Back at the Greenhouse this morning, Dr. Jaynes looked over my granular plane reports. For the first time, he looked up and said to me, "This place is ready for the Bees."

"Thank God," I said aloud before I could stop myself.

Dr. Jaynes chuckled at that. "I know the feeling, Maxima.... It's all a matter of finding the beekeepers, though. With OCEA being the open-source project that it is, you can't one hundred percent trust a claim to be legitimate. So make sure you're going to the University Library and reaching out to reliable contacts."

"Of course," I replied courteously. "And what about the Arnold Stamp thing?" OCEA was ablaze this week, with Headmaster-elect Stamp announcing that he would begin having businesses offer "private charter classes," which would supposedly be accepted as internal academic credit transfers. It had been giving everyone a foreboding sense of more things to come.

"Definitely not someone who should've won the vote for Headmaster, I will admit," said Jaynes sadly. "But right now, it doesn't look terribly likely that everything would be privatized. If it came to that, my advice for you would be to follow the syllabus as best you can and carry out your agenda independently.... In the meantime, let's stick to the usual class plan."

On my way back to my living suite, my thoughts turned to the Third Level Society. It had been a while since I went questing with my avatar, as my membership had been suspended until just a couple of weeks ago. And since I was reinstated, I quested only three times: once with Meghan and twice with my brother. Meghan had been much busier lately, practicing more often than questing. Of course, she was now in the upper division of her music studies, being assigned a more intense workload. So I pulled out my comm tab and texted them both.

Meghan did not reply at the moment, but Aledon did. "About that... I need to talk to you," his message read.

Aledon and I met in the Slack for lunch, during which he explained himself. "Basically...I need to step away and finish my studies. I am graduating in less than two months, and I need to get ready for my West Horizon job."

"Of course," I said, dejected. I knew that he would have no time to quest once he started his job next spring. Yet I was hoping he would set aside a little extra time to make up for what he would miss next year. What I had failed to consider, though, was that not only would he be burdened with exit exams and such; he was also feeling that he had outgrown the Society. He fulfilled the Dungeonmaster role already, and, possibly quite literally, everyone was younger than him. He mentioned that feeling a few times, and it reminded me of reading about the Society's history, where Ivella Ogden herself was described as experiencing the same feelings. In fact, I've been feeling that I would eventually experience the same thing when my time came.

I should have seen it coming.

"I know you're upset," said Aledon. "This doesn't mean I hate the Society, though. So keep me posted."

"It's just that...it's you, Meghan, Otto.... Has being a Dungeonmaster ever felt lonely to you?"

"If I said 'no,' I would be lying," Aledon answered honestly. "But you do have Admins working for you. And you will have Heather...if you can get her to join."

***

Heather, honestly, had been hesitating. She loves the political anti-Stamp leanings that everyone in the Third Level Society seems to convey. But, to my surprise, she seemed shy to join. She seemed fascinated by the whole concept of creating an avatar and questing across different worlds and time eras. But... I'm thinking she might be a little anxious about performance judgments, or even about overall social judgment. "I'll think about it," she keeps telling me.

She's very supportive, though. I almost bowed out of the Dungeonmaster race not long after my last entry. Monika was relentless in blaming me, Aledon, and our social circle for "sowing paranoia," thereby unknowingly contributing to Stamp's cause. Her logic on that is, admittedly, a little bit of a mystery to me. But it had its effect, particularly on me and Aledon, which I suspect was a major factor in Aledon's decision to effectively "retire" from the Society. Heather convinced me, though, through a passionate, maybe even slightly angry, pep-talk to stay in this race. And it did pay off.

Monika had a very reactionary agenda against mine, even though mine is rather basic. My agenda, by the way, has consisted of establishing an open platform to keep the Society informed in real time about Stamp's actions, as well as a financial plan to support the standalone blockworlds and another to prepare the Society for Stamp's onslaught next year.

Everyone around me has been saying that I won the Dungeonmaster vote "by a landslide" since just under two-thirds of Society Membership voted for me. While I acknowledged the win and am now preparing for my role starting next year, I am trying to be careful not to boast. The Society, especially in the face of Stamp, absolutely cannot afford to have a Dungeonmaster that is divisive like that.