Usability issues in smart phones Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Usability issues in smart phones - Essay Example It had a variety of applications including a phone book, a calendar and email facilities. Simon was first marketed in 1994 by Bellsouth and was sold at a very high price. Since then the smart phone has come along way. Today smart phones combine all the functions of a GSM mobile phone with a personal computer. They are also known as personal digital assistant (PDA) phones or personal information managers (PIMs). Almost all smart phones feature a built-in-camera, internet access, e-mail capabilities and numerous multimedia functions like streaming audio and video. They also contain phone books, calendars, memos, stopwatches, calendars, alarm clocks, calculators, to-do lists and various other sorts of organizers. Smart phones can have any additional interface like a miniature QWERTY keyboard, a touch screen, D-pad or a track ball. One of the important features of smart phones is that they allow the user to install additional software, even from third party sources. Most smart phones come with their own operating systems which adds to their functionality and makes programming them that much easier. (Dave and Jonathan, n.d) Operating system is responsible for managing other programs or applications. It also manages the internal memory of the device. For a multitasking operating system it has the job of deciding the order in which each program will run. The operating system is the most important software in any smart phone it manages the phones hardware and software resources. The most common operating systems used in smart phones are Linux is one of the most common operating systems used in smart phones. Linux is an example of Open Source development and free software; unlike proprietary operating systems such as Windows, all of its underlying source code is available to the general public for anyone to freely use, modify, and redistribute subject to the appropriate license agreements. And although Linux is harder to manage than

Apply critical thinking skills and evidence based practice concerning Essay

Apply critical thinking skills and evidence based practice concerning chronic disease in older adults and management of nursing - Essay Example The insulin receptors are unresponsive, a factor that is contributed by genetic predisposition and lifestyle (Spiegel & Hawkins, 2012). Type 2 is the more predominant in the population compared to type 1. The disease can be life threatening if not managed well; however, good management can result into relatively better living. Type 2 diabetes is accompanied by several symptoms. The body is unable to conserve water, a condition that results to polyuria. Because of the uncontrolled sugar levels, high blood sugar results, the individual exhibits a state of reduced consciousness and low blood pressure. In addition, the person produces sugary urine. This situation prompts an individual to develop increased thirst a condition called polydipsia. The disease is also associated with blurred vision, peripheral neuropathy, increased hunger, and gradual weight increase among others. Early detection is very essential for effective management of the disease. Other signs and symptoms that have been identified to accompany the disease include a state of tiredness and lethargy, very slow healing of wounds and cuts, swinging moods, a feeling of dizziness and sometimes headaches (Spiegel & Hawkins, 2012). ... They are also obliged to avoid smoking and taking every prescription faithfully. For low-level production of insulin, the patient can be prescribed to take insulin in order to control insulin levels (Diabetes Australia, 2013). No known cure has been developed for Diabetes type 2. However, some medication is given to reduce the levels of the disease symptoms. Five main classes of drugs have been developed. Firstly, the biguanides are insulin tablets are helpful in reducing the levels of glucose through reducing the levels of stored glucose, increasing insulin sensitivity and reducing the intestinal absorption of glucose. The second category are the thiazolidinediones, these are also insulin tablets that targets the patients’ insulin and activate it. These drugs have been known to target fat and muscle cells. Meglitinides and sulphonylureas are given to patients to stimulate production of insulin by the pancreas hence helping reduce blood sugar levels. Alpha glucosidase inhibito r prevents the digestion and absorption of most of the carbohydrates in the stomach and intestines (Diabetes Australia, 2013). Medical practitioners are required to understand the dynamics of the disease in order to combat it effectively. Regular follow up visits should be done, during the time which the nurse should discourage the patient from smoking, their blood pressure is checked, their weight, a review of the symptoms is done as well as a review of self-monitoring. This review should be done quarterly. Annually, the nurse in charge should conduct a more thorough assessment by checking for any complications, reviewing the goals of management, considering a referral to a specialist and updating the immunization schedule. During these periods, should conduct a full physical

The Report On Marketing Strategy For Dell Marketing Essay

The Report On Marketing Strategy For Dell Marketing Essay Successful companies under todays competition have one thing in common: they attach a great importance to their consumers perspective and needs, and they are putting a lot energy and money into marketing. They encourage every employee in their organization to construct long-term relation of loyalty through providing consumers with services or products of high quality at a reasonable price (Coughlin Louis, 2001). When Dell Inc. is concerned with this respect, it has done a pioneering job in marketing by selling its products through telephone or via internet. However, with the changing marketing and competition environment, it is of great significance of the company to make adjustment in the following fields: marketing segmentation, marketing communications tools as well as distribution channels. Under the circumstances of buyers market and fierce competitions between companies, marketing plays an indispensible role for promoting sales and, as the result, an enterprises competitive competence. And when it refers to modern marketing, it is not just confined in developing a good product, pricing it attractively, and making it available to target customers (Thomas Reed, 2002). In terms of the computer market, it has also witnessed unprecedented competition among rivalries. Here in this report, the case of Dell Company is discussed under the guidance of relevant marketing theories and concepts. It primarily includes the following parts: firstly, this report starts with the introduction of the concept and theory of marketing segmentation, and five marketing segmentation approaches, which include geographic, age and life-cycle, gender, and behavioral and income segmentation, are recommended for Dell; secondly, five communications tools, consisting of personal selling, sales promot ion, advertising, public relation, direct marketing, are suggested for Dell to promote its sales under the guidance of the theory of marketing communications mix and its content ; lastly, as the company has made collaboration with some retailers, such as Sams Club and Wal-Mart stores, to sell its personal computers, the evaluation of this strategy is made in terms of both advantages and disadvantages. 2. Marketing segmentation of Dell Markets are composed of different consumers, and they differ from each other in one or more aspects, such as purchasing attitudes, consumption practices, resources, desires and locations. Therefore, it is of great necessity to divide the computer market into smaller ones to match the unique demands of different customers by marketing segmentation. 2.1 The concept and theory of market segmentation Market segmentation refers to partitioning a special market into distinct units with varied demands, features, or behavior which might need separate products or marketing mixes (Stanley, 1992). And when it comes to methods which are used to segment a particular market, there is more than one way. A marketer can try varied segmentation variables, alone an also in combination, to search for the best approach to view the market structure (Kotler, 2002). The primary components which might be made use of during the process of making marketing segmentation are geographic, demographic, psychographic, behavioral and income variables. And here in the case of the company of Dell, five marketing segmentation approaches would be recommended. 2.2 Five marketing segmentation approaches for Dell Considering the reality of computer market and the successful approaches taken by Dell in market segmentation, geographic, demographic, psychographic, behavioral and income segmentation are illustrated. geographic segmentation When the market is divided into different geographical units such as regions, nations, counties, states, cities or neighborhoods, this method is called geographical segmentation (Stanley, 1992). One enterprise might determine to run its business within one or a few special regions or to carry out its business all over the country and even the world but would undoubtedly notice the geographical variances in terms of consumer demands. In case of Dell, it has become a global company with its products sold around every corner of the world. However, due to geographical differences, it is of great significance to segment the global computer market geographically. Up to now, the company has segmented the global market into three parts: the Americas, Europe/Middle East/Africa and Asia Pacific/Japan. However, with the development of some emerging and potential market, for instance, China, it would be better to segment the market into smaller ones. Age and life-cycle segmentation Age and life-cycle segmentation refers to dividing a market into different ages and life-cycle groups (McCarthy, 1960)). The rationality of segmenting market on the basis of age lies in that peoples demands and wants change with age. Therefore, it makes sense for Dell to provide different products or taking advantage of varied marketing tools for varied age and life-cycle groups. For instance, when advertising its products by adverting on TV or via Internet, the theme of advertisements to teenagers and young people should be full of adventures, fashions, beat-up music and fast-paced cutting from scene to scene, and the content for adults could be more mature, softer. Gender segmentation In terms of gender segmentation, it indicates to divide a market into different groups due to differences in gender (Kotler, 2002). Traditionally, the method of gender segmentation has long been applied in cosmetics, clothing, and magazines and so on. However, as the expansion of Dells business in Asia and other regions, it should take gender variable into consideration. This is because of the increased social status and financial independence of Asian women in recent years. And the gender segmentation can be reflected by designing the appearance of PCs differently. behavioral segmentation When it comes to behavioral segmentation, it refers to segmenting a market into groups based on customers knowledge, use, attitude, or response to a product (Gatignon, 1993). In terms of this market segmentation approach, Dell has really done a great job by providing a wide range of service or products from desktop to notebook computer, form hardware products to software. To make best use of behavioral segmentation method, the company may, on the basis of use for different people, develop computer for business people, student, or home use. income segmentation When marketers divide a market into income groups, this is income segmentation (Doyle, 1994). In tradition, computer marketers target on affluent consumers as computer once was considered as luxury. However, with the popularity of computers, it is of great significance to focus on customers of low-income. This is especially true when Dell run its business in developing countries, such as China, India and African countries. Therefore, when Dell starts business in the developing areas, it is of great necessity of pay attention to develop low-end products. 3. Recommendations for Dell in marketing communications Here in this part, Communication mix is emphatically discussed. The communication is comprised of direct marketing, advertising, personal selling, promotion and public relations. Communication mix is mainly used to promote the new products. It is an effective method to attract consumers and increase the selling (Gatignon, 1993). 3.1 Personal selling Personal selling is the interpersonal arm of the promotion mix (Kotler, 2002). Different from the non-personal and one-way communication approach of advertising, personal selling makes salespeople and consumers communicate each other directly by phones, through web conferences or video or other methods. However, when it comes to different types of companies, personal selling can have quite different roles. In terms of the computer company Dell, final consumers can rarely meet salesperson. This is because Dell interacts with its consumers through its Websites or by telephone. Therefore, in terms of utilizing this marketing tool, Dell set a good example for its competitors. 3.2 Sales promotion Sales promotion refers to activities or performances taken by companies in a short term to stimulate the purchase or sale of the product or service using varieties of formats such as premiums, coupons, contests, etc (Brick, 1982). Through a serial of activities or performances, it can promote people to purchase more. And sales promotion is targeted at final buyers, wholesalers and retailers, other business customers and members of the sales force (Schall, 1983). It can be effective especially for introducing new products or services. Therefore, considering benefits brought by promotion, Dell should take advantage of this marketing tool especially when the company sells new products. 3.3 Advertising It is any paid form of no personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor. It is a widely-used means of publicity. The major media types for advertising are: newspapers, television, magazines, radio, internet and so on (Rao, 1993). Advertisements help to draw the publics attention and make people aware of this product. As a result, it undoubtedly could promote sales of Dell. However, it is also kind of double-edged sword as advertisements can be very money-consuming. What is more, advertisements may mislead consumers if they are not properly designed or contain any exaggerated information. Therefore, when choosing advertisements as it means for promotion, Dell must be very careful to select an advertising company and be clear the messages and the image that it wants to convey to it current and perspective customers. 3.4 Public relation Public relations mean establishing good relations with the publics by earning a good reputation, shaping a favorable image and dealing with the companys rumors and events (Doyle, 1994). It mainly contains keeping good relations with the firms different social groups by getting favorable publicity and setting up a healthy and good corporate image in public and at the same time, tackling or heading off stories, rumors, and events which damage its reputation. As a result, consumers get a good impression with this kind of firms and, therefore trust and purchase products manufactured by them. From the perspective of enterprises social obligations, especially in modern times, companies can be condemned and eventually be abandoned by consumers if they fail to perform their social responsibilities. Therefore, today, it is not whether firms should build good relations with the public, but how to construct it in a better and more impressive way. 3.5 Direct marketing It refers to direct contacts with carefully targeted individual customers in order to acquire a reply in time as well as cultivate permanent consumer relationship, for example, using telephone, mail, fax, e-mail, the Internet, and other tools to communicate directly with specific consumers (Kotler, 2002). Direct marketing is very useful helps companies obtain the first hand information directly from consumers. And companies can give an immediate reply to their customers if there are any questions. Through this way, customers obtain a sense of being respected and cared by firms and, therefore, consumers can be loyal to this kind of companies. However, there are also negative effects brought by direct marketing. Firstly, it undoubtedly costs a lot of money, time and human resources. Secondly, companies may not draw any useful conclusions for decision-makers at all if information is processed in a scientific way. Therefore, to make full use of direct marketing, firms must make sufficien t preparations. 4. The evaluation of Dells cooperation with retailers in PCs distribution In the filed of marketing, marketing channel is very important in many aspects (Coughlin Louis, 2001). In recent years, in order to defeat its competitors including Hewlett-Packard, Gateway and Acer in the sales of personal computer and other equipment, Dell determined to cooperate with worlds largest retailer Wal-Mart. This plan is carried out in more 3500 Wal-Mart and Sams Club stores in the USA, Puerto Rico and Canada. And the models of Dell computer, including the necessary accessories, in Wal-Mart is sold at the price of no more than $700. As far as this strategy is concerned, it could bring the company both benefits as well as risks. (1) The advantages of Dells alliance with retailers in PCs distribution As it is known to us that Wal-Mart the largest retailer in the world, therefore, the company is world famous and it has a wide contact with consumers from rich people to the poor. As the result, Dells cooperation with the biggest supermarket would make its products exposed to consumers completely, which would stimulate the sales of Dell. Secondly, considering Wal-Marts proposition value of Always Low Price, Always, Dell sells its product at a price of less than $700. This is perfectly coincided with the value of Wal-Mart and would undoubtedly be helpful to sell its low-end products to consumers of low income. In addition, Dell revolutionized its industry by selling personal computers directly to it consumers instead of through retail stores (). However, today, it changed its strategy partially for surviving in the fierce competition. And this flexible adjustment could promote the sales its low-end products by increasing its distribution channels. (2) The disadvantage of Dells cooperation with retailers in PCs distribution The biggest challenge for Dells setting distribution channels with retailers is that the company cannot readily replace distribution channels with enterprise-owned Web sites or stores when the external or internal circumstance changes. This is because cooperation with retailers involves negotiation, compromise as well time lag in feedback, which costs time. And in the business world, time determines the promptness in reaction to the market and, undoubtedly, it competitive capabilities. Besides, selling its products through a supermarket like Wal-Mart would not helpful for Dell to get the direct information from the consumers. This can result in incorrect decisions from top managers and, as the result, in disadvantaged positions in competition with its rivalries. 5. Conclusion As one of the largest computer producers in the world, Dell Inc. has made progress in the field with a unique style and has done a revolutionized job in marketing by selling its products directly to customers rather than through retailers. Because of the unique approach in marketing, the company has made big profit. However, as the market become much more fierce than ever before and its competitors becomes more competitive, it is of great significance for company to adopt creative marketing approaches, for instance new marketing segmentation methods and marketing communications mix. Besides, it also makes sense to make adjustment in distribution channel.

