8 parts Ongoing Signs of a great impending drought spread across a kingdom with a king too afraid to acknowledge them. The mechanisms meant to prevent this inevitable collapse began to fail, and a fringe movement arose. The reverants believed the only way to survive the coming mass extinction was through ruthless population control. Under the orders of their messiah, the White Lady, they took matters into their own hands, executing anyone who failed to make what they deemed a meaningful contribution to society.
Wattle, a young woman from the capital, Townsend, is forced to join the army after her mother dies tragically in a house fire. Slowly, she begins to see that all is not as it seems: the King is hiding secrets, and the White Lady's influence stretches into places she should never be able to reach.
At the same time, the young prince, Malin, must confront his father's failures and find a way to enact change in a world dictated by the relentless calculus of power.
Yet beneath the chaos, the fear, and the cruelty lies something unshakable: the quiet, unwavering goodness of humanity. It survives in small acts, in love that refuses to be extinguished, in laughter, tenderness, and the care we give one another despite the corruption around us. It is this fragile yet indomitable goodness that can outlast the most terrible schemes, proving that the capacity to love, even in a world bent on destruction, is the most powerful force of all.