She'd spent years looking for a second chance. Now it had found her. Only, it wasn't like anything she'd ever imagined... She was, however, very grateful that it didn't eat her.

As a child, Linandra spent many hours slaying monsters and having adventures. So, when faced with a future containing little in the way of excitement (but plenty of cereals) she gathered up her courage and set out into the world.

It soon turned out that becoming a dashing hero – or any hero at all – wasn't as easy as the stories made it out to be; if someone's garden was, say, infested with weedrats, they sought to hire a mercenary, not a waif off the streets.

Now on a journey going nowhere, when Lin comes upon an old barn, all she's really looking for is respite from the cold. But this is a place which holds more secrets than it does hay and Linandra soon finds herself dragged into the lives of wizards, cleaning-ladies and other, even stranger, folk. Much to her chagrin, this also includes Setharrion, who is trying very hard not to let his own past catch up with him.