The second debate had been brutal.
Verelia dismantled Kaelen's vague leadership promises with surgical precision. She challenged Veldrin's inflexibility in front of the entire student body, exposing the cracks in his rigid methodology.
And Aurelia...
Aurelia had performed exactly as expected, polished, confident, leveraging her name and experience.
But Alaric's groundwork had paid off. Other candidates, prompted by carefully planted conversations, pressed her on. On conflicts of interest. On whether her policies served students or not.
She'd handled it well. But seeds of doubt had been planted.
The crowd left divided. No clear victor. Which meant momentum hadn't shifted decisively toward anyone.
Good enough.
After the debate, Alaric met briefly with Verelia. They reviewed performance, identified areas for improvement, adjusted strategy for the final week. Cold analysis, no celebration. Just work.
