Derek was waiting for his companion to agree with him so they could move on, no harm done, when eerie singing began. He cursed himself inwardly, waiting for the veteran to come up with some witty retort about how he had know this was coming. Instead, there was just the sound of leather creaking as his companion turned quickly, trying to track the source of the singing. Derek was… Oddly calm. A part of him knew that he should be panicking about some eerie voice warbling away in a creepy forest but he found himself smiling, enjoying the tune and the lyrics instead of letting it get to him. Whoever it was, out there using magic to project their voice, they were poking fun at him and the other Red Cloaks. He chuckled to himself, wondering if this person was actually any kind of a threat. Something about the voice was tugging at his memory, though he'd be damned if he could place it right now. Like a catchy tune, not that this was, the thought was going to hound him for the rest of the day. He knew it would, unless he could remember.
A figure appeared before them, then, and Derek swore he thought his companion would fire out of reflex before allowing the apparition to do anything. The figure, a blonde wearing simple enough clothing and holding a harp, bowed to them and began thanking them. Cocky thing, wasn't she? He could tell immediately that the one singing must be her. Unless she was a distraction. Or an illusion. Could be that she was meant to distract them while her friends circled around them, surrounded the two of them and then sprung their trap. He froze, then wrote it off as paranoia caught from the veteran beside him. Well, nobody was firing a crossbow, and nobody was jumping out yelling "You're surrounded!" so as of that second, he supposed everything was going pretty well.
The girl disappeared in a flash of light, causing his companion to curse loudly, but then she was standing right in front of Derek. She was… Extremely close, now. He raised an eyebrow, taking half a step back as she reached up towards him. He raised an eyebrow, a smirk touching the left side of his mouth as he looked down into her eyes. He had almost a foot on her, and now she was close he could see her pointed ears. An elf, then, which meant her youthful appearance could mean she was still old enough to be his grandmother. His time as a city guard, dealing with the drunk and disorderly had left him fully capable with dealing with overly friendly citizens. His first acts was to place a hand over his coin purse, in case this was a ruse he had been familiar with. Fell for it once or twice, too. But as she asked him a question he finally placed the sound of her voice. He grinned, snapping his fingers.
"I heard you play once, outside of Endapano. It was in the camp, after a battle…" His voice trailed off as he remembered. He was about to say something else, a little lighter. He didn't exactly know her, but if she had been there then she couldn't be all that bad, when the sound of a throat being loudly cleared interrupted.
"What is going on here?" It was his companion, the veteran scout. Derek froze, eyes still on the girl's, realizing what this must look like.
"Ah. Well, you see, funny story." He looked up to see a crossbow leveled at both of them.