Balance Sheets for the four quarters Essay Example for Free

Balance Sheets for the four quarters Essay To evaluate how I utilized both budgets and pro-formas to ensure the adequacy of funds for providing production capacity that was needed to achieve the businesses goals. I want to first start with the definition of both pro-forma and budget; A budget is a basic idea that covers more than a few areas, all in all its a financial plan that is made to control costs for operations and results. It can be expressed in a multitude of numerical terms, it also can cover a certain period of time, short, intermediate and long term goals. A pro-forma is also a financial statement but it is prepared based upon assumptions of specific events and transactions that will hopefully occur in the Future, so basically a projected estimate using historical data to form a hypothesis of A financial outcome. The importance of both the pro-forma and budget were huge. Knowing going into the simulation how much seed money was going to be issued and how much additional money was coming in future investments, gave me an idea of how aggressive or conservative I could be. I was able to to set with an initial idea of how much I could spend for each factor needed moving forward. I was able to understand how much to market, how much to hire and how much I could afford for each of these tasks, as well as how much was coming into pay for future marketing and hires. Without advertising there are no customers, without a good sales and service staff there are no sales, or an ability to take care of the customer. In the opening quarter of the company I had a 2 million dollar start-up fund. My upfront expenses were approximately $530,000. I also chose to invest in a 3 month CD about $880,000, I made sure in my first endeavor to keep money available and not to over indulge. I took similar approaches going into each additional quarter; thereafter I wouldreview what was spent and estimate what was coming in and at that point I would hire more employees, adjust and raise benefits and increase marketing. My sales force and marketing expenses doubled from quarter two to quarter three and rose another 49 percent from quarter three to quarter four. These two factors in my opinion are the biggest of a profitable company, as sales and marketing grow and increase your company will thrive. At the end of each quarter I would review the results in these areas and make assessments on how much additional advertising I needed based upon sales numbers of the individual computers Mercedes and the Traveler. Based upon production and the competition I would review to see if I was going to increase the sales force and the compensation plan. The overall outcome of both areas had my company in NWL as the top employers at 83 out of a maximum 84 Score; also in regards to marketing effectiveness in NWL my company had a 92 out of a 97 maximum Score thats how I used the budget and pro-forma to help NWL achieve its goals. B.2. To evaluate how I employed Just In Time or JIT and Lean Operations to improve operating efficiency in my manufacturing facility, again as part of moving forward I want to define these two strategies before I explain how I use them. A) Just In Time or JIT is a production strategies to improve a business return on investment ROI by reducing in-process inventory as well as the associated carrying cost. This is done by only receiving goods as they are needed in the overall process, this helps cut overall inventory costs. B) Lean Operations simply supplies a customer with exactly what the customer needs when and only when the customer wants it without waste with this constant improvement, the emphasis and focus is on understanding the customer. Both JIT and Lean Operations can help with the overall increase of return on investment or ROI. In regards to how my simulation for NWL worked with these strategies, I would say in NWL ran overly Lean to a fault. I ran my operation capacity at 65 and my fixed capacity at 75 which was the second lowest of my competitors on both accounts. This was a huge negative for my company since it cost me over 2100 in lost sales. This would have increased my sales by approximately 33 percent which would have lowered the overall production costs and increase profits. I finished number 2 in sales with thehighest average price of computer. With a 33 percent increase in sales had I run a better production operation I would have had a lager profitability for a already profitable simulation. I did not key into the right places when I reviewed the early production numbers which cost me when it came to changing Operating and Fixed Capacities. I was overly cautious and my end result was indicative of this and caused big loses for NWL. B.3. Work Cells vs Traditional Straight Line Production. A Work Cell is defined to be a arrangement of machines and personnel that focuses on making a single product or family related products. Traditional Straight Line Production Is the standard assembly line style of manufacturing. Work may start in one department until that phase is complete. Then the product moves onto the next department for the next phase and the next and so on. The major difference between the two is efficiency and cost differentials. In a work cell method there are a multitude of benefits, from a reduction in work area needed, speed of production completion and number of associates needed just to name a few. All of which are in line with the thought process of JIT and Lean Operations which in turn increases ROI (return on investment). Five distinct advantages in the work cell vs the assembly line (1)Tasks are grouped, therefore inspections can be immediate. (2)Fewer workers are needed because of cross training. (3)The workers can access more of the work area. (4)Work areas are more efficiently balanced. (5)Enhanced communication based upon the shape of the work cell. These advantages can help lead to fewer employees reaching higher production numbers. Which in the simulation could have led to smaller start-up companies making more cost efficient