you done to my Alice!?"
"I told you! It was nothin'! Just a game!"
"I'll show you nothing!" she roared, her voice echoing across the skies over the city.