Cause and Effect Essay - The True Cause of School Shootings

Most of us learned when we were very young that we should not judge by appearances. But, in the aftermath of massacres in schools everywhere, a sane person has to take seriously what the material world shows - and pass judgment. After all, a lack of judgment and subsequent action may lead to further youth violence. This event has been thoroughly dissected by a whole herd of politicians and pundits over a period of some months. But they have, unfortunately, failed to reach the heart of the matter. For the heart of the matter is theological, a category that does not often appear in American public discourse. Instead, we hear talk about psychology, community, exclusion - the narrow, modern litany of cause and effect. David Mandel, a psychologist who has studied the Goth subculture - one of the causes being invoked - wrote last year, "It is not sinister, but tongue in cheek." And he continued: "People who are really into it use it to construct meaning in their lives. . . . They really find beauty in the dark things much the way others find beauty in bright, happy things" (Mandel...

The Impact of Climate Change

In the last few years there has been a lot of attention given to the problem of climate change. Usually we only hear vague ideas about how the Earth is heating up, how we are all going to die and that we are to blame. However climate change is a natural process that experts have said has been sped up by human activity, for example, industrial activities, vehicles and machines producing gases like carbon dioxide and methane. These gases are damaging because of how the Sun's rays heat up the Earth. The rays from the Sun enter the atmosphere, hitting the Earth's surface with most being reflected back without heating up the Earth at all. The ones that are absorbed by the sea and the ground are reflected back as infrared rays therefore heating up the Earth. However as more CO2 and other â€Å"greenhouse gases† are pumped into the atmosphere, fewer and fewer of the Sun's rays are reflected away, hence the rising temperatures. Although there is debate over the largest contributor to the climate change problem that is not my focus for this essay. In this essay I intend to show how climate change would affect the world's water; that is to say 70% of the Earth's surface. The most talked about point in the media about the effect of climate change on water is the sea level. This is because as the Earth heats up the seas and oceans will absorb a lot of the heat causing the water molecules to expand and the sea level to rise. Another possible factor that contributes to the rising sea levels is the melting of the glaciers, ice shelves and ice sheets and this has another effect. As there is less and less ice to reflect back the sun's rays as ice reflects back 90% of the light that hits it while water absorbs the same percentage, this speeds up the warming of the earth even more and as more and more ice melts the problem worsens. There are many inter-linking consequences to the rising sea levels and of global warming. Droughts, floods and even the danger of the Gulf Stream, the warm water current that heats up our region, shutting down. The idea of flooding because of rising sea levels is self-explanatory. As there is more water, rivers, lakes and streams could break their banks and flood. The possibility of the Gulf Stream shutting down is more complicated and will have a much more lasting effect. The Gulf Stream works through a mixture of wind, water salinity and temperature, the shape of the ocean floor and the Earth's rotation. As temperatures continue to fall and more sea ice melts, this adds more fresh water to the Atlantic, reducing the salinity of the water. As there is less dense and less salty water, the Gulf Stream slows down. As it does slow down and weaken it will become more and more unstable and more likely to shut down altogether, lowering temperatures in our region by up to 9oC. Fortunately there are things we can do to help the climate change problem. Saving energy lowers the amount of fossil fuels that are needed to produce that energy and the less coal, oil and gas being burned in power plants, the lower the emissions of carbon dioxide. Saving energy can be a simple matter, such as switching off lights when you leave a room, having showers instead of baths, and turning down central heating systems, even 1oC can save up to 10% on energy bills. One of the most effective ways of helping is properly insulating your home as this reduces the energy needed to heat your home. The second most important greenhouse gas, methane is produced by landfill waste, which comprises 90% of the UK's sixteen million tonnes of waste each year. If we recycle more and more of this waste then there is less need to mine for raw materials and less methane being produced as there is less landfill waste. Two hundred years ago, if we produced the same amount of carbon dioxide as we did now, it probably would not have had any major effect, as there was not the same level as deforestation. The reason this would have made a difference is because trees take in carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. Although the effects of climate change won't be felt for years, we owe it to the future generations to save, if not our planet, our way of life.

