Flora spent a lot of time preparing for her conversion, mostly with practicing her singing. She wanted to know what pitches she would be able to achieve with her human vocal cords so she would be able to surpass them as a nightingale. She did have a rather decent voice, but hitting the higher notes proved to be a bit of a challenge for her. Her voice kept breaking and souring the notes.
"You're doing better," said her lover, Allegra, "Though you don't really need to strive to go so high."
"All the best arias are in the high notes," said Flora, "How can I be an opera star if I can't do that arias?"
"Well, that's why you're becoming a nightingale," said Allegra, "Anyways, you know not all opera stars are strictly sopranos. After all, I'm aiming for a lower pitch."
"That is true," said Flora, "So are you going to become a giraffe after all?"
"I've thought about it, but I'd rather be something closer to you," said Allegra, "I think an owl might suit me better."
"I don't have a problem with that," said Flora, "So long as you don't try to eat me."
"Not in a way that you wouldn't enjoy it," said Allegra playfully.
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Flora's conversion was quite as impressive as she expected. The nightingale is a small bird so she didn't get any taller, even if she did get curvier. And her feathers were a rather drab brown. Of course, the nightingale was known more for its song than its plumage. Flora's song wasn't what she expected either. She gave Allegra a private concert, first letting her instincts perform the nightingale's natural song. It wasn't horrible by any means, but Flora had expected the romanticized song of the nightingale to be a melodious one. What came out was a series of chirps, twitters, clicks, and trills.
"Huh, I never expected a nightingale to sound like that," said Allegra.
"I may have been thinking a bit too much of classical music when I imagined its song," admitted Flora, "It's not bad, is it?
"Oh, not at all," said Allegra, "If anything, you should have no problems doing patter songs."
"I was hoping for higher art," said Flora.
"Well, you can hit the high notes now, right?" asked Allegra.
"We'll see," said Flora. She trilled out a note that went higher and higher until Allegra was forced to cover her ears. "How was that?" asked Flora.
"I think you can probably shatter glass now if you tried," said Allegra, rubbing one ear.
"Is that bad?" asked Flora.
"No," said Allegra, "If you can handle breath control, those arias should be easy for you now."
"Oh, wonderful," said Flora happily, "So have you thought about what kind of owl you wish to become?"
"Hmm...it's hard to pick," said Allegra, "There are just so many varieties."
"Well, you should probably go for the one with most melodious hoots," said Flora.
"Well, that eliminates barn owls and screech owls," said Allegra dryly.