There's a market, baths, social areas (pubs!) and so on. The place is usually really busy with the hustle and bustle and fustle of little places like this. It'll be bigger one day!

::Ju Rong, the esteemed warrior and assassin of the Emperor's, casually walks through the town. She doesn't mind being seen. All the townspeople know her and are afraid of her. They treat her like a queen, and she enjoys this sort of thing. She pauses at a stall with some food, remembering that she'd asked meat to be brought up to her quarters and forgotten. She turns and glances back at the palace, but she may as well just get something here. She looks at the stallholder and picks up a leg of something.::

"How much?"

::Her eyes sweep over the bread and cheeses. She's hungry.::

"Nothing, it is nothing."

::The woman bows profusely to Julie.::

"Hmm."

::Julie takes some coins from her purse.::

"Then let me do you charity."

::She hands the woman the coins and picks up all the food she wants, folding it into a piece of cloth before continuing on her way. She walks to the very outskirts of town and scans the horizon, looking for anything out of the ordinary. She already knows there's no one there. She already knows that this noname warrior will attack from behind the palace, because it's the most obvious place. She knows the noname warrior knows this herself, and will attack from there as a private joke between herself and Julie. Walking along the plains, Julie pauses to sit on a rock and eat the food she bought, completely at one with her surroundings.::

::The Source appears to Julie's right and steps towards her.::

::Julie's sword is already thrust through The Source's chest.::

::The Source looks down at the blade and steps back, pulling away from it. It slides out and he seems utterly unharmed.::

"I bring you no danger."

::Julie stares, disturbed. She looks at her sword and steps back, slipping it into its sheath and pulling out her sai which she spins expertly in each hand.::

"What are you?"

(Even the greatest warrior of all time could not do this.)

"The saviour of your life, should you will it. Allow me to show you your future."

::The Source shows Julie how she is going to die. Julie will feel like she's actually living this vision as she rushes to meet the nameless warrior behind the palace. An epic and difficult battle ensues, with Julie having the upper hand for a long time until the masked warrior finally gets a hit in, taking Julie's hand off. Julie tries to fight but she is beaten, the woman taking the sword from her severed hand and using it to thrust Julie through the heart. The vision ends just before Julie dies.::

::Julie clutches both hands over her chest, then realises that she's not stabbed, nor is her hand gone. She stands up and points a sai at The Source, keeping the other guarding her body.::

"What is this sorcery?"

"It is no sorcery, Ju Rong. It is what will happen to you, if you do not accept my offer."

::Julie frowns, not liking the idea of this.::

"What offer?"

"There is another. Like you. In the future, many hundreds of years from now. She is your essence, your soul, which passed on through many lives and is now living in one you surely deserve more than she."

"... myself? In the future?"

"She wastes her life loving and being weak. Did you die for that?"

"My death will be an honourable one. A warrior's death."

"By your own sword? Is that honourable?"

::Julie grits her teeth. The very idea of it sickens her.::

"If you exchanged places with the Ju Rong of the future, then she will take the sword she deserves, and you will be able to continue and become even more great than you ever will be in this life."

"But it is me."

"Indeed. One of you must die. Why should it be you? Is it not shameful to know that not only do you die a terrible, disrespectful death and for no good cause? Your future self does not deserve what you died for. You deserve it."

::Julie spins her sai then tucks them into their boots.::

"What do you get out of this?"

"Not nearly as much as you, though perhaps you could do a few things for me at some point."

"Very well. I accept your offer."

::The Source nods and takes Julie back to the fourth dimension.::

::Julie walks into the market and looks around feeling completely lost.::

(Good God, what the hell do I do now...)

::Wherever she walks, people stop in their tracks and bow to her. Serious style: on their knees with hands flat out on the ground in front of them, foreheads in the dust. All around Julie hears the frantic and fanatical whispering of two words in particular: Ju Rong.::

(That must've been my past name. Why are they treating me like this though?)

::Julie walks up to a woman.::

"Get up."

::Of course she says it in dialect. Yay! Chinese Julie.::

::Frightened, the woman gets up only so that she's as tall as can be from her knees.::

::Julie crouches down.::

"Do not fear me. I won't hurt you."

(I must've been horrible or really high class.)

"What year is it?"

::The woman pauses, wondering if this is a test.::

"1256."

(Fucking hell!)

"I need your help. I need to find a sorcerer, a witch. Do you know anyone who could help me?"

::The woman laughs.::

"You? Need help?"

::Suddenly she looks worried.::

"Do not kill me!"

"I am not going to kill you. Now, answer me, do you know where I can find a witch?"

"No!"

::The woman covers her face with her hands and runs away.::

::Julie sighs. She gets up and watches the woman leave. She looks around at all the people.::

(What am I going to do?)

::The sound of a gong rings out five times.::

::Cue everyone freaking out and running back to their homes.::

::Julie blinks out of the way so she won't get run over but catches someone before they run to safety and holds them in place.::

"What's going on?"

"We are under attack from a great warrior! Save us Ju Rong!"

::She pulls out of Julie's hold and runs again.::