Public Health Issue Diabetes Mellitus Health And Social Care Essay

This assignment will turn to the public wellness issue of the increasing prevalence of diabetes mellitus ( diabetes ) and explore links with wellness inequalities both nationally and locally. It will discourse the models available which give counsel for criterions of attention for diabetes patients and their influence on diabetes attention. It will so critically discourse the issue of diabetes direction in relation to patient instruction and the ability of patients to self-manage their chronic long-run status, measuring both the function of both healthcare professionals and persons in accomplishing the best possible healthy results. It will so discourse whether all people get the same degree of diabetes attention, in peculiar focussing on people who are non able to go to GP surgeries. Public wellness is defined as â€Å" The scientific discipline and art of promoting and protecting wellness and well-being, forestalling sick wellness and protracting life through the organized attempts of society † ( Faculty of Public Health 2008 ) . Health equality is a cardinal component of societal justness and as such justifies the authorities and other wellness bureaus to work in coaction to develop wellness policies which improve the populace ‘s wellness regardless of societal category, income, gender or ethnicity through advancing healthier life styles and protecting them from infective diseases and environmental jeopardies ( Griffiths & A ; Hunter 2007 ) . Yet many wellness inequalities still exist in the UK, some of which will be discussed in this paper. There are preponderantly two types of diabetes mellitus ( diabetes ) ; type 1 diabetes occurs when the organic structure does non bring forth any insulin and type 2 diabetes occurs when the organic structure does non bring forth adequate insulin to work decently or when the organic structure cells do non respond to insulin. Type 2 diabetes is the most common and histories for around 90 five per cent of people with diabetes. If left untreated both types of diabetes can take to farther complications which include bosom disease, shot, sightlessness, and kidney failure ( Who 2011 ) . Life anticipation is reduced by up to 10 old ages in those with this type of disease ( Whittaker, 2004 ) . In the bulk of instances, type 2 diabetes is treated with lifestyle alterations such as eating healthier, weight loss, and increasing physical exercising ( Diabetes UK, 2007b ) . There are presently 2.6 million people in theA UKA with diabetes, and it is thought up to a farther 1.1 million are undiagnosed. ( DiabetesA UK, 2010 ) .A Other grounds suggests that approx 50 % of people are non cognizant they have the status, populating a normal life with lone mild symptoms ( mention ) . Work force are twice more likely to hold undiagnosed diabetes, than adult females, possible because on norm they tend to see their GP lupus erythematosus ( Nursingtimes.net 2009 ) . Diabetes is one of the most widespread chronic diseases, which is potentially life endangering. It is presently thought to be the taking 4th disease doing decease in most developed states worldwide with estimated prevalence of 285 million people. Most experts agree that more than 4 million people in the UK will hold Type 2 diabetes by 2025 with potentially 5.5 million life with this chronic status by 2030 ( Diabetes UK 2010, and International Diabetes Federation ( IDF ) 2010 ) . These statistics are galvanizing ; type 2 diabetes is one of the biggest challenges confronting the UK today with people frequently treated wholly by the National Health Service ( NHS ) who provide attention for all degrees of diabetes. Diabetess control is considered hapless in Europe with the UK being identified as holding the worst control. The grounds for this are non clearly identified. However what is clear is the possible impact on people in footings of complications and shorter lives ( Liebl et al 2002 ) . Peoples with diabetes who have complications cost the NHS 3.5 times more than people who have no grounds of complications ( IDF 2006 ) . The NHS presently spends about 10 % of its entire resources on diabetes, which equates to ?286 per second. This places a important drain on resources which will potentially lift in line with the turning prevalence of diabetes and associated complications unless alternate ways to cut down the load of the disease can be found Diabetes.co.uk ) . There are many grounds for the turning prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the UK, two of the chief 1s being the modernization of industrialization and urbanization, which has changed people ‘s life styles and eating wonts and caused and escalation in fleshiness ( Helms et al 2003 ) . Diabetes and fleshiness are closely linked ; 80 per centum of patients diagnosed with diabetes are corpulent at the clip of diagnosing ( Diabetes UK, 2006 ) . Kazmi and Taylor ( 2009 ) agree and say type 2 diabetes can be linked to genetic sciences, although increased degrees are more likely to be attributable to obesity ensuing from a lessening in physical exercising and westernised diets. A 2008 study highlighted the UK as holding the highest fleshiness degrees in Europe, presently 24 % of grownups are considered corpulent which tends to increase with age. ( Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2010 ) . However this figure should be treated with cautiousness as England is one of t he few states who uses existent measurings of weight and tallness, other states preferring to utilize ego reported steps. The UK has an increasing aged population which combined with lifting degrees of fleshiness is likely to farther addition type 2 diabetes prevalence ( DH2010 ) . The links between socioeconomic want and sick wellness are good established ( Yamey 1999, Acheson 1998, Chaturvedi 2004 ) . This can be observed within the UK, as type 2 diabetes does non impact all societal groups every bit, it is more prevailing in people over 40, minority cultural groups, and hapless people ( The National Service Framework ( NSF ) for Diabetes ) . Several surveies have established people with type 2 diabetes populating in deprive countries suffer higher morbidity and mortality rates than those in more flush countries. ( Roper et al 2001, Wilde et al 2008, Bachhmann 2003 ) . However globally the links between want and type 2 diabetes are less clear as there is less information available on diabetes and want related results. In struggle with the UK, surveies in Finland, Italy and Ireland found no important fluctuations in different socioeconomic groups ( Gnavi et al 2004, O'Conner 2006 ) . Reasons which may hold negated the impact on socioeconomic want may hold been due to differences such in the population studied, wellness attention bringing or available interventions.Linkss between want and type 2 diabetes appear apparent in the vicinity of Derbyshire. All but three local countries in Derbyshire have a diabetes and fleshiness degrees which are significantly worse than the England norm ( Derbyshire County Primary Care Trust ( PCT ) 2008 ) . In Derbyshire there are clear important fluctuations in degrees of want, High Peak has really small want, and yet Bolsover is in the 20 per cent most disadvantaged countries in England, with 30 two per cent of people populating in poorness and mortality and morbidity degrees significantly worse than the England norm ( Bolsover District Financial Inclusion Strategy 2009 ) . These worrying degrees have triggered the Department of Health to declare Bolsover a Spearhead country for betterment ( DH 2009, Derbyshire PCT 2008 ) . Some stairss have been taken in Bolsover to cut down morbidity and mortality rates by presenting healthy enterprises aimed at bettering people ‘s life manners ( Bolsover 2010 ) . However, although morbidity and mortality rates have reduced over the last 10 old ages they remain significantly higher than the England norm ( Bolsover District Financial Inclusion Strategy 2009 ) . Derbyshire has a turning aged population ( Derbyshire PCT 2008 ) . This together with proved links of degrees of fleshiness lifting with age would propose a future addition in degrees of diabetes.Diabetess is a national precedence and Derbyshire has a higher than England mean prevalence, but the lo cal NHS scheme ( 2008 ) does non stipulate diabetes as a cardinal precedence. This may be a factor why Derbyshire is neglecting to run into its marks to cut downing morbidity and mortality by 10 per cent by 2010 in the poorest countries of Derbyshire ( DH 2009 ) .Models and policies exist to give counsel on criterions of attention, better the quality of life and life anticipation of people with diabetes and decrease the fiscal load on wellness services. ( Reference x2 ) . In response to European influence the NHS program ( 2000 ) set out counsel for modernizing services, raising criterions and traveling towards patient centred attention. Subsequently the NSF for Diabetes ( 2001 ) was published which lineations twelve criterions of attention aimed at presenting improved services and cut downing inequalities over a 10 twelvemonth period with the ultimate vision of people enduring with diabetes having a universe category service in the UK by 2013. This model was followed by the NSF for Diabetes: Delivery Strategy ( 2003 ) which gives counsel on how the NSF for diabetes could be achieved. Models are a utile lineation for action and set out clear ends and marks, but do non turn to the societal, economical and environmental causes of sick wellness or take history of available fiscal and staffing resources ( Reference from book ) . The NSF for Diabetes ( 2001 ) appears to back up this statement ; other than retinal showing, no support was ab initio made available to implement the 12 criterions ( Cavan 2005 ) . The handiness of this support will hold been important in the accomplishment of one hundred per cent of people with diabetes now being offered this service ( English National Screening Programme for Diabetic Retinopathy, 2009 ) . It was n't until 2004 the Quality Outcome Framework offered fiscal wagess to run into other marks within the NSF, for case maintaining practiced based registries of people with diabetes, to enable primary attention suppliers to supply proactive attention ( NHS 2004 ) . Ten old ages on this model is still believable and sets the ‘gold criterion ‘ of attention for patients with diabetes in the UK ( NICE 2000 ) which would look to be an outstanding accomplishment. There have been important betterments in caring for people with diabetes since it was published. However, it could be criticised that some criterions are non enforceable until 2013 ( NSF 2001 ) . Numerous publications have followed the NSF for Diabetes ( 2001 ) in an effort to give counsel for wellness professionals to follow ( Nice 2004, NICE 2008, NICE 2009, RCN, NMC ) . These models are non intended to work in isolation but collaborate with each other at different degrees, whilst trying to bring forth a quality wellness service ( Reference ) . . The chief grounds for the oncoming of diabetes and hazard of farther complications is due to suboptimal wellness relation behavior which include small physical activity, high Calorie consumption and insufficiency to keep good glucose control and it is said persons with diabetes play a cardinal function in finding their ain wellness position ( Clarke 2008 Reference 1 ) . Whittaker ( 2004 ) concurs and says that much of the load relating to care prevarications with persons themselves. Patient instruction is seen as cardinal in the intervention of diabetes to guarantee the best possible healthy results for persons ( Alexander et al, 2006, Brooker & A ; Nicol 2003, Walsh, 2002 ) . Standard 3 of the NSF for Diabetes ( 2001 ) clearly demonstrates a move off from medical attention to promote persons to take duty for their ain wellness but besides places the burden on wellness attention professionals to educate, support and empower people to enable them to efficaciously care for themselves. The recent Public Health Whitepaper ( 2010 ) endorses future health care services should concentrate on health instead than handling disease and supports authorising people to set some attempt into remaining good. It acknowledges health care services merely contribute to one tierce of betterment made to life anticipation saying that a alteration in life style and taking wellness inequalities contribute to the staying two tierces. Giving people the accomplishments, cognition and tools to take control of their ain wellness logical as people with diabetes spend an norm of 3 hours per twelvemonth with their healthcare professional and around 8700 hours pull offing themselves ( Ref N3. For illustration there is much grounds reasoning that keeping blood glucose degrees as near to normal as possible slows down the patterned advance of long term complications and if patients can be empowered to take control of their diabetes, non merely will it increase the persons quality of life but besid es cut down the fiscal load on the NHS. ( Whittaker, 2004 ) . ( Ref: 4.1, 4.2 ) . The Diabetes Year of Care programme ( 2008 ) has been developed to assist health care professionals move off from a paternal attack to care be aftering to a more individualized attack for people with chronic long term conditions. This attack involves both healthcare professionals and patients working together to prioritize single demands. Helmore ( 2009 ) agrees that a individualized attack to care be aftering which should be holistic and include the individual ‘s societal fortunes, will authorise patients to take a cardinal function in their ain health care and suggests that nurses and patients should work together to put ends the patient can work towards which would include self attention and the services they will utilize. For illustration a down patient will non desire to venture outside to exert and soothe feeding may do them to derive weight. The precedence in this instance would be to cover with the patient ‘s depression. The nurse could so intercede with other com munity services and societal attention to decide non medical issues which would enable the patient to pull off their weight and addition activities ( Helmore 2009 ) . Peals ( 2010 ) believes nurses should take a lead function on behalf of the GP pool as they are the 1s best placed to place the attention demands of patients with diabetes, they have experience in patient tracts and are able to organize local and professional services. The Department of Health ( 2010 ) has highlighted attention be aftering as an country for betterment to guarantee one hundred per cent of diabetic patients have single attention programs ( DH 2010 ) . Currently it is thought merely 60 per of people with long-run conditions in England have an single attention program ( www.gp-patient.co.uk ) . Diabetes self-management instruction programmes ( DSME ) have been developed to educate and authorise patients to take control of their ain conditions by bettering their cognition and accomplishments to enable them to do informed picks, self-manage and cut down any hazard of complications. DSME besides aims to assist people to get by with physical and mental of life with diabetes ( Ref 21 P 114. These programmes which should be age appropriate can be delivered to persons or groups. ( 6 and 40 P 119 and 120 ) . . ( mention 7 p119 ) . Programmes available include the Expert Patent Programme ( EPP ) , its derivative X-PERT and Diabetes Education and Self-Management for ongoing and freshly diagnosed ( DESMOND ) which are available in all PCT ‘s in the state. These programmes offer the necessary information and accomplishments to people to enable them to pull off their ain diabetes attention and they offer the chance for people with diabetes to portion jobs and solutions on concerns they may hold with on mundane life ( N9 ) . They encourage people to happen their ain solutions to issues such as diet, weight direction and blood glucose control, enlisting the aid of diabetes professionals if needed ( N9 ) . The literature suggests this will ensue in good educated, motivated and empowered patients and systematically supports patient instruction as important to effectual diabetes attention ( utilize many refs ) . Much research has taken topographic point on the effectivity of DSME. Some of which suggests that patients who have non participated in DSME are four times more likely to meet major diabetes complications compared to patients who have been involved in DSME ( Reference ) .Other grounds suggests that it is non possible to set up whether patient instruction is effectual at advancing self-management in the long term to cut down the effects of diabetes or the oncoming of complications and better the patient ‘s quality of life ( mention ) . From surveies that have taken topographic point, it is apparent that although cognition and accomplishments are necessary they are non sufficient on their ain to guarantee good diabetes control. Peoples require ongoing support to prolong the enable them to prolong self-management and therefore the longer period of clip the class run the more likelihood people will stay sceptered ( Ref ) The bulk of people in the UK are offered some signifier diabetes instruction, the majority of which is offered at the clip of diagnosing. Besides the manner, length, content and construction of DSME vary. Very few instruction programmes have been evaluated ; therefore it is non conclusive which intercession scheme is the most effectual for bettering the control of diabetes. The America Diabetes Association suggest that as people are persons and different methods of instruction suit different people, there is no 1 best programme, but by and large programmes which incorporate both psychosocial and behaviour schemes appear to hold the best results. However the Healthcare committee ( 2006 ) found people in England are non being offered equal information about their status to ease effectual self-management. They reported merely eleven per cent of respondents had attended an educational class on how to populate with diabetes and disturbingly 17 per cent of respondents did non even know whether they had type 1 or type 2 diabetes ( Reference 2 P 119 ) . The success of DSME is dependent many discrepancies which include the patient ‘s single features, the context of their societal environment, the extent of the disease, and the patient ‘s interface with the attention and instruction provided. Overall there is a great trade of grounds to propose DSME is the ‘cornerstone ‘ in effectual diabetes attention ( NSF 2001 ) . It is recommended that DSME is delivered by a multi-disciplinary squad together with a comprehensive attention program ( cite 1 ) . Experts agree that effectual direction of diabetes mellitus increases life anticipation and reduces the hazard of complications ( NICE Guidenance for the usage of patient instruction theoretical accounts of diabetes Referece 1 P 119 Changing the wellness related behavior of people with diabetes has been proved to be successful in cut downing or even eliminating the hazard of complications ( mention ) . Many different wellness publicity theoretical accounts of exist which can assist a patient to digest wellness publicity advise and want to alter their wellness related behaviors ( Kawachi 2002 ) . Health publicity theoretical accounts are utile tools to help with this procedure. The Stages of Change wellness publicity is a often used theoretical account for weight direction as it identifies 6 phases of preparedness to alter which helps wellness professionals identify the intercession actions to urge and back up. Standard 3 has besides ensured people with diabetes receive regular attention ( Hicks 2010 ) , although Hillson ( 2009 ) would reason the quality of which is still unfastened to debate. Every individual with diabetes should have the highest criterions of individualized attention, no affair who delivers it or where or when it is delivered. Access to specialist services should be available when required ( Hillson 2009 ) . Diabetes patients receive different criterions of attention depending on whether or non they can go to their physician ‘s surgery ( Knights and Platt 2005 ) . Diabetes patients who are unable to go to the surgery are being overlooked and missed out on testing and reappraisals of their diabetes, accordingly having a lower criterion of attention despite the NSF for Diabetes saying inequalities in proviso of services should be addressed to guarantee a high criterion of attention which meets single patient demands. ( Gadsky 1994, Hall 2005, Harris 2005, ) . Until late the territory nursing squad were some of the few professionals who provided attention in the place for diabetes patients and merely normally had input with diabetes patients when intervention was required for a complication ( Wrobel 2001 ) . District nurses have historically been seen as Renaissance mans and able to supply attention and intervention for patients with a broad scope of conditions and hence do non needfully have specialist disease cognition ( Hale 2004 ) . Sargant ( 2002 ) agree with this and suggests the quality and rede territory nurses give to diabetic patients is questionable as they do n't hold the in-depth degree of cognition in relation to diabetes. In acknowledgment of the incompatibility of attention being provided to patients with chronic unwellnesss in their ain places, the function of Community Matron was introduced in 2004 to guarantee patients with diabetes receive the first category service advocated by the Department of Health ( 1999 ) and the NHS PLAN ( 2000 ) by pull offing their all embracing attention demands and aid patients efficaciously manage their long term conditions which in theory should ensue in cut down hospital admittances. ( NHS Improvement Plan 2004 ) . However a survey conducted by Gravelle et Al ( 2006 ) would propose the Community Matron function has non been effectual in cut downing hospital admittances. Forbes et Al ( 2004 ) concurs that territory nurses, given the clip and with the right preparation could widen their functions and satisfactory undertake appropriate attention for housebound people with diabetes. However Brookes ( 2002 ) suggests preparation and resources are large issues and Harris ( 2005 ) says that territory nurses may non be carry throughing their Professional Code of Conduct by neglecting to care sufficiently for this group of patients ( Nursing and Midwifery Council 2008 ) . The turning prevalence of diabetes and the drain on NHS resources continues to be a concern for the UK, in footings of life quality and life anticipation of patients. Many wellness inequalities exist for people with diabetes ; there are proved links with fleshiness and want ; and diabetes attention provided is non equal for all patients. Patients who are able to go to their GP surgery receive better attention than those who are housebound, although this inequality is being addressed and attention is bettering. The NSF for Diabetes is a utile model for health care professionals to follow when supplying attention for people with diabetes. The quality of diabetes attention has improved since this model has been introduced. However, the execution of some recommendations has been slow and will non be complete until 2013. Patient instruction is paramount to successful diabetes control and there appears no uncertainty that the key to successfully decelerating the oncoming of diabetes and th e recognised associated complications is to prosecute patients in DSME.

