"My family has always trained the Apprentices, not by rule, but because we were always simply the best. Probably the fact that most of us have several Elements helps in that. My mother only had one, like most. But she was the best. Better than any other, better than many generations before, better than many to come. Better than me or the Rose, just simply the best. Fighting was her soul. What she lived for. No other could beat her, even if ambushed by many. She knew your next move before you did, even if it was the first time you'd ever met. Everyone loved her. Of course there was a little fear, but all knew she'd never hurt an innocent. She trained the Rose in her young years, and later I was born. We were the happiest family.
"My mother lived longer than most, but everyone must die. Only she didn't want to, didn't accept it. From one day to the next, she was a totally different person. The signs that the end was really near started to disappear and her youth returned. Nobody understood why.
"Until the day I found her, sucking the life from a human baby. At first I didn't know what I was looking at, but the realisation that dawned on me was a horrible one.
"She'd Turned.
"Not completely, but it didn't take long before she left to To. Once she persuaded me to have some of what They call "Life Blood", and I have to admit that that person's blood gave me the best feeling. Afterwards I felt awful. The next morning she tried to take me with her, but I never wanted to see her again.
"Eighteen moons later she was found in the Realm, dead."
"How did she die?"
"By now she was Her right hand, and on that day she'd come to negotiate, and to meet someone first. The person hid in a tree, to first have a look at her. When the person noticed that she hadn't changed one bit, the person made the decision that had to be made; many lives had been taken by my mother. The person took advantage of her only weakness, and killed her."
"Who was this person?"
"It wasme."