Are humans sinful Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Are humans sinful - Research Paper Example Temptations have existed from the ancient times when the serpent had mischievously tricked Adam and Eve into disobeying God’s command that presented they refrain from the forbidden fruit. Humanity has since been plagued with faults and negligence to present their evil nature towards the society. Murders, robberies and fraud cases have been evident in various cases including the parables presented by Jesus Christ like in the good Samaritan. This has been the argument presented to deduce the true nature of humanity the motive to participate in committing evil that break the supreme law. The slow change from the pure soul is witnessed within the development stages of humanity. Although human beings appear pure when they are born, the seed of sin has been buried inside their mind for generations. Evil has been developed within the society to take effect within the activities performed by humanity and these are found within the law of the land. Jesus himself was crucified for the sins of man upon the rules that had been created by the sinful society. This was the example given in the presence of the ancient evil political regime that incriminated innocent people out of the interest to be gained to deliver selfish ambitions. John the Baptist had been murdered out of a corrupt political regime that was against Christianity. Without Christianity, humanity has been tempted into sin to break the law presented in the land. Humanity had been cursed after the events in the Garden of Eden when the seeds had been cast within the soul. Those who had gone against God’s commandments had been punished, like the Israelites on their pathway to the Promised Land. The prosperous have boasted of finding means to enrich their desires after applying the means to excel in harsh presentation s among the less fortunate. However, the Bible has been extended to explain that those without the

Describe how water quality is determined Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Describe how water quality is determined - Essay Example Keywords: Water quality, guidelines, standards, contamination, pollutants, permissible limits, microbiological. Water Quality Standards Water is essential to life on this planet and its quality impacts both human beings and aquatic marine life (Anon., edugreen, n.d.). Pure water, fit for human consumption and other applications, is odorless, colorless and tasteless but these qualities are lost when contamination takes place. World Health Organization (WHO) has been the nodal agency for developing water quality parameters and recommending them for adoption by the different nations with appropriate modifications, through respective national agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the US. WHO guidelines are only recommendatory in nature, and factors like socio-economic conditions, traditional usage practices, need to conserve water as a resource etc. play important role in the quality standards of water in each country ((Fewtrell and Bartram, 2001). To study the quali ty and lay down relevant parameters, water is broadly divided under three different usages for developing standards for each category - drinking water, wastewater for reuse and recreational water (Fewtrell and Bartram, 2001. pp.17-20). Contamination itself is caused by chemical, physical and microbiological factors. Hence quality standards are based on the matrix of water usage and the relevant contaminants. For example, permissible contamination in agricultural or recreational use water is significantly higher/different than that for human consumption. Thus, the pollutants and permissible limits for different water usages have been developed. Chemical contaminants are very many and include chlorine (as disinfectant), pesticides/herbicides (used in agriculture), toxic organic/inorganic chemicals from industry, soaps and other cleaning agents in domestic wastewater running into sewers, canals and river streams etc. (Excel, n.d.). WHO guidelines indicate the tolerable daily intake (TD I) limits for presence of different chemicals in water, beyond which it is considered unfit for consumption. In respect of genotoxic carcinogens, TDI is nil. For other chemicals, standards of maximum permissible concentration levels are developed for each end-product. While developing the guidelines and standards, verification by relatively easy chemical analysis methods either on spot or in laboratories was kept in mind for practical reasons. Physical contamination consists of suspended particles like sand, soil, clay, decaying vegetative matter, precipitated salts etc. apart from metals, dissolved salts and minerals. These contaminants give color, taste and odor to water, impacting quality of the end-products. Dissolved salts and minerals also discolor clothes when such water is used for washing. Multilayer filtration, water softening and demineralization processes help to reduce physical contamination of water. US-EPA recommends a limit of 500mg per liter or 500ppm for total diss olved salts (TDS) (Excel, n.d.). Individual permissible limits have also been laid down by EPA for heavy metals (toxic) like arsenic, mercury, cadmium, lead and silver. Microbiological contamination is the presence of pathogenic microorganisms like viruses, bacteria, protozoa and helminthes, and is usually caused by fecal matter ingress. WHO guidelines identified Escherichia coli (E.coli) for sampling and recommend a zero presence in a 100 ml sample and a presence in

War in ‘Refugee Blues’ and ‘Disabled’

