"Mani, why are you standing by the window again?"
"C'mere, c'mere!"

Ranni was your typical elder sister, constantly tired of her brother's shenanigans. Bouncing on her bed when she's trying to sleep, locking her out of her room behind her back, there's no end to the weird ideas ricocheting in his empty little head. This time, however, was different. She could see it from the sparkle in his eyes.

She sighed, "Fiiiine," and stood by her brother by the window, drawing the curtain behind them.

Ranni squinted her eyes to make out the vague figure walking the cobbled roads, illuminated by only a small lantern in their right hand. Her eyebrows shot up when she realized that-
"It's the mayor," Mani whispered, "I saw his face when he walked by."
"No kidding," responded Ranni.

Not only was it strange for anybody to be out and about at this time, Ranni thought, why would he stop and kneel in front of the Statue?
When he reached out to touch it, Ranni gasped loudly enough for Mani to turn and shush her. No one ever DARED to touch the Statue, especially since the church revered the Statue. It was said that if somebody who was not a priest touched the Statue, the spirit who inhabited the statue would not grant the townspeople a premonition for an entire year.

Her eyes darted left and right. Was nobody seeing what they were seeing?

Slowly, the Statue began glowing. Even from her distance from the town square, Ranni could start making out the details in the Statue: the individual feathers on Her wings, the leaves on Her wreath, the beauty in Her form. She could even start seeing the mayor's face, his mouth drawing into a faint smile.

He withdrew his hand and stood up, and the glow instantly began subsiding. After drawing a star across his chest, the mayor began hurrying away toward the mayor's mansion. He suddenly stopped and turned towards Ranni and Mani, bringing his finger up to his barely lit face. With a wink, he dashed off into the night.

Ranni stood at the window, shocked, while Mani crawled under the window curtain and snuggled into bed. Ranni followed her brother's lead, but even as she lay sleeplessly in her bed, she couldn't put away the thought that maybe, just maybe, she had seen something that would upend her world.