production goals happen along with how well a micro computer company could make a work cell arrangement payoff positively. B.4. Evaluation of decisions involving inventory management in the Marketplace Simulation Inventory is defined as raw materials, work-in-progress goods and completely finished goods that are considered to be the portion of the businesses assets that are ready or will be ready for sale. Inventory represents one of the most important assets that most companies possess, because the turnover of inventory represents one of the primary sources of revenue generation and subsequent earnings for the company. In the marketplace simulation NWL was not very successful at inventory management in the attempt to run Just-in-Time (JIT) and Lean Operations, I ended up with sold out product and a enormous loss in sales. The lost sales totaled 50 percent of the total sales, which meant there could have been an additional 33 percent positive sales increase if the inventory was managed properly. These were losses of 1000 Travelers units and 1103 Mercedes units, those totals losses of $3,312,730 in gross profit. That was based upon the final sales and not taking into account any production savings by the increased sales volume. That could have increased gross profit by a minimum of 47 percent, if I had it to do over again paying more attention to the inventories would have been a possible windfall. B.5. A continuous improvement program that could have been used to improve and achieve quality assurance goals could have been either Employee Empowerment or Bench-marking. Employee Empowerment involves employees in every step of the production process. Employees are on the front lines and know what is going on in every aspect and on all fronts. If employees find problems they can fix them or help fix them. Whom better in handling an issue then the ones most familiar with the process, if a shortcoming is found an experienced a periodic quality circle can address it. Its been proven that most quality issues are either material or the process, its not usually the employees performance. If a Bench-marking program were to be implemented, the first step would be to established what the benchmark would be. Examples of which are; Percentage of Defects, Cost per unit processing time, Lost sales due to Out-of-Stocks and Customer Satisfaction Rates. If these type of factors were used in my situation, I would have used either Lost sales due to Out-of-Stocks or Customer Satisfaction Rates. mainly because I would have found out possibly a better way of keeping product in stock which could have reduced lost sales as well as a negative customer satisfaction due to no product. The benchmark team can find out what and how benchmark partners were doing to achieve their sales goals by tracking and keeping product stock, whereas to assure customer satisfaction. Then we could analyze the data from the partners and take the appropriate steps to move beyond and keep the process continually improving. C. Sources Investopedia (2013) A Division of ValueClick â€Å"www.investopedia.com†

Why is the Walt Disney Company so successful Essay Example for Free

Why is the Walt Disney Company so successful Essay As the process of globalization develops continuously, multinational corporations are much more common nowadays which means intercultural communication has become an important part of daily work in thousands of millions of cross-cultural offices. This thesis will mainly concentrate on discussing and analyzing the Walt Disney Company’s experience of intercultural communication and the useful information we can learn from it so that some misunderstandings and problems can be avoided in some business activities. This thesis will discuss and answer the following questions: 1. What is the Walt Disney Company? 2. What is a cross-cultural working environment like in the Walt Disney World Resort, Orlando, Florida? How do the coordinators deal with different employers from different cultures? 3. What happened when Disney first entered French market? What happened when it first entered Japan? What are the cultural reasons behind these different phenomena? 4. Comparing to other multinational corporations like Starbucks and Ikea, what is the advantage of Disney and what can we use for reference from its experience? Some researches have already been done on related subjects such as intercultural communication management, the importance of cross-cultural communication in business, and the effectiveness of intercultural communication in Human Resource area, etc. Based on these researches, however, my view point as a cast member of the Walt Disney World Resort can be creative and objective. Chapter I What is the Walt Disney Company? In this session, a brief introduction of the Walt Disney Company will be given especially the history of its process of globalization when it tried to get into France, Japan and Hongkong China. Chapter â… ¡ College Exchange Program in the Walt Disney World Resort After providing some information of College Exchange Program, I will concentrate on analyzing Disney’s methods of dealing with foreign Cast Members’ culture shock, cultural conflicts, and coordinators’ different training ways according to their different cultural backgrounds. Besides, a survey will be made to collect CPs’ opinions on how to improve the program or how will their future application affect intercultural communication. Chapter â… ¢ How to Deal with the Frustration in France? In this part, I will introduce the history of Disney first entering France and the cultural crisis it came across there. I will illustrate both the efforts and mistakes made by Disney as well. Comparing to the process it first entering Japan, I will try to engage the different cultural backgrounds with these different phenomena. Chapter â… £ Useful References of Disney’s Experience Comparison will be made in this part between Disney and other multinational corporations and some useful references we can get so as to use them to avoid misunderstandings, sometimes even serious problems in business field.

