The Egg of Discord

“...I'LL SHOW YOU!!!”

Rikko woke up suddenly amidst screams that morning. Still groggy from sleep, he climbed down from his perch, almost tripping over an exposed root, when he saw the source of the noise. It was Gelda in yet another one of her scandals surrounded by other chickens, nothing new until then, but...

“Ah, so the little thief decided to wake up. Did I disturb you?”

“Huh?” - Rikko had a bad feeling. - “What did you call me?”

“Don't pretend not to understand! I already know that YOU are the one responsible for stealing the eggs! Don't try to deny it now!”

Kel and Kohko came from outside the chicken coop, still unaware of the matter.

“What's all that screaming about? Gelda, what's up now?” - Kel instinctively took the lead from Rikko as soon as he saw him cornered by the other chickens while Kohko took him under her wing.

“Oh, Kel, you don't know? Are you sure? That your beloved son is the thief who has been stealing our eggs?”

Kel was astonished, but feeling outraged by the accusation, he ruffled his feathers and sharpened his gaze without looking at Gelda.

“What? Well, I demand an explanation!”

“But with great pleasure!” - Gelda puffs out her chest proudly – ​​”At no point did I buy the story that the egg thief came from outside. It had to be someone from here and I knew I couldn't count on a bunch of useless roosters to keep an eye on him.”

Goppa interrupted at this point, his expression showing extreme disgust, unlike his usual seriousness.

“Spare us your venomous comments, Gelda. Get straight to the point!”

“Last night I pretended to be asleep when I realized that little thief had woken up and was wandering around the nests looking for eggs. That's when I saw Kakke surprise him and take him out. I followed them and could hear what they were talking about.”

“And what were they saying?” - One of the hens wanted to know, but was soon silenced by Goppa with a signal of her wings.

Gelda was tired of being interrupted by now. Not waiting for Goppa's signal to continue, she declared:

“The stolen eggs were being placed under his mother to pretend that she was still laying and thus prevent her from being taken!”

“_OOOOHHH!!!”

It seemed like the chicken coop was about to collapse with the amount of screams of despair and disapproval. Pandemonium had just broken out and Rikko had nowhere to run. Under her mother's wing, she thought that perhaps she could only count on the protection of her parents at that moment.

“That is a very serious accusation you are making against our son, Gelda, watch your words. And watch them very carefully!” - Kel had to raise her voice to make herself heard amidst the din.

“I second your words, Kel, my old friend.” - Goppa took the turn to speak and, looking Gelda deep in the eyes, asked:

“I hope you have proof according to what you said. Prove your inquisition to everyone right now. By the way, before that... Rikko, come here.”

Rikko made a move to leave her mother's embrace, but Gelda stomped her paw on the floor.

“No way! I know you're going to ask him if he stole the eggs, and of course he won't admit it! It wasn't just once or twice, it was several times! My proof is more than enough to show the truth. Come with me!”

Gelda didn't wait for them to agree to her invitation, she went straight to Kohko's nest and pointed to the egg that was there. Now, in front of the rest of the group, she declared again.

“Here's the proof!”

“Gelda, it's just Kohko's egg, that doesn't prove anything.” - Goppa sighs in dismay.

“Know this, my dear husband Goppa, this egg belongs to Kakke. She offered her own egg to be placed in the nest. She is in cahoots with them! ”

“That's an insult!” - Kakke shouted. - I-

“Silence! Your turn to explain yourself will come!” - Goppa called her attention. - “Go on, Gelda, and be brief!”

“As soon as I heard her offer her egg, I ran to her nest and made two marks on the shell with my claws. This will be the proof! You can see with your own eyes!”

Everyone was silent for a moment. Rikko was sweating coldly. His plan had been unmasked and he couldn't imagine what would come next. He could see Kohko's look of concern and his father was no longer ruffling his feathers.

Goppa said nothing more. He went to the nest and carefully turned the egg with his sharp claws. And there, to his surprise, were two well-marked lines on the shell.

“Marks! Two marks.” - Shaking her head from side to side, Goppa directed her gaze to Rikko. Despite the anger and disapproval, his words still contained some kindness.

“Rikko. Come here. It's your turn to explain yourself. Tell the truth and nothing else.”

Kohko, sad, still tried to hold her son in her wing, but Kel stopped her in the gentlest way she could, equally sad. Rikko was now facing Goppa and trying to ignore Gelda with her satisfied look.

“It was me.”

“OOOOHHH!!!”

New screams echoed through the chicken coop. Goppa signaled with his wings trying to silence the chaos, but persistence led him to a more drastic measure, shouting at the top of his lungs:

“SILENCE!!!”

With the scream, not even a whisper could be heard. Even Gelda shuddered, not because Goppa was her husband, but because he was the most respected and feared Rooster in the place. Having achieved the silence he desired, he continued.

“Why did you do that, boy?”

“Because I know that without laying eggs, my mother and father would be taken away, and I don't want them to die.” - Rikko managed to say everything without taking her eyes off Goppa, who sighed upon hearing the confession.

