If you could change one person's mind about something, who and what would it be?
I would change the mind of King Haggard. I would alter whatever terrible thing it was, destiny or madness or mere character flaw, that gave him greed enough to covet all the unicorns in the world. I would ease the rancor from his thoughts, the cruel bitterness which made everything he touched turn hard and grey. I would see him understand that no amount of immortal beauty can fill the void left by a jaded heart. I would have Haggard free my people of his own accord, rather than meet his destruction as they broke from their prison.
I say that I would change the king's mind, and yet I know that if Haggard had proved a different man, my story, and the stories of those mortals I came to befriend and love, would not be the same. The price of that alteration should be far more than I'm willing to pay. But when I think of King Haggard, I cannot help wishing the impossible -- perhaps for my own sake as much as his.
Cross-posted to theatrical_muse.
I say that I would change the king's mind, and yet I know that if Haggard had proved a different man, my story, and the stories of those mortals I came to befriend and love, would not be the same. The price of that alteration should be far more than I'm willing to pay. But when I think of King Haggard, I cannot help wishing the impossible -- perhaps for my own sake as much as his.
Cross-posted to theatrical_muse.