"There they are again!" shouted Meghan's avatar, as she started arming her talisman.

They were literally "tentacle things," whatever they were. We were on a quest on the high seas of Planet Arturia proper to stop them, for disrupting multiple shipments from the White Snail Guild. And these "tentacle things" were vicious. On their first confrontation with us, they quite nearly destroyed our little skiff. "Shit! We should've brought a fleet-escort. I'm sorry for not listening, Meghan."

"No time for that now-" started Meghan's avatar before another thud cut her off.

Something in the corner of my eye made me spin around and quickly arm my talisman. For a moment, I was proud of myself for having acquired such a quick skill, for this "tentacle being" had eyes all around its circular head and razors on its many "tentacles," enabling it to climb onto the deck. I was now face-to-face with a formidable enemy.

But that was when my confidence fell short. When it started shooting high-level spellfire discharges, my shield, which I thought was the strongest of all that I had armed myself with in quick fashion, was pierced instantly. My avatar took many hit points and was very close to having to re-spawn all the way in the North of Cresca. It hit me again, and my avatar was incapacitated.

Just when I thought I had to respawn soon, Meghan's avatar came up to me and kissed me. Suddenly, I was restored.

Another thud rocked the skiff, followed by two more. "We're taking on water!" Meghan's avatar said. "We gotta go!"

I was just about to form a lifeboat quickly out of spellmatter when she tugged on my arm and said, "Just disengage!"

Tapping the spot on my wrist, I followed suit. And before long, Meghan and I were back through the Immersion Console into her room.

"What was that?" I asked.

"We failed...again."

"Meghan," I said, touching her arm. "This is only your second day. Don't be so hard on yourself." I had been there, waiting for her to come out of the Bookkeeper Office with a large grin on her face, finally a Member of the Society. She had affirmed what Aledon had told me earlier: she had tried to join the Society last year but was denied Membership because she was only 17 years of age; she was an early starter. Aledon had tried to petition for an exemption for her at that time, and the Caucus came close but ultimately voted it down. Meghan was not a quitter, though; she frequented the meetings and viewing ports, and took in what she could. A good friend of hers had been courteous enough to set up a custom dymensional plane for her to build up her avatar. She imported the avatar, skills and all, into the Arturian Realm yesterday... "Also," I added. "I meant: what was that? The kissing part?"

"The Kiss of Healing," Meghan replied. "I actually crafted that just yesterday."

"For an early-timer, you're doing exceptionally well," I said.

"Thank you," said Meghan with a sigh. "But...we need to take a break. Let's do dinner at the Airfield Diner."

To that I agreed. And before long, we took the trolley to the Gentry County Airfield, where the Diner stood, a place I walked past on my way here but never took a second look at. It was a cozy place, to say the least, but not overly luxurious: a perfect combination for me. There, over our simple yet filling dinner salads, we discussed a lot of subjects, including the falling-out with Monika Rhodes, who gave Aledon a hard time after he petitioned last year for Meghan's Membership, even after the effort failed.

"It's a fault of hers," Meghan explained. "And I completely understand why many people would come to hate her so much. But for me, that particular problem is water under the bridge. I mean, last year, I was one of the youngest students to enroll. I'm a Music Major, by the way, Piano and Organ. And normally, I would say that they all seemed to have me enroll here. But lately, I've realized that saying even that was a bit arrogant - by the way, please don't tell anyone what I told you. Frankly, I've been keeping quiet about it. And that's because some day, the notion of me being unusually young will also be water under the bridge. Even now, I'm eighteen so... let's just say something from last year is not something I am interested in drawing attention to."

"I never asked yet," I said. "Where are you from?"

"Complicated story," said Meghan. "I was actually born here, then moved to Caylor when I was six years old. However, my great-grandma lives on the upper floor of 124 West Mason Street."

"The first meeting place of University Council."

"Yep. Very friendly if you wanted to meet her."

"So...why room on Campus when you could just room with her?"

"She said that she would consider having me take over that place when she was either gone or no longer able to live there," said Meghan. "And that was by invitation from her. I never asked. But she did not immediately have a concrete plan just yet. And it is her place of residence first. Also, it would be an even longer walk to where I practice, or where I live, as we musicians joke."

Suddenly, my mind had a moment of curiosity. "Are you going to be practicing after this?" I asked.

"Oh..." said Meghan, slightly taken aback. "Actually, yes. Why do you ask?"

"Mind if I go with you? I'd like to see you in action."

Meghan paused for a moment. "Usually, a practice session like that is a moment of solitude for me. But...sure, you can sit in."

Not much was said after that, but she did glance at me more frequently. And I thought that she showed a slight smile once or twice. Whether it was from me blushing or not, I wasn't sure. And I wasn't sure how she felt about me blushing in the first place. All in all, though, she accepted my request to watch her music-making in action. Before long, we finished our salads, paid for them, and took the trolley back to the University. It was a long and peaceful walk back to the Music Hall.

The rumors were right about the Music Hall being a complicated maze of hallways and rooms, a mix of both in our reality plane and those in granular planes. I could have gotten lost in here, were I to venture on my own. But Meghan explained that the regulars knew the layout of the place exactly. And sure enough, after several flights of stairs and a long series of twists and turns, we passed into a granular plane and into a chamber that was larger on the inside than what it would have looked like from the outside. Inside, the lights were low as starlight poured in from the windows, which were not visible from outside. At the foot of the chamber was a large organ with a solitary music stand illuminated by bright yellowish-orange light. Meghan climbed up to the chair in front of it, where I was surprised to see how short she was, indeed. Despite this, her feet could reach the pedals. She was just about to show me a warm-up routine when suddenly, she spun around toward me and asked, "Are you crushing on me?"

I could feel my face going brick-red, from my neck and chin to my ears. "I...never thought you'd jump to that. Actually...yes."

Meghan shook her head with a laugh. "It's always guys that end up bending over to kiss my feet. It's rarely a woman." She came up very close to me. "And I'm not going to lie. I find you exceptionally attractive. I thought you were showing signs of mutual feelings, but I thought it was confirmation bias. Your decision to come with me to this practice room...that was the tipping point. So I figured I would just straight-up ask.

So I explained everything, everything from the moment I first met her on the airship, from the moments I shared with her thus far, including the quests and the times aside. After a moment, she put her fingers upon my lips to stop me from talking. "If you love me so much, give me a kiss."

The comment caught me off guard for a moment. But then, seeing nothing wrong, I gave her a small kiss. And she returned it with an even bigger one.

***

It turned out that Maggie and Bernard oversaw the quest between Meghan and me, everything including the Kiss of Healing, through a viewing console. Maggie spoke to my brother, Aledon, about this. Thus, I walked into a room full of speculation. After many moments of metaphorical poking and prodding, I admitted everything to them, including the romantic fling in Meghan's practice room.

Aledon seemed surprised at first but then voiced understanding over how Meghan and I would get along.

As for Maggie, she was scolded by Madison and Elisabeth after telling them, for being too nosy in other people's business. That was why Maggie, later on, came up to me and apologized, meaning she meant to "snitch" on me in a friendly way. I let her off the hook on this one.

The conversation turned a little more serious, though, when Aledon mentioned how Layda Marrows was initially on his side over the age exception thing for Meghan. But now Layda is clearly on Monika's side, especially over this particular issue.

The Dungeonmaster election is tomorrow. All Ticketer polls show a slight majority supporting Aledon in re-election. It's close, though.