My First Political Impression Politics Essay

My First Political Impression Politics Essay In our country all citizens from children to seniors in some way are involved in the political events.  Every day we watch the news about political developments, we learn about them from television, radio, at work and schools. But every person is involved in political life in different ways.  First of all, it dependents on the specific political situation, the spiritual climate in society, as well as on the state of political system, and the person himself. Interest in politics among youth is different in different countries, but it is understandable that in general most citizens have neither the means nor the opportunity for serious involvement in politics. What affects our participation in the political life of the country?   First of all the Political Socialization agents who are those that influence us throughout our lifetime,: family, school, media, religious and community organizations. lets take a closer look at how Political Socialization agents influence political activity. Family. Politically active parents have more interested in politics and children who are also showing more confidence in political institutions.  Political socialization by parents is the most effective in relation to political attitudes and ideological orientation of young people.   Influence of school.  The more active young people at school, the more active they are outside school, and after graduation.  Structures of possible political participation in schools reinforce youth interest in politics, and also peers most strongly influence the political behavior of young people. The influence of mass media.  There is a link between the choice of certain media and political activity of youth.  Those young people who read newspapers or use the Internet, are engaged in a wide range of political activities and are more active. Passive media perception, like television and radio, leads to a lower level of political participation.  Ã‚  The older people are, the more closely they follow the policy through the mass media. Some people are actively involved in the activities of political parties, political movements, interest groups and so on.  Others are characterized by alienation and indifference to the public sphere. The primary and, as experience shows, the best form of political participation for the majority of the population are elections to representative bodies. So my most bright political impression was presidential election process in the year 2008, though it was the most significant political event of the last years. Americans are more likely to vote of any other nation in the world.  Since the age of 18 they are entitled to elect a president, senators, congressmen, members of state legislatures, governors, mayors, judges, sheriffs, and so on. So the president election in the year 2008 was the main event in the life of the country,that nobody was indifferent to. The year 2008 was special in n the electoral history of the United States.  For the first time in state history a president could become a man or a woman, for the first time in 80 years candidates for this position were neither an incumbent president nor vice president.  And the November 2008 election was both parliamentary and presidential. The main candidate for the U.S. presidency in 2008 from the Democratic Party was the senator from Illinois, an African-American Barack Obama, and from the Republican Party was the senator from Arizona John McCain. These candidates caused a lot of discussions, arguing and political battles. As for me, of course I wasnt indifferent to the political situation in the country. I think that president election is an event that is important for every citizen of the USA, because people choose not only the president, but they choose the future of their country. I watched the political process in the country.  I watched the meetings of voters with the candidates, debates and battles on TV and in the press.  I studied the electoral programs of candidates, in order to know what future they promised to the United States.  People voted by assessing the future changes in their lives and in the development of country.   And what was happening caused the frustration and insecurity among people, as people felt the beginning of the political crisis in the country, and some even had lost confidence in government. One of the fundamental aspects of all social life in the USA is the confrontation and cooperation of the two leading parties of the country: the Democratic and the Republican.  Much of the policy is determined by how the people, the voters consider each of them and what place people take themselves in this two-party system. It was also interesting to know the sociological study of the opinions of voters. Among the factors constraining the decision to vote in 2008, were the age of McCain and Obamas race. I was surprised by that facts, as many voters were against the President being black. According to statistics, 8% of voters believed that Obamas affiliation to African Americans, reduce the effectiveness of his work as head of state.  Although the sociological study of the opinions of voters showed that the country was ready for a black president. Those Americans, for whom religion an important part of their lives, were more likely to vote for McCain than for Obama (50% vs. 40%).  Among the less religious people, for a Democratic candidate were willing to vote 55%, for the Republican 36% of Americans. So, president election is a very important political event in the country, as and also it is important for all people, being involved in the process. When person vote for a certain candidate, he chooses the future of the country, so in some way he influences his life too. So nobody should stay indifferent, and should take active position in this political event in the life of the country. Fair and free elections is the guarantee of the democracy.   While voting for their representatives, people elect the leaders, from which depends the future of the country.   That is why elections confer greater powers of ordinary citizens: the vote makes it possible to have an impact on future government policy, and thus on their future.

