Suffice to say, Mary Adler's life in the last month had been infinitely more eventful than the days that had preceded it. She'd awakened one morning to find herself lying in a clearing in the middle of a darkened underground forest, the light of the moon shining down upon her through the rocks above. She'd risen to her feet, brushing the dirt and grass from her tattered white dress, looking around in confusion at the strange place she'd found herself in. But although she had tried to remember how she had arrived there, she had found herself unable to recall where she was, or what she had been doing before she got there. She couldn't even remember where she had come from, or what her life had been like. That being said, she did not exactly have much by which to gauge whether the situation was in fact as unusual as it seemed or not, but her gut told her that being here was strange, and she had decided to trust it.
She'd wandered for at least an hour before she found her way out of the cave, and at least an hour more before she'd stumbled across a road. As luck would have it, Mary happened upon a small band of travelers shortly thereafter, and, seeing her shivering in the cold, her torn and stained garment wrapped around her as best she could keep it, had taken pity on her, and allowed her to come with them. She'd felt it imprudent to tell them her circumstances, and so had feigned muteness until she could discern more about the place she'd found herself in. Fortunately, the people around her seemed to speak her language, so she hadn't had any problems making her wishes known, even if she did not explain anything about herself in return.
They'd taken her as far as the nearest town, where they'd been very insistent she stay with them until they could find some way of locating her family. This had seemed like the most reasonable plan, and yet, something about the idea of her relatives had stirred a strange feeling within her, as though her stomach was empty and revolving wildly in her chest, filling her with such disquiet that she had found it impossible to rest. Not wanting to leech off of the honest pilgrims' kindness any longer, she'd sneaked out alone one night, following the road to the next town, a very large city apparently known as the Sheepish City. Exchanging the coins she'd found on her person with a rather bewildered banker, she'd obtained a rather large sum of the local currency, and had promptly used this in the manner she found most reasonable - namely, the procurement of new clothes to replace her by now quite ragged dress. The young lady had taken no small pleasure in trying on countless unusual outfits, the likes of which she'd seen only in picture books. Although Mary had, at first, been a little leery of the rather short black skirt she'd eventually settled upon, she felt at ease enough with its accompanying tights - even if a lady such as herself wearing trousers might have seemed a little uncouth at first - to accept the deal she'd been offered. Setting forth bedecked in her new scarlet ensemble, she'd just been preparing to venture forth into the world in the hopes of discovering where exactly she was - Sheepish City certainly wasn't a name she was familiar with, at any rate, and she didn't know of any magicians in her old home, either - as well as where she had come from, how she'd made the trip and forgotten it after, and why.
...Unfortunately, that journey had been rather unfortunately short-lived, as it was around this time that word had gotten round of the strange, mute girl with bizarre red hair who had brought with her a never-before-heard of type of silver coin. Taken in for questioning by the authorities, she'd had no choice to reveal that she could indeed speak, but that she could not remember how she'd come to be there. This, evidently, had alarmed them, as they'd made the utmost haste to quarantine her soon after, running all manner of strange tests to determine her origin, medical condition, and potential threat.
Fortunately, none of her belongings had been confiscated, including the gun she'd found on her person when she'd awakened. Evidently, they didn't recognize it as a weapon, which was rather odd considering how commonplace such firearms were. Nevertheless, she wasn't one to question her luck, and so had continued treating it as a pointless trinket, much like the silver watch she carried. They, in turn, hadn't pried into her belongings overly much, even if they had confined her in her hospital room until the examinations were over.
But now, it seemed, she was being moved. Whether that was for better or for worse, she didn't know, but if she had to, there was, at least, a means by which she could escape, for the weight of the pistol in a pocket sewn into the inside of her skirt reassured her that she was not helpless. Even so, if she could avoid hurting these people, she intended to. They had not shown her any cruelty, merely wariness, and she did not wish to make them regret their mercy.
Apparently, she wasn't the only one they were taking with them, for two others had joined her on the lift. The one was a tall young man with dark hair and piercing, icy cold eyes that sent a chill down her spine whenever she met them. Although his bearing was rigid and his countenance stern, there was a certain strange element behind his expression, as though he distrusted everything around him, and would not hesitate to lash out at anything that posed a threat to him. He seemed frightening, so she decided she'd move away from him, stepping closer to her second unknown fellow, a girl who also looked to be a few years older than herself, but whose eyes contained a certain childlike brightness that belied her dark hair and mature appearance. Mary's expression settled slowly into a slight pout as she realized she was the youngest person there, feeling small by comparison to the two others riding the lift. She opened her mouth, intending to speak, but seeing the stern demeanor of the guards and the brooding young man, she stifled herself with a quiet sigh. She was more confused than frustrated, but even so, she couldn't help but feel a little overwhelmed by the situation. If only she could remember something, maybe all this would make sense, and she would be able to understand what she was doing here, or why she was being held captive...