Foulques, on the other hand, did not keep his mouth closed. "You think that sweet words from a stranger, however noble, would stay their hand?", he said. "Tell me, would it stay yours had you seen your home razed to the ground by dragon fire? Your friends and loved ones rent limb from limb by their talons or crushed in their jaws, for year upon year, century upon century? Words alone will never be sweet enough to dull the bitterness of such loss, nor loud enough to drown out the memory of the screams of countless battles."
"Yours is the kindest part of a kind world. By the good fortune of your birth, you have known little and less of hardship or suffering. Want, scorn, hatred, vengeance, poverty, oppression, loss, cruelty, betrayal... You know the words, aye, but you don't truly know their meaning. You do not feel the weight of them in your bones, or bear their scars on your heart. And while this has made you kind, it has also made you naive about a great many things."
"It is for this very reason that I doubt your resolve. You would seek to change the hearts of those you deem villains, but what of the hearts of your own people? Do not forget that it was they, the good people and great heroes of Auradon who created this gaol. Who for nigh on twenty summers treated their prisoners like rubbish to be cast on the midden and spared not a thought for the generation of children they abandoned here to rot for the sake of their own comfort. If you are to succeed in your aims you must stand firm, not just in the face of the obvious darkness to be found among the villains of the Isle, but in that which lurks within your own lands, and your own court. Of those to whom the status quo has given wealth, power, and privilege who feel their positions threatened by those they have long looked down upon being raised up and brought into the fold, and who would work to see that threat eliminated." That wasn't as much of a concern for the present, of course, but it still bore thinking about.
"Just as you would take my measure, I would take yours. Your intent I do not doubt, but the road between your intent and the result you hope to achieve will be long and fraught with many a pitfall. I would see how well the two of you walk it together before I place my trust in you and your plan."
no subject
"Yours is the kindest part of a kind world. By the good fortune of your birth, you have known little and less of hardship or suffering. Want, scorn, hatred, vengeance, poverty, oppression, loss, cruelty, betrayal... You know the words, aye, but you don't truly know their meaning. You do not feel the weight of them in your bones, or bear their scars on your heart. And while this has made you kind, it has also made you naive about a great many things."
"It is for this very reason that I doubt your resolve. You would seek to change the hearts of those you deem villains, but what of the hearts of your own people? Do not forget that it was they, the good people and great heroes of Auradon who created this gaol. Who for nigh on twenty summers treated their prisoners like rubbish to be cast on the midden and spared not a thought for the generation of children they abandoned here to rot for the sake of their own comfort. If you are to succeed in your aims you must stand firm, not just in the face of the obvious darkness to be found among the villains of the Isle, but in that which lurks within your own lands, and your own court. Of those to whom the status quo has given wealth, power, and privilege who feel their positions threatened by those they have long looked down upon being raised up and brought into the fold, and who would work to see that threat eliminated." That wasn't as much of a concern for the present, of course, but it still bore thinking about.
"Just as you would take my measure, I would take yours. Your intent I do not doubt, but the road between your intent and the result you hope to achieve will be long and fraught with many a pitfall. I would see how well the two of you walk it together before I place my trust in you and your plan."