Crow glanced over his shoulder as he made his way across the market with Penelope. The woman he had stolen from didn’t seem to have noticed her missing money just yet. Good. He slipped through the crowd, moving beyond her line of sight. As they walked, his eyes wandered back to the fat coin purse of the wealthy merchant he had spotted before. Shimmering gold coins spilled over the top, seeming to beckon to him with their lustrousness. He swallowed and turned away. Not this time. He couldn’t make such a bold move in front of Penelope.

He deftly snatched another coin purse away from a passing man. It was almost too easy. He wondered if theft wasn’t a common crime in their kingdom. After all, the peasants didn’t seem to be worried about keeping track of their belongings. He grinned to himself. If the people in the rest of Younis were this trusting, he would definitely enjoy his stay.

He stole one more pouch on the way to the wood carvings stand and then moved to stand next to Penelope as they looked over the artist’s pieces. There was a wide variety of plants, animals, people, and even some religious idols he didn’t recognize. It was an impressive display of craftsmanship.

Crow looked down at Penelope when she nudged him and pointed out a carving of a crow, saying she could see a resemblance between them. He rolled his eyes, “Funny.” Nudging her back, he pointed at a carving of a toad. “Look, I found William.” He smirked wryly. “I think we should buy it and hide it in his things.”

He began to look over the artist’s works again. One statue in particular caught his eye. It was a carving of a woman, about as tall as his thigh if it had been placed on the ground. Her long hair flowed around her body, meticulously arranged to cover her in place of clothes. Her hands were cupped around a spherical object held in front of her bosom, which she gazed lovingly down upon.

Crow leaned forward, suddenly noticing something odd about the carving’s face: the woman had four eyes, with a second set located directly above the first. He shuddered when he realized the upper eyes seemed to be looking back at him. They met his gaze with an intensity that almost made him forget he was looking at a piece of wood. Her stare was equally as mesmerizing as it was disturbing, making him want to stare into her eyes forever yet also run as far from them as he could.

“I see you’ve found Aeklora,” the artist walked up, noticing Crow’s lingering gaze. “She’s my prized possession. Took me a full season to carve her.”

“She’s… very unique,” Crow nodded, finally managing to tear himself away from the statue’s hypnotic stare. “What is she holding?”

“You can’t tell?” the merchant laughed. “It’s everything.” When Crow just stared at him blankly, he went on. “As I’m sure you know already, Aeklora is our matron goddess of vision and truth. She watches over us all and protects us from those who wish to do us wrong.”

[i]That would explain why the people here are so laidback,[/i] Crow thought, absently touching his pocket where he had stashed the stolen coins. [i]They trust this goddess so much that they don’t even watch their own backs.[/i] “Right,” he said, pretending he was familiar with Younisian religion.

“The sphere she’s holding is the heavens and the Earth,” the merchant went on. “It’s everything she sees.”

“Then why are only two of her eyes looking at it?” Crow asked, looking back at the eerie face of the carving.

“Observant, aren’t you?” the merchant’s eyes glinted proudly. “That’s a little twist I threw in that makes my Aeklora so special. It’s why this carving took so long to finish.” He leaned closer to Crow, speaking quietly, “I carved her upper eyes to see into our world.”

“You mean…” Crow trailed off, beginning to understand what the man was telling him.

“That’s right,” the merchant grinned. “Aeklora, herself, is watching us right now.”

Crow felt his blood run cold. He had heard of the ritual to turn an idol into a medium for the gods to use, but he had never seen such a thing in person before. It explained why the statue’s eyes gave him such a bad feeling. If this goddess really was watching them, he and Penelope needed to get away from it now.

“You’re an exceptionally skilled craftsman to have made a piece like her,” Crow said calmly. He didn’t want the merchant to know how unnerved he was by the goddess. “Unfortunately, we have friends waiting for us to come back to them, so we won’t be purchasing anything from you today.”

“Are you sure?” the man frowned. “I noticed the lady eyeing a few of my beasts. I’ll give you one for just twenty tael if—”

“We’re sure,” Crow’s eyes flitted nervously to the Aeklora carving once more. He put a hand on Penelope’s shoulders to guide her away from the merchant’s stand. “Thanks, but we’ll be on our way now.” With that, he turned and walked back into the crowd with Penelope, putting distance between them and the goddess statue.

“We should get what we need and go,” Crow said, all humor fleeing from his words. “I’m getting a bad feeling about this place.”