“"Do we think Locusta is still alive?”“If so, she would have to be about two hundred.”“Sipping at the Fountain of Youth?”“No, I think she was killed in the Year of the Four Emperors.”“Poison?”“Natural causes—execution.”“Did she train up apprentices?”“Yes, but the old crafts are dying. No one wants to be bothered. These days you can’t find suppliers with the expertise, however big a bribe you offer."”