I'm still reeling from having lost Kara Martins.

She didn't die or get locked away or anything like that.

Well, let me just write down what happened.

So she, Dyla, and I went to the Arbitrator Office as scheduled back on June 16. The Arbitrator accepted all the documentation needed and said that she would submit all the documentation to the Basin District to be reviewed and that it would be a week or two before we heard back.

The Arbitrator called us back on June 27. And during that meeting, she informed Dyla and Kara that the documentation was accepted and that both of their licenses would be given back to them when the renewal date of January 2, 1286 came to pass.

Having to wait until that date was a bit inconvenient, something that Dyla begrudgingly accepted. But Kara's reaction was completely different.

I don't know if she did not understand this or was expecting to be given a convenient exception, but Kara was shocked that she would have to wait until that renewal date. She started demanding her license back immediately. And when the Arbitrator explained how that was not possible, Kara called her a derogatory name.

That alone was enough to get the bailiffs to arrest her then and there. And that is not to say that Kara did not get physical.

In fact, she did.

The altercation was so intense that Dyla was a bit scared afterward. Ultimately, the Arbitrator submitted some sort of official complaint to the Gentry County court, and a judge there ordered Kara to spend the weekend in jail.

During that altercation, Kara actually started blaming Dyla for "setting her up on this." When we got back to our dormitory, Dyla was still a bit shaken up and felt alienated by Kara. I tried to explain to Dyla how that reaction was quite possibly a symptom of "the Burden." But then over the course of Saturday and Sunday, some friends and family of Kara's came knocking on our door, going in to pick up Kara's stuff. Apparently, Kara had become convinced that Dyla and I were "colluding with the local government to repress her," and resolved to no longer room with us.

Up to that point, we had been trying to appeal the ban that Peter Crane had placed on Kara. It had been an exhausting battle because Peter has been stubborn about banning Kara. We were having a hard time trying to find Members brave enough to petition against Peter. So that Sunday night after Kara's stuff was moved out, Dyla felt that perhaps it was better to just have Peter have his way with Kara and the ban. I told Dyla once again that this may just be the Burden affecting her and that this all may blow over.

On Monday September 2, Richard Rohrbaugh came to us with a flyer made by Kara accusing both Dyla and I of collaborating with Ceri Mains to sway the masses in harmful ways during the strike. And then on Tuesday, Kara Martins herself showed up outside our dormitory window and began throwing rocks. When Dyla's bedroom window shattered, I called the Campus Watch.

I still remember watching from my bedroom window shaking my head as the Campus Watch slapped handcuffs on Kara and escorted her away.

That week, Cabotton University Affairs, which I was surprised was still open during the strike, formally expelled Kara from the University. Then the Gentry County Court decided to have her banned from the County.

That loss Dyla and I are bearing with great fortitude considering also the issue with Richard Rohrbaugh.

Richard had been getting pretty close with the both of us, especially with me, in quite a pushy way. Recently, he had been praising us for apparently good leadership skills during this whole ordeal. He told Dyla to try running for the Dungeonmaster position again. When she backed from that, Richard suggested that I make the pitch. I kind of hesitated as well.

But then one evening, Richard sent me a ticker message asking to meet with him, just me and him, at the Slack. I told him that the Slack was closed due to the strike. He did not press further on the meetup that day. I told Dyla about it, and we laughed it off.

It was this past Friday when he approached me in the lobby of Fleming House with flowers, and told me that he wanted to spend "close and quality time with me." That was when I took a more serious approach to him, and told him politely but bluntly that I was not interested.

I told Dyla about that as well. I felt a bit guilty afterward, fearing that I had been too blunt with Richard, but Dyla assured me that I had a right to take a firm stance.

I agree with her, but now I am concerned of a possible fallout from Richard because he has been silent and absent ever since. Furthermore, I am not sure whether Richard, himself, said something or there was a bystander in the Fleming House lobby, but somehow word of what happened reached the ears of the lovely Robert Sievert. I think that Robert Sievert is making this up completely, but he is saying that Richard is now "leaving the front line because he is heartbroken."

Dyla is saying that Robert is twisting the truth. I hope she is right.