Violence, Hatred, and Pain in Fyodor Dostoevskys The Idiot :: Fyodor Dostoevsky The Idiot

Violence, Hatred, and Pain in Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Idiot "There was a look of unbounded pride and contempt, almost hatred, in that face, and at the same time something confiding, something wonderfully simplehearted." There began Prince Myshkin's curiosity of and infatuation with the complex Nastasya Filippovna as he sat in awe of this woman's picture in Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Idiot . This story, set in Russia during the late 1860's, is one of continuous love rivalries which describe the life of the Russian aristocracy during that time period. Prince Myshkin is described as the "ideal" man due to his compassion for everyone and his firm belief that there is a good side to all people. The story begins as Myshkin returns to Petersburg after a stay in a Swiss mental hospital for his epilepsy. Upon arrival in Russia, he visits distant relatives who are quite receptive to him and he ends up staying for a while. While there, he believes he has fallen in love with Nastasya Filippovna and prematurely proposes to her. She first accepts, but then rejects him. Nastasya is the driving force behind the novel and carries the reader, as well as the characters, from scene to scene. The duration of the book consists of Myshkin's quest for happiness and love through which he encounters jealousy for his love and for the love of those who love him. Unfortunately, the tragic end to this book, including the predicted death of Nastasya, causes Myshkin to regress to his former epileptic state. The time directly following Myshkin's first proposal to Nastasya stands out as an extremely memorable moment in the book. At Nastasya's birthday party, several men bring money and begin bidding on her hand in marriage. Eventually, she announces to everyone that she wants to alter her lifestyle and start over as a poor woman. Any man who cannot accept her for who she is, she decides, is not the right man for her. She feels that all men are motivated by greed and that the men will not want her for love, only greed. Myshkin feels that he can love Nastasya for who she is and not for her money and so he proposes to her. She immediately accepts and shocks the rest of the party. One of the other suitors, Rogozhin, offers to give up everything he has for Nastasya and Myshkin encourages her to accept his offer because this sacrifice shows that he truly loves Nastasya.

Magical Realism in Camus’ Black Orpheus and Zakes Mda’s Ways of Dying E

Magical Realism in Camus’ Black Orpheus and Zakes Mda’s Ways of Dying Myth and reality have gone hand in hand in every culture since the beginnings of time because mixing the two is an effective method of teaching values and morals– the modern term for this is â€Å"magical realism.† Because all cultures have mythical representations of life and death and love, the magical realism used in both Marcel Camus’ Black Orpheus and Zakes Mda’s Ways of Dying is effective because, while it is specifically aimed towards either the Brazilian and South African cultures, it can be interpreted by any culture at all because of the universal themes it emphasizes. Mixing magical realism with realistic forms of expression allows a story to be rooted in and yet above humanity. This enables the reader to aspire to the precedents set by the characters while at the same time not feeling that they are entirely out of reach. Dealing with cultural issues through magical realism adds a dreamlike quality to the violence, corruption, and poverty, makin g it more palatable than bald honesty but at the same time adding a touch of familiarity through the common subjects of love, life, and death– the three topics broached by Black Orpheus and Ways of Dying. These cultural themes are approached differently in each but both Camus and Mda address the cultural issues of Brazil and South Africa through the use of magical realism. Black Orpheus is multi cultural before the story even begins, as it is directed by a Frenchman and set in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil– this adds a certain depth to the film that is accentuated greatly by the mix of culture, myth, and reality that is found within the movie itself. By mixing Greek myth, Brazilian custom, and many religions... ... again. Black Orpheus blends Greek and Brazilian culture with a dash of French direction in order to bring the cultural and economic problems of the Rio de Janeiro shanty towns to the global population. Marcel Camus allows people of all cultures to understand the anguish and love that Orpheus and Eurydice endure because these themes are completely universal and span the globe. Similarly, Zakes Mda’s characters Noria and Toloki shine a ray of hope through the miasma of violence that surrounds the South African culture. Mda mixes the man with the myth and uses the same universalness of life and death to transform his characters into cultural icons rather than simple humans. Every culture’s â€Å"ways of dying are [their] ways of living,† and the global themes of love and death and life will continue to invoke feelings of reverence for life, culture, and identity. (Mda, 98)

