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Their mind, while not entirely made up, was close to it. When someone in Aleria's home village began to grow feeble, they gave away all the underworldly possessions. This was not the same situation, not quite, but it felt like the right thing to do.

Their clothes would be donated. Their wealth would be distributed to a good cause. Their books were already being couriered back home.

But.

Aleria looked around their frigid room, fingers turning to knots, enough to cause the vines to stir from their normal lazy sleep. Relax, they seemed to urge. Someone will give them a good home.

The chitter of Forest Spirits echoed throughout the demon's room, their over-sized heads bouncing on little shoulders as they curiously watched Aleria write a meticulous sign in aquaumarine ink:

"FREE MINIPETS TO GOOD HOME - SEVERAL HUNDRED FOREST SPIRITS. MINIMUM TEN AT A TIME. INQUIRE WITH ALERIA AT B235 IN THE DEMON DORMS."

Below the text was a crudely draw picture of one looking sad. Fortunately for Aleria, who had very little artistic proficiency, Kodama were all vaguely blobby uneven shapes to begin with, so their poor rendition remained a shred of accuracy. With a flourish, Aleria added a single teardrop at the corner of one lumpy eye.

Satisfied with the sign, the demon had it copied and posted it across the school.

Aleria opened the door with gusto as soon as they heard the joyous words-- never mind the fact that her tone was not nearly as joyous.

"Greetings, kind stranger," the demon said, smiling widely, and beckoned for Amrita to enter. Even before setting foot into the room, she would see frozen Kodamas everywhere, some of them stuck to various parts of furniture and the floor with ice. They sadly wobbled their heads: they could tell that something was a miss.

"They are...all still currently available for adoption. There are approximately two hundred, give or take a small handful..." Aleria gestured at the collection. "Your gracious welcoming of them into your home would be endlessly appreciated, as I will soon be ...ah." They searched for the words, tapping their chin with a clawed finger. "Absent, I suppose, is the best way to put it."

"It is a wondrous pleasure to make your acquaintance, Amrita," the demon said, closing the door behind Amrita. It was cool, but it was not the dark cave that Aymet had: it was well lit with some cool-fire candles.

"They are very darling," they agreed, and scooped one up to shake a little. It chittered in a way that could have been happy or unhappy: with no real facial expressions, it was hard to tell. It made no attempt at struggling, so Aleria cradled it a moment.

"Ah, well. A job opportunity has come up that I simply cannot decline. It means leaving school earlier than anticipated, but my future employers have ensured that I will be compensated appropriately."

It was the truth, even if it was not the whole truth. "However, my future accommodations allow for no personal affectations, I'm afraid. It will just be the very essence of me, myself, and I, as well as my future business partner."

To Aleria, their decision to become a weapon was little more than what they'd described. It had no baggage: no hunter had hurt their friends, no hunter had ever caused them any real damage.

The kodama in Amrita's arm began to warm up, and wiggled its stubby little arms wiggled excitedly. Soon, a small gathering began to crowd around her feet. She may not have been warm, but the vestiges of room temperature still stuck to her, as compared to the distinctly subzero temperature of Aleria's room.

Amrita asked for more information, and who was the demon to deny a curious mind?

"I am going to become a weapon," they said, smiling softly, as if it was the kindest and greatest thing in the world. Had the undead ghoul been ignorant, perhaps it would be different, but Aleria did not know that their new-found friend had a distinct and intimate knowledge of the hunters and their ilk.

"I am very excited. The time is coming upon us, much swifter than I imagined."

Aleria blinked at Amrita's look of utter dismay. Maybe she just misunderstood. It wasn't as though they were going to stop existing all together. It would be the same old demon, just in a leaner, more efficient package. What was the big deal?

"Oh, Amrita," they said, pressing the shorter ghoul closer in a hug. Having no sense of personal boundaries at all allowed for physical affection to nearly anyone that cared. "I want to go. I chose this, no one forced my hand."

After a brief squeeze, she looked down into the pleading eyes, nothing but beatific confusion on their own face. "I have nothing to hold me down. I want to be better, better than I've become in nearly two years here. Whatever gave you the idea that I was being forced?"

The hunters had been so kind to them. They had talked to Aleria, like an equal, like something of value.

Aleria's brows knitted in concern. "I did not experience any such encounters for the duration of my stay, nor upon my initial encounter," they explained, as simply as the the sky is orange or the grass is brown.

What was so concerning about answering to a higher calling?

"I know. My essence will be used to shape me into something stronger, into a weapon. I will be bonded with a human, and my power will aid their very existence. I will protect them. I will be their tool. I will be useful."

That's all they had ever wanted to be. To someone.

"No one has tricked me at all. I expect it to be unpleasant for the procedure, but afterwards, I will wake up. I will still be me. My body will just be...efficient."

"If that is the case," Aleria said, careful, not yet believing Armita, "why is it not more publicized? If our people were slaughtered, would we not hear of it?"

It made no sense.

"I want to help bring balance, but it will be an exercise in trust. My human will use me, and I will protect them." If they wanted Aleria to attack their own kind, they would be at a loss. After all, the gangling skeleton of a man had said that his weapon retained her memories and ideologies.

It didn't sound so bad.

The demon grew to look sympathetic as Amrita told a story that was sorrowful, of loss and something more, but had no way to connect. They had never suffered, and had a hard time imagining suffering come from the hands of the ones that had been gentle.

"Your friend was kind to take it, and wise to save you. I am sure all of you are wonderful creeple, and I am sorry the situation was unfortunate." Aleria tangled a hand into their white hair, and wished that they could offer some sort of solace to the ghoul.

"It is a fine offer, for me," they said, firmly. "We may disagree, but my direct experiences dictate something different than yours. I am sorry we cannot meet somewhere in the middle."

"Why would they do such a thing? Do not take my disbelief as an implication that you are a liar, I just...do not comprehend why they would do such a thing. It does not make any sort of rational sense, to do that sort of cover up."

This was the first time anyone had raised their voice to Aleria, and they found it to be a baffling experience. They were merely discussing the merits of Aleria's future-- a choice that was theirs and theirs alone-- and it had somehow spiraled into all of this. Something personal.

As soon as Amrita had said where you belong, her cause became lost. "I do not belong here, Amrita," she said, gentle, as if the ghoul that had endured so much was the one full of fragility.

"I do not belong anywhere at all but with them. I am at Amityville because I did not belong to my creeple, but I don't belong here, either." Their smile was so sad, but it was distant. "I do not have any family whose loss would hurt me. I do not have any friends in that same vein. No one has spoken to me as if I was of worth until that island visit, and all conversation has come as a result of it."

Aleria pulled away further, their mind racing, but demeanor calm. There had to be a way to make Amrita understand why this is what mattered to them. "I spoke with a small blond, a scientist woman, and a man so thin I thought he might be undead," they said, not eager at all to share names with someone who hated them so. What if she would set out to hurt the ones that had been kind to Aleria, and for what? For helping them realise what they wanted?