"Okay." They go find a tree to rest under.

Gren looks kind of thoughtful. "What's your mom like?"

"She's soooooo nice. I think me and Tabby were an accident, but she never cared about that. Vampire kids kind of roam more than human ones, so we could go a while without seeing her, but she was always there. She taught me how to sing. Our aunties are really nice, too."

"She does sound nice. I guess my adventure wouldn't be as big a deal if my mom and I were vampires... But I kind of like that I miss her so much."

"I don't think my mum would love me and Tabby anymore."

"That's a terrible thing to think! Why would you think that?"

"Cause we're more human now."

"If your mom will love you less for what you are then she is not the best possible mom."

"...I'm kind of scared of her now."

It would be really bad if she was scared of her mom...

"Are you okay?"

"No." He breaks down weeping.

So much hug today.

"You shouldn't hug me. You'd hate me and Tabby if you knew why I'm crying."

"You don't get to tell me how or why to hug. If you explain maybe I'd change my mind. But right now, you're sad and you deserve a hug."

"...Before me and Tabby got fixed by Deku, we were both monsters, just like my mummy and aunties and cousins. I don't think we were made of smoke or had money inside us, but we hurt and killed people to live. And we didn't care till Deku made us care."

She goes through quite a variety of faces before settling on 'suspiciously thoughtful' for a while.

"And I bet if we went home now they'd think we were broken and that killing us would be the kindest thing. And even if they didn't, I don't think we could love them anymore."

"You're good to me, now. And Nemo. And Deku. And everyone else here."

"Thank you."

When he calms down a little, he starts telling her about all the discoveries he's made since coming here. Like the niceness of cooked food, and clothes not being quite as silly as he imagined. And that Grendal is a perfectly nice name.

"I wonder if there's any other stuff like that."

"Also, not taking a couple of centuries to grow up doesn't seem so bad..."

"Yeah, that would get boring after a while. Do you make friends easier now?"

"Well, I didn't really have any friends besides Tabby and my cousins. And I don't think twin sisters count."

"So that's a yes!"

"Now I have a whole two friends! Wow, big accomplishment."