Since the beginning, our team here at the Pelican's Plume knew that this issue would be different from our previous three: we had to say goodbye to our advisor, Mrs. Elisabeth Kramp, founder of the Plume and dear mentor to many in the masthead. It would be no exaggeration to say that we wouldn't have made it this far without her guidance. But also, with this new issue, new people and new ideas came to refresh the publications, from a new and great advisor in the person of Megan Jauregui Eccles to the decision to create an online companion for the journal (the Perch ); this was a season of change. And that leands us to our chosen theme for this issue: Reckoning . A strong and imposing term. How else could it be when faced with the consequences of one's life? Our contributors didn't disappoint. In this issue, you will be transported to tales of bloody treason or embedded with the sourness of broken love, in settings from the desolate landscape of the Arctic to the ghost-ridden river banks of Mexico. You will experience the dark recesses of the soul, the crossroads of life, the catharsis of tragedies painfully felt; but above all, you will experience the human condition--in all its fluorescent greys and reddened pitfalls. -Eduardo Jáuregui Martinez & Guillermo De La Fuente, Co-Editors-in-Chief Contributors include: Abigail Alsop, Margaret Alvine, Karla Elizabeth Avila, Kevin Blakeslee, Katy Campbell, Aaron Alejandro Cantu, Sofia Carbonell, Hannah Clark, Donald Conklin, George Cookie Guillermo De La Fuente, Tony Garcia-Meyer, Joseph Gruber, Samantha Gutierrez, Ezekiel Huber, Eduardo Jáuregui, David Johnson, Gemma Giovanna Paulina Kerekes, Sophia Klein, Lucy Knoell, Cecilia Lemanowicz, Kaylie Manville, Trinity Mette, Ante Kresimir Marovic, Daniel Muguiro Olagaray, Noah Polito, Dominic Quirk, Heidi Ranschaert, Isabella Rentmeeester, Angelo Mercelino Riodique, Amira Sain, Hadriel Erasmo Salinas, Sophia Sariego, Patrick Schloss, Rachel Simmons, Maridie Sturkie, Melina Tomlinson, and Cormac Tully