“Whoooa,” Whiplash said, suddenly an awestruck child. “Okay, you’re good.” She put away her switchblade. “We’re excited to have you here. We can show you all the progress we’re making, and when you go back north, you can report on our work to His Majesty.”

Broomstick’s forehead wrinkled at the mention of the Dragon Prince. “Your progress?”

Whiplash marched ahead as if she really were a commander. “When the emperor was here, he asked everyone in Paro Village to begin preparations not only for his coronation but also for pursuing the Evermore.” She checked to make sure Sora and Broomstick were following, then continued down the hall.

The pearl in Sora’s collar strained in the same direction. Is it attracted to Whiplash for some reason?

Meanwhile, the little commander kept talking. “The grown-ups are busy chopping down the forest for wood so Emperor Gin can build ships to cross the ocean. Obviously, we kids aren’t big enough to do that, so we’ve been working nonstop on other things, like stitching together sails.” They arrived at a large room, probably the taiga warriors’ main gathering hall. There were two dozen children spread across the floor, huddled over large swaths of canvas, needles and thread in hand, sewing edges of fabric together.

The soul pearl started rolling in the small space of Sora’s collar pocket, pulling to the right, then switching to the left, then forward, as if it wanted to go in all directions and couldn’t decide.

It’s the kids, Sora realized. Not just Whiplash in particular—she’d just happened to be the closest at first. But what was it about the Little Ferals that the pearl was attracted to?

Sora watched them for only a few seconds before she noticed something besides how diligently they worked. She leaned over to Broomstick. “They’re scrawny. And filthy.”

“It’s like they’re literally working nonstop, without breaks for food or baths,” he said. “Why would they do that?”

Sora looked around the room again, but before she could answer, Whiplash ushered them out to a deck that overlooked a lake.

“What’s going on here?” Broomstick asked. There was another dozen children out there, some wading in the brackish water, some sitting on the pier with fishing poles. Despite the late autumn chill, some of the boys had their shirts off. Sora could see their ribs beneath their mud-crusted skin.

At the presence of more children, the pearl began pushing against her collar pocket again, this time as if trying to get into the lake.

“We’re catching frogs and fish to help feed the emperor’s navy,” Whiplash said. “And only a handful of us have drowned so far,” she added proudly, pointing to four lifeless bodies on the far shore.