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this, the pay scale is almost dictated. It’s set by what others are getting paid. Anything else is so illogical; it would upset the whole system.”
    I glanced at Aahz, but he had his eyes fixed on Bunny, hanging on her every word.
    “Okay. Let’s take it from the top,” I said. “Explain it to me in baby talk, Bunny. Just how are these pay scales fixed?”
    She pursed her lips for a moment while organizing her thoughts.
    “Well, to start with, you have to understand that the pay scale for any job is influenced heavily by supply and demand.” she began. “Top dollar jobs usually fall into one of three categories. First, is if the job is particularly unpleasant or dangerous ... then, you have to pay extra just to get someone to be willing to do it. Second are the jobs where a particular skill or talent is called for. Entertainers and athletes fall into this category, but so do jobs that require a high degree of training, like doctors.”
    “And magicians!” my partner chimed in.
    “Bear with me, Aahz,” Bunny said, holding up a restraining hand to him.
    “Now, the third category for high pay is those who have a high degree of responsibility ... whose decisions involve a lot of money and/or affect a lot of people. If a worker in a corporation makes a mistake, it means a day’s or a week’s work may have to be redone ... or, perhaps, a client is lost. The president of the same corporation may only make three or four decisions a year, but those decisions may be to open or close six plants or to begin or discontinue an entire line of products. If that person makes a mistake, it could put hundreds or thousands of people out of work. Responsibility of that level is frightening and wearing, and the person willing to hold the bag deserves a higher degree of compensation. With me so far?”
    “It makes sense ... so far,” I nodded.
    “Moving along then, within each profession, there’s a pecking order with the best or most experienced getting the highest rates, while the newer, lower workers settle for starting wages. Popular entertainers earn more than relative unknowns who are still building a following. Supervisors and managers get more than those reporting to them, since they have to have both the necessary skills of the job plus the responsibility of organizing and overseeing others. This is the natural order of a job force, and it provides incentive for new workers to stick with a job and to try to move up in the order. Got it?”
    “That’s only logical,” I agreed.
    “Then you understand why I have you down in the budget for the rather substantial figure you’ve been protesting,” she concluded triumphantly.
    “I do?” I blinked.
    I thought I had been following her fine, step by step. Somewhere along the way, however, I seemed to have missed something.
    “Don’t you see, Skeeve?” she pressed. “The services you’re providing for Possiltum fall into all three of the high pay requirements. The work is dangerous and unpleasant, it definitely requires special skills from you and your staff, and, since you’re setting policy for an entire kingdom, the responsibility level is right up there with the best of them!”
    I had never stopped to think about it in those terms, mostly to preserve my nerves and sanity, but she did have a point. She wasn’t done, however.
    “What’s more,” she continued, “you’re darn near at the top of your profession and the pecking order. Remember, Grimble’s reporting to you now, which makes your pay scale higher than his. What’s more, you’ve been a hot magical property for some time now ... not just here on Klah, but at the Bazaar on Deva which is pretty big league. Your Queen Hemlock has gotten the kingdom in a major mess, and if she’s going to hire the best to bail her out, she’s bloody well going to pay for it.”
    That last part had an unpleasant sound of vindictiveness to it, but there was something that was bothering me even more.
    “For the