How long had it been since he had truly taken in his reflection?

Sure he glanced in the polished metal above Didyme’s vanity table now and then, but the warped reflection provided by the old piece didn’t provided nearly the same level of clarity that the darkened pool of water before him had.

When had he become this creature that looked so…inhuman?

He shouldn’t have been surprised by his appearance; after all, his brothers and their wives had changed in a similar manner. Perhaps the difference lay in the fact that he did not care about the way the looked, and in his mind he would always look the same way he had when Didyme was alive.

Now, she would hardly recognize him.

He had aged after all.

Oh, it wasn’t as if he had aged in the mortal way. There would never be wrinkles or grey hairs. Age would not start to turn his body against him by making it more brittle and weak. No, he had changed in a much different manner. Age was robbing him of the last remnants of his human visage.

Sitting down next to the pool he continued to study his new reflection in the same manner that Aro concentrated on and studied his histories.

As he continued to examine his image he wondered if he had changed as much inside as he had in the outside. It was true that vampires rarely changed. Aro had gone on and on about this fact when he talked about his studies and though these long winded “discussions” in which no one else participated held little interest to him, he had listened.

Love. Love could change a vampire. Aro had described it as an irreparable trauma to the soul, comparing it to the brain injury that some humans sustained that changed aspects of their personalities and behaviors. 

He briefly wondered if Edward had been different before he had met his Bella. But, of course, he probably had been. Hadn’t he been different before he had met his wife?

Didyme.

Loss. Loss could also change a vampire. This was a phenomenon that Aro had held a fascination with for several decades. He remembered the trouble that this particular study had caused between them.