Chapter 4

**Toes of the Emissary** is the fourth chapter in Abi Umeda's manga Children of the Whales.

## Summary

Chakuro is woken up by Tobi, and eats breakfast with him and his younger siblings. Tobi complains that Chakuro is nothing but trouble, and Chakuro unsuccessfully attempts to deflect that by saying that he's helped look after his sibling after their parents died. Chakuro then runs off to work his turn on the farm, but stops when Tobi's younger siblings ask him if he'll teach him how to read. He promises that he will later.

Chakuro then thinks back to when he asked Lykos to stay with them on the Mud Whale. Chakuro runs into Sami on his way to the farm, and together they run into Suou, who shows off how incredibly clumsy he is at farmwork.While planting seeds, Chakuro and Sami bump heads, and blush. Suou, observing them, smiles and states that he needs to go back to the tower to work on something.

Neri then runs into Suou, and tells him that Lykos wishes to speak to the Committee of Elders, but they refuse to see her. Suou notes that the Committee of Elders has been acting strange lately, and Neri tellshim that they were planing on sending the Vigilante Corps into the Sea of Sand without telling Mayor Taisha or any of the others.

Suou then decides to meet with Lykos, and charms his way past the guard.Lykos runs up to Suou and tells him that she needs to speak to the person in charge, and has something important to tell them, and Suou tells her that he is the next candidate to become mayor, and he will listen to her.

Meanwhile, Mayor Taisha and Kuchiba stand on top of the Mud Whale. Taisha accidentally lets go of some of Chakuro's records. Taisha tells Kuchiba how excited she was when Lykos showed up, and speaks of her frustration with the Committee of Elders.Kuchiba declares that he will support Mayor Taisha for the next nineteen years before she joins the Committee of Elders, and gives her a vase of flowers. Kuchiba then notices something being reflected by the island moving away in the Sea of Sand.

A giant ship then emerges from beneath the sand. Lykos tries to warn Suou, but it is too late. Back at the fields, Sami points out something in the sand to Chakuro, and wonders if it's a sand dolphin. He looks into the sand to try and see it, and Chakuro and Sami witness one of the Empire's ships emerge from the sand. On the ship, the soldiers ready their rifles. Sami, sensing that something is wrong, moves in front of Chakuro, and the soldiers open fire on the field below. Sami is shot, and the soldiers announce that they have come to destroy the "criminals of Fálaina".

Lykos and Suou, still inside the tower, hear some strange noises and look outside. Lykos realizes that the imperial forces have already begun their attack. She thinks back to Chakuro, and apologizes to him. Soldiers have now landed on the Mud Whale, and begin slaughtering anyone they can find. Mayor Taisha, seeing the slaughter, tells everyone to hurry and take refuge inside the specialist tower. However, a smaller thymia-controlled vessel then flies near Taisha and Kuchiba, and the soldiers on board prepare to fire their guns.

Inside the specialist tower, Nezu and Ro, along with Ham, hear loud noises and wonder what's going on. Meanwhile, the Moles, minus Ouni, spot one of the invading soldiers. Unaware of the danger, they approach them, and plot to capture them. However, the soldier then calls over some other invaders, who attack and kill Buki. Terrified, the remaining Moles call for Ouni's help.

Still imprisoned in the belly of the ship, Ouni senses that something is wrong. He grabs Masoh, who is uarding him, and demands that he let him out. Masoh agrees, and the two run towards the surface. Soldiers are then seen standing over the bodies of Mayo Taisha and Kuchiba, with the vase Kuchiba had given to Taisha smashed on the ground.

Chakuro slowly wakes up next to Sami's bloodstained body on the ground. He tries to lift her up, and her blood sticks to his hands. A lone soldier then approaches, intending to finish Chakuro off. Chakuro then holds Sami's body in his arms and runs.Desperate, Chakuro tries talking to Sami's body before collapsing with tears in his eyes, hugging Sami's lifeless body.

The Committee of Elders ominously declares that the verdict has finally come down. An explosion then hits the room that Lykos, Suou, and Neri are in. Suou realizes that Sami and Chakuro are still down in the fields,and rushes towards the window. One of the smaller thymia-powered vessels floats outside. Using her thymia, Lykos cuts it in half, and declares that the people here are not criminals. She further declares her will to fight as Ouni observes the falling soldiers and Chakuro sits paralyzed on the ground as a masked soldier approaches.