((OOC: crazysaxman, before you post again I think you should pay a visit to the OOC thread of this RP first.))

'Finally,' he thought with relief, leaning back into his seat with a relieved sigh. It had been several hours now since the advisor had locked himself away in his quarters, slaving away at his desk over his plans. The waste bin beside the table was filled halfway with balled up plans, all of them failures. Some were too complex, too demanding of perfection that humans were not capable of; others too simple, predictable and easily countered by any decent strategist; others required things beyond his control, such as the weather and luck; and the rest were plans born of a tired mind, plans not even an insane madman would use. But now, after several long hours, he finally had a good solid plan. It was only the first step out of many of course, but one was better than none. And for that simple reason he felt as though a heavy weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

Looking back down at the table, he looked over the plans he had drawn over a copy of the military map that he kept in such cases that he would need to draw over it for one reason or another. The map clearly showed which camps were to be attacked as well as a date and time of when to strike. Of course, he wasn't just going to give these plans directly to the General. No, that would be a big mistake. While Ballog completely trusted the General, there was always the possibility of a spy. No, he'd have to conceal the dates of attack in some way that only he and the General would understand. But that could come at a later time. For now, Ballog just wanted to rest his weary mind.

He rolled up the completed plans and the original map, placed them in the large bin in the corner, and left his quarters. As he walked aimlessly through the halls of the castle, he allowed his mind to wander. He thought about many things ranging from his family, to his career, to the garden he walked by, to just about anything that entered his mind. But ultimately his wandering mind came to rest on one person, the Queen.

The fact that he often found himself thinking of the Queen came as no surprise to the advisor seeing as she was at the very center of everything at the moment. It had more to do than just her position as Queen, but rather it had to do with her place in his plans. Every plan to ever be conceived had a wild card, a person or object that could turn a plan upside down in an instant. In his plans, the Queen was that person. It was the reason why he could not plan too far ahead. The Queen's reply to the problem he stated earlier, as well as how she reacts to the initial attack on the Empire's camps, would determine his next move.

He already had a very good idea as to how the Queen would react but he would still wait for her to make the actual decision. He once made the mistake of assuming something once and it had cost him dearly, he would not make the same mistake twice. But the thought of what he as doing brought about a pang of guilt within him. Ballog was never one to lie. If he wanted to say something he would say it, if he hated someone he would not hide it but neither would announce it to the world. What he was doing now was essentially betrayal, never mind the fact that it was done with good intentions.

'A betrayal is a betrayal,' he thought sadly, looking up towards the sky from his place at the castle grounds. 'But I cannot have any regrets now. I started to walk down this path by staying true to my beliefs so to turn back now would be to turn against my beliefs, my very being.' He lowered his gaze from the sky to look down upon the garden, the very same one that the Queen had ordered to be cared for almost as soon as she had become the new Queen. "Your highness," he whispered, blissfully unaware of everything else around him. "Whether I succeed or fail, I certainly hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me once this is all over for you will undoubtedly hate me for I will do." With that said, Ballog took one last glance at the garden before leaving and resuming his wandering of the castle halls.

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