Blue

A means to an end

Atlas hadn't seen much of his mother in the last week. He suspected that she was avoiding his aversion to a ball. He had recieved information from her in his meetings, usually she would take part, but lately she had been absent.

He didn't want this, and yet his mother was so insistent upon it that he had no other choice but to oblige her. He would rather this be an intimate gathering, but he knew his mother wanted him to find his mate with this event.

He had to invite all eligible dragon kin, preferred that they were ladies and not the so called riff raff that would offend his mother. But he knew that his mother would highly disapprove of his mate. He still hadn't said anything of her presence, and lately his body has had a thrum. A need had arose in him, for lack of a better term, and he hoped she'd appear again for he would not let her go this time...

Currently he found himself in a private dinner with Lord Valerie, a council member in charge of wartime logistics. He had on been Atlas' father's council as well. Atlas couldn't afford to trust anyone anymore.

He could have just as easily slipped a concoction into the wine when addressing his council members and their goings on, but it would be too easy and a messy cleanup. His adversaries would expect that too. 

Lord Valerie was a portly dragon kin, bronze scales only littered his arms and neck, signifying a lower status among the dragons.

"I thank you for your audience this evening, Lord Valerie, we have matters to discuss if you don't mind," Atlas said.

"By all means, my prince, I will oblige you and aide to the best of my capacity," he replied. They were off to a good start.

"If we were to make an advance in the south, do we have the weapons and means to do so?" The question seemed to take him by surprise.

"An advance hasn't been made in months, perhaps years, why now?" He inquired.

"Because," Atlas began, "I am tired of fighting a war that ended in the death of my father, and with you being in charge of logistics in this matter I need to know if we have the means to end this war or if diplomacy will be the better option?" Atlas then concluded, "we have been doing this for as long as I have been alive, which is too long, and it needs to end,"

"I-"

"I don't want a roundabout answer, please," he sighed

"...yes, we do have the means, my prince, but it would take all we have as a country which is why your mother enacted the draft," the answer was strained.

"Okay, that is all I needed to know, we will make plans to advance, and if that advance fails then we will try diplomacy, it is time we are no longer at war,"

The rest of the meal was spent in silence or simple conversation. He had no intentions on advancing their army, and thought the draft foolish. He would have rather settled things in a diplomatic manner, and continued to hope to do so.

He had found in his ventures, that these council members did not like to have their own thoughts. They relied heavily on what their liege wanted of them. They and been eating from his mother's palm for so long that they forgot how to input their own information.

He could not trust these men to pick up the information he wanted, so that would fall on himself to do.