Quiet Strength


She was a lady in every imaginable sense. She was polite, quiet, and carried herself with great dignity and grace. 'What a charming young lady', everyone would say upon meeting her. 'What a credit to the Reinsworths' others would mutter, and Sharon was proud to be able to perform and act in such a way that pleased others and kept her family name held in high regard amongst their peers.

However, though she was respectful, poised, and she never let a cruel or unsavory word pass her pretty lips, she was not the demur, shy flower that society dictated she should be. Her morals and beliefs were by no means constrained by the shackles of society, which dictated that women were, somehow, less important than men, judged primary by their looks and ability to give birth and perform according to the expectations of their respective social class.

She could hold her tongue when it was necessary, but she could just as easily cut someone down to size with a single, politely-worded retort. In general, she did not understand the reason for the constraints humans placed upon themselves when it came to gender, whether it related to hobbies, education, or romance. She firmly believed that a woman was just as competent and powerful as a man, if in varying degrees and in a number of different forms.

In reality, she did not believe that men and women were that different at all. But she would play her part in this foolish play the world called 'civil'. She would present herself as dainty and gentle, all the while learning to take her grandmother's place as head of a dukedom, as one of the four most powerful houses in their country. Society may never acknowledge her power, waiting for the day she would marry and be forced to relinquish her status to her husband, but that day would never come.

She would not give up. She would fight, and prove just how strong she was. The world did not need to acknowledge her power because, whether they spoke of it aloud or not, she would make sure that they knew.

[End]