War in ‘Refugee Blues’ and ‘Disabled’ Title: Explore How Writers Treat the Subject of Wastefulness Of War in the Two Texts You Have Studied. It is ostensible that both texts, ‘Refuge Blues’ and ‘Disabled’, have been influenced by the writers’ own personal experiences as they both accurately replicate the true brutality behind wars. ‘Refugee Blues’ by W. H. Auden is a poem about the harsh realities of war; including themes such as: loss, suffering, and change. ‘Disabled’ by Wilfred Owen is similar in this manner and it also echoes the same message Auden is trying to convey; the wastefulness of war. The title of the poem ‘Refugee Blues’ tells us a lot of what it is about as the poem’s sense of musicality is conspicuous in the title. The definition of the word ‘refugee’ is a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster. The use of the word ‘refugee’ implies that the poem is about a person or a group of people attempting to escape their country, Nazi Germany, bu t cannot, due to the fact that they do not own passports; leaving them homeless. The word ‘blues’ is a reference towards the sub-genre of jazz; a refrain is placed at the end of each stanza in the poem, customary for a blues song, in order to echo a melancholy tone. ‘Disabled’ exploits the impact of war on those who live through it by analysing the present life of an injured soldier to his past accomplishments. Auden and Owen explore the theme of loss in order to portray the wastefulness of war through the use of: repetition, imagery and emphasis. In ‘Refugee Blues’, Auden uses repetition at the end of the first stanza, when it says,’ We cannot go there now, my dear, we cannot go there’, repetition makes it more poignant as it emphasises the problem that they cannot escape their own country as they lack passports which is later revealed in the second stanza when it states, ‘Old passports can’t do that, my dear, old passports can’t do that’, leaving them homeless. ‘Disabled’ contains vivid imagery which exaggerates the theme of loss such as, ‘he will never feel again how slim girls’ waists are†¦all of them touch him like some queer disease’, and, ‘he noticed how the women’s eyes passed from him to the strong men that were whole’, making the ex-soldier socially isolated. An example of emphasis and exaggeration is in ‘Refugee Blues’ when, in the eleventh stanza, it states, ‘Dreamed I saw a building with a thousand floors†¦not one of them was ours, my dear, not one of them was ours’, a hyperbole is used to highlight their situation, homelessness, creating sympathy for the reader. Owen alternates between using vulnerable language such as, ‘his back will never brace’, when he refers to the present in order to show that he is now weak and defenceless. The juxtaposition of remembrance and the masculine language when he refers to the past such as, ‘he’d look a god in kilts’, abruptly makes the reader realise that he is lost and can never be the man he once was. All of these examples coincide together in the way that they all scrutinize the subject: wastefulness of war. The theme of suffering is evident throughout the two poems in the way that the ‘disabled’ ex-soldier is struggling to live in the present and come to grips with his fate. This is palpable in the first stanza when the, ‘Voices of boys ran saddening like a hymn, voices of play and pleasures after day’. He is dressed formally in a ‘ghastly suit of grey’ which is cut at the waist, showing that he has lost his legs; he listens to the voices of young children which disheartens him, reminding him of something he can never have again. In ‘Refugee Blues’ suffering is indisputable as the whole poem is about presumably a male Jew and his partner being homeless; suffering, desperately trying to find a place to emigrate, but unfortunately cannot as ‘Old passports can’t do that’, this relates, previously, to the refugees being lost. The last stanza of ‘Refugee Blues’ conveys that, ‘Ten thousand soldiers marc hed to and fro: looking for you and me, my dear, looking for you and me’, once again repetition has been used in order to accentuate that there is a whole army looking for just two people. Furthermore, the repetition could also reference towards the nature of the blues rhythm; repetition. The final stanza of ‘Disabled’ states, ‘he will spend a few sick years in institutes’, implying that he will spend a few ‘sick’, crippled, years attending institutes before he passes away, perhaps. Furthermore, in the last stanza, it claims, ‘how cold and late it is! Why don’t they come and put him to bed? Why don’t they come?’ This is a prime example of double entendre as it references towards the nurses not coming ‘and put[ting] him into bed’, and it refers to death not coming soon enough to take his life as he cannot handle the excruciating suffering anymore. All of the evidence provided, proves that suffering is a common theme among ‘Refugee Blues’ and ‘Disabled’. In addition, the message of change has been thoroughly examined in ‘Disabled’ and ‘Refugee Blues’. The rhyming pattern in ‘Disabled’ is an ‘A, B, A, C, B, C’, for example in the first stanza the words ‘dark’, ‘park’, ‘grey’, ‘day’, ‘hymn’ and ‘him’ all rhyme, however, the rhyming pattern in the last stanza becomes more irregular. This is done to prove how the ex-soldier’s life used to be perfect and regular but has now changed and become irregular. This is in contrast to ‘Refugee Blues’, which contains a regular ‘A, A, B’ rhyming pattern. In ‘Refugee Blues’ the status of Jews were lowered as animals were being treated more humane than the Jewish people when it states, ‘Saw a door opened and a cat let in’, and nature is being proved to be free, unlike the Jews in, ‘Saw the fish swimming as if they were free†¦walked through a wood, saw the birds in the trees; they had no politicians and sang at their ease’, this exaggerates how all this freedom is tantalisingly close and that they are trapped by laws and oppressed by Hitler’s commands; this explains the change in their country. At the beginning of the poem ‘Disabled’ the man is portrayed to have had an active and successful interaction with women. He was an attractive young man, exuberant and enjoyed the ladies’ attention. Later on, he was left sexually incompetent and can no longer receive pleasures from the things that he once was comforted with. In the final stanza, the last lines places emphasis on the fact that the man he once was, winning football matches, being proud of a blood smear, is now replaced by a crippled, hopeless shell who pleads desperately and helplessly for someone to come, ‘and put him into bed’; death. The evidence provided proves that Auden and Ow en have exploited the theme of change. The idea in the poem ‘Refugee Blues’ shows how futile intellect is, especially in the face of the mass extermination of Jews during the second world war: this idea has evidently been put across. Likewise, the idea of ‘Disabled’ is to show the true colours behind war and the ineffectiveness of it: Owen has unmistakably advocated this concept. Like each other, ‘Refugee Blues’ and ‘Disabled’ are both dark and chilling poems. They distress the reader in order to present the true meaning behind war. It is interesting, then, to conclude that Auden and Owen have eloquently portrayed the harsh realities of war through themes such as: loss, suffering and change. Various language techniques have also been used such as: rhyming to create an impact; juxtapositions in order to contrast and analyse; and vivid imagery to generate an effect for the reader.

