The Weavers do not own a cart since both their suppliers and buyers generally provide their own. On rare occasions, though, they require one to handle small or unusual tasks. Today, one of those tasks has fallen into Olivia's lap, since the person who usually handles it broke his leg recently in an misguided attempt to win a dare with an otter.

Her task is to go to the Millers, and get as much "heavy" hemp as she can to make into ropes and nets. The Millers use the finer fibers for their paper, and other types are normally bought for fabric use. The discarded fibers that are too coarse are bundled up and auctioned off whenever they need to clear out space in the warehouse.

Following the directions given by her aunt, the Skeek finds herself at the end of the alley, facing a ramshackle stable where she is supposed to hire the cart. She has a wrapped bundle to use as the standard payment, since the Weavers have done business with this driver before.

Clutching the wrapped bundle, Olivia pokes her head around the stable doors, squinting to see in the dim light inside. "Uh, hello?" she calls out uncertainly. "It's Olivia Weaver – I'm here to hire a cart?"

A grunt comes from the depths of the structure, and a small figure shuffles into the light. Olivia has no trouble recognizing the form of Lump "Ducky" Tanner, whose bow-legged, squat and knobby body is unforgettable. The short Skeek (and he has a paper signed by both Isolde Nightshade and Mayor Streusel attesting to his species, just in case) blinks up at Olivia and makes a querulous quacking sound, since his vocal chords suffered the same fate as the rest of him.

Olivia gives the other Skeek a wavering smile. "H'lo Ducky," she says, almost apologetically. "I know you're used to Hermann coming by for errands like this, but I'm afraid he's not well. I need to hire a cart to take over to the Millers' to transport more of their heavy hemp fibers back to the Weavers'. My aunt told me I could come here for that."

Ducky nods and clucks, rearranging his features into a smile that is less horrifying than if he'd actually shown his teeth, and points to the bundle Olivia carries.

"Oh!" Olivia explains, as she hands the wrapped package to Ducky. "Yes, of course. Here's your payment. I hope it's correct. Hermann didn't tell me what's in it; he just gave it to me!"

The dwarf gives Olivia a wink, then trundles off with the package into the depths of the stable. He soon returns, leading a deceptively docile old Rughrat on a tether. The dray's eyes are as crossed as its horns, which lock and twist together over its head. While Ducky harnesses the beast, it still manages to glare with hostility at Olivia – or at least in her general direction.

Olivia backs up half a pace as the Rughrat tries its best to blast her with a direct stare. "Um … don't be nervous; I won't hurt you," she says to it, attempting to be soothing and failing rather miserably.

The old Rughrat blows a dismissive raspberry at Olivia, while Ducky goes about removing the shovels, buckets and barrels of his usual trade – mucking out cesspits and collecting night soil – from the back of the small wagon. He finishes by wiping down the bench with an old rag, which he then gives to the Rughrat to chew on.

Finally, Ducky hands a folding paper fan to Olivia, and offers her a hand up onto the wagon bench.

Olivia glances from the wagon to the Rughrat chewing on the cloth and then back again. "Glad I wore my third-best pair of overalls for this job, she mutters to herself. She accepts Ducky's hand and swings up onto the wagon.

Once his passenger is seated, Ducky goes about tying the reins to the Rughrat's horns, which involves a bit of hopping and jumping so that the double-sighted animal is always biting at the wrong image. The Skeek then clambers up into the seat next to Olivia, and prods Pretzel the Rughrat with a pointed stick to get him going. Amazingly, only one of the wagon wheels is out of true, minimizing the effect of being on a boat at sea on a stormy night.

"G-goodness!" Olivia exclaims, teeth chattering as the cart sways and jostles. "I'm b-beginning to see why Hermann lost one of his t-teeth last year!"

Once out of the alley, Ducky turns the cart onto the river road, heading north towards the dam. What little traffic there is quickly makes way for the cart. Pretzel grunts, and Ducky nudges Olivia, urgently gesturing towards the fan he gave her.

Hanging on for dear life with one hand, Olivia opens the paper fan with the other and looks inquiringly at Ducky, hoping that he will give her some sort of instruction, as she's never ridden with him before.

