“Stand here, Alina, and raise your chin slightly higher. You need to portray strength and elegance for this sculpture,” said Orion, the most well-respected sculptor in the city. “You will be a sight for everyone to see.” Orion began sketching Alina’s silhouette for the sculptor that he would place in the epicenter of the city.

As she got into position not able to lift her head high and rolling her eyes. Alina scoffed at that comment. " I am a sight to see when I have the fewest clothes on and the longest hair. When my image is what others expect of me, not who I am.” Orion stopped sketching to fully comprehend Alina’s comment.

With a sigh, “Alina, we have worked together for two years, and you are one of the most talented artists I have ever trained. You were not chosen to be the model for this project for no significance,” said Orion. Little did Alina know that no one knew who the model of the piece would be. Orion kept it very quiet because he knew the public backlash he would face for putting someone like Alina in a respected position.

“ Yes, yes, I should be grateful and happy that someone like me was chosen.” Said with a facial expression that wasn’t elegant at all. “But why do I have to wear minimal clothes and stand in a position that I am uncomfortable in just for people to stare?” As she tried to fall back into the pose.

“Oh, Alina. You may not recognize your beauty and strength, but I do. " Orion said now at the platform, looking up at Alina. Her muscular arms were from carrying heavy crates of material. The beautiful, coily hair that probably took hours for Alina to do, but she likes to look put together. The scars on her upper back and shoulders that she won’t explain, but Orion will never push because he knows they weren’t from a kind person. In awe of her beauty and strength, he knew that others like Alina needed to see themselves as pillars, strong but carefully carved beauties.

"Everyone needs to see it as well. The attire, or lack of it, is not what’s important here. It is the power you hold over someone of your appearance, your grace, and your beauty, being the symbol of what they can be as well. You will be a symbol for everyone, and no one will ever overlook you again. You’ll see once we’re done here that this moment of discomfort will lead to something new.”