It was a morning quieter than most in Selestra's district, and that usually meant that things were not exactly normal. Plagued by a feeling of uneasiness, the young musician left her rented room at an inn and made her way out into the streets. Finding them to be mostly deserted, she only grew more anxious. Light footsteps were then heard approaching before three children appeared around the corner, seeming to be in quite a hurry. Selestra called to them, inquiring if they knew what had happened. To her dismay, they only stared at her for a second before continuing on their way without a word. She was certain that most of the children in this part of town were familiar with her and enjoyed her performances, and what had just taken place caused her to believe that something was very wrong. She decided to follow the children, and made her way in the direction they had run off in. She finally came to where a large group of people were gathered and talking among themselves. As she neared the group, a middle-aged woman turned and pointed an accusing finger at her.
"There she is, the little trickster! I always knew that she would cause us harm one day. So many of you were taken in by her charms, including my son. Now, he has vanished with the rest of them!"
Selestra could only be confused and alarmed at her words as the rest of the people started shouting similar allegations at her. "I am fairly certain that I have nothing to do with whatever you are accusing me of. If any of you could simply explain-"
"Liar!" The woman cut her off. "Arrest her and make her confess, make her tell us where they are!"
Several guards pushed through the crowd and started to stride towards her. Selestra's eyes widened, quickly coming to realize how much trouble she was in. She instinctively turned and ran, knowing that the guards were giving chase when she heard the quickening of their footsteps. With her amazing agility, she scaled low walls, leaped over small obstacles, and darted around corners to escape them. She gave them quite a challenge, and managed to lose many of them. However, she eventually found herself cornered in an alley as two guards approached her. Trapped, she had no other option but to use a spell. She quickly muttered a few words under her breath before blowing one of the guards a kiss. The other was puzzled for a short moment, and just as he realized what she was doing, his partner hit him in the head, knocking him unconscious. The charmed guard walked up to her and took her by the shoulders.
"Are you alright, my dear lady?"
Selestra nodded. "What is going on here? Why has everybody turned on me?"
"The melody from a flute that was played through the town the night before, it took many of its residents away. We do not know where they are or what has happened to them. Everybody believes that you are an accomplice of whoever was responsible for this," the guard replied.
Selestra was distressed by the answer. Granted, she was rather notorious among some for her mischievousness, but she would never want to put this town through what she had been told had taken place. One thing was for certain, and that was that she could not solve this right now, whatever the solution might be. Her spell was going to wear off soon, and she had to escape before it did.
"Could you give me some time to leave town?" She asked the guard.
"Certainly, my lady," was his response before he stepped out of the alley and called to the other guards.
She then heard a shout of "I saw her go this way!", and the sound of running footsteps. Once they could no longer be heard, she snuck out of the alley and warily made her way back to the inn. She climbed the walls of the building and through the window of her room, and immediately grabbed a bag once she was inside her room. She hastily filled the bag with her belongings, after which she left through the same window. By the time the guard would snap out of her spell and realize that he had been charmed by her, she would be gone from the town.