Consequences of Ambition Exposed in Macbeth, The Maids Tragedy, and Th

Consequences of Ambition Exposed in Macbeth, The Maid's Tragedy, and The Duchess of Malfi      Ã‚  Ã‚   Twenty-first century America praises the ambitious. The American dream urges us to set lofty goals and then rely on the Protestant work ethic to achieve them-regardless of potential obstacles. Parents encourage their children to consider any and every career choice. Companies and schools stress goal-setting and celebrate productivity. Even a contemporary catchphrase like "The sky's the limit" or the Army slogan "Be all you can be"-the stuff of graduation cards and commencement addresses-promote ambition. Yet ambition has not always been valued. Seventeenth-century Jacobean drama often casts it in a negative light. Unbridled ambition yields deadly outcomes, the literature suggests. Macbeth, The Maid's Tragedy, and The Duchess of Malfi each illustrate the severe consequences of boundless ambition. John Milton takes the idea a step further in Paradise Lost, depicting the most ambitious of characters as well as the proper way to handle ambition, according to God 's will.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In Macbeth, ambition first arises in Lady Macbeth, distorting her values. Immediately, she recognizes her husband's chance to rise in power. She craves it so intensely that she willingly invites "spirits that tend on mortal thoughts" to fill her "from the crown to the toe top-full/ Of direst cruelty" (I.v.40-41)!   Lady Macbeth instinctively associates ambition with cruelty. She considers cruelty necessary in her rise to power. She also fears that her husband is "too full o' the milk of human kindness" to execute her plan (I.v.17). Ambition and kindness are mutually exclusive, she insinuates. Therefore, she views the virtue as a wea... ...t, Francis and John Fletcher, The Maid's Tragedy, ed. T.W.Craik (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1988 Bowers, Fredson. Elizabethan Revenge Tragedies, 1587-1642. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1940. Hallett, Charles and Elaine. The Revenger's Madness: A Study of Revenge Tragedy Motifs. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1980. Keyishan, Harry. The Shapes of Revenge: Victimization, Vengeance, and Vindictiveness in Shakespeare. Atlantic Highlands: Humanities Press, 1995. Middleton, Thomas, and William Rowley. Three Jacobean Tragedies. Ed. Gamini Salgado. Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd., 1969. 255-344. Shakespeare, William.   Tragedy of Macbeth . Ed. Barbara Mowat and Paul Warstine. New York: Washington Press, 1992.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Webster, John. The Duchess of Malfi. Ed. John Russel Brown. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1986. Consequences of Ambition Exposed in Macbeth, The Maid's Tragedy, and Th Consequences of Ambition Exposed in Macbeth, The Maid's Tragedy, and The Duchess of Malfi      Ã‚  Ã‚   Twenty-first century America praises the ambitious. The American dream urges us to set lofty goals and then rely on the Protestant work ethic to achieve them-regardless of potential obstacles. Parents encourage their children to consider any and every career choice. Companies and schools stress goal-setting and celebrate productivity. Even a contemporary catchphrase like "The sky's the limit" or the Army slogan "Be all you can be"-the stuff of graduation cards and commencement addresses-promote ambition. Yet ambition has not always been valued. Seventeenth-century Jacobean drama often casts it in a negative light. Unbridled ambition yields deadly outcomes, the literature suggests. Macbeth, The Maid's Tragedy, and The Duchess of Malfi each illustrate the severe consequences of boundless ambition. John Milton takes the idea a step further in Paradise Lost, depicting the most ambitious of characters as well as the proper way to handle ambition, according to God 's will.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In Macbeth, ambition first arises in Lady Macbeth, distorting her values. Immediately, she recognizes her husband's chance to rise in power. She craves it so intensely that she willingly invites "spirits that tend on mortal thoughts" to fill her "from the crown to the toe top-full/ Of direst cruelty" (I.v.40-41)!   Lady Macbeth instinctively associates ambition with cruelty. She considers cruelty necessary in her rise to power. She also fears that her husband is "too full o' the milk of human kindness" to execute her plan (I.v.17). Ambition and kindness are mutually exclusive, she insinuates. Therefore, she views the virtue as a wea... ...t, Francis and John Fletcher, The Maid's Tragedy, ed. T.W.Craik (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1988 Bowers, Fredson. Elizabethan Revenge Tragedies, 1587-1642. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1940. Hallett, Charles and Elaine. The Revenger's Madness: A Study of Revenge Tragedy Motifs. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1980. Keyishan, Harry. The Shapes of Revenge: Victimization, Vengeance, and Vindictiveness in Shakespeare. Atlantic Highlands: Humanities Press, 1995. Middleton, Thomas, and William Rowley. Three Jacobean Tragedies. Ed. Gamini Salgado. Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd., 1969. 255-344. Shakespeare, William.   Tragedy of Macbeth . Ed. Barbara Mowat and Paul Warstine. New York: Washington Press, 1992.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Webster, John. The Duchess of Malfi. Ed. John Russel Brown. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1986.

