Third POV
As Miranda cried herself to sleep in her upstairs room, Dave and his wife, Inne, were speaking in hushed whispers.
"It is almost time." Dave said his voice maintaining his usual harshness.
"I'm worried," Inne admitted. "What if she isn't ready?"
"She will have to be," Dave replied.
"But what if she isn't? What if we haven't taught her all she needs to know in time? What if she doesn't want to leave? What if she thinks we betrayed her? What if-?" Inne's fretting was cut off by a gentle kiss.
"She will know what to do. And if she does not wish to leave that is her decision." Dave replied in a softer, more caring tone as he placed his hand on top of hers rubbing it gently.
"But I do not want her to hate us anymore than she probably already does." Inne whimpered.
"We raised her in a refined strict environment. But where she is going, she will face far worse. We have to prepare her for the transition as much as we can." He replied soothingly.
"I know." Inne replied. "I just wish I could have shown her my love the way that I wanted to."
"I know my love." Dave replied wistfully, pushing a lock of black hair behind her ear. They sat in silence for a long time before he continued, "Have all the items been retrieved from storage?"
"Yes, I retrieved them today while she was at school," Inne spoke cautiously, lowing her voice even further. "Would you like me to re-hide them?"
"No, I would like you to wrap them. If all goes well, they will be our last gifts to her. Perhaps forever." Dave responded, his voice dwindling away as if he was caught in some long-forgotten time.
"Forever." Inne echoed. A lone tear painted a line down her pale face. Dave brought his hand up and cupped her face wiping the remanence of the tear way with his thumb. He slowly brought her face closer to his and captured her lips with his own. They pulled away after a moment and leaned their foreheads against each other.
Staring into her bright green eyes with his chocolate brown ones, he spoke again, "Come, let us go to bed. We have a long day ahead of us." Inne nodded.
As they stood up to walk to their room, Miranda, already asleep in her own room, was beginning to change.
Over the next few days leading up to Miranda's 18th birthday, she began to experience changes. Though subtle at first, they soon became a problem.
For one, she began to grow at an alarming rate. Growing taller wasn't her only problem, her ears were elongating too, as well as changes to her facial features. Her skin, once speckled with acne, had cleared up in just a few days. Her eyes seemed to become wider, almost doe-like. Her mouth obtained a rosy color and her blue-green eyes seemed to shimmer and change.
It wasn't just an external change either, something seemed to be happening to her physical abilities. She was able to run and jump through the trees as she never-before could. Her sense of smell and her hearing improved by leaps and bounds. Her vision improved drastically. She once had to wear contacts but now, she could see even farther than her parents. Her lessons in archery, swordsmanship, and knife throwing seemed to be going far better than they used to as well. It was as if she could perform better and exert herself less.
This all seemed very strange not just to her, but to her classmates. Many of her friends knew that she loved the books by J.R.R. Tolkien and just assumed that she was practicing for a cosplay at some convention. Others thought that she had had surgeries done and began to tease and taunt her.
"Watch out! Here comes the house elf."
"I thought she was smarter than this."
"She would have been pretty if she had just waited for her acne to clear up. What a shame."
"She looks so fake."
"I can't believe her parents were so dumb to let her do so much plastic surgery."
"Why would she want to look like that anyways?"
"She's as tall as an eant now!"
"And as ugly as one too!"
Poor Miranda could hear it all, even when they thought that she couldn't. Her parents started to notice that she was becoming miserable. But there was nothing they could do until her birthday. Then the final seal could be broken.