jeriendhal | Dragon Mom: Diplomatic Inquiries

This... wasn't what I intended to, really. Actually it was supposed to be another drabble prompt request, but somewhere along the way it went completely off the rails. Enjoy.

* * *

Dragons. Diplomacy. Right, she thought, as she continued though the introduction she'd been drilling the past week. It couldn't possibly be harder than tricking a witch into giving back her face. "…on behalf of the Crown Prince of Greenwood," she finished.

There was a long pause, then the dragon said, "This is about the cow thing, isn't it?"

She blinked. "What cow thing?"

"My son, he keeps going after the cows, the lazy boy. I keep telling him to hunt gryphons, they're better exercise and more of a fair fight. The cows just stand there and look up at you as you're diving down at them and barely move. He'd snap them up like popcorn if you let him."

Thrown completely off track now by this line of conversation, she ventured, "Popcorn?"

"It's this stuff we get sometimes from across the ocean. Blow a little fire on it and it practically explodes. Yummy eating too," the dragon said cheerily. Then she went on, "So it's not about the cows?"

"Not cows, no."

"Not about that twit of a social climber I refused to kidnap a couple of months back, is it?"

"Er, no."

"What then?"

"Well it's about the Strix River turning to blood for three days and turning all the fields that touched it black and dead. We were wondering if you knew anything."

"Oh that. That just means someone hit your kingdom with blood sorcery." The dragon paused. "Nobody drank out of it just then, did they?"

"Not... that I know of."

"Might want to check up on that, dear. Seriously."