It is Year 93 of the Sand Exile, but the implications of that calendar is only now sinking in for Chakuro. Imperial soldiers from the Allied Empire have appeared from nowhere, with orders to kill all the "criminals" of the Mud Whale! The committee of elders knows why this is happening, but they still won't explain to the young Marked of the island. And the elders would rather see the Mud Whale sink forever to the bottom of the sea of sand than leave them all to the hands of the Empire.