American Culture vs. Jewish Culture: Success Stems from Beyond Marriage

To the modern married woman, nothing assures her of success in her career more that the support she receives from her husband in the pursuit of her career goals. While this kind of support is not always assured, the freedom to pursue her goals without any limitations from her husband works just as well.In fact, women have proved that they can multitask between marriage and a successful career. The medieval idea that a woman is only useful for reproduction purposes once she gets married does not hold water anymore. Through the ages, women have proven their resilience at defying all odds and proving to the word that they are worth more than the domestic roles they were given at marriage.Throughout history, the role of married women as wives, mothers and housekeeper was of much importance both to them and to the family unit.   In Judaism, these roles received respect and were the basis for the exemption of women from time barred commandments (Jones, M. 1999). Accordingly, the role tha t the woman played was given overriding significance to fulfilling commandments.Anti-feminists have over time used the exemption rule that Jewish women enjoyed to state that in actual sense the rule was a prohibition that women should not perform commandment. Although they are the epitome of feminine liberation, many people may not know that Jewish women have overtime fought for their liberation by quoting phrases that favor their position in the society from the  Ã‚   Talmud (Jones, M. 1999).Such rules allow them to perform commandments that are not time restricted. However, the detractors argue that even though they are recognized, as worth some services, they are not as highly rated as their male counterparts. To this, the women argue that the role a wife does not revolve around the synagogue. Many women hold this role in high regards and as a basis of fighting their critics.To understand the situation that women had to contend with through the centuries, one needs to look at t he evolution of marriage through the times.In the older days, marriage for women was out of lack of a better thing they could engage their time in all areas of life. Women were disadvantaged and never gained the skills required to lead successful lives without the support of the socially advantaged male figure.In most cases, women had no control over certain like education, as their roles were purely reserved for domestic duties. Early in life, young girls were taught that their sole purpose was marriage and child bearing (Gordis, D.H. 2008).When they were ripe of age, and considering that, the society had created a dependant mentality in them, the women were under pressure to get a suitable husband and get married. Ideally, the man was supposed to provide for the woman and any dependants that resulted from the relationship.The woman’s social standing was so low such that they would be used to secure business transactions. Accordingly, the fathers were at liberty to sell thei r daughters to whoever pleased them, whether the woman liked the man they were being sold off to or not.The 17th century however had better things for women. They begun to exert more power to the men and consequently demanded for more freedoms.They begun to resist marriage through coercion and instead put their personal happiness beyond  Ã‚   the pressure from family and the society. Though the start was shaky, the wars that hit America in 1775 and 1812 led to the rise of a more liberal group of women,   who took the roles that their husbands and still brought food to the table as well as handling their regular domestic chores.It has always been a common view for women to be seen as the source of human life- something they take pride in. The problem is that with this view come other negative thoughts too.Good examples are thoughts expressed by Thomas Aquinas, a theologian in the 13th century who said that men can be assisted by fellow men in other things except in conception. Fo r this reason, he referred to women as men’s helpmate and defined her unique role as conception.A Latin Church founder in the 4th century, St. Jerome also cast demeaning aspersion to women just like Thomas Aquinas did. To Jerome however, women were the devil’s gate. In fact, his sentiments were so string that he believed that women were the only way to wickedness and thus to him they were no more than perilous objects that men had to be wary of (Hooker, R. 1996).Naturally, women are considered the weaker sex, a fact that continued to perpetuate their low position in society. Because they were not as masculine as their male counterparts, they were relegated domestic chores such as milking cows, tending the children, drawing water and washing clothes.Men were oblivious of the fact that the energy required to do the collective household chores was even more than some of the hard labor than would do in the fields.   The psychological tolerance that women developed while attending to such chores was to benefit them years later  Ã‚   when the oppression against them by men became too much to bear.The â€Å"woman’s place is in the home† stereotype is a result of their biological role as birth givers. Before the 16th century, women did not express themselves in a way to portray that they were tired of the status quo. Instead, they submissively obeyed everything that the male figures in their lives would tell them to do. These male figures could be anybody from their fathers, husbands, brothers or cousins.The American CultureWomen present in the colonial America –whether black, natives or Hispanic- all had one common characteristic; they all obeyed the dictates of their husbands, fathers, brothers or masters.   