Atheline softly smiled and slowly lowered his bow.
"On whether it really matters," he said, his gaze shifted to the roof," you really can't expect everything to go to the soldiers... general, that's quite greedy of you, don't you think?"
The general didn't respond, not even after Atheline gave him a chance. He continued after a small pause.
"Her majesty knows about everything in the kingdom," he quietly said," just because she hasn't given you her attention, doesn't mean she doesn't know."
Heavy silence hung in the air between them, because that was the truth the council wanted to avoid. It was better to suggest that she might have missed something, rather than the fact that they weren't a priority in her mind.
It was simply in front of them but they had closed their eyes to it. The fate of the moon crystals, the defenses, and the kingdom itself didn't rest on strategy or council votes but on the whim of a woman who could decide at any moment that none of that mattered.