“I understand you. You're still young, but you need to learn that what you did would not only be useless, but also caused a lot of confusion. Everyone here is in the same situation as your parents, there is no privilege or merit that protects us. Do you hear me?”

‘Yes, sir.”

“But what's done is done. You were wrong for stealing and deceiving everyone. Kakke was wrong for protecting you.” - And then he turned to Gelda - “And you, Gelda, were wrong too.”

“Me? I was wrong?”

“Yes, you were wrong. You were right to report it, but even though you were right, you let yourself be carried away by your personal grudge, and as your husband, I can't ignore that.”

Walking to the center of the chicken coop, taking Rikko with him, Goppa proclaimed:

“As leader, I declare that Rikko must be forgiven. Let us not forget his deed, but let everyone take pity on the fact that he is just a child trying to protect his parents. He made bad decisions, but the purity of his desire is sincere. Let us end it here, and not another word.”

A new chatter arose, but this time it was basically divided, with those who still wanted punishment arguing with those who were moved by Rikko's actions and accepted their leader's decision. A new shout from Goppa demanding silence and finally the chatter ended.

“Rikko, my son. Our beloved son!” - Kel and Kohko came to their son's side, pressing him between them and putting their heads together in a sign of joy.

Goppa, satisfied, left it to his parents to give him the proper lecture and went to disperse the others. Little by little, everyone was going back to their lives, except for one. Gelda.

“This isn't going to stay like this...”

Kel took Rikko out of the chicken coop with Kohko, looking for a more private place to talk. The sun was already showing behind the trees and a cool breeze was blowing. They chose the shade of a tree and crouched under it. Until then, in silence, Kel spoke.

“Well, my son... we are happy with your attitude, but at the same time very disappointed with what you did. I don't want to repeat Goppa's words, but we hope you never do that again, do you understand?”

“Yes, Dad, I promise not to do that again.”

“But I have to admit, it was ingenious. You even took care to change who would pick up the eggs, no one here would have the intelligence to do something like that. You really are different.”

“But I'm still a little upset!” - Kohko replied - “There were eggs appearing under me without even feeling that I had laid them. If on the one hand I was happy, on the other I was very worried about my health.”

“I'm sorry, Mom.” - Rikko couldn't look at her parents out of shame, she tried to hide it by playing with the pebbles on the ground, stirring them with her beak.

“Well, I forgive you. But later we have to look for the owners of the eggs and apologize properly, do you understand?”

“Yes, ma'am. And why is that... Mrs. Gelda so grumpy?”

Upon hearing the question, her parents paused briefly, thinking about what they would answer.

“Gelda always boasted about the amount of eggs she laid, but when I started laying my own, she felt threatened. Since then, she has always been jealous of me.” - Kohko replied.

“Because of that, Goppa even proposed that Kohko be his wife, but fortunately for Gelda, I got there first, hahaha.”

Ah, they are chickens, what else did I expect, a big plot? I feel like an idiot for asking. - Rikko seemed a little disappointed as to the reason.

“What a grumpy chicken…”

“Yes, it is. But don't say that to anyone, you've already caused enough trouble to make her your enemy, it's not worth it.” - Kel warned emphatically.

“Yes, daddy. I promise.”

“Oh, look! It's Kakke. She found a handful of worms. Let's go to her to thank her for her help and eat some.” - Kohko commented, but she seemed more interested in the worms than in the conversation itself.

“Oh, yeah... go ahead, I'll stay here in the shade for a little longer.” - He didn't want to be in time to offer her more worms.

The rest of the day went well despite the initial conflict, but there were still some hotbeds here and there mulling over the subject and in the end two "factions" emerged that divided the henhouse. Those who were in favor of punishment and those who wanted to forgive, and it wasn't very hard to imagine which side Gelda was on, after all she was the head of the complainers. Night fell and a new morning arrived. Kel was drinking some water when Rikko came to him.

“Daddy, what's out there?”

“Out there? Be more specific.”

“Besides these lands where we live.”

“Oh, yes… we don’t know for sure, we were born and live here.”

“Nothing, nothing at all?”

“Not exactly nothing. At least we know that there are horrible monsters.”

Hearing the word monsters, Rikko shivered. But if he ever decided to run away from the farm, he needed to learn as much as she could about that world.

“What kind of monsters?”

“We only saw one, some time ago. It was about to invade these lands, but then others came like the owners here, only younger, I think. They carried things that cut and others that made lights and a lot of noise. They killed the monster and then took it away. It was big, green and had sharp claws and teeth, a horror. I hope I never see one again.”

Hmm… right. Putting together everything I’ve seen and heard so far, I really am in another world. And reincarnated as a damn chick. What else could go wrong?

“I want to see the world out there.”

“Are you crazy, kid? There are monsters, and there are certainly other things that can eat us and suck our bones afterwards, we would never be able to live there. We are the food of the owners here, it is an undeniable and immutable fact. Don’t ever think about that nonsense again!” - He scolded.

Stay here and become country food? No way! I’ll find a way to escape even if it’s by myself!

“Yes, Dad.”