Ã‚  It was not until later when British Settlers enlighten the view of these women and by indicating to them that men did not necessarily have to be rulers over them.A point in the case of John Locke, an English philosoph er   Ã‚  who was also renowned as an enlightenment thinker   and played a   major role in informing the American women that they had   individual identities   and needed to   care for ‘the self’ Shultz, S.K and Tishler W.P. 2003, pg 45).The American culture was such that a woman had no property rights. They could not sue, nor be sued and had no right to vote, divorce or speak on behalf of the family unit. It was until the 19th century that women gained rights to divorce and vote.The right to vote was granted to them through the passing of the 19th amendment in 1919. Eleven years earlier, women’s efforts to have a day set in their honor, which they wanted to name Mother’s day, had been rejected by the senate on the grounds that the day would demean motherhood (Shultz, S.K and Tishler W.P. 2003 pg52).The American Revolution which lasted for the better half of the 18th century was an eye opener for most women. One of the outstanding factors is tha t women’s roles at home changed. This because they were required to instill thoughts of patriotism to their children during a time when the husbands were out fighting the Britons.The absence of a male figure at home also contributed to more liberal wife-husband relationship. When the economic fortunes took a turn for the worse, women invariably took jobs formally reserved for men to earn extra money for household use. In rare cases, they would run the family businesses (Hartman, M.1996 pg 44).Surprisingly though, the little gains that American   women had   made during this time only worsened   men subordination towards them especially   because   they figured that women were threatening their roles as the head of household. Worse still, the laws saw to the disenfranchising and subordination of women both socially and legally (Lewis 2000).

Thorn Queen Chapter Eleven

Along with Ysabel, Dorian sent me back with some shipments of food on credit. I almost would have thought he was trying to soften the blow of me being stuck with her, except Dorian was the type who would actually enjoy the thought of us having an uncomfortable trip. He would get a kick out of knowing how irritated I was and probably regretted he couldn't be there to witness our interactions. Nonetheless, I mitigated the discomfort by riding at the head of my group, sticking Ysabel all the way in the back behind my guards and Dorian's servants. Shaya was understandably surprised when we arrived back. I left her to distribute the food and deal with Ysabel. â€Å"Put her somewhere. Anywhere,† I said. â€Å"It doesn't matter to me.† â€Å"But why†¦why is she even here? That's Dorian's mistress.† â€Å"Oh, yes,† I said, watching as a scowling Ysabel stepped aside for the rest of the entourage spilling into my castle. I kind of took offense at the sneer she gave my residence, despite the fact that I knew it was in disarray compared to those of other monarchs. â€Å"Believe me, I know she is.† Shaya seemed mollified and distracted enough by Dorian's gifts that I was able to slip away without too much argument. I made the crossing back to my world, not even bothering to change clothes before I went. When I finally got back to my own house, I had the pleasant surprise of finding Kiyo lying on the couch. Three cats slept on the couch's back while one rested on its arm. The fifth lay sprawled across Kiyo's stomach. â€Å"That,† he said, â€Å"is a great dress. Smells a little like horse, though.† I glanced down at the purple silk dress, which was holding up remarkably well considering all the dust and sweat it had been subjected to today. â€Å"It was part of a diplomatic outreach.† â€Å"Dorian, huh?† â€Å"What was your first clue?† â€Å"The slit.† I headed across the living room, toward the hall that led to the other side of the house. â€Å"I'm hitting the shower. You want to go to Texas with me afterward?† Kiyo straightened up, spooking a couple of the cats. â€Å"Is that like a new restaurant? Or do you mean the state?† â€Å"State. I have to go talk to those two shamans that Roland told me about.† I glanced at a clock. â€Å"We'd probably have to stay overnight.† He considered. â€Å"If we can be back by noon tomorrow, I'll do it.† I assured him we could and then left to shower away the day's dirt. Miraculously-and a little disappointingly-Kiyo didn't come harass me while I cleaned up. He had a tendency to show up while I was showering and offer to â€Å"help† clean me off. Conscious of our time, he let me be, and a half-hour later, we were ready to hit the road. Yellow River was just over the Texas border, making it about a four-hour drive if we kept a little over the speed limit. Kiyo liked to drive-I think it was some manly instinct-so I let him. We stuck to casual topics, which allowed my mind to wander to the Otherworldly affairs on my plate. The whole stress of running and caring for a kingdom still weighed upon me, but I had the comfort of knowing I'd done what I could and that Shaya would manage the rest. That was her job. We both knew it, and she would perform her duties excellently. I needed to stop stressing about that. The missing girls†¦well, those were my problem. At least, I'd made them my problem. Meeting with these shamans in Yellow River would hopefully shed light on that situation, so until I