Suren/Wren first appears in the mortal realm as a toddler sitting in an alley. Thought to be experiencing the early stages of frostbite from the cold, she’s brought to a hospital and leaves with foster parents who raise her until the age of eight. By age nine, her birth parents, the faeries Lady Nore and Lord Jarel, come for her at night, accompanied by a storm hag named Bogdana. They claim Wren as their daughter and return to Faerie, where she will rule the Court of Teeth as its queen. Wren is appalled by her parents’ monstrous appearances and begs to stay with her human family. She is slapped by Lady Nore. Lord Jarel tells Wren her true name, Suren, and removes her human glamour, revealing her monstrous appearance. The changeling wishes to stay with her human family, whom she believes will love her despite her faerie nature. Her parents claim her human family no longer wants her, but she is doubtful; Lady Nore and Lord Jarel glamour Wren’s human family to react with terror and violence when she flees to their room. Wren dissolves into tears, and when Lady Nore and Lord Jarel threaten to murder the human family, Wren agrees to leave with them.