A Sunday morning. A dehydration headache. A gentle breeze coming in through her window.

Nora rolled over and stretched, not quite ready to get out of bed and start the day just yet. It was rare that she had an entire weekend off from work and this just happened to be one of them. But unfortunately what had started out as a fun Saturday night out with friends had turned into...well, she wasn't sure what it was exactly, but suddenly she was fighting with one of her closest friends, which led to crying, which in turn, left her with the headache the morning after that was pounding away at her temples. With one eye open, she peeked at her phone to check the time. 8:19 AM. Not bad for someone who had a hard time sleeping in past six in the morning. Closing her eyes again, she stretched and rolled over once more, ready to let herself snooze for just a little bit longer.

But the universe had other plans.

Pork Chop heard it first. The once-sleeping behemoth of a dog sat up in his bed in the corner of the room and began barking up a storm. Nora opened her eyes and focused, trying to listen for whatever sound might have roused her pup from his sleep. It only took a few moments for her to hear it herself over his barking. A whirring sound, as if something were flying quickly through the air. She sat up in bed and looked around to find that her bedroom was just the way she had left it the night before. She realized that the sound, whatever it was, was growing closer and closer, and then suddenly she spotted it: a glowing green ring zooming around outside her window and flying in through the one she had cracked open the night before to let in some fresh air. "What the…" she spoke softly. She knew a power ring when she saw one, but green? For her? Kara had been a Red Lantern a long time ago, and Nora had had a glimpse of that life earlier in the year; if she never had to wear a power ring again, it would be too soon. She groaned and rubbed her eyes.

"It's too early for this shit," Nora grumbled, her voice groggy with sleep.

She heard the ring zig one way before zagging the other. "Ow!" she cried out, opening her eyes again and grimacing in pain. In an attempt to attach itself to her finger, the ring had instead beaned her right in the forehead as she was pushing her hair out of her face. She glared at the piece of space jewelry as it picked itself off of her bed and flew around again, this time landing on her right middle finger as it had originally intended to. Pork Chop was barking so loudly that she nearly missed the message that ring had come to deliver:

"Nora Saylor of Earth. You have the ability to overcome great fear."

She stared at the glowing green ring on her finger and frowned. Snippets of her conversation with Bea the night before played through her head once again and she felt a knot clench in her stomach.

"Yeah, right," she mumbled. Nora pulled the ring off, opened the drawer on the bedside table to her left, and tossed the ring inside before slamming it shut. She could hear it flying around in the drawer but tried to ignore it as it bounced around its new home. In a desperate attempt for some quiet, she laid down and threw the covers over her head once more, willing herself to get another hour of sleep before she forced herself to face the world once again.