I never thought one year ago that I would say this, but Kara Martins is now a guest under our roof.

The three of us met with Richard Rohrbaugh and the Administrators of the Galacia Terraworlds and decided to shut down our dymensional planes on May 18, the day that the rest of the Cabotton faculty are going to join the other UEC chapters in the multinational general strike.

I need to emphasize that this will be achieved by having daemons block every port entry into each Terraworld plane and state that the dymensional plane is closed. They will also be capable of casting barrier spells to prevent avatars from being able to cross into the dymensional plane in defiance.

We will also be casting a forcefield over each dymensional plane preventing Questors from being able to use their spells and preventing them from being able to operate airships and ships as well as maps and navigating tools.

So the affected dymensional plane in each case will be dead.

Kara Martins is at the head of this, much to the dismay of Peter Crane, who was now trying to have the Third Level Society formally ban her. For the record, Kara was not officially banned before, only just ran away. Peter wants to make it official.

But the Caucus voted against it. Kara Martins is here to stay. Furthermore, the striking Galacia Terraworlds have been joined by their Divineworlds and Underworlds, as well as the Cresca Terraworlds, Prestia Divineworlds and Underworlds, and all the worlds of Parradin and Marlen.

***

Kara filled us in a bit on her personal life between herself and Peter Crane since she had left Cabotton last year. She immediately went back to her family up in the province of Gymia, where she signed up for a group known as the Blue Mark Spellcrafters' Legion, apparently some sort of group that serves as protection for those dwelling and traveling through rural areas. The Legion is a non-profit organization but pays members to go on certain missions, like rescue missions if needed, and utilize specialized spellcrafting skills for various needs.

I do not know much about this organization, but it sounds like some sort of a neat career opportunity for a prospective spellcrafter.

In any case, Kara Martins signed up and spoke to Peter about it, enticing him to come home. But Peter did not want to because he had just won the Dungeonmaster position. Kara then tried to get Peter and serve as a Dungeonmaster for maybe one or two years, and then to move back to Gymia, which was where Peter came from as well. But Peter refused to make promises; and I guess that led to some arguments and disagreements.

The epitome of their strain came when, after having accepted a lucrative and challenging gig from the Blue Mark, Kara had received her letter stating that her spellcrafting license had been suspended, forcing her to surrender her membership with the Blue Mark and to look for another form of employment. She told Peter about her predicament, and Peter told her to come back to Cabotton so that she could possibly work under him as an Administrator.

But Kara was having none of that. She had decided at that point that she no longer wanted anything to do with the Society, and started calling Peter a conformist. Peter was quite offended by that and broke off the relationship, asking her to never contact him again. For a short time, Kara was determined to never have anything to do with Cabotton University again.

And then came emerging news of the strike, not only the general strike but also the group of Third Level Society employees willing to join in the strike against Peter.

Kara Martins, as unhinged as she seemed to be in the past, shared one common interest with the rest of us, and that is her unwavering support for the power of the collective bargain. I was surprised when I came to this realization about her as a potential ally, but here we are.

It's amazing how things change.

***

The strike starts in fifteen days. The UEC chapters are giving every opportunity for the Global Academy Board of Trustees to negotiate and avoid this potentially world-altering event. But thus far, they have been stubborn.