Arvierth snorted derisively at the sight of the humans' kingdom below him as he descended. So small, so pathetic. If not for their dirty tricks the war would have been over long ago, with a decisive victory rather than this 'peace conference' he had been sent to negotiate at. It was not his first time in the human lands, but it would be the first visit in a long while that did not involve him living up to his title of Stonemelter.

He held his wings steady, feeling the sunlight on the red membranes that stretched between the black fingers of his wings. Would any of the foolish humans see his black-and-red-scaled form in the sky and panic? Perhaps. This supposed peace was held in a very fragile balance. The humans had lost a great battle with the dragons, and almost all of their special dragon-slaying weapons in the process. Yet the victory had not come cheaply, and the dragon king was not coming to this negotiation for he was busy mourning the loss of his sons. It was only his desire to save his one remaining daughter that led to him agreeing to parley, and despite his own feelings on the matter, Arvierth would obey.

But he didn't have to like it.

He saw his destination: one of the humans' big castles, flying colored banners from the rounded towers at the corners as had been agreed. The humans did not want to conduct the negotiations outdoors, and the dragons, especially Arvierth, would not fit into most of their buildings. So it was that the great hall at the castle would be the meeting place for this travesty of a meeting.

Down he flew, his red eyes picking out men on the battlements watching him. They had ballistae there, no doubt loaded with the right kinds of bolts to take down a dragon, but they did not take aim at him. They clearly had some sense, or at least, strict orders.

Landing in the courtyard would be difficult, but Arvierth could manage, and he did not terribly care for collateral damage to the castle either. He flew over the castle once and then banked around to come back to give them time to get out of the way – he would not be the reason this treaty failed, however much he wished to continue fighting, and crushing someone underfoot would be a poor start. Plus, flying over the city and showing the entire population just how much he towered over their little buildings would remind them of the situation they were in.

The high walls forced him to flare his wings to slow rapidly on the return approach, and he extended his rear legs to land in the grassy courtyard. The heavy impact shook the ground, making the people at the edges of the yard stagger, and knocked over some of the training dummies and archery targets that had been moved to the sides to give him space to land. Folding his wings against the ebony scales of his sides, Arvierth settled down onto all fours yet kept his head high to maintain an imposing visage, his crimson belly displayed confidently to those without the weapons to pierce it. Allowing smoke to trail from his nostrils to further intimidate those nearby, he looked around to see which of these fools was the one who was meant to be greeting him.

For better or worse, the most ostentatiously-dressed man in front of the massive doors to the great hall was relatively unfazed by the dragon's arrival. "Emissary of the Dragon Lands," he called out loudly, "I beseech you to enter the hall where we may begin."

Arvierth was not going to be ordered around by someone who would barely make for a single bite if he so desired. "I am Arvierth, the Stonemelter, and you will address me as such," he growled. "Now get out of my way. I am here to speak to the king, and no others."

He began walking forward, and the humans in front of the huge open doors had the good sense to clear out of the way. He still had to fold his wings closely to his sides to get through the door, but it was enough. The great hall had clearly been hastily rearranged for the occasion, with all of the segments of the long table that normally ran down its middle pushed to one side to create enough room for Arvierth.

He had to keep his head down to avoid bashing his skull on the chandeliers, and his claws chipped the marble flooring as he entered, approaching a large rounded rug laid out that was still too small for his body. At the far end of the hall the king's table was untouched, the monarch himself dressed in his finest robes and flanked by royal guards. Not that Arvierth was particularly scared of them. It was all for show more than anything else. It was clear that very little time had been spent thinking how to properly receive a draconic guest. A proper host would have had a suitable space constructed outside of the city as had been requested originally...

At least the sunlight coming in through the high windows of the hall provided some warmth to Arvierth as he tried to sit on the rug and instead simply ended up lying down with his upper body resting on the wine-red fibers. It had been a long flight, and he had not stopped at any point ever since crossing the border, and he wanted to rest his wings. Even while lying down, he towered over the humans around him, as other advisors and diplomats and whoever else filed into the room. The ostentatiously-dressed man from before hurried up to the front and whispered to the king, who remained seated until it seemed like everyone else had arrived.

"Welcome, Arvierth, the Stonemelter," the king began, "I have called you here to negotiate a treaty between our kingdoms so that we can put the senseless bloodshed of these last years behind us."