The Heathen Inside: Darkness, Abjection, and the Colonial Discourse :: Essays Papers

The Heathen Inside: "Darkness," Abjection, and the Colonial Discourse In Romanticism and Colonialism, Tim Fulford and Peter J. Kitson argue that few scholars explicate the relationship between Romantic texts, British colonialism, and imperialism. Fulford and Kitson point out that the "Romantic period is a watershed in colonial history," marking the inception of a British empire based on the political philosophy of the "white man's burden" (3). By reading Romantic texts in the historical and political context of colonialism and imperialism, Fulford and Kitson hope to return Romantic texts "to the context of material, colonial processes contemporaneous with their imagined versions of colonized people and places" (9). In other words, Fulford and Kitson read Romantic texts as reflections of historical reality and as complex, ambivalent responses to colonial and imperial discourse. With the aim of returning Romantic texts to "material, colonial processes," I will read Byron's poem "Darkness" through the lens of Julia Kristeva's conception of abjection. My a bject reading of "Darkness" will then explicate the relationship between the poem and the larger process of British colonialism and imperialism. I will first read "Darkness" for instances of abjection through the lens of Julia Kristeva's 1982 essay, "Approaching Abjection." I will then conclude by addressing the question of how an abject reading of "Darkness" helps to elucidate the complex interplay between Romanticism and British colonial and imperial discourse. Kristeva divides her 1982 essay, "Approaching Abjection," into three main sections. In the first section, "Neither Subject nor Object," Kristeva explains that the abject cannot be defined as either part of the self or as any other definable, tangible person or thing. For Kristeva, the abject seems to "come from an outside or an exorbitant inside" and is "unassimilable" (Kristeva 125). The self ("I") rejects the abject because it comes from outside of the self and is foreign, strange, and beyond reason. Furthermore, abjection is paradoxical in that it has a capacity to both seduce and disgust the self. As Kristeva says, "a pole of attraction and repulsion" (Kristeva 125) characterizes the relationship between the self and the abject. Kristeva also describes abjection as a collection of "effects and thoughts" (Kristeva 125) that escapes meaning and elicits a violent reaction from the self. Meaning collapses around the abject because it is neither subject nor object, neither self nor ot her, both repulsive and attractive: "Not me. Not that. But not nothing either. A 'something' that I do not recognize as a thing" (Kristeva 126).

The Hero And The Crown Part One Chapter 1

To Terri The Hero and the Crown takes place some considerable span of years before the time of The Blue Sword. There are a few fairly dramatic topographical differences between the Damar of Aerin's day and that of Harry's. Part One Chapter 1 SHE COULD NOT REMEMBER a time when she had not known the story; she had grown up knowing it. She supposed someone must have told her it, sometime, but she could not remember the telling. She was beyond having to blink back tears when she thought of those things the story explained, but when she was feeling smaller and shabbier than usual in the large vivid City high in the Damarian Hills she still found herself brooding about them; and brooding sometimes brought on a tight headachy feeling around her temples, a feeling like suppressed tears. She brooded, looking out over the wide low sill of the stone window-frame; she looked up, into the Hills, because the glassy surface of the courtyard was too bright at midday to stare at long. Her mind ran down an old familiar track: Who might have told her the story? It wouldn't have been her father who told her, for he had rarely spoken more than a few words together to her when she was younger; his slow kind smiles and slightly preoccupied air had been the most she knew of him. She had always known that he was fond of her, which was something; but she had only recently begun to come into focus for him, and that, as he had told her himself, in an unexpected fashion. He had the best – the only – right to have told her the story of her birth, but he would not have done so. Nor would it have been the hafor, the folk of the household; they were polite to her always, in their wary way, and reserved, and spoke to her only about household details. It surprised her that they still remembered to be wary, for she had long since proven that she possessed nothing to be wary about. Royal children were usually somewhat alarming to be in daily contact with, for their Gifts often erupted in abrupt and unexpected ways. It was a little surprising, even, that the hafor still bothered to treat her with respect, for the fact that she was her father's daughter was supported by nothing but the fact that her father's wife had borne her. But then, for all that was said about her mother, no one ever suggested that she was not an honest wife. And she would not have run and told tales on any of the hafor who slighted her, as Galanna would – and regularly did, even though everyone