3 Tips for Writing a Stand-Out Why Tulane Essay

3 Tips for Writing a Stand-Out Why Tulane Essay SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If you’re applying to Tulane University, you can choose to answer the Why Tulane optional statement as part of your application. The Why Tulane supplement essay asks you to explain why you want to attend Tulane. In this article, we’ll talk about what the Why Tulane application is, whether you should answer it, and how to write a successful essay that’ll help increase your chances of admission. The Why Tulane Essay Prompt The Why Tulane supplement essay is straightforward: Please describe why you are interested in attending Tulane University (optional) (50-800 words). See? Straight to the point. While the instructions are simple, the wide range of word count and relatively open-ended prompt make the Why Tulane essay more difficult than it initially seems. You’ll need to put some serious effort into your essay in order to stand out as an applicant. Should I Write the Why Tulane Supplement Essay? Looking at the Why Tulane application essay, you might be wondering if you even need to write the essay in the first place. After all, the prompt does say â€Å"optional†. While that’s true, it would be a huge mistake to not write your Why Tulane application essay. This essay is a great opportunity to a) show off any interests and talents you have that aren’t immediately apparent on the rest of your application and b) demonstrate why Tulane is a great fit for you and vice versa. The Tulane supplement essay is your chance to prove that you belong on Tulane’s New Orleans campus - don’t forgo it! What Is the Purpose of the Why Tulane Essay? Colleges like Tulane want to see that you really want to attend their school. Applicants who love their school are more likely to be active and happy students and later, active and happy alumni. Your essay should show the admissions committee that you really love Tulane, which will make them feel more confident that you’ll be a great addition to the campus. Applicants that really want to attend a school are also more likely to enroll, meaning that Tulane’s rate of enrollment will be higher. Similarly, Tulane wants to make sure you know and value what they offer, and they also want to assess how you’ll take advantage of the many opportunities on Tulane’s campus to further your academic and professional career. This essay is a great opportunity for the admissions committee to weed out students who haven’t done their research on Tulane or really don’t care about attending. What Should I Write About in My Why Tulane Application Essay? Your Why Tulane essay is your chance to express to the admissions committee why you want to attend Tulane. What made you apply to this school over any of the thousands of others you could have applied to? Your Why Tulane application essay should be personal. The admissions committee doesn’t want to read a cookie-cutter statement that could be written by any student about any school. Your paper should read as uniquely about you and uniquely about Tulane. With that in mind, here are three ideas for what you can write about for your Why Tulane essay. #1: What Resonated With You When You Visited Tulane If you made it down to New Orleans to visit Tulane, you should tell a specific story about what resonated with you on your campus trip. You could talk about a class that you sit in on or an experience you had with a tour guide. You could discuss visiting a local restaurant or engaging with New Orleans culture. The Tulane admissions committee wants to hear about what stuck with you - and generic, bland answers will stand out as insincere. This essay isn’t about why you want to attend college - it’s about why you want to attend Tulane. Pick experiences that could only happen at Tulane, not anywhere else. #2: What Makes Tulane a Great Match With Your Past and Your Future You can use your Why Tulane essay to expand on your interests and passions as a student and person. Tie those interests back to Tulane itself to show why Tulane is the right school for you. Tulane places a large emphasis on community service, so if you have experience doing community service in your hometown or plan to make that a large part of your life at college, this essay is a great opportunity to talk about that passion. If you want to study a specific field, like public health, that Tulane specializes in, the Why Tulane essay is the place to highlight that. Use this essay to describe how attending Tulane fits in with your plans. Doing so will help show the admissions committee that you plan to make the most out of your time on campus. #3: Experiences You’ve Had With Current or Former Students Tulane admissions officer Jeff Schiffman recommends name-dropping current or former Tulane students to explain why you’re interested in attending the university. According to Schiffman, your reasons don’t have to be particularly highbrow or academically-minded. You might just have noticed some awesome Instagram posts from a friend of a friend or heard great things from your second cousin. However you have the connection, use the Why Tulane essay to prove your interest in attending Tulane. Tips for Writing an Amazing Why Tulane Essay Writing a strong Why Tulane application essay isn’t just about picking the right topic. You need to make sure your essay is the best possible example of your work in order to wow the admissions committee. Follow these three tips for writing an amazing Tulane application essay. #1: Make Your Work Tulane-Specific Nothing about your Why Tulane essay should be generic or impersonal. The more specific you can be when answering this prompt, the better. Don’t say Tulane has great academics, caring professors, and an interesting student body. Tulane knows that already - it doesn’t need you to tell its admissions officers that. Everything you write about in your Why Tulane essay should be specific to Tulane - from the names of the professors and the courses to the feeling you had while visiting the campus. The more authentic you are, the more your passion for Tulane will stand out. #2: Do Your Research The best way to make your Why Tulane essay specific to Tulane is to do your research about the school. If you can, visit the campus to get a feel for its student body and on-campus life. If you can’t, spend time perusing the school’s website and try to speak with current or former students. The more you know about Tulane, the more convincingly you’ll be able to write that Tulane is the best school for you to attend. You should get an idea for the different clubs and activities that you’d like to participate in. You can find this information on the school’s website. It can also be worthwhile to schedule a meeting with a professor, especially if you have a particular area of study that you’re extremely interested in. #3: Proofread and Polish Your Essay Your Tulane essay should be the strongest example of your work possible. Before you turn in your application, make sure to edit and proofread your essays. Your work should be free of spelling and grammar errors. Make sure to run your essays through a spelling and grammar check before you submit. It’s a good idea to have someone else read your â€Å"Why Tulane† essay, too. You can seek a second opinion on your work from a parent, teacher, or friend. Ask them whether your work represents you as a student and person. Have them check and make sure you haven’t missed any small writing errors. Having a second opinion will help your work be the best it possibly can be. In Summary The Why Tulane supplement essay is your opportunity to show why you want to attend Tulane University. The Why Tulane essay is†¦ An opportunity to explain what you specifically like about Tulane. A place to highlight your unique skills and interests. The Why Tulane essay isn’t†¦ The place to share why going to college in general is important. An opportunity to talk about the other schools you’re applying to. What’s Next? Starting your essay is often the hardest part. If you're unsure where to begin, read our guide to starting your essay perfectly! A good essay is just one part of a successful Tulane application. If you want to really wow the admissions office, be sure your grades and test scores are up to par. Tulane University may not be an Ivy League school, but that doesn't mean your application shouldn't be Ivy League-caliber. Use these tips for getting into Harvard to shape your college application, and you'll have no problem getting into any school you choose! Want to write the perfect college application essay? Get professional help from PrepScholar. Your dedicated PrepScholar Admissions counselor will craft your perfect college essay, from the ground up. We'll learn your background and interests, brainstorm essay topics, and walk you through the essay drafting process, step-by-step. At the end, you'll have a unique essay that you'll proudly submit to your top choice colleges. Don't leave your college application to chance. Find out more about PrepScholar Admissions now:

