Daylion was still young when the Guardians came, wardens in a time before jail houses. The peoples lived separately in their clans; there were the strange river folk, the desert men that held great wisdom but scarcely spoke, the stubborn mountain people who knew not how to quit, the wanderers that came and went with their coveted seers and so on. Alliances were made and violated; the one constant was their undying trust in the Mother.

She was their heart; they came to her, often traveling many days and nights, when food was scarce or disease was set upon them. The Mother would speak to the spirits of Daylion, who lent her their influence of the wind and sometimes the water, often the weather and even the earthy wills of the life around them.

With this power all it may take was one mishap, one little step off the line, to upset everything. It was inevitable.

The time came when the Mother grew old, as all do, and she searched for a replacement, a young woman from one of the peoples of Daylion. Men from the plains brought their daughters, claiming they possessed wondrous powers. The river folk and desert people were wiser, sending women who were already shaman to their people. Others came and the Mother turned in uncertainty to the spirits for guidance.

A child from the mines, they replied, she shall find you. And so the Mother waited. The spirits of Daylion, though often known to teach in unending riddles, always spoke true. In due time a young woman of uncommon beauty and capability came to the Mother from the eastern mines, pleading guidance.

The Mother and the young girl found each other's company as a wonderful elixer and the girl was quick to learn, yet the Mother worried that the child's beauty might prove a problem. The spirits, though wise and wonderful in their unending care, found it difficult to comprehend the minds of men. Respectful, she kept her thoughts within herself and set to the training of the young woman before she made her final journey to the spirit's world.

On the dawn of Summer's Morn, the girl became the new Mother and people soon found her both wise and beautiful. She was eager to help but ever careful; the people were happy to come to her as they had been to the old Mother.

One day, as often happens, the Mother met a young man with whom she fell in love. But the road of the Mother is a lonely one, everyone became her child and she cared for them all. She must be pure of heart and mind to care for each one equally; a husband would not work into that equation. So the girl, now woman, turned the man away.

Torn apart, the young man fasted and called to the spirits himself, pleading for them to allow this exception. They kept silent, knowing that this was best and sure that the man would heal and find another to love. But in their silence another answered, an evil spirit who promised the man great things. He was fooled and the evil spirit, lusting for power and a body, possessed the man.

When the other spirits discovered what had happened, they rushed to the Mother, but it was already too late. The evil was there and they did the only thing they could: they gave the young Mother the use of their powers to fend off the evil. Then they waited, hoping.