"My family's portrait used to hang there." As if this will be a perfectly normal, perfectly civil conversation. As if she hasn't, in a way, just declared war against the older, much more powerful woman. But every action has a reaction. She won't-- can't stand by when others might get hurt. "Uncle insisted mine be put up instead when I came of age."

It should be a mark of pride, signifying the head of the household. But it only struck her as a testament to being alone in this large place, the whole of the family legacy rested on her shoulders.