If not for his loyalty to his own king, Arvierth would have reminded the king exactly who it was that started the war, who had refused a previous cease-fire request, and who had only opened up to negotiation upon losing their upper hand. But he had been chosen as the emissary for his ability to keep a level head when necessary, so he merely responded, "The king does not wish to see any more of his subjects lost to this conflict. We desire peace."

"As do we. Let us negotiate a mutually beneficial treaty for our people that will serve to..."

Arvierth did his best to pay attention, but he just wanted to get it over and done with. At home he would simply remove a scale and exchange it, but the humans wanted him to 'sign' the treaty, which was written on pieces of paper each barely the size of one of his own claws, forcing him to lower his head down to read them. Signing them would be no better, but he would not even attempt it until he had read every last part of the treaty. Which was in and of itself a problem: this was no mere cease-fire agreement, it was a full diplomatic negotiation. It specified the exact positions of the border and what territories would remain under whose control, which would return to pre-war boundaries, what rights travelers would have in each other's lands, and a thousand things besides.

The unexpected length of the negotiations caught Arvierth off-guard. Not because he couldn't handle them, but because of the fact that he had not rested since his last stop prior to the border to drink his fill of water – with the consequence that he was in dire need of emptying his bladder. He had initially planned to simply tough it out and stop by some empty field on the way back, but...

Perhaps it wouldn't be that bad. Arvierth put it out of his mind and focused on the task at hand, scrutinizing each document – and requesting that it be held where he could see. It was insulting how many times they thought they could get away with some ridiculous attempt to claim territory that was not rightfully theirs or to request a concession they did not deserve, and Arvierth did not hesitate to demand corrections of these 'mistakes'. He had no doubt that they were not mere mistakes, but his liege's desires outweighed his own.

However, neither desires could overcome the desires of his body as the ache in his lower body grew over time. He began to shift in place, trying to disguise it by moving his neck to look closer at the documents presented to him. The growing need to urinate made it harder to focus, causing him to take longer and longer to review the pages, and after a glance at the stack of documents still to review, he finally gave in and decided to admit to his need. It would be better than the alternative.

"King of the humans," Arvierth interrupted before yet another section of the treaty could be presented for negotiation, which would no doubt require him to study it for more ridiculous attempts by the humans to claim territory that was not rightfully theirs. "I must call for a brief break at this point."

The humans present glanced among each other. "For what purpose, emmis- Stonemelter?" one of the diplomats asked.

Arvierth lowered his head and brought his voice to a low rumble. Not that a mighty dragon like him had any such trouble admitting to his needs normally, but humans were notoriously squeamish about such things. "I must... make use of the relief area," he muttered as tactfully as he could.

"...relief area?" the diplomat asked.

Arvierth's concern quickly turned to annoyance. "You DID arrange for an area for me to relieve myself, did you not?" he asked pointedly. The glances among the officials present answered the question plainly enough, and smoke began to stream from Arvierth's nostrils. "You invited a dragon for a meeting that will take half of daylight and didn't think to arrange the appropriate accommodations?" he asked rhetorically, uncaring of his rising voice.

"We didn't-" one of the officials began.

"Stop making excuses!" the king cut in, pointing with one hand. "Go and prepare a suitable location right now! Don't come back until our guest is accommodated!"

"Y-yes, sir! Right away, sir!" the official replied, running off with several other aides and staff. Arvierth breathed deeply, trying to calm his temper. The king was afraid, and rightfully so after such an insult to a visitor. But Arvierth focused again on his own liege. He had to endure.

"Let us continue," Arvierth insisted. "So that I can take my mind off of my needs until you are done with the preparations you should have completed before my arrival."

But it was not that simple. Especially with so many border boundaries being marked by rivers, the discussion of which did not help Arveirth's predicament. He could not simply hasten the process, for there were many 'mistakes' that had to be 'corrected', and one moment of weakness on his part could result in some further slight against the dragons' kingdom that he would be responsible for. The fact that such brazen duplicity was right in front of him would normally be cause to abandon these 'negotiations' on the spot, but his liege wanted this very badly... almost as badly as Arvierth had to empty his bladder.

After yet another page, Arvierth began to rise. "I must once again insist on a brief pause in negotiations," he muttered as diplomatically as he could. "Surely your workers have finished the preparations by now."

"Not yet, Stonemelter," one of the whiny-voiced advisors insisted. "The... relief area is not yet done."

"Then I shall find the first available location outside of the city walls," Arvierth said flatly.

"You mustn't!" the advisor protested, "Dragons, er... you will kill all of the plants there! And the smell! Please, you must wait for a properly-contained area to be prepared!"

