Tharivol could feel her heart pounding in her chest with excitement. How long had she been looking forward to this day? The past five decades or so. Though that may seem short for an elf, it still felt like an eternity to her. Memories from the days before she had fully understood herself quickly flashed through her mind, the days full of misunderstood pain and anguish. When she still had thought of herself as male and couldn't comprehend why she hated her body so much. Why she had felt uncomfortable with being called a “man,” “handsome,” “sir” and all those other masculine things. 

When she had figured it all out, everything clicked into place and she finally felt at ease, but not entirely. She knew that this elven male body was wrong and that she had to do something about it. What exactly she didn't know. Of course she quickly came to the conclusion that magic was the answer, but there was no way this would be simple. There are more specific things that come along with that kind of transformation. Naturally, she wanted to be ‘beautiful’ but what woman doesn’t want to be? She also wanted to still be herself, meaning that it wouldn’t alter her mind or genetics. (Except to be female, of course.) She did want children one day so she would have to be fertile. In truth the idea of bearing her own child was a big dream of hers even if she wasn’t attracted to men. However, she wanted to make sure that those children would still be of her family’s genetic lineage. That added to the complication of the spell. She also had to make sure that it left her with the same magical capabilities, as well. All in all it was a tall order, but one she was eager to fill.

Four decades of research and planning were finally about to pay off. She had found a way to make a spell that fit all of her requirements. It had taken nearly another decade to find all the needed resources which were not cheap nor easy to get. The other part of this plan had been how to ‘sell’ this change to her family because there was no way in the nine hells that her father would just accept her turning herself into a woman. Her brothers would follow their father’s lead, but her mother? She might accept that Tharivol was a woman from there on in but she probably would never understand or accept her reasoning behind it. If she ever told her...

 Being a mage in training, the idea of an experiment gone wrong seemed to be the best way to explain why she turned into a woman and couldn't turn back. Accidents happen all the time in the magical world.

Finally, after so many years everything was ready. She suddenly realized she still hadn’t thought of a new name, but no matter. It will come to her eventually. She realized that when she did pick one her family might never call her that, which was rather upsetting. She couldn’t let that hold her back though. Everything was ready and she would wait no longer!

All the materials had been either used or were about to be. The magical chant had been memorized long ago. A fresh dragon's tongue lay squirming in one hand and the mummified heart of a long dead king was held tight in the other. Starting the chant she performed the required hand gesture, and, once done, she threw the items into a magical flame fueled by the embers of a knight’s last hope. Finally after half a century of work the spell was cast.