Selena lay in the dark hotel room, tired to the bone, staring at the ceiling. It had been a long day; she had traveled here for a work conference and decided to go to a kingdom banquet after the conference. Stupid idea. The previous day had been spent on various planes, all freaking day. The next day was the confrence and the banquet. It meant she had to be awake and alert to listen to the lectures and then she had to go home, change, spend an hour dressing and dealing with her hair, and then stand around during court. She had forgotten how tedious court was on the mainland. Finally she had a chance to eat, but once again ettiquette was so intense she had to be always alert for fear of making an error. She was reminded more than ever why some barony's were less desirable than others. 

Now she was one aching muscle; so tired she couldn't actually sleep. She eyed her court clothing hanging over the door. It would have to be cleaned and there were some mends she needed to make, a few alterations. She had a kit with her she could do that and watch TV. Maybe the tedium would help her relax so she could sleep.

She flipped on the TV: Nick at Nite. Very boring. Very perfect. She tossed back three Advil, she never traveled without a veritable pharmacy of pain relievers...getting old had its consequences. She was soon lost in the complicated hand stitching required to keep her costume in perfect condition. It took her some time to realize that the TV, even though on, was blank. The screen was empty. 

She frowned and flipped the channels looking for something else. It was news that caught her eye and ear. She stopped and stared, not really believing what she was seeing. She frowned as she heard people slamming doors upstairs, followed by raised voices and running footsteps. She couldn’t catch what they were saying but the tension was contagious. Little by little the sounds increased as more and more of the hotel guests followed suit. 

Selena didn’t believe what she saw, what she heard, but she couldn't stop herself from stuffing her stuff into her suitcase. She convinced herself that she was just doing it now to save time in the morning, but in truth she hadn't planned to check out until noon, which left plenty of time for packing in the morning. She was pretty good at lying to herself though so she kept at it and packed everyting up. That done she sat on the edge of her bed, uncomfortable and edgy. 

The buzzing on the bedside table spurred her to action. Check the phone. That would give her something to focus on. The simple text message shook her far more than the TV broadcast had. She quickly dressed, shrugging on jeans, tossing a t-shirt that read “stand back! I'm going to try science”, shoved her feet (sans socks) into her sneakers, and yanked her long black hair up into a pony tail. She shoved her phone in her pocket, grabbed her bags, and left. 

By now the hotel was weirdly empty. It was eerie, like haunted house eerie, and Selena quickened her pace. She found her rental car untouched and hopped in. She wasn't sure where she was going...the airport maybe? She had to fly out tomorrow. Didn't she?

She felt overwhelmed. She wasn't sure what she was doing, she just didn't feel she should do nothing. Something made her pull her long dagger into the seat next to her. Normally it was just for form, part of her costume, but it was a live weapon and she could use it with some skill.

“Ah hell” she muttered under her breath and turned around and reached for the rest of her weaponry pulling it all into the front seat beside her. 

She still had not turned on the engine, though she knew she ought to. She just felt so lost...like trying to solve an equation full of variables but all the conditions were unknown. There were simply too many possible answers. She grabbed an apple, one of her 'on the plane' snacks and started munching on it as she tried to think through this logically. She would have said she was being stupid, except that so was everyone else. That was nothing new but she felt like they all knew something she didn't. It was not a comfortable feeling and the only thing she could think to do was leave. 

With a sigh she tossed the core out the window, rolled up the windows, locked the doors, and drove off. She wasn't sure where she was going, but she was heading generally towards the airport.