The function of the fan becomes obvious, as an invisible cloud of incredibly noxious fumes erupts noisily from the non-biting end of Pretzel.

Olivia's eyes water furiously and she starts fanning the fumes away as fast as she can. "I guess this is why Hermann's sense of smell is ruined, too!" she coughs, laughing and choking at the same time.

In this manner is the morning passed as the cart makes its way to the dam. Also passed is the last bridge crossing the Mint River, which is a bit problematical since the paper mill is on the far side.

Olivia touches Ducky on the shoulder to get his attention, still fanning. "Um, aren't we supposed to cross that bridge to get to the Millers'?" she asks. "Or is your Rughrat too heavy for it or something?"

Ducky sighs, and begins a well-practiced pantomime to explain that Pretzel can't cross bridges because his skewed vision makes him think he's actually heading into the water. He then points to the Wingnut structures at this end of the dam, and draws a line with his knobby finger from that side to the other, across the dam itself.

Olivia gulps as she sees which way Ducky is pointing. "Take this cart across the dam itself, huh?" she says nervously, grabbing onto the wooden seat even more tightly than before. "Well, okay. You've done this before so I guess everything should be … fine?"

The dwarf shakes his head, and brings the cart to a stop near the Wingnut warehouse. He then points to Olivia, to the dam and the Miller warehouse on the far side, then back again to the cart.

Olivia looks very, very puzzled. "Uh, you want me to get the Wingnuts to work the dam so we can cross over it? Either that or you want me to try to brave the thing myself and come back to you when I've got what I need from the Millers' – but that doesn't make sense. I'm so sorry – I guess I'm not so good at using my hands to communicate, after all!"

Ducky chews on his whiskers in thought for a moment, then climbs down from the cart and ties Pretzel to the hitching post. Only then does he return and gesture for Olivia to come down.

Olivia dismounts from the wagon and follows after Ducky curiously.

Leading her to the allegedly otter-proof door of the warehouse, Ducky raps sharply on it.

There is no answer. A few minutes pass and still there's no answer. As it always seems to happen with these things, the area grows eerily quiet. Suddenly a screeching yell comes from above … followed by a blur of fur! A thump is then heard from behind the two … followed by a quick, "Don't move!"

Ducky freezes in place.

Olivia nearly jumps out of her skin, startled out of her thoughts of how they were going to cross over to the Millers'. "What in the name of… ?"

Something pointy prods into Olivia's back. "Well, what have we here, hmm? Are you bringing spies into our homes, Ducky?" comes an unknown voice from behind of Olivia. "She must be a spy. After all, she's in camouflage. Of course, it's kinda silly camouflage. I mean, really, a flower hat? That won't hide you at all!"

Ducky looks over towards Olivia, as if noticing her hat for the first time, then shrugs.

Despite being startled, Olivia huffs indignantly, "It's wearable art, not camouflage! Honestly! And I'm not a spy!"

"Hah! Just what a spy would say! Turn around slowly … and no tricks!" the voice warns. "I want to see what kind of horde wants to invade."

Olivia rolls her eyes heavenward and turns around slowly … to placate the owner of the voice from any more silly remarks, if nothing else.

Olivia comes face to face with a young Kadie … probably about fourteen or so. He's currently decked out in what might be war paint … or else he got into a fight with a painter. He's waving a sharpened spear at her, eyes narrowed. "Awww, dangit," the Kadie mutters. "It's a girl; they make terrible spies!"

The corners of Olivia's mouth twitch as she says, "They do, huh? And how do you know that? Met any real spies? Because if they were good ones, you'd never be able to guess they were spies!"

Nodding in agreement, Ducky starts sidling off towards the wagon. Not that this is any different from his usual mode of walking. Ducky is a natural sidler.

The Kadie sticks the spear-tip against Olivia's nose. "Don't get clever with me, Missy," he remarks. He swipes the spear upward, taking Olivia's hat with it. He twirls it on the end of his spear, then sniffs it and grimaces. "And not a smart one at all. You didn't use the fan in time," he comments.