saw them, there was no point in worrying about that either. Ysabel†¦yes, well, that was something worth worrying about. I'd just let a viper into my household and took some comfort in realizing that my reluctance to stay the night in my castle would probably save me from being smothered in my sleep. If I'd had my way, I would package her up and send her straight back to the Oak Land. My stupid promise bound me. Maybe she did have something useful to teach me, but I had no evidence that she'd actually try to be helpful. She'd probably just glare the whole time, no doubt paranoid I wanted to move in on Dorian†¦. Dorian. I sighed. He was a problem, one I kept thinking would go away but didn't. I needed him, and we both knew it. So long as I did, he was going to use that as leverage to keep seeing me and taunting me. For the most part, that annoyed me. I hated being part of his games. Yet, at the same time, there was always something irresistible about Dorian, something that made me laugh in spite of the exasperation he so often caused. And, yeah†¦I hated to admit it, but no matter how much I loved Kiyo, and no matter how much I'd washed my hands of the romance between Dorian and me, there was still a part of me that would probably always be attracted to him. Our night together still haunted my dreams. His hand on me earlier today had woken a lot of those feelings, and I couldn't help but imagine again how easy it would have been for him to slide that hand up my leg†¦. â€Å"Eugenie?† â€Å"Huh?† Kiyo's voice startled me out of my indecent thoughts. â€Å"What are you thinking about? You have the weirdest look on your face.† â€Å"Oh, well, I†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I was totally astonished when the next words burst out of my mouth. â€Å"How come we never have any foreplay?† Kiyo's hold on the steering wheel momentarily faltered, and I feared we'd run off onto the shoulder. He quickly regained control. â€Å"What are you talking about? Of course we have foreplay. Remember that thing I did with the honey last week?† â€Å"Yeah, I guess. But that's more the exception than the norm. We always just kind of jump right into it.† â€Å"You never really seem to mind.† He had a point. â€Å"No†¦I mean, it's always good. It'd just be nice to†¦I don't know. Expand our horizons.† â€Å"I'm okay with that,† he said after several thoughtful moments. â€Å"I'm up for anything. It's just my†¦well, instincts, I guess, that tend to drive me right toward the main attraction.† I knew what he meant. The problem with spending part of your life as an animal was that you picked up some of their traits. Foxes in the wild didn't really devote a lot of time to foreplay. â€Å"I don't really mind. I'm just saying that I'd like to shake it up.† He fell silent for a while. Finally, he asked, â€Å"Does this have anything to do with Dorian?† â€Å"Why do you say that?† I asked blandly. â€Å"I don't know. More instinct.† His dark eyes narrowed as they focused on the road. â€Å"I'm not stupid, you know. I know you slept with him.† I jerked my head in surprise, unable to attempt any sort of denial. I'd never technically lied to Kiyo about what had happened with Dorian, but seeing as we'd been broken up at the time, I'd never really felt the need to go into detail. â€Å"How do you†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I couldn't finish the question. Kiyo gave me a rueful smile. â€Å"Dorian used to watch you like a starving man who wants meat. Now he looks at you like he wants seconds.† I didn't say anything. No response came to mind. â€Å"It's okay,† continued Kiyo almost amiably. â€Å"I know it happened when we were apart. What's past is past-so long as it doesn't mess with our present.† It was rather magnanimous of him, and I felt both grateful and guilty. â€Å"It's in the past,† I agreed. â€Å"It has nothing to do with anything anymore.† The first shaman Roland had directed us to was a guy named Art. Like Roland and me, Art lived in his own piece of suburbia, in a large house that hardly looked like it belonged to someone who battled spirits and gentry. The sides were painted a sunny yellow, and the yard-which bore the signs of daily tending-was even ringed with a white picket fence. I could hear children playing down the street. In fact, Art himself was out in the yard, weeding flower beds as the afternoon light turned orange. I pegged his age around thirty or so. A red snake tattoo coiled around one of his arms while a stylized raven showed on the other. No doubt there were more under his shirt. He glanced up and smiled when we stopped beside him on the house's sidewalk. â€Å"You must be Eugenie,† he said, standing up. He brushed dirt off his gloves and looked apologetic. â€Å"I'd shake hands, but†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I smiled back. â€Å"No problem. This is Kiyo.† The two men exchanged nods of greeting, and Art directed us around the side of the house. â€Å"Roland said you wanted to chat, right? How about we sit down in the back? Let me clean up, and I'll go get us something to drink.† Kiyo and I followed his direction and found ourselves sitting at a cute, umbrella-covered table in a backyard even more lush than the front. Though a bit more humid, Yellow River's climate wasn't that far off from Tucson's, so I could only imagine the amount of water and labor it took to maintain this greenery. A funny thought came to me, and I couldn't help but laugh. â€Å"What?† asked Kiyo. He'd been watching a hummingbird dance around a red-flowered bush that flanked the house. â€Å"I was thinking I need Art to come do landscaping in the Thorn Land.