treated her with the greatest deference humanly possible. Galanna's Gift, it was dryly said, was to be impossible to please. But perhaps from the hafor's viewpoint it was not worth the risk to discover any points of similarity or dissimilarity between herself and Galanna; and a life of service in a household that included Galanna doubtless rendered anyone who withstood it automatically wary and respectful of anything that moved. She smiled. She could see the wind stir the treetops, for the surface of the Hills seemed to ripple beneath the blue sky; the breeze, when it slid through her window, smelled of leaves. It might very well have been Galanna who told her the story, come to that. It would be like her; and Galanna had always hated her – still did, for all that she was grown now, and married besides, to Perlith, who was a second sola of Damar. The only higher ranks were first sola and king; but Galanna had hoped to marry Tor, who was first sola and would someday be king. It was no matter that Tor would not have had Galanna if she had been the only royal maiden available – â€Å"I'd run off into the Hills and be a bandit first,† a much younger Tor had told his very young cousin, who had gone off in fits of giggles at the idea of Tor wearing rags and a blue headband and dancing for luck under each quarter of the moon. Tor, who at the time had been stiff with terror at Galanna's very determined attempts to ensnare him, had relaxed enough to grin and tell her she had no proper respect and was a shameless hoyden. â€Å"Yes,† she said unrepentantly. Tor, for whateve r reasons, was rather over-formal with everyone but her; but being first sola to a solemn, twice-widowed king of a land with a shadow over it might have had that effect on a far more frivolous young man than Tor. She suspected that he was as grateful for her existence as she was for his; one of her earliest memories was riding in a baby-sack over Tor's shoulders while he galloped his horse over a series of hurdles; she had screamed with delight and wound her tiny hands in his thick black hair. Teka, later, had been furious; but Tor, who usually took any accusation of the slightest dereliction of duty with white lips and a set face, had only laughed. But whenever she decided that it must have been Galanna who first told her the story, she found she couldn't believe it of her after all. Having told it for spite and malice, yes; but the story itself had too much sad grandeur. But perhaps she only felt that way because it was about her mother; perhaps she had changed it in her own mind, made a tragedy of nothing but sour gossip. But that Galanna would deliberately spend enough time in her company to tell her the story was out of character; Galanna preferred whenever possible to look vaguely over the head of the least of her cousins, with an expression on her face indicating that there was a dead fly on the windowsill and why hadn't the hafor swept it away? When Galanna was startled into speaking to her at all, it was usually from a motive of immediate vengeance. The tale of Arlbeth's second wife would be too roundabout for her purposes. Still, that it had been one of the cousins was the best guess. Not Tor, of course. One of the oth ers. She leaned out of the window and looked down. It was hard to recognize people from the tops of their heads, several stories up. Except Tor; she always knew him, even if all she had to go on was an elbow extending an inch or two beyond a doorframe. This below her now was probably Perlith: that self-satisfied walk was distinctive even from above, and the way three of the hafor, dressed in fine livery, trailed behind him for no purpose but to lend to their master's importance by their presence pretty well assured it. Tor went about alone, when he could; he told her, grimly, that he had enough of company during the course of his duties as first sola, and the last thing he wanted was an unofficial entourage for any gaps in the official ones. And she'd like to see her father pulling velvet-covered flunkeys in his wake, like a child with a toy on a string. Perlith's head spoke to another dark head, the hafor waiting respectfully several arms1 length distant; then someone on a horse – she could not distinguish voices but she heard the click of hoofs – emerged from around a corner. The rider wore the livery of a messenger, and the cut of his saddle said he came from the west. Both heads turned toward him and tipped up, so she could see the pale blur of their faces as they spoke to him. Then the horseman cantered off, the horse placing its feet very delicately, for it was dangerous to go too quickly across the courtyard; and Perlith and the other man, and Perlith's entourage, disappeared from her view. She didn't have to hear what they said to each other to know what was going on; but the knowledge gave her no pleasure, for it had already brought her both shame and bitter disappointment. It was either the shame or the disappointment that kept her mewed up in her rooms, alone, now. She had hardly seen her father or Tor for the week past as they wrestled with messages and messengers, as they tried to slow down whatever it was that would happen anyway, while they tried to decide what to do when it