Late on the night of September 16, I fell asleep in my bed, in my living suite, with Meghan cuddled in my arms. When I woke up on the morning of September 17, she was already up and in the kitchen. I realized that she couldn't sleep any better than me - not after what happened the night before.

Outside my bedroom, Meghan was in the living room sipping coffee while Aledon was in the kitchen making another coffee for himself. Both looked up at me for a moment, then both resumed staring, seemingly into the void.

No one said a word.

Aledon, last night, was not engaging in conversations. "No" was all he had said when I began bringing up House Elector votes. Either that or "water under the bridge" or "the election is over." He appeared to be in that mood still, albeit now with obvious circles under his eyes. And I was not going to engage in that talk.

It was at this point that I needed to spend time away from the University. "I'll be flying to North Kempton tonight to spend the night," I said. "And I'll be taking the day off tomorrow. Anyone care to join?"

"I just need to stay in my room," said Aledon, not looking up at me.

"I need to practice," said Meghan. "You enjoy."

So I packed an overnight bag and traveled to Gentry County Airfield, alone, the first time separate from Meghan in nearly a year now. I could tell by the looks on their faces that some of the passersby here were University students. Clearly stunned. Some, also Cabotton students, had smug grins. I took care to not engage with any of them. I needed to be in a social cone of silence at the moment.

Before long, I boarded a gyroplane. The flight went by quickly, owing to what my mind was on. When I landed, I took a tram to my parents' house. There in the living room sat my father in the rocking chair. He had the same hair color that I did, though beginning to grey and bald on top, and at the moment, he was dressed in a casual business shirt and jeans. "Taking a break from it all?" he said, rising from the chair and hugging me.

"For now," I said with a sigh.

I entered my old bedroom, furnished with a nice bed, walls lined with decorative wallpaper, and a vaulted ceiling from which hung a ceiling fan. It was late afternoon by the time I arrived here, and so shafts of light from the sun beginning to make its way toward the horizon poured in through both sets of windows to my right so as to give my room a dramatic appearance.

And everything was the way I left it.

Slowly, I sank into the downy mattress of my bed and pulled out my comm tab, dreading what I would see. Sure enough, Heather Walker was speaking the same thing on chat that I tried to say to Aledon last night when he silenced me. "One Elector made the difference," she messaged. "And the majority voted against him."

"Water under the bridge, Heather," I typed in reply. "The election is over. Stamp is Headmaster, starting January 2."

"I might drop out of the University, at this point. I haven't joined the Society, but I would love to do that at some point. I'll need time to help you guys relocate."

"Let's not make any rash decisions just yet." Although, inwardly, I began to agree with what Heather was typing.

Suddenly, a one-on-one chat window came up with a message from Aledon. For a moment, I dreaded that he was going to be complaining about Heather and suspect me of having enticed her, especially when his message read two words: "Call me."

"Hey," said Aledon with a soft, dejected tone of voice when he answered my call.

"I'm sorry about Heather just now..." I began.

"What? No, I'm not even looking at the chat right now. Don't worry," he replied with a slight chuckle. Switching to a more serious tone, he continued. "Are you at Mom and Dad's right now?"

"I am."

"Are you gonna come back tonight? Or are you...?"

"I'm taking the day off tomorrow. I'll catch up on my schoolwork."

"Understandable. Don't linger too long tomorrow, though. I don't know if you remember the Bookkeeper meeting-"

"Shit!" I exclaimed. I couldn't believe I forgot. Last week, we got a group message from Bookkeeper Swann stating that there would be a hearing on our membership suspension thing, to take place in the Caucus Chamber on Monday, September 18. We had a good argument backed by our team of Advocates. Monika's case had been frivolous; even though we had meetings against her, our plans consisted solely of informing other Members of the dangers of being silent on Stamp, and nothing that would violate Society policies.

"And now that Stamp has won," continued Aledon, "people are really starting to round on Monika. I don't have access to the Ticketer either, Maxima. But some Member-friends have been making me aware...now's our chance to vote her out..."

"Are you sure that you can handle another year as Dungeonmaster, especially if you're starting a job at West Horizon next year?"

"I wasn't talking about me..."

"Wait..." I began, stammering. "I'm only a sophomore...and we're already in mid-September. Isn't the Dungeonmaster election this November? There wouldn't be time."

"I think you're mistaken. It's actually next week," said Aledon. "I know we talked about how they used to pick their Dungeonmasters every November during the early years, but I think I misspoke. That was 100 years ago. They've done them every 22nd week since that time. This year, that means September 24."

"So less than a week. How do you expect me to campaign in less than a week?"

"Normally, I would say that was impossible. But no one has been running against Monika; everyone is absolutely livid about her. Anyone but her would make a decent Dungeonmaster as far as most Members are concerned; and...promise not to be nervous...there apparently were even calls for you to run, Maxima. You are my sister, after all."

***

Those words of advice from my brother I had to think on for a bit. Meanwhile, I left home early today and returned to the University in time to attend the Caucus Chamber hearing before Vera Swann, a lady fair in both appearance and personality. Within the hour, she ruled against Monika's claims against me, Aledon, and everyone else involved and turned the case over to the Caucus for a vote.

Two-thirds of them voted to reinstate us.

Seeing that, Monika and Sara tried to hold a pep-talk on the side to rally support for themselves. A couple dozen people flocked to her, but aside from that, popularity seemed to be a struggle for her.

I did not go to class today, but I did set to work typing up an OCEA post featuring my agendas as a Dungeonmaster. After a couple proofreads from Meghan and myself, I published this post on the Ticketer, which received over 100 reactions within a few minutes.

So Aledon may have been right. Though the prospect of being a Dungeonmaster, with its monumental duties, did admittedly leave a pit in my stomach.

"I feel like it won't be so bad for someone like you," assured Meghan, who put a hand on my shoulder.

"I will certainly have a lot to learn, though," I said.

"I know you're capable. You have a bright path ahead of you.... It's the University, as a whole, that I'm worried about. I know that you have it in you, though, to help us all face this together."