Sirene Ignitis
The woman looked at Julia for several moments before smiling warmly, with none of the malice that was present just moments ago with the three men. Julia for her part just regarded the woman with some mild suspicion, but didn't raise her guard and merely kept her distance.
"You don't recognise me." She said, cocking her head slightly.
"Should I?" Julia asked. She looked at the woman carefully. She was wearing a long blue and white cloak with gold accents, and had dark brown hair that barely passed her ears. Or was it flame red? That was odd, it seemed to be two colours at once. "Why is your hair two different colours?"
The woman smiled even larger than before, and laughed heartily. "Well that's a first. Tell me, which one do you see?"
"It's like..." Julia started before trailing off and squinting. "It's dark brown, but it wants to be another colour. A bright flame red."
"Miss, you're the first person who's ever noticed my hair colour is inconsistent. Be proud. Now, what's your name? Mine's Sirene Ignitis." Sirene answered, laughing again, and sticking out her hand in offering.
Julia hesitated for a moment, before stepping forward and grasping Sirene's hand. "Julia."
"Well Julia, you look completely lost, am I right?" Sirene asked. "Middle of the Dragontail Mountains all alone and completely unarmed. Did you just drop out of the sky?"
"I mean... kind of?" Julia admitted, rubbing the back of her head. "I woke up under a bush not far from here and I don't remember anything about my past at all. I know some things, like I know I'm standing on a road, I know that's a sword on the ground over there and so on, but anything personal is like a void."
"Oh, an amnesiac! I love a good mystery!" Sirene exclaimed, smiling again. "Come on, tell me all about what you know while we walk."
"We?" Julia asked.
"Julia I'm not going to leave you alone especially after what you just told me." Sirene said, admonishing Julia and shaking her head. "I haven't had a travelling companion in a few decades, this'll be fun!"
"A few decades?" Julia asked, quickly grabbing the now discarded sword as Sirene began to walk down the road. "You look like you're 23 at most!"
"I may not look it, but I'm already well over a thousand." Sirene said, turning her head and flashing a quick grin as she walked.
"But how?"
"I'm a time wizard. Well more specifically, the time wizard. Singular. There can only be one and it's me."
"What's a time wizard?" Julia asked, curious.
"I can control the flow of time. That 'teleportation' you saw me do a couple minutes ago?" Sirene said, making air quotes with her hands. "Was just me slowing down time and walking up to them."
"So when you punched that man and he fell over dead on the spot?" Julia questioned, glancing back down the cut and seeing the man's body exactly where Sirene left it, before turning back to look at Sirene again.
"Part of the same school of magic but different." Sirene explained, cracking her knuckles. "How about you, though? How'd you turn into a bird? Or are you a bird that turned into a human?" Sirene grinned again, and winked this time.
"That, I do know the answer to. There's two spells I know for sure that I know, as strange as that sounds." Julia said, stumbling over her words. "That one's wildshape."
Sirene raised an eyebrow, and dropped her smile. "Wildshape is an incredibly rare spell to know."
Julia inquired further but Sirene would say no more and just shook her head. They walked in relative silence for most of the afternoon, punctuated by small talk as they slowly began to know each other better. For her part, Sirene claimed to be a wandering Hero, doing her best to do good throughout the land, an idea that Julia liked.
"The Hero of Karand?" Julia asked, giggling a bit.
"Hey it's a good title isn't it?" Sirene asked, laughing too.
"You can't just come up with a title for yourself!" Julia responded, still laughing.
"Says who? You've got amnesia maybe this is what people do!"
"I don't want to live in a world where people give themselves titles if that's the case!" Julia shot back, laughing even harder.
"Oh god could you imagine it? King Frederick the Greatest." Sirene was just full on guffawing now.
"The Lord of Threswick and it's just the town drunk!" Julia snorted, wheezing from laughing.
Despite still being in the forest, they stopped by the side of the road to make jokes and laugh for several minutes, the titles and ideas becoming more and more ridiculous until at last they were panting and gasping for air, the jokes just an afterthought. As they laid under an oak tree next to the road, Julia began to have that same uneasy feeling from the cabin earlier in the day.
"Sirene." Julia said quietly.
"Yes?"
"Is the road clear?" Julia asked.
"Something wrong?" Sirene asked, noticing Julia's breathing was becoming laboured. "You're not pregnant are you?"
"Nothing of the sort. It's just... well I'll just show you, since I trust you." Julia said. "But is the road clear?"
"Yeah, nobody for at least 2 hours in either direction." Sirene said, her body shifting slightly as she had gone to check.
Julia thought for a moment. She figured if Sirene really was as well-known as she claimed, standing out a little wouldn't hurt, and so opted for elf. She stood up, and snapped her fingers twice. The sensation of her body completely changing shape was just as strange as it was in the morning, but the sensation of growing slightly was more fun than the one of shrinking.
Opening her eyes again, she looked down immediately and was relieved she was still a woman and wouldn't have to explain that part to her new friend Sirene just yet. Looking back up, she saw Sirene looked quite serious, but Sirene spoke before she did.
"That was not ordinary magic." Sirene stated, her arms crossed. "That was something older than even me. However." Sirene walked up to Julia and looked at her carefully. She even poked and prodded her body, before nodding her head.
"Ummm..." Julia said, unsure of what just happened.
"I like surprises. I could just ask my Master and get an answer, but that wouldn't be any fun."
"Hey don't I get a say? I'd rather like to learn who I am!" Julia protested, but Sirene put a finger over Julia's lips.
"Do you really want to know who you used to be?" Sirene asked, raising an eyebrow. "You have a chance for a fresh start, unencumbered by your past. What if the you right now hates the you you used to be?"
"Explain." Julia stated.
"What if you're a murderer who was left for dead?" Sirene proposed, starting to pace and tapping a finger. "Or a bandit? An evil King with a price on his head? A deadbeat parent who abandoned their children to adventure?" Sirene listed off scenarios while tapping each finger in turn.
"Or what if I'm someone's wife and they think I ran out on them?" Julia countered.
"Interesting choice of words. Wife." Sirene said with a smile. "How are you sure your base form, whatever it may be, is female?"
"That's-" Julia began to protest, but stopped. Why did she say wife?
"Just think about it." Sirene said, patting Julia's shoulder. "But, what would you do if you found out who you were, but not the memories of who you were?"
Sirene and Julia began to walk down the road again while Julia thought about the latest question. In the trees not far away, a man was watching them, and seemed mildly annoyed.
"The Hero of Karand?" He whispered to himself. "I can't handle her! I'll have to ask mother. Yes, mother will know what to do. Musn't disappoint mother."
The man in the tree continued to mutter to himself for some time before eventually leaving in the opposite direction of Sirene and Julia. If Sirene had spotted him earlier, she made no mention of him.