Tyler Leblanc Essays - Video Surveillance, Portable Electronics

Tyler Leblanc Essays - Video Surveillance, Portable Electronics Tyler Leblanc 10/9/17 CRJ 213. Admin CJ Prof. Metchik The Model Act For Regulating The Use Of Wearable Body Cameras By Law Enforcement (Boston) One of the greatest challenges that we must face as people is adjusting our way of living in the presence of change. Throughout history many events have taken place that have tested our ability to grow, forcing us to find a solution. Some of these answers came in the form of laws or legal documentation while others were new inventions such as machines during the industrial revolution, roads and even electronics. In recent years, one of the rising concerns the world has been confronted with is neglectful encounters between police and civilians. Although this has been a problem for decades, we have not chosen to take actions to fix it until its recent peak. From 2014 to the present day there has been a rise in deaths of officers and civilians during confrontation. With our old rules now not fitting our current ways of life, it was time to find a new approach to addressing this issue. The solution: body cameras. Many police departments have integrated the use of body cameras on their officers as a new system of collecting evidence and repairing the trust between officers and their community. Adding a new (words) also means modifying the rules that officers must follow. While not all cities that have a body camera program have documented policies and procedures, some do. This stands to educate both the officers that use them and the civilians that are exposed to them. The Boston Police Department and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are only two examples of the many organizations that have made and publicized rule and regulations for using the body camera. Although many of the essential points made in both documents are similar, some differ. One of the areas that both the ACLU and Boston Police Camera Action Team (BPCAT) agreed on was the rights of the civilian in relation to being recorded. Officers must inform all civilians that they are wearing a body camera. If the civilian requests to not be recorded, then the officer is required to turn it off. If the officer fails to do this than they will be subjected to disciplinary actions. I agree with this procedure because it touches upon an already implemented law. Every person has the right to deny being recorded. Another topic that both forms agree on is when to turn the camera on and off. Officers are required to turn the camera on when they are in pursuit to a call and before they interact with any civilian. They must wait until the full duration of the event and will then turn the camera off. I agree with this because officers should only be granted the right to record in an appropriate setting. If officer's were allowed to record when they pleased they could turn the recording on and off to portray the course of events in their favor. Although both parties decide on when to turn the camera on they do not agree to the scenarios in which the camera should not be activated at all. The ACLU does not go into much detail regarding this topic. What is interesting however, is that they mention specifically that cameras shall not be turned on in the presence of an elementary or secondary school. No were else did the article articulate instances where the camera shall not be used other than unrelated cases or those that would go against ones first amendment rights. On the other hand, the BPCAT lists several scenarios in which camera may not be used. Some examples include if "A civilian is partially or fully unclothed" and "To protect the identity of a confidential reliable informant". I agree with the BPCAT. I think it is just as important to highlight when to use the camera as it is to mention when not to use the camera. Due to the fact that the ACLU's policy does not go into detail about this topic it could cause further misunderstanding in the system. By naming at least a few instances when the body camera cannot be used the BPD