More smoke streamed from Arvierth's nostrils as he shifted on his rear legs, squeezing them together. Humans having the gall to complain about the smell of dragons? Had none of them taken a whiff of their own malodorous city? His forelegs tensed, digging out grooves in the marble flooring. "I refuse to wait any longer," he admitted. "The inefficiency of your workers is not my concern."

"Please, it should not take much longer!" the advisor practically begged. Normally a human getting on his knees and begging would amuse Arvierth, but not on this occasion. "What if we moved the border over by Westspur a little further long, would that-?"

"You don't have the authority to do such a thing!" a different advisor roared out, triggering an argument.

"This is important-"

"Ceding land is not worth-"

"Who said you could-"

"I didn't think you-"

Arvierth paid it no attention, his eyes squeezing shut, his teeth clenched, fighting a war with his own body to try and restrain his aching bladder. He rose to all fours, but he had waited so long that the movement alone caused further aches in his abdomen. He wanted to turn, only to realize that while he could fit into the hall, it did not offer him enough space to turn around – he would have to back out! He took a step backwards, ignoring the bickering humans in front of him and those by the doorway who shouted out in concern, wincing from the pressure within his body.

"SILENCE!" the king yelled to try and restore order.

"Stonemelter, you cannot leave, we are not done with-"

Arvierth opened one eye and glared fiercely at the advisor who had just spoken, taking another step back. It was already too late; even if he could turn and take wing right now, he would not make it outside of the walls. The shame flaring up within him was matched only by his anger for the humans for putting him in this situation. "Damn you," he growled, though his trembling body made his voice waver, "Damn you... all...!"

Try as he might to stop it, Arvierth felt the slit between his legs open up as the very tip of his drakehood peeked out from it as his body took matters into its own hands. He burned with both embarrassment and rage; only his mate was supposed to lay eyes upon him in this way! His body trembled as he lowered his wings to try and hide himself from view, desperate to hide his shame, but he could not possibly stop everyone from seeing him exposed in the moment of weakness as he began involuntarily emptying himself with a frustrated, "This is... all your fault...!"

A great cascade of yellowed fluid gushed forth from his peeking tip and struck the marble floors with a heavy splash that echoed inside of the great hall, pouring across the solid polished surface. There was so much of it spraying with such force that it spread rapidly from the point of impact, large droplets spraying off as his stream continued to strike the growing puddle, which was impeded only momentarily when it reached the carpet he had been lying on, soaking through its fibers and turning them a deep crimson.

Everyone else was panicking, almost tripping over each other in their hurry to flee the room. "You start a war... slay our children..." Arvierth roared over the noise of the humans and his intense flow of urine, incensed. He felt his feet getting wet from his own piss as if he were merely a whelp fresh from his egg! He was only barely able to restrain his temper enough to keep from launching a breath of flame into the hall. "...demand peace only once you begin to lose... try to cheat us... and insult your guest in such a manner?!"

The vast quantities of dragon urine pouring from Arvierth's cocktip had reached the sides of the great hall and continued to spread over the marble flooring. It reached the stacks of treaty papers that had been knocked off the king's table in the panic to leave, drenching the papers and ruining them, but to Arvierth, the damage was already done. He took deep breaths, his ear-fins fanned out to signal his embarrassment. It would have been humiliating enough to have an accident in front of his fellow dragons – to be subjected to this in front of humans was far worse! He raised his voice further to ensure that everyone would hear it as the humans fled the scene, bellowing, "No one has ever, EVER treated the dragons with such contempt! And we will not allow it!"

Backing up even before he was fully empty, Arvierth began to storm out, leaving hindquarters-first through the doors of the great hall. Foolish soldiers were approaching from behind, knocked aside by a sweep of his tail. By the time he got out and had enough space to turn, there was only a dribble of his urine still coming from his tip, and he no longer cared. Bellowing a roar that shook the castle to its foundations and shattered the glass in the great hall, sending the foolish soldiers before him scattering, Arvierth crouched down in the courtyard and prepared to leave.

"I have outlived your grandfather's grandfather's grandfather, and I have never been so humiliated in my life! You will suffer for this! This war will not end until I have melted every last stone in your castle!" Arvierth declared, launching himself into the air with his powerful hind legs and taking flight, beating his wings. Brave or foolhardy soldiers took pot shots at him with crossbows, but such puny weapons merely bounced off his ebony scales.

"You started this war!" Arvierth thundered as he flew away, glad to leave behind the shame of what had just happened. "And we will be the ones to end it!"