The sun was high in the sky and Linea was glad she'd worn a hat, though she could still feel the skin on her nose starting to crisp a little. But the carrot patch needed to be weeded, the tomatoes needed to be pruned and she wanted to cut some rosemary so it could start drying in the same sun that was making her a little uncomfortable.

"Oh well, I'll have to get some stronger sun cream. You'll just have to deal with it for now, nose."

She tried to look at her nose while she talked to it, and realised how silly this would look to an observer. Never mind, maybe the plants got a laugh out of it. Giggling a little, she stretched her back, knelt back down and continued to carefully pluck the weeds from between the rows of bushy little carrot plants. "The chickens are going to enjoy munching these" - into the chicken basket they went.

"Linea!" her stepmother called from inside the house. She scurried to answer as the women was as impatient as a driver in a traffic jam, leaving the coop of chickens open in her rush. In a matter of seconds, every chicken excluding the hens watching over their eggs had flown onto the fence and out of the house. They all seemed to go in different directions across the small village.

Two of the chickens went into a market street, stealing food from the poor vendors who chased them halfway and gave up. One ended up in a butcher's backyard and the rest is history. Three others just strolled around, munching on any kind of food the ground decided to offer them.

When Linea returned to her backyard, she full-on panicked.