Chalice Chapter 9

He was introduced to her with a tremendous flourish, although no reason was given for his presence; which, with the air and the flourish, was explanation enough, and her heart plummeted. By the time the Grand Seneschal informed her, stiffly, that this was the Overlord’s choice for the next Master’s Heir, she didn’t need to be told, and in her anger and frustration she said, â€Å"That is hasty,† before she remembered to whom she spoke, and she bit her lip, waiting for the rebuke. But none came. She was so surprised she looked into his face. He scowled at her at once, the familiar contemptuous, disapproving scowl, but when she ducked her head and then glanced back again a moment later, his face had relaxed into what looked a lot like sadness. The new man’s name was Horuld. She paid little attention to his breeding, that several of his forebears’ lines ran directly from Willowlands, and several more had crossed in the ensuing generations, and which Deager was very eager to tell out, over and over and over, even to such unworthies as the demesne’s shabby and erratic new Chalice, who was herself one of the indications (Deager didn’t say this but he didn’t have to) that the demesne was still in trouble, over a year after she had taken her place in the Circle. So far as she knew no Chalice had ever been deposed. But she had never seen any record of a Chalice chosen when there was no Master to hold the land steady while the Circle did its work either. It had very occasionally happened that an apprentice died with or before her Chalice; but then too there had always been an experienced Master. And there were stories of Chalices who had not been able to bear the work they were called on to do – even those who had had their proper apprenticeships – and broken under it. There were only a few of these stories, but one was too many, and there was more than one. She believed that one such Chalice was the Chalice she herself followed. She was surprised – even more surprised than she had been at the Grand Seneschal missing a chance to reprimand her – when Horuld seemed disposed to talk to her. There were other, more prepossessing and conversationally skilful members of the Circle he could address himself to; demesne hierarchy declared that Chalice was Second of the Circle, but that had to be remembered only when there was work to be done. Her Circle recollected it only when they had to, as did the Overlord’s agent – or they always had done previously. She was, as Chalice, compelled to be present for the agent’s visit, and – as Chalice – she would serve whatever Master fate set over Willowlands. That was enough. Perhaps the training she hadn’t had would have included how to hold superfluous discourse with people she would rather avoid. When she was standing Chalice or performing a ritual she did not have to chat; but Horuld’s first visit was informal. In other circumstances this would have seemed friendly and considerate; as it was it seemed ominous and coercive. Deager, having proved to his own satisfaction, if not all of his audience’s, that Horuld’s bloodlines were an excellent choice, wished to make it clear – he said – that the Overlord was merely anxious that an unambiguous Heir should be in place, after the recent disaster. If such an accident should happen again, the demesne might fall apart entirely. It had been without a Master for seven months; it could not survive this a second time. She tried to tell herself that a declared Heir was a sensible precaution; their present Master was the end of his family. The previous Master should have declared an Heir when he sent his only brother to Fire. She wondered why the Overlord had not obliged him to do so; she had only been a small woodskeeper then, and small woodskeepers heard little about Overlords’ decisions. The demesne gossip said merely that the Master was a young man, and hale, and he would produce Heirs – had probably produced a few already, the uneasy joke went. But they would be bastards, and prohibited. By the time the ordinary folk of the demesne had begun to realise that their young Master seemed to have no intention of marrying and producing a proper Heir, especially in combination with his increasingly alarming general behaviour, the fear of what this meant also meant that no one wanted to talk about it. And then the worst had happened. Perhaps she should try to believe that the Overlord was merely doing the responsible thing – the responsible thing he had failed to do before – but again she wondered. It was too soon to tie an Heir to the present Circle; Willowlands was still too precarious. However necessary an Heir was, forcing him upon them now would unbalance it further. Would the next thing be that she was obliged to take an apprentice? She had no energy for the binding that would entail. Leaving aside that she had nothing to teach one. Perhaps it was only her dislike of both Deager and Horuld that made her feel the agent was making it clear that Horuld was being introduced to Willowlands as the Heir only after he had made something else even more clear, if not in so many words: that the Overlord would like to see Horuld taking up this inheritance soon. She was too quick to feel she needed to defend the Master, she told herself. But what she had taken from the agent’s description of Horuld’s bloodlines was that if he was the best that could be done for her poor demesne, the Overlord should be straining every muscle to support the present Master. Did the Overlord want to break Willowlands entirely? Surely not. The disruption would damage the Overlord’s grip too†¦no. He would be counting on riding it out; might he, more, be betting on the huge increase of his own power the successful changeover would produce? She knew almost nothing of the politics among Overlords. Demesne folk did not travel to the crown city nor visit the court of the king; and as practising Chalice she was furthermore indissolubly tied to her land. But whatever else she knew or thought of the Grand Seneschal, he would not have kept such a piece of news as a visit from the Heir from the rest of the Circle; and Deager glossed, or slithered, over the question of why Willowlands had not known who was coming with him, which made it plain that there had been no message that had gone awry. She had mixed the cup she would offer to the company before she came. She had mixed it for the visit from the Overlord’s agent, and that was all. That was how it was done; that was why it was important that a Chalice know in advance who would drink from her cup, and for what reasons. Last-minute changes were destabilising, which was why battlefield cups, which were perforce rare, were also notoriously volatile. It should not have been a good omen, that a Master’s Heir should be left out of the first cup he received from the Chalice. Perhaps the Overlord, or some other of his plotters, had decided that being left out was better than a Chalice throwing her weight against him, which a loyal Chalice might be suspected of doing upon the presentation of any outblood Heir. Chalices were parochial by definition; of all the Circle, only the Chalice could not set foot across her demesne’s boundaries. Some of the oldest records called the Chalice the Landtied – and because of this literal overidentification, the Chalice’s response to outbloodedness in any member of the Circle was considered crucial. This perhaps explained why Horuld was interested – indeed eager – to talk to her. Perhaps she could be disposed to include him kindly in her mixture for his next visit, after he had been careful to make a good first impression. She would not need to be disloyal. An y Master’s Heir was an important part in the demesne structure; most accepted Heirs attended at least some Circle gatherings; and under the present circumstances the only possible Heir was an outblood. A Chalice must at least punctiliously include her Master’s Heir in any cup he was present for; of course it would be better if she felt at least benign toward him, or even generous. But she did not feel benign or generous. She listened, smooth-faced, when the agent pronounced some blather about how the surprise of presenting Horuld unannounced would create â€Å"clarity† in an awkward situation; that he would be more able to see where he would best fit into difficult circumstances if no one was trying to soften the truth. She knew that a properly schooled Chalice would have some matching blather to offer in return, but she was not a properly schooled Chalice, and it gave her a little meagre pleasure that her silence discomfited the agent, and by his discomfiture he exposed that he knew his action had been dishonourable. Did she loathe Horuld because Deager was a toad? No. Sunbrightener was a toad, and his antics merely made her feel tired and sad. Or because the Chalice was repelled by outbloodedness? She looked at Horuld and every particle of her recoiled. No. She bore the Chalice, she was not engulfed by it. Mirasol had arrived a little late at the House for the meeting with Deager. Just as she was leaving her cottage a young mother had burst into the meadow carrying a wildly weeping child. Mirasol knew them, Kenti and her daughter Tis; they were neighbours. Tis had pulled a kettle of boiling water over. Fortunately it had only been half full, but the child still had a badly burned arm; and the local herbswoman, Catu, was gone to a lying-in, Kenti did not know where. Mirasol hadn’t spoken to Kenti or her husband Danel properly since she had become Chalice, in spite of the fact that Danel and she had grown up together; she had been jealous when he had been apprenticed to a ploughman, for the horses. Kenti said breathlessly, â€Å"Can you do anything? Can you help?† Her eyes went to the back of Mirasol’s right hand, which was holding the edges of her cloak together over the cup of congruence in her left hand, and then hastily rose to Mirasol’s face. But she couldn’t meet the Chalice’s eyes the way she had many times met Mirasol’s, and they dropped away again. Poor Tis was weeping in a miserable, exhausted way that was painful to hear. Mirasol brought them into the cottage and took down a small pot of the honey especially good for burns and smeared it carefully over Tis’ arm. The little girl cried out at the first touch but by the time Mirasol had finished she had fallen silent, and leant back against her mother’s body staring at Mirasol with huge still-wet eyes. Even as Mirasol looked back at her the eyelids drooped, and Tis was asleep. And then Kenti burst into tears. Mirasol led her to the big soft chair by the fireplace where Mirasol did much of her reading and let her collapse. â€Å"It was my own carelessness – I know what she’s like – I let myself be distracted – it was only a moment – and then I heard her scream – and I knew Catu was away – I didn’t know what to do – it was awful† and then she couldn’t say anything for a while. Mirasol made a tisane – a spoonful of her soothing honey with a spoonful of the calming herbs she’d had from Catu herself; in the early months of her Chalicehood she’d drunk it by the bucketful. When she brought a cup to Kenti, Kenti laid Tis tenderly down beside her on the chair, sticky arm uppermost, and took it. She breathed in the steam and gave a little half laugh: she recognised Catu’s mixture. â€Å"I’ve used honey for littler wounds – your mother taught me that when I wasn’t much older than Tis – but this one was so dreadful. And then I remembered – I remembered your hand. I thought, if your – if the Chalice’s honey can cure what a Fire-priest can do, then perhaps it can cure Tis’ arm.† Mirasol said gently, â€Å"The Master cured my hand.† â€Å"He – ?† said Kenti unbelievingly, and Mirasol saw the fear in her face, the same fear she saw in the Housemen’s faces before they bent nearer their Master to slide the chair under him as he sat down; the fear she saw in the faces of most of the others of the Circle when their part in a rite brought them too close to him – the fear of him that made the Master leave the burnt grove before any of his people saw him there. â€Å"Yes. He.† She wanted to say, Tell Danel. Tell your mother. Tell all your friends. But she watched Kenti’s face and knew that she would tell the story – if she believed it. Kenti’s face said that she wanted to believe it – she wanted that hope, not only for herself, but for her demesne. Kenti sat looking at her daughter for a long moment and then said wonderingly, â€Å"Look – the mark is already fading. Your mother’s honey could not have done so much so quickly. It is the Chalice in you, I know, but perhaps – perhaps – perhaps it is also that we have a Fire-priest for Master†¦.† Her voice had sunk to a whisper. Mirasol was still thinking about the hope in Kenti’s face when she walked up to the House. She knew she was late, but it was only Deager, the agent, coming for a – snoop, she thought uncharitably. Overlords’ agents were supposed to visit their Overlords’ demesnes, but she didn’t like the way Deager’s nose twitched, the way his eyes darted around, as if he were hoping to smell something rotten, to see someone doing something illicit or disgraceful. And then she arrived, and there was a surprising number of people churning around in the big hall behind the front doors, and a youngish, weaselly-faced man she had never seen before standing a little too close to Deager’s elbow. The situation was uncomfortable enough to begin with, when it was only Deager and Horuld, herself and the Grand Seneschal and the Seneschal’s apprentice Bringad, and four of the minor Circle (the others were hastily sent for when Horuld was revealed as the Heir) plus the attendants the visitors brought and their own Housefolk. As the word spread about Horuld, more and more people streamed in, and both the noise and the tension level, it seemed to Mirasol, rose, and the ever-worried Bringad looked more worried than she had ever seen him. But when the Master arrived†¦she did not know how to understand it, explain it, even to herself. It was as if the level ground tipped a little in one direction and the high curving sky changed its arc just a little in some other direction. A Master was not expected to greet a mere agent on his arrival; the Grand Seneschal did that. But as the representative of his Overlord, a Master would be churlish as well as foolish not to see him at some point during his visit. She assumed the Grand Seneschal had despatched a message to the Master about Deager’s unexpected companion; it was impossible to read any trace of surprise or disquiet on the Master’s shadowy black and strangely mutable face when he made his entrance. Mirasol heard with what was beginning to be a familiar sinking of the heart the conversation falter and then stop as he was noticed, before the head Houseman announced him. Perhaps all Masters are greeted with a respectful hush, but she doubted that most demesne folk drew together as if for protection when their Master appeared. When Deager (his voice positively quavering as he addressed the Master) described Horuld as the Overlord’s candidate for Heir, the Master merely bowed his head. There was a disagreeable pause, and then the agent rushed to begin telling Horuld’s bloodlines over again, speaking too loudly and too quickly, and at first forgetting his flourishes. But when a Master has no son nor other suitable close relative, the meeting between the Master and the Master’s newly declared Heir was as laboriously and ponderously formal as centuries of tradition could make it, including, in this case, the tradition that an unexpected situation should be treated even more formally than the same situation when everyone knew what was happening. The Grand Seneschal managed to insert an orotund phrase or two (rather like a pole through the spokes of a wheel, Mirasol thought) into the agent’s barrage of genealogy, which had a steadying effect. When Deager finally fell silent, his concl uding bow was as elaborate as if he were being presented to the king. But Mirasol found herself thinking that the Master had bowed his head so very ceremoniously indeed that perhaps he had somehow known of Horuld’s coming before the message from the Grand Seneschal. Most of the initial gestures among any group that required the presence of the Chalice were stylised, just as her offering of the cup was, but during Horuld’s first visit to Willowlands they all seemed to move as if they were puppets in a puppet show, their limbs made of wood, the pulling of their strings performed by a puppeteer. If there had been an audience Mirasol felt they would not have found the performance convincing. Although Deager had insisted in a manner