had happened. The western barons – the fourth solas – were making trouble. The rumor was that someone from the North, either human or human enough to look it, had carried a bit of demon-mischief south across the Border and let it loose at the barons' council in the spring. Nyrlol was the chief of the council for no better reason than that his father had been chief; but his father had been a better and a wiser man. Nyrlol was not known for intelligence, and he was known for a short and violent temper: the perfect target for demon-mischief. Nyrlol's father would have recognized it for what it was. But Nyrlol had not recognized anything; it had simply seemed like a wonderful idea to secede from Damar and the rule of Damar's King Arlbeth and Tor-sola, and set himself up as King Nyrlol; and to slap a new tax on his farmers to support the raising of an army, eventually to take the rest of Damar away from Arlbeth and Tor, who didn't run it as well as he could. He managed to convince several of his fellow barons (demon-mischief, once it has infected one human being, will usually then spread like a plague) of the brilliance of his plan, while the mischief muddled their wits. There had been a further rumor, much fainter, that Nyrlol had, with his wonderful idea, suddenly developed a mesmerizing ability to sway those who heard him speak; and this rumor was a much more worrying one, for, if true, the demon-mischief was very strong indeed. Arlbeth had chosen to pay no attention to the second rumor; or rather to pay only enough attention to it to discount it, that none of his folk might think he shunned it from fear. But he did declare that the trouble was enough that he must attend to it personally; and with him would go Tor, and a substantial portion of the army, and almost as substantial a portion of the court, with all its velvets and jewels brought along for a fine grand show of courtesy, to pretend to disguise the army at its back. But both sides would know that the army was an army, and the show only a show. What Arlbeth planned to do was both difficult and dangerous, for he wished to prevent a civil war, not provoke one. He would choose those to go with him with the greatest care and caution. â€Å"But you're taking Perlith?† she'd asked Tor disbelievingly, when she met him by chance one day, out behind the barns, where she could let her disbelief show. Tor grimaced. â€Å"I know Perlith isn't a very worthwhile human being, but he's actually pretty effective at this sort of thing – because he's such a good liar, you know, and because he can say the most appalling things in the most gracious manner.† No women rode in Arlbeth's army. A few of the bolder wives might be permitted to go with their husbands, those who could ride and had been trained in cavalry drill; and those who could be trusted to smile even at Nyrlol (depending on how the negotiations went), and curtsy to him as befitted his rank as fourth sola, and even dance with him if he should ask. But it was expected that no wife would go unless her husband asked her, and no husband would ask unless he had asked the king first. Galanna would certainly not go, even if Perlith had been willing to go to the trouble of obtaining leave from Arlbeth (which would probably not have been granted). Fortunately for the peace of all concerned, Galanna had no interest in going; anything resembling hardship did not appeal to her in the least, and she was sure that nothing in the barbaric west could possibly be worth her time and beauty. A king's daughter might go too; a king's daughter who had, perhaps, proved herself in some small ways; who had learned to keep her mouth shut, and to smile on cue; a king's daughter who happened to be the king's only child. She had known they would not let her; she had known that Arlbeth would not dare give his permission even had he wanted to, and she did not know if he had wanted to. But he could not dare take the witch woman's daughter to confront the workings of demon-mischief; his people would never let him, and he too sorely needed his people's good will. But she could not help asking – any more, she supposed, than poor stupid Nyrlol could help going mad when the demon-mischief bit him. She had tried to choose her time, but her father and Tor had been so busy lately that she had had to watt, and wait again, till her time was almost gone. After dinner last night she had finally asked; and she had come up here to her rooms afterward and had not come out again. â€Å"Father.† Her voice had gone high on her, as it would do when she was afraid. The other women, and the lesser court members, had already left the long hall; Arlbeth and Tor and a few of the cousins, Perlith among them, were preparing for another weary evening of discussion on Nyrlol's folly. They paused and all of them turned and looked at her, and she wished there were not so many of them. She swallowed. She had decided against asking her father late, in his own rooms, where she could be sure to find him alone, because she was afraid he would only be kind to her and not take her seriously. If she was to be shamed – and she knew, or she told herself she knew, that she would be refused – at least let him see how much it meant to her, that she should ask and be refused with others looking on. Arlbeth turned to her with his slow smile, but it was slower and less of it reached his eyes than usual. He did not say, â€Å"Be quick, I am busy,† as he might have done – and small blame to him if he had, she thought forlornly. â€Å"You ride west – soon? To treat with Nyrlol?