Lucid struggled between the wall and her arm, eventually taking her hand as they moved toward the opening.
He shook his head.
"How indecent..." Alice purred beside his ear.
"Shut up!"
After making sure nobody had seen them, Lucid relied on the market instincts Arthur and Valen had taught him, combined with the perception granted by the Chain of Heart.
Lucid and Ayame were now in another section near the harbor.
Lucid panted lightly as he remembered that he had bought something earlier. He quickly checked to see if the items had been damaged during their sudden movement.
A small breath of relief escaped him as he confirmed that everything remained intact.
He was carrying two paper bags filled with what seemed to be, well, souvenirs from Alice's point of view.
Much to his dismay, Lucid remained against buying anything, worried that drawing attention to himself would expose them. However, Alice continued to pester about items.
Ayame simply watched the entire exchange, silently observing his struggle.
"Well, did you grab every souvenir you needed?" Lucid asked, muttering under his breath.
"Mhm! You did excellent, Lucid."
He looked down at the bags, exhaustion evident in his expression.
"Yeah, don't thank me. Thank the queen of Vex," he muttered.
"Don't you have any shame wasting tax money from the citizens of Vex?"
Alice didn't reply immediately.
"Well," she said finally, "we did them a tremendous favor. There's nothing wrong in indulging a little."
Lucid glanced sideways at nothing in particular, addressing her presence within his mind.
"Why would you buy makeup when you don't even have a face?"
They passed the path leading straight toward the harbor. Even with the churches presence, everything around them seemed almost better than ever, the streets bustling with renewed energy and purpose.
But Lucid knew the actual reason behind this transformation. Someone else was now circulating faith and currency in the wake of Mercyros's absence, maintaining whatever fragile economic balance had been restored.
It was Mira the person Valen had mentioned.
The person Grace had mentioned.
A figure walked with a lively expression, switching from place to place with quick, energetic movements. Suddenly she stopped directly in front of Lucid.
She was young. Maybe his age, though he understood the cosmic age gap that likely separated them given everything he'd learned recently. Maybe younger, honestly.
Hard to tell with the cap pulled low over her eyes, casting her face in shadow.
Merchant clothes hung loose on a frame that suggested either deliberate styling or genuine poverty, difficult to distinguish from casual observation.
Her smile, though.
Her smile was genuine.
That was the first thing he noticed, the smile itself. It carried so much more life, so much more honesty than he expected. It made him step back involuntarily for a moment.
She stood there, looking at him directly.
Ayame moved in front of him.
weary.
But Lucid grabbed her shoulder shaking his head.
He didn't quite have the words to articulate what had just happened, not in any coherent way. This felt odd somehow. But also strangely heartfelt.
"Oh, you're already a customer of mine!" she exclaimed brightly.
"Then I'm sure that ring proved useful toward you!"
"It," Lucid started, uncertain how to respond.
'Lucid may I humbly ask you to stop being flustered in front of every female you encounter,' Alice interjected dryly within his mind.
They stood there, the moment stretching slightly.
"Well, make sure to leave a good review! It helps my business," the girl said cheerfully.
She walked past him. Though a head shorter than him, she rested her palm briefly on his shoulder as she passed.
"Wait," Lucid yelled, urgency cutting through his usual reserve.
She stopped, not looking back at him.
"I still don't understand just one thing," he said, catching his breath.
"If Mercyros isn't a god, then who are you, what are you!?"
"And this Caducus, Celestia, all of it—there are just so many factors I don't understand."
She stopped and offered a slight smile, half-turned toward him now.
"Figure it out," she said, the words carrying a dry hint of amusement, a slight rasp coloring her tone.
Alice burst into laughter within his mind, the irony of what he'd said to the woman earlier being repeated back to him almost verbatim.
'Oh, this is rich,' Alice managed between chuckles. 'You told her the exact same thing. Karma has a sense of humor apparently.'
Lucid ignored her commentary, focusing instead on the girl standing before him.
But she stopped again, just a little bit longer this time, as though reconsidering whether to offer more.