that was obviously meant to be magnificent but came over as merely presumptuous, that this first informal meeting with the Heir should proceed as it would have if Horuld had not been there, this was not possible, as Deager would have known it was not possible. Furthermore any meeting involving the Circle to which the Chalice stood should be precise about the number of people present, the number of people who would be offered the Chalice’s cup – which Deager would also know. And the Willowlands folk were doubtless awkward with surprise. They had known an Heir would be chosen, and Mirasol had held Chalice during the gathering when the Master had acceded to the Overlord’s wish, as presented by Deager, that the Overlord do the choosing. But that had only been a few weeks ago, and they had heard nothing of the progress of the search. She had begun reading about the meeting of a Master with an unknown Heir, so she knew that if it had been a proper meeting she should offer her cup first to the Master and second to the Heir. After a moment’s invisible dithering behind the face she tried hard to keep in an expressionless Chalice mask she did so anyway: let Deager assume this was a manifestation of magnanimity and support; she considered it buying time. The contrast between the Master and an ordinary human had never been so marked, she thought, as between the Master and his Heir when she took the cup from one and offered it to the other. She had directed them to stand on either side of her – which would also have been the correct form for a planned first meeting between the two of them: she could see Deager smiling with satisfaction, but she ignored him. The Master seemed to tower over her, and his natural heat, as she stood close enough to him to hold a cup to his lips, wrapped itself around her as if claiming her – and briefly and disconcertingly she remembered riding home with him after the fire in the Onora Grove. Horuld, who was no more than average size, seemed puny and frail in comparison; and the fact that he was obviously struggling not to flinch away from the Master added to this impression of weakness. She might have helped him, as she often helped the Circle members who were still reluctant to approach the Master, by stepping toward him, by allowing him to maintain a greater distance; but she did not. She offered the cup to the Master with a bent arm, and then turned and offered the cup to Horuld, again with a bent arm, and waited, forcing him to step close, not only to her, but to the Master. He did not try to take the cup from her, but he did raise a hand to grasp it, and she could feel him trembling. There were beads of sweat on his upper lip which she doubted were only from the heat. Before she took the cup on to Deager and the rest of the Circle, she bowed, to the Master, and then to Horuld. The Master must receive the deeper bow, of course, but the Heir might have had one nearly as deep; her bow to the Heir was only enough more than perfunctory not to be offensive. She let her gaze pass as if carelessly over Deager, and saw that he had stopped smiling. She could feel, before she had got halfway round the Circle, that it was not a good binding. When she made her final bow it was almost difficult to stand upright again, and she was exhausted. She had to make a great effort to meet the eyes of Horuld and Deager; the Grand Seneschal’s eyes looked glassy and unfocused, and the Master’s were as unfathomable as they had been the first day, when his hand had slipped and burnt her, and his face was only blurred shadows. She tried to remember the sudden surprising joy of his healing of her hand, of talking to him about what he saw, about her bees being tiny golden sparks in his strange vision – of the night that she had helped him put out the fire in Onora Grove, and the ride home after. But she remembered these things as she might remember something out of a book, a story told of someone else. Even if, by some extraordinary accident, the Chalice had not known beforehand all those who would drink, a well-mixed cup should have had a more positive effect than this. Perhaps she had mixed it injudiciously; that was likeliest. Even without his bringing an unannounced Heir, her dislike of Deager made it onerous for her to mix a cup that she would have to offer to him. But even if a more experienced Chalice might have done better, it was still true that introducing an Heir without proper advance warning was like throwing a boulder on one side of a delicate scales and expecting them still to balance. But perhaps the lack of binding and balance in this gathering was because Horuld was wrong†¦wrong for the demesne, wrong as Heir, wrong even to be here. It had been known in the past that an outblood Heir was rejected by the demesne, however carefully the humans had tried to make the best choice. Perhaps the Overlord had overplayed his game by giving the Master and his Chalice no forewarning that the Overlord’s choice was coming to be introduced to his hoped-for inheritance. By the end of the day, when she could leave the House and make her way back to her cottage, she was shaking and sick. She pulled her hood over her head and held it bunched round her throat with her hands, feeling that what she really wanted to do was disappear: if she wrapped the ends of her cloak around her tightly enough and then tighter still, eventually there would be no one left inside†¦. Usually the gentle thumping of the empty Chalice cup against her hip was comforting: another ritual got through. Today it was not; she felt that she – they – Willowlands had indeed not got through the ritual of the introduction of the Heir. She concentrated on the thought of sitting in the last of the daylight in the clearing by the cottage, listening to her bees. She was still ten minutes’ walk from the cottage when some of her bees came to meet her. She stretched out her arms to them and they landed on her hands and forearms, stroking her skin as if the tiny hairs were sepals they expected to secrete nectar for them. She shook her hood back, and several landed on her face and neck; out of the corners of her eyes she could see more landing on her shoulders. As she walked the last few minutes to the cottage she found herself thinking that her head felt strangely heavy, and that the hum of the bees was unusually loud; and then when she came out of the tree-shadowed path into the sunny clearing around the cottage she saw a great cloud of bees lifting away from her and dispersing, and she realised that she had been wearing a hood and cloak of bees. She watched them scatter about their proper bee business, and wondered. Horuld came twice more in the next few weeks with Deager, and then a third time he came alone. When he came with Deager their visits were announced in advance; but now as the acknowledged Heir, he might come as he pleased – and stay as he pleased. She was in the House library when he came that third time, and the first warning she had was a shadow falling across the open door; she was deep into her research and would not have noticed, except that a half-familiar voice said, â€Å"Chalice,† and her body had recoiled before her mind had recognised who it was. She turned the recoil, she hoped, into a mere startle, and stood up at once to make a ceremonial sign of greeting, saying, â€Å"Forgive me, my mind was lost in what I was doing.† He said smoothly, â€Å"And I have interrupted you; forgive me.† She bowed her head and waited, hoping his appearance was a formal signal only and that he had no business with her. The demesne’s folk were growing used to their new Chalice, and they were now coming to her more and more; this was a relief in some ways, and she knew she must be grateful for the good this was doing Willowlands, but she often had to put aside what other work she had planned on doing. She had fled to the House library today and was hastily reading up on the behaviour toward and reception of outblood Heirs. Part of her problem, she thought, as she had thought many times since the Chalice had come to her, was that she was not by nature a formal sort of person; she found that side of the duties of the Chalice so difficult as sometimes to feel incompatible with her private self. She wondered if this was anything like trying to live in the human world when you were a priest of Fire. Chalice Chapter 9 He was introduced to her with a tremendous flourish, although no reason was given for his presence; which, with the air and the flourish, was explanation enough, and her heart plummeted. By the time the Grand Seneschal informed her, stiffly, that this was the Overlord’s choice for the next Master’s Heir, she didn’t need to be told, and in her anger and frustration she said, â€Å"That is hasty,† before she remembered to whom she spoke, and she bit her lip, waiting for the rebuke. But none came. She was so surprised she looked into his face. He scowled at her at once, the familiar contemptuous, disapproving scowl, but when she ducked her head and then glanced back again a moment later, his face had relaxed into what looked a lot like sadness. The new man’s name was Horuld. She paid little attention to his breeding, that several of his forebears’ lines ran directly from Willowlands, and several more had crossed in the ensuing generations, and which Deager was very eager to tell out, over and over and over, even to such unworthies as the demesne’s shabby and erratic new Chalice, who was herself one of the indications (Deager didn’t say this but he didn’t have to) that the demesne was still in trouble, over a year after she had taken her place in the Circle. So far as she knew no Chalice had ever been deposed. But she had never seen any record of a Chalice chosen when there was no Master to hold the land steady while the Circle did its work either. It had very occasionally happened that an apprentice died with or before her Chalice; but then too there had always been an experienced Master. And there were stories of Chalices who had not been able to bear the work they were called on to do – even those who had had their proper apprenticeships – and broken under it. There were only a few of these stories, but one was too many, and there was more than one. She believed that one such Chalice was the Chalice she herself followed. She was surprised – even more surprised than she had been at the Grand Seneschal missing a chance to reprimand her – when Horuld seemed disposed to talk to her. There were other, more prepossessing and conversationally skilful members of the Circle he could address himself to; demesne hierarchy declared that Chalice was Second of the Circle, but that had to be remembered only when there was work to be done. Her Circle recollected it only when they had to, as did the Overlord’s agent – or they always had done previously. She was, as Chalice, compelled to be present for the agent’s visit, and – as Chalice – she would serve whatever Master fate set over Willowlands. That was enough. Perhaps the training she hadn’t had would have included how to hold superfluous discourse with people she would rather avoid. When she was standing Chalice or performing a ritual she did not have to chat; but Horuld’s first visit was informal. In other circumstances this would have seemed friendly and considerate; as it was it seemed ominous and coercive. Deager, having proved to his own satisfaction, if not all of his audience’s, that Horuld’s bloodlines were an excellent choice, wished to make it clear – he said – that the Overlord was merely anxious that an unambiguous Heir should be in place, after the recent disaster. If such an accident should happen again, the demesne might fall apart entirely. It had been without a Master for seven months; it could not survive this a second time. She tried to tell herself that a declared Heir was a sensible precaution; their present Master was the end of his family. The previous Master should have declared an Heir when he sent his only brother to Fire. She wondered why the Overlord had not obliged him to do so; she had only been a small woodskeeper then, and small woodskeepers heard little about Overlords’ decisions. The demesne gossip said merely that the Master was a young man, and hale, and he would produce Heirs – had probably produced a few already, the uneasy joke went. But they would be bastards, and prohibited. By the time the ordinary folk of the demesne had begun to realise that their young Master seemed to have no intention of marrying and producing a proper Heir, especially in combination with his increasingly alarming general behaviour, the fear of what this meant also meant that no one wanted to talk about it. And then the worst had happened. Perhaps she should try to believe that the Overlord was merely doing the responsible thing – the responsible thing he had failed to do before – but again she wondered. It was too soon to tie an Heir to the present Circle; Willowlands was still too precarious. However necessary an Heir was, forcing him upon them now would unbalance it further. Would the next thing be that she was obliged to take an apprentice? She had no energy for the binding that would entail. Leaving aside that she had nothing to teach one. Perhaps it was only her dislike of both Deager and Horuld that made her feel the agent was making it clear that Horuld was being introduced to Willowlands as the Heir only after he had made something else even more clear, if not in so many words: that the Overlord would like to see Horuld taking up this inheritance soon. She was too quick to feel she needed to defend the Master, she told herself. But what she had taken from the agent’s description of Horuld’s bloodlines was that if he was the best that could be done for her poor demesne, the Overlord should be straining every muscle to support the present Master. Did the Overlord want to break Willowlands entirely? Surely not. The disruption would damage the Overlord’s grip too†¦no. He would be counting on riding it out; might he, more, be betting on the huge increase of his own power the successful changeover would produce? She knew almost nothing of the politics among Overlords. Demesne folk did not travel to the crown city nor visit the court of the king; and as practising Chalice she was furthermore indissolubly tied to her land. But whatever else she knew or thought of the Grand Seneschal, he would not have kept such a piece of news as a visit from the Heir from the rest of the Circle; and Deager glossed, or slithered, over the question of why Willowlands had not known who was coming with him, which made it plain that there had been no message that had gone awry. She had mixed the cup she would offer to the company before she came. She had mixed it for the visit from the Overlord’s agent, and that was all. That was how it was done; that was why it was important that a Chalice know in advance who would drink from her cup, and for what reasons. Last-minute changes were destabilising, which was why battlefield cups, which were perforce rare, were also notoriously volatile. It should not have been a good omen, that a Master’s Heir should be left out of the first cup he received from the Chalice. Perhaps the Overlord, or some other of his plotters, had decided that being left out was better than a Chalice throwing her weight against him, which a loyal Chalice might be suspected of doing upon the presentation of any outblood Heir. Chalices were parochial by definition; of all the Circle, only the Chalice could not set foot across her demesne’s boundaries. Some of the oldest records called the Chalice the Landtied – and because of this literal overidentification, the Chalice’s response to outbloodedness in any member of the Circle was considered crucial. This perhaps explained why Horuld was interested – indeed eager – to talk to her. Perhaps she could be disposed to include him kindly in her mixture for his next visit, after he had been careful to make a good first impression. She would not need to be disloyal. An y Master’s Heir was an important part in the demesne structure; most accepted Heirs attended at least some Circle gatherings; and under the present circumstances the only possible Heir was an outblood. A Chalice must at least punctiliously include her Master’s Heir in any cup he was present for; of course it would be better if she felt at least benign toward him, or even generous. But she did not feel benign or generous. She listened, smooth-faced, when the agent pronounced some blather about how the surprise of presenting Horuld unannounced would create â€Å"clarity† in an awkward situation; that he would be more able to see where he would best fit into difficult circumstances if no one was trying to soften the truth. She knew that a properly schooled Chalice would have some matching blather to offer in return, but she was not a properly schooled Chalice, and it gave her a little meagre pleasure that her silence discomfited the agent, and by his discomfiture he exposed that he knew his action had been dishonourable. Did she loathe Horuld because Deager was a toad? No. Sunbrightener was a toad, and his antics merely made her feel tired and sad. Or because the Chalice was repelled by outbloodedness? She looked at Horuld and every particle of her recoiled. No. She bore the Chalice, she was not engulfed by it. Mirasol had arrived a little late at the House for the meeting with Deager. Just as she was leaving her cottage a young mother had burst into the meadow carrying a wildly weeping child. Mirasol knew them, Kenti and her daughter Tis; they were neighbours. Tis had pulled a kettle of boiling water over. Fortunately it had only been half full, but the child still had a badly burned arm; and the local herbswoman, Catu, was gone to a lying-in, Kenti did not know where. Mirasol hadn’t spoken to Kenti or her husband Danel properly since she had become Chalice, in spite of the fact that Danel and she had grown up together; she had been jealous when he had been apprenticed to a ploughman, for the horses. Kenti said breathlessly, â€Å"Can you do anything? Can you help?