† She could feel Tor's eyes on her, but she kept her own eyes fixed on her father. â€Å"Treat?† said her father. â€Å"If we go, we go with an army to witness the treaty.† A little of the smile crept into his eyes after all. â€Å"You are picking up courtly language, my dear. Yes, we go to ‘treat' with Nyrlol.† Tor said: â€Å"We have some hope of catching the mischief-one did not say demon aloud if one could help it – â€Å"and bottling it up, and sending it back where it came from. Even now we have that hope. It won't stop the trouble, but it will stop it getting worse. If Nyrlol isn't being pricked and pinched by it, he may subside into the subtle and charming Nyrlol we all know and revere.† Tor's mouth twisted up into a wry smile. She looked at him and her own mouth twitched at the corners. It was like Tor to answer her as if she were a real part of the court, even a member of the official deliberations, instead of an interruption and a disturbance. Tor might even have let her go with them; he wasn't old enough yet to care so much for his people's good opinion as Arlbeth did; and furthermore, Tor was stubborn. But it was not Tor's decision. She turned back to her father. â€Å"When you go – may I come with you?† Her voice was little more than a squeak, and she wished she were near a wall or a door she could lean on, instead of in the great empty middle of the dining-hall, with her knees trying to fold up under her like an hour-old foal's. The silence went suddenly tight, and the men she faced went rigid: or Arlbeth did, and those behind him, for she kept her face resolutely away from Tor. She thought that she could not bear it if her one loyal friend forsook her too; and she had never tried to discover the extent of Tor's stubbornness. Then the silence was broken by Perlith's high-pitched laughter. â€Å"Well, and what did you expect from letting her go as she would these last years? It's all very well to have her occupied and out from underfoot, but you should have thought the price you paid to be rid of her might prove a little high. What did you expect when our honored first sola gives her lessons in swordplay and she tears around on that three-legged horse like a peasant boy from the Hills, with never a gainsay but a scold from that old shrew that serves as her maid? Might you not have thought of the reckoning to come? She needed slaps, not encouragement, years ago – she needs a few slaps now, I think. Perhaps it is not too late.† â€Å"Enough.† Tor's voice, a growl. Her legs were trembling now so badly that she had to move her feet, shuffle in her place, to keep the joints locked to hold her up. She felt the blood mounting to her face at Perlith's words, but she would not let him drive her away without an answer. â€Å"Father?† â€Å"Father,† mimicked Perlith. â€Å"It's true a king's daughter might be of some use in facing what the North has sent us; a king's daughter who had true royal blood in her veins †¦.† Arlbeth, in a very unkinglike manner, reached out and grabbed Tor before anyone found out what the first sola's sudden move in Perlith's direction might result in. â€Å"Perlith, you betray the honor of the second sola's place in speaking thus.† Tor said in a strangled voice, â€Å"He will apologize, or I'll give him a lesson in swordplay he will not like at all.† â€Å"Tor, don't be a – † she began, outraged, but the king's voice cut across hers. â€Å"Perlith, there is justice in the first sola's demand.† There was a long pause while she hated everyone impartially: Tor for behaving like a farmer's son whose pet chicken has just been insulted; her father, for being so immovably kingly; and Perlith for being Perlith. This was even worse than she had anticipated; at this point she would be grateful just for escape, but it was too late. Perlith said at last, â€Å"I apologize, Aerin-sol. For speaking the truth,† he added venomously, and turned on his heel and strode across the hall. At the doorway he paused and turned to shout back at them: â€Å"Go slay a dragon, lady! Lady Aerin, Dragon-Killer!† The silence resettled itself about them, and she could no longer even raise her eyes to her father's face. â€Å"Aerin – † Arlbeth began. The gentleness of his voice told her all she needed to know, and she turned away and walked toward the other end of the hall, opposite the door which Perlith had taken. She was conscious of the length of the way she had to take because Perlith had taken the shorter way, and she hated him all the more for it; she was conscious of all the eyes on her, and conscious of the fact that her legs still trembled, and that the line she walked was not a straight one. Her father did not call her back. Neither did Tor. As she reached the doorway at last, Perlith's words still rang in her ears: â€Å"A king's daughter who had true royal blood in her veins †¦ Lady Aerin, Dragon-Killer.† It was as though his words were hunting dogs who tracked her and nipped at her heels.