Book 2 of the Union Stories Synopsis: The Union shakes with unrest as the idealistic foundation of the young intergalactic confederation begins to crack. The Bendalurians are threatening war, and the Union Senate merely sits waiting for them to make the first attack. But the Bendalurians remain in a holding pattern, biding their time until they can get their hands on something that will tip the war in their favor... To Brigit Sunders all this really means is a rough day for her shop and an extended delay on reaching her dream of buying a trade ship. Her people are non-Union and the Union's war dance appears to her as only trivial squabbling. Even as her outpost home on Gersemi continues to fill with Union soldiers, she turns her mind to other matters like the growing poacher problem on the plains and the unpleasant butcher who neighbors her market stall. It isn't until a mysterious Aveslor steps out from the shadows one chilly night and offers her a golden statue that she begins to feel the weight of the galaxy's problems on her shoulders. With an eye for quality work and a taste for treasure, she accepts the small goddess figurine even though it comes under some very strange conditions. She must find the proper home for the statue, and only she can decide into whose hands it belongs. Though a simple task at first glance, Brigit is quickly thrown into a battle between two desperate parties for the statue. Control slips from her fingers, and she is thrust further and further into a dark world of deceit. Only when she accepts her role as the keeper of the goddess, can she escape the bitter grip of war.