† Her eyes went to the back of Mirasol’s right hand, which was holding the edges of her cloak together over the cup of congruence in her left hand, and then hastily rose to Mirasol’s face. But she couldn’t meet the Chalice’s eyes the way she had many times met Mirasol’s, and they dropped away again. Poor Tis was weeping in a miserable, exhausted way that was painful to hear. Mirasol brought them into the cottage and took down a small pot of the honey especially good for burns and smeared it carefully over Tis’ arm. The little girl cried out at the first touch but by the time Mirasol had finished she had fallen silent, and leant back against her mother’s body staring at Mirasol with huge still-wet eyes. Even as Mirasol looked back at her the eyelids drooped, and Tis was asleep. And then Kenti burst into tears. Mirasol led her to the big soft chair by the fireplace where Mirasol did much of her reading and let her collapse. â€Å"It was my own carelessness – I know what she’s like – I let myself be distracted – it was only a moment – and then I heard her scream – and I knew Catu was away – I didn’t know what to do – it was awful† and then she couldn’t say anything for a while. Mirasol made a tisane – a spoonful of her soothing honey with a spoonful of the calming herbs she’d had from Catu herself; in the early months of her Chalicehood she’d drunk it by the bucketful. When she brought a cup to Kenti, Kenti laid Tis tenderly down beside her on the chair, sticky arm uppermost, and took it. She breathed in the steam and gave a little half laugh: she recognised Catu’s mixture. â€Å"I’ve used honey for littler wounds – your mother taught me that when I wasn’t much older than Tis – but this one was so dreadful. And then I remembered – I remembered your hand. I thought, if your – if the Chalice’s honey can cure what a Fire-priest can do, then perhaps it can cure Tis’ arm.† Mirasol said gently, â€Å"The Master cured my hand.† â€Å"He – ?† said Kenti unbelievingly, and Mirasol saw the fear in her face, the same fear she saw in the Housemen’s faces before they bent nearer their Master to slide the chair under him as he sat down; the fear she saw in the faces of most of the others of the Circle when their part in a rite brought them too close to him – the fear of him that made the Master leave the burnt grove before any of his people saw him there. â€Å"Yes. He.† She wanted to say, Tell Danel. Tell your mother. Tell all your friends. But she watched Kenti’s face and knew that she would tell the story – if she believed it. Kenti’s face said that she wanted to believe it – she wanted that hope, not only for herself, but for her demesne. Kenti sat looking at her daughter for a long moment and then said wonderingly, â€Å"Look – the mark is already fading. Your mother’s honey could not have done so much so quickly. It is the Chalice in you, I know, but perhaps – perhaps – perhaps it is also that we have a Fire-priest for Master†¦.† Her voice had sunk to a whisper. Mirasol was still thinking about the hope in Kenti’s face when she walked up to the House. She knew she was late, but it was only Deager, the agent, coming for a – snoop, she thought uncharitably. Overlords’ agents were supposed to visit their Overlords’ demesnes, but she didn’t like the way Deager’s nose twitched, the way his eyes darted around, as if he were hoping to smell something rotten, to see someone doing something illicit or disgraceful. And then she arrived, and there was a surprising number of people churning around in the big hall behind the front doors, and a youngish, weaselly-faced man she had never seen before standing a little too close to Deager’s elbow. The situation was uncomfortable enough to begin with, when it was only Deager and Horuld, herself and the Grand Seneschal and the Seneschal’s apprentice Bringad, and four of the minor Circle (the others were hastily sent for when Horuld was revealed as the Heir) plus the attendants the visitors brought and their own Housefolk. As the word spread about Horuld, more and more people streamed in, and both the noise and the tension level, it seemed to Mirasol, rose, and the ever-worried Bringad looked more worried than she had ever seen him. But when the Master arrived†¦she did not know how to understand it, explain it, even to herself. It was as if the level ground tipped a little in one direction and the high curving sky changed its arc just a little in some other direction. A Master was not expected to greet a mere agent on his arrival; the Grand Seneschal did that. But as the representative of his Overlord, a Master would be churlish as well as foolish not to see him at some point during his visit. She assumed the Grand Seneschal had despatched a message to the Master about Deager’s unexpected companion; it was impossible to read any trace of surprise or disquiet on the Master’s shadowy black and strangely mutable face when he made his entrance. Mirasol heard with what was beginning to be a familiar sinking of the heart the conversation falter and then stop as he was noticed, before the head Houseman announced him. Perhaps all Masters are greeted with a respectful hush, but she doubted that most demesne folk drew together as if for protection when their Master appeared. When Deager (his voice positively quavering as he addressed the Master) described Horuld as the Overlord’s candidate for Heir, the Master merely bowed his head. There was a disagreeable pause, and then the agent rushed to begin telling Horuld’s bloodlines over again, speaking too loudly and too quickly, and at first forgetting his flourishes. But when a Master has no son nor other suitable close relative, the meeting between the Master and the Master’s newly declared Heir was as laboriously and ponderously formal as centuries of tradition could make it, including, in this case, the tradition that an unexpected situation should be treated even more formally than the same situation when everyone knew what was happening. The Grand Seneschal managed to insert an orotund phrase or two (rather like a pole through the spokes of a wheel, Mirasol thought) into the agent’s barrage of genealogy, which had a steadying effect. When Deager finally fell silent, his concl uding bow was as elaborate as if he were being presented to the king. But Mirasol found herself thinking that the Master had bowed his head so very ceremoniously indeed that perhaps he had somehow known of Horuld’s coming before the message from the Grand Seneschal. Most of the initial gestures among any group that required the presence of the Chalice were stylised, just as her offering of the cup was, but during Horuld’s first visit to Willowlands they all seemed to move as if they were puppets in a puppet show, their limbs made of wood, the pulling of their strings performed by a puppeteer. If there had been an audience Mirasol felt they would not have found the performance convincing. Although Deager had insisted in a manner that was obviously meant to be magnificent but came over as merely presumptuous, that this first informal meeting with the Heir should proceed as it would have if Horuld had not been there, this was not possible, as Deager would have known it was not possible. Furthermore any meeting involving the Circle to which the Chalice stood should be precise about the number of people present, the number of people who would be offered the Chalice’s cup – which Deager would also know. And the Willowlands folk were doubtless awkward with surprise. They had known an Heir would be chosen, and Mirasol had held Chalice during the gathering when the Master had acceded to the Overlord’s wish, as presented by Deager, that the Overlord do the choosing. But that had only been a few weeks ago, and they had heard nothing of the progress of the search. She had begun reading about the meeting of a Master with an unknown Heir, so she knew that if it had been a proper meeting she should offer her cup first to the Master and second to the Heir. After a moment’s invisible dithering behind the face she tried hard to keep in an expressionless Chalice mask she did so anyway: let Deager assume this was a manifestation of magnanimity and support; she considered it buying time. The contrast between the Master and an ordinary human had never been so marked, she thought, as between the Master and his Heir when she took the cup from one and offered it to the other. She had directed them to stand on either side of her – which would also have been the correct form for a planned first meeting between the two of them: she could see Deager smiling with satisfaction, but she ignored him. The Master seemed to tower over her, and his natural heat, as she stood close enough to him to hold a cup to his lips, wrapped itself around her as if claiming her – and briefly and disconcertingly she remembered riding home with him after the fire in the Onora Grove. Horuld, who was no more than average size, seemed puny and frail in comparison; and the fact that he was obviously struggling not to flinch away from the Master added to this impression of weakness. She might have helped him, as she often helped the Circle members who were still reluctant to approach the Master, by stepping toward him, by allowing him to maintain a greater distance; but she did not. She offered the cup to the Master with a bent arm, and then turned and offered the cup to Horuld, again with a bent arm, and waited, forcing him to step close, not only to her, but to the Master. He did not try to take the cup from her, but he did raise a hand to grasp it, and she could feel him trembling. There were beads of sweat on his upper lip which she doubted were only from the heat. Before she took the cup on to Deager and the rest of the Circle, she bowed, to the Master, and then to Horuld. The Master must receive the deeper bow, of course, but the Heir might have had one nearly as deep; her bow to the Heir was only enough more than perfunctory not to be offensive. She let her gaze pass as if carelessly over Deager, and saw that he had stopped smiling. She could feel, before she had got halfway round the Circle, that it was not a good binding. When she made her final bow it was almost difficult to stand upright again, and she was exhausted. She had to make a great effort to meet the eyes of Horuld and Deager; the Grand Seneschal’s eyes looked glassy and unfocused, and the Master’s were as unfathomable as they had been the first day, when his hand had slipped and burnt her, and his face was only blurred shadows. She tried to remember the sudden surprising joy of his healing of her hand, of talking to him about what he saw, about her bees being tiny golden sparks in his strange vision – of the night that she had helped him put out the fire in Onora Grove, and the ride home after. But she remembered these things as she might remember something out of a book, a story told of someone else. Even if, by some extraordinary accident, the Chalice had not known beforehand all those who would drink, a well-mixed cup should have had a more positive effect than this. Perhaps she had mixed it injudiciously; that was likeliest. Even without his bringing an unannounced Heir, her dislike of Deager made it onerous for her to mix a cup that she would have to offer to him. But even if a more experienced Chalice might have done better, it was still true that introducing an Heir without proper advance warning was like throwing a boulder on one side of a delicate scales and expecting them still to balance. But perhaps the lack of binding and balance in this gathering was because Horuld was wrong†¦wrong for the demesne, wrong as Heir, wrong even to be here. It had been known in the past that an outblood Heir was rejected by the demesne, however carefully the humans had tried to make the best choice. Perhaps the Overlord had overplayed his game by giving the Master and his Chalice no forewarning that the Overlord’s choice was coming to be introduced to his hoped-for inheritance. By the end of the day, when she could leave the House and make her way back to her cottage, she was shaking and sick. She pulled her hood over her head and held it bunched round her throat with her hands, feeling that what she really wanted to do was disappear: if she wrapped the ends of her cloak around her tightly enough and then tighter still, eventually there would be no one left inside†¦. Usually the gentle thumping of the empty Chalice cup against her hip was comforting: another ritual got through. Today it was not; she felt that she – they – Willowlands had indeed not got through the ritual of the introduction of the Heir. She concentrated on the thought of sitting in the last of the daylight in the clearing by the cottage, listening to her bees. She was still ten minutes’ walk from the cottage when some of her bees came to meet her. She stretched out her arms to them and they landed on her hands and forearms, stroking her skin as if the tiny hairs were sepals they expected to secrete nectar for them. She shook her hood back, and several landed on her face and neck; out of the corners of her eyes she could see more landing on her shoulders. As she walked the last few minutes to the cottage she found herself thinking that her head felt strangely heavy, and that the hum of the bees was unusually loud; and then when she came out of the tree-shadowed path into the sunny clearing around the cottage she saw a great cloud of bees lifting away from her and dispersing, and she realised that she had been wearing a hood and cloak of bees. She watched them scatter about their proper bee business, and wondered. Horuld came twice more in the next few weeks with Deager, and then a third time he came alone. When he came with Deager their visits were announced in advance; but now as the acknowledged Heir, he might come as he pleased – and stay as he pleased. She was in the House library when he came that third time, and the first warning she had was a shadow falling across the open door; she was deep into her research and would not have noticed, except that a half-familiar voice said, â€Å"Chalice,† and her body had recoiled before her mind had recognised who it was. She turned the recoil, she hoped, into a mere startle, and stood up at once to make a ceremonial sign of greeting, saying, â€Å"Forgive me, my mind was lost in what I was doing.† He said smoothly, â€Å"And I have interrupted you; forgive me.† She bowed her head and waited, hoping his appearance was a formal signal only and that he had no business with her. The demesne’s folk were growing used to their new Chalice, and they were now coming to her more and more; this was a relief in some ways, and she knew she must be grateful for the good this was doing Willowlands, but she often had to put aside what other work she had planned on doing. She had fled to the House library today and was hastily reading up on the behaviour toward and reception of outblood Heirs. Part of her problem, she thought, as she had thought many times since the Chalice had come to her, was that she was not by nature a formal sort of person; she found that side of the duties of the Chalice so difficult as sometimes to feel incompatible with her private self. She wondered if this was anything like trying to live in the human world when you were a priest of Fire.