† â€Å"I think that might blow your cover.† â€Å"Likely. I don't even know if he crosses over very much.† â€Å"If he does, it's probably only a matter of time before he finds out and tells Roland. Actually, it's only a matter of time before anyone does that.† I made a face. Roland knew a lot of shamans, all around the country. â€Å"Yeah, I know.† Art stepped out through the back patio, gloves gone and a new shirt on. He set down a small cooler, carefully sliding the glass and its screen shut again. The drapes hanging on the other side of the patio were blue and purple watercolors laced with silvery threads that I envied after my own had been ripped up by a storm I'd inadvertently caused. Between his excellent decor and yard, I was feeling like a lame homeowner. He opened the cooler. â€Å"I didn't know what you wanted, so I brought some options.† The cooler revealed an assortment of pop and beer. Kiyo opted for the latter; I took the former. The hot summer afternoon had cooled down to a pleasant temperature, and the shadows cast by the trees helped too. The memory of the hot journey to Dorian's was still with me, though, and I drank my Coke gratefully. â€Å"This is a great yard,† I said. â€Å"Wish I had the patience. Mine's kind of a rock garden.† Art grinned, crinkling up the lines around his eyes. They were an azure blue that stood out against his sun-weathered skin. â€Å"But that's fashionable up there, isn't it?† â€Å"Yeah, kind of. But there's a fine line between a fashionable arrangement of sand and rocks, and, well†¦just a pile of sand and rocks.† He laughed again. â€Å"Well, I'm sure you have better things to do. Roland tells me you're keeping busy now that he's retired.† â€Å"‘Retired' is a dubious term. It's hard for him to sit still, knowing I'm out there doing business by myself.† â€Å"And I hear you've got some business questions to ask me?† Right to the point. I liked that. â€Å"You've got a big crossroads here.† â€Å"I do,† he agreed. â€Å"Keeps me busy.† â€Å"You get a lot of gentry crossing over?† He took a long sip of his beer and considered. â€Å"Well, there are always gentry crossing over.† â€Å"Has there been an unusual amount lately? Girls in particular?† His eyebrows rose in surprise. â€Å"Not that I've noticed. Why do you ask?† â€Å"Following up on a job,† I said vaguely. â€Å"Women cross over all the time, of course,† he mused. â€Å"But men outnumber them. Seeing a surge would be noticeable. Most of my time lately has been spent on exorcisms.† I nodded. Until gentry and Otherworldly creatures had decided they wanted to father my child, spirits had made up the bulk of my business too. That was a normal shaman workload. â€Å"Sorry I can't be of more help,† added Art kindly. I must have looked disappointed. â€Å"You should check with Abigail, though.† â€Å"She's the other one here, right?† â€Å"Yup. We work together sometimes. Maybe she's noticed something I haven't.† I thanked Art for the info, and we spent the next hour or so chatting about assorted things. Art asked questions about Kiyo's background. Roland could sense Kiyo's Otherworldly nature, but Art's blandly polite style made me suspect it wasn't a talent he possessed. Art also wanted to know about my jobs, no doubt curious about my interest in gentry girls. I kept my answers vague, in no way coming close to the fact that I was protecting my subjects. After making our good-byes, we headed off to the second address Roland had given me. Abigail lived in an apartment in downtown Yellow River, very different from Art's homey location. The downtown area was actually more thriving than I would have expected. Yellow River was a small town at the end of the day, but it still had an assortment of interesting shops and restaurants. Abigail's apartment was above an antiques store, and we climbed two flights of rickety stairs to get to her. The mysterious, dusty nature of it all was much more in line with stereotypical shaman images. Indeed, when she answered the door, I suspected she would have met most people's visions of a shaman. She was an older woman, gray hair styled into a long braid down her back. Her loose peasant blouse was patterned in mauve and yellow flowers, and crystal beads hung around her neck. She broke into a beatific smile when she saw us. â€Å"Eugenie! So nice to finally meet you.† She ushered us inside, and I introduced Kiyo. The apartment was beautifully constructed and nicer than its outside suggested-but cluttered with candles and assorted statuary. It made me feel better after Art's immaculate home. The apartment was also filled with cats. I counted at least seven, and all of them looked up at Kiyo's entrance. Four of them got up and rubbed against his legs. â€Å"You've certainly got a way with animals,† noted Abigail. â€Å"I'm a vet,† he explained, giving her a winning smile that tended to make women weak in the knees. Like Art, Abigail sat us down and forced beverages on us, this time in the form of herbal tea. We started with the usual small talk. Abigail was a big fan of Roland and couldn't say enough nice things about the work he did. I couldn't help feeling a little bit of stepdaughterly pride. When we finally got to the issue of gentry girls, though, Abigail didn't have much more to offer than Art had. â€Å"Most of my work is actually along the lines of healing and spirit retrievals,† she explained. Spirit retrieval was itself a form of healing, often done when some entity was plaguing a human in a possession sort of way. I'd done it a few times but was no expert. â€Å"I don't do much in the way of casting out. That's Art's specialty, but that crossroads is so big that he sometimes gets more than he can handle. So, I help out every once in a while.