"There's a difference," she said finally, "between me telling you and you discovering it yourself. One of those paths actually matters."
"That's not fair," Lucid said, frustration bleeding through his exhaustion.
"Life rarely is," she replied, something knowing in her expression despite the youthful features shadowed beneath her cap.
She turned fully now, taking a step back toward whatever destination she'd originally intended before he'd called out.
"You'll find your answers eventually," she added. "Everyone does, one way or another. Whether you like what you find is an entirely different matter."
"Can you at least tell me if I should be worried?" Lucid pressed, genuine concern creeping into his voice now.
She paused at that, considering the question with more weight than her previous responses had carried.
"Worry is rarely productive," she said finally. "But awareness, that's something else entirely. Stay aware, Lucid. That's the best advice I can offer you right now."
"That's incredibly vague," he said.
"Most useful advice tends to be," she replied, something almost fond entering her tone despite the cryptic nature of her words.
She adjusted her cap.
He saw her eyes.
it was just like senna.
"Oh and happy Saint's Lucid Day!" She exclaimed.
She began walking away again, her figure growing smaller as distance increased between them.
"Journey well," she said, "and whatever findings you discover, come back so we can haggle over an honest price."
He stood there, processing.
"Yeah," he said under his breath, weighing everything that had just transpired.
The fact that she'd mentioned the ring specifically probably signified that something else, the Lyre of Transaction perhaps, had become interwoven it with the ring.
He turned to thank her properly.
She had already disappeared.
Ayame stood close by.
"Who was she?" Ayame asked.
Lucid took a deep breath.
"A ghost that scams people..."
She wore a questioned look on her face.
He stood there in the town square, distant boats swaying at the dock, fishermen calling out to each other, seagulls circling overhead with their persistent cries.
Port Vexis remained as busy as ever, with or without his direct involvement. It would simply carry forward regardless.
"Alice," he said internally.
"Hmm," she replied. "She's alive now, I believe, though I'm not entirely certain."
"How so?" Lucid asked.
"It's just that her form is crystallizing," Alice explained. "Solidifying into something more permanent."
He watched as a figure materialized at the end of the street, waving in his direction.
"It's public perception," Lucid said aloud, recalling one of the longer teachings he'd learned from a certain someone.
'Even as a spectral spirit,' he thought, remembering the lesson clearly, 'a human being leaves anchors in this world. And as long as public perception, as long as public opinion continues acknowledging their existence, they'll never truly die. Not as a ghost, or whatever the exact term was that he'd forgotten.'
"Like me?" Alice asked, something curious entering her tone.
Lucid didn't reply immediately. This wasn't exactly his area of expertise. Someone else had understood these concepts far better, fate conjuring and how threads of fate never truly withered after death.
They could be salvaged, though not in the sense of bringing people back from actual death.
But like a dead spirit, they could imitate human form, could be perceived and treated as genuinely human by those around them.
But there was a significant drawback to this arrangement.
"She can't leave Port Vexis," Lucid said. "She's stuck here forever."
He turned to look at Alice's presence, or rather, in the direction his mind associated with her voice.
"I don't know if that's far worse than not being seen at all," he continued, "or being stuck in one place forever, destined to live eternally within that single location."
Alice opened her mouth, metaphorically speaking within his consciousness.
"Well," she said, "what matters is that the situation at hand has been resolved."
Lucid replied, a hint of unease coloring his tone.
"Yes," he said. "This is a problem that had been going on well beyond just me."
"There," Alice said softly, drawing his attention forward.
Lucid broke into a slight jog. The Starlight ship sat just there on the beach, its familiar silhouette catching the afternoon light.
Celeste and Fennwick, along with maybe a handful of onlookers, stood there saluting, surrounding Arthur.
Lucid broke into a full jog toward them.
"Seems we have a ceremony," he chuckled, amusement bleeding through despite his exhaustion.
Ayame and Lucid approached the gathered group, noting Arthur's straightened posture and Ayame's characteristically blank expression despite the formal occasion.