They mistook silence for weakness, privacy for insignificance, and restraint for vulnerability. Constance believed authority belonged exclusively to those who proclaimed it loudly, never considering that genuine power often resides quietly beneath deliberate understatement.
She forgot a fundamental truth.
Real power does not announce itself.
It acts.
I lifted the gavel gently, allowing its measured descent to punctuate finality.
“Court is adjourned.”
And this time, permanence accompanied the declaration.