† â€Å"But you haven't noticed a surge of gentry girls?† Abigail shook her head, making the crystal beads click together. â€Å"No, but like I said, I'm not out in the field enough to say for sure. And gentry usually aren't so difficult to cast out†¦. Art tends to handle those on his own and call me in for the entities that are harder for him to get rid of.† She gave me a rueful grin. â€Å"Neither of us is as strong as you or Roland.† I played with my tea bag, wondering how to parse this new information. Was my theory about gentry girls sneaking over here a total bust? Or were they being crafty enough to avoid detection? I usually ended up casting out gentry because they did something troubling that put them on my radar. Gentry girls slipping in among humans wouldn't necessarily attract a lot of attention. We thanked Abigail when we finished our tea and left for our hotel. I'd booked one that sat just on the edge of town. As we walked toward where we'd parked my car on the street, Kiyo declared that he wanted to take it over to a gas station on the corner for both gas and air for the tires. I told him I would walk down there and meet him. I wanted to browse a few of the shops before we called it a night. Poking my head in the little stores gave me a chance to get my mind off the gentry girls and today's disappointing intel. Most of the shops were what you'd expect for a small town. Antiques. Vintage clothing. Crafts. One, however, was a sex-toy shop, and I couldn't help but raise my eyebrows at that. It was surprising in this town. Equally surprising was that I went in and bought something. I met Kiyo at the gas station shortly thereafter. â€Å"Not much in the way of information,† he said as we drove out to the hotel. â€Å"Yeah. I want to check out the crossroads in the morning before we go.† That was the main reason I'd chosen to actually come out to Yellow River in person, rather than simply call with my questions. â€Å"If that doesn't yield anything, we might just have to give this theory up.† Kiyo shook his head, a small smile curling his lovely lips. â€Å"I don't know what to think of you sometimes. You're so annoyed about this whole queen thing, yet here you are, going to a lot of trouble to help these girls.† We reached the hotel and found a parking spot. He turned off the car. â€Å"And let me guess. You want me to stay away from it all?† â€Å"Only inasmuch as it'll keep you safe. But truthfully? What you're doing is great.† The look he gave me showed just how great he thought it was-and how great he thought I was. There was admiration there in his eyes, underscored with something heated and dangerous and wonderful. I might make jokes about his animal intensity, but when channeled into sex and passion†¦well, there was nothing to laugh about. My whole body felt the heat of his gaze, every nerve coming to life. â€Å"Let's go inside,† I said softly. â€Å"Yeah,† he agreed. â€Å"No place I'd rather be.† His hands were on me as soon as we cleared the hotel room's door, reminding me of the first night we'd spent together. He pushed me onto the bed, tearing off my clothes as he did. I wanted to sprawl right there and let him take me-but just barely had enough presence of mind to wriggle away. â€Å"Did you mean what you said earlier?† I asked, my breathing hard. His dark eyes were hungry and impatient. â€Å"If it gets the rest of your clothes off right now, then yes, I stand by whatever I said earlier.† â€Å"About expanding our horizons?† This gave him pause. â€Å"What did you have in mind?† I slipped away from him-no small feat-and produced my purse and the purchase I'd hidden in it: the bag from the sex-toy store. I pulled out a pair of handcuffs. â€Å"Are you serious?† Kiyo asked, not sounding particularly opposed so much as curious. â€Å"That headboard's got a nice spot to lock your wrists in.† I might dream of Dorian restraining me, but right now, it was the thought of me being Kiyo's captor that aroused me. â€Å"Me?† This was a surprise to him too. He hesitated only a moment, though. There was desire and lust radiating from him, and while he might have preferred simply jumping in and having his way with me like usual, the bottom line was that he wanted me, period. One way or another. â€Å"Okay.† He pulled off the rest of his clothes and lay back against the bed's covers, hands stretched up. I paused to admire his body, filled with such strength and power. After removing my own clothing, I leaned over him and fastened one wrist to the headboard. I heard his breath catch as I did, my breasts only a few inches from his face. His other hand immediately went out to my hip and ran up along the side of my body. I pulled away, out of reach. â€Å"Not allowed,† I warned. â€Å"You don't get to call the shots here.† He gave me a saucy grin. Being tied down wasn't in his nature, but he felt bolder with only one hand bound. He was still able to feel in control. â€Å"I've got another hand and two feet,† he pointed out. I smiled sweetly and reached back into the bag. I pulled out three more pairs of handcuffs. His smile faded to astonishment. â€Å"Don't worry,† I said. â€Å"I've got it covered.† I made sure all his hands and feet were locked into place, putting him at my mercy and ensuring he wouldn't do anything I didn't want him to. And as I lowered my hips down near his face, spreading my thighs so that the warmth of his mouth and tongue had no choice but to lick and suck as long as I wanted, I felt smug satisfaction in knowing for certain that I would be the one who got off first tonight.