"Enough to open the door for me?"

"Yeah."

"Good. I'll see you later, then."

And time to head out.

"Wait," the ghost says before she leaves. "I - if you promise to come right back here where we can talk, I could remove the dust in the house? So it's nicer."

"-That would be nice."

"Okay. I'll do that."

"I'll look forward to seeing the change."

Small smile. "We'll see how much I can clean up."

"Until next time."

"Until then."

And Ellie leaves.

And the house waits for her return.

It takes her a couple days to gather everything. The bulk of the time is spent hemming and hawing over what exactly to propose for the container. She- wants to get it right the first time. Finally, she decides on a knife-and-sheath from the crystal shops, a fancy one with a dark-stained blade and red leather with silver wrapping for the hilt and sheath.

It's back to the house that evening.

The house has been - waiting.

She started despairing after the second day. The gardens are a bit wilted. But the house is almost painfully prepared, cleaned up - fretted over. The portraits she hated are just gone, and everything is perfectly clean, the windows un-smudged so light shines into the house. It's - prettier, that way. More ethereal and sad, less creepy and threatening. The exterior is cleaner, though the paint isn't any less faded or chipped. The brambles and hedges and overgrowth have retreated from the paths.

Huh. That's a bigger change than she was expecting.

Ellie walks up the path to the front door.

It swings open with a little sigh from the house.

"...I'm home," she calls as she enters, feeling a little silly.

Up to the bedroom upstairs.

The house shivers as she enters. 

The ghost is sitting on her bed when Ellie enters, smiling broadly. "Welcome back! I - was getting worried."

"That I wouldn't come back?"

Her smile fades a little. "Some? Or - that'd I'd drift off and stop being awake before you did."

"Well, I did, and you didn't. So."

"I got the stuff." She takes out the miscellaneous supplies. "And for the vessel-" Knife?

She leans forward, making a very interested noise. "Oh, it's pretty."

(She liked it!)

"Think it'll work?"

"Wonderfully so."

"Great."

"How do I get started?"