He was put at ease when she showed her warm smile and he found himself smiling in return to his mother. However at the mention of joining the soldiers in their training, Alistair risked a glance to them and wiggled a little uncomfortably. It was no secret he did not desire to be a soldier, in fact would have preferred a life away from swinging all the weaponry around with carnage to follow. “Train with them?” he questioned to be sure of his mother’s expectations and intentions for him. Alistair had a compulsion to get people's intentions crystal clear, specifically when it involved him.
Training wouldn’t have been too bad but to become a soldier could change him. Turn him into a blind bloodhound that followed orders demanding bloodshed. Alternatively, he could grant mercy and allow surrenders but that usually had bad consequences to follow that could be at the expense of his life one day.
Different scenarios and thoughts kept rolling around in his head, all mostly emphasising on the bad idea it was until he remembered that this was his mother’s words it was coming from. They only had each other left and he’d do anything to make her happy and fill the abyss of his father. Alistair felt a new surge of purpose and confidence and nodded. “Anything the Queen wants,” he assured with a gentle smirk addressing her as her true title.
Even in a compulsion of pride and bravery; Alistair knew he'd be able to carry himself. For a man that preferred not to fight his skills were high. Or so he'd find out in training with the Soldiers of Atkana.