"Hey, this is my first time riding in with Ducky, so gimme a break, will ya?" Olivia says, watching Ducky out of the corner of her eye. "Anyway, do you know how he usually gets to the Millers'? I understand that his Rughrat can't cross a bridge because it wants to head into the water all the time, but I'm clueless beyond that point." Then she smiles at herself ruefully. "I guess I wouldn't make a good spy, after all. I can't even interpret hand signals."

The Kadie looks extremely disappointed. "Oh," he says glumly, "You must be one of those Weavers or something. How dull." He flicks his spear, tossing the hat back at Olivia. "I'm Gunther Kettenrad Wingnut; I guard our territory from all the invading hordes."

Olivia catches her hat neatly and returns it to her head. "Pleased to meet you. Yes, I am one of those boring Weavers," she tells him, grinning. "My name's Olivia. And I think it's okay for you to give me information – I'm certainly not a horde, as I'm only one person. And I'd rather not invade you if you're going to poke sticks at my nose."

Gunther looks rather proud and sticks the base of his spear into the ground. "Good, you fear me. As you should," he says proudly.

A thunderous noise erupts near Zahnrad's shop, followed by fragments of something launched into the air.

Gunther doesn't seem surprised by this at all. "Anyway, you were asking about crossing the dam… ?"

Unused to such explosions (that don't emanate from Pretzel), Ducky immediately … ducks.

Olivia's eyes flick toward the sudden explosion, but she forces herself to look back at the Kadie boy. "Ah … yes. I need to know how Ducky usually crosses over to the Millers'. He keeps pointing to me, then the dam, then to the Millers' and his cart. I can't figure out what he's trying to tell me at all. Do you know? Or does someone else know, if you don't?"

A lot of muffled cursing can be heard from near Zahnrad's shop.

"Ah, yeah. Ol' Quackers means you have to ride the basket over if you want to transport stuff back. Heh, heh, heh," Gunther says, grinning.

Olivia looks taken aback. "Basket? What basket? Is it suspended on a line going across the dam?"

There's now a lot of running around going on near Zahnrad's shop.

Gunther rolls his eyes and yells, "Zahn, will you quit blowing yourself up today?! Mom's not going to be happy if you scatter yourself over the compound. And really, I'd have to clean you up. Yuck!" He blinks, then looks back to Olivia, "Huh? Oh, yeah, something like that. It's used to transport cargo over." He cranes his head and looks at Ducky, commenting, "You should get one of the witches to fix that thing's eyes. Or get a new one. Sheesh! I don't see why you keep it."

Ducky blows a raspberry of his own at the boy, and pats Pretzel's head affectionately a few times, before the Rughrat tries to bite him.

Olivia mutters to herself, "Oh great, I'm cargo now." More loudly, she asks the Kadie, "Can you take me to it, then? It's just that my aunt wants me to go over to the Millers' to bring back some of their heavier hemp fibers."

"Well, I caaaan," Gunther says, balancing on one foot.

Olivia shakes her head and suppresses a sigh. "Will you take me to it? Or do I have to go scrape Zahnrad off the floor of his workshop and ask him to take me there?"

Gunther spins on that foot. "Oh, I suppose I can take some time off patrol and take you over," he relents. "This way!" he says. He stops spinning, then runs toward the dam!

From his spot next to the cart, Ducky waves to Olivia, clearly having no intention of following her.

"Ack!" Olivia exclaims, and then she shouts quickly to Ducky, "I'll be back as soon as I can! Wish me luck – I'm gonna need it!" before sprinting off after the Kadie.

As Olivia and Gunther get closer to the dam, they both see someone else marching towards it. Whomever it is, is currently completely black and his fur seems to be all sticking straight back.

"C'mon," Gunther calls back. "This'll be the second time I'll get to use the basket. Awesome! Hopefully this time it won't fall off."

Olivia slaps her forehead with one hand as she hurries along. "Fall off?" she repeats. "What happened to the other poor person who rode in it. Did they have to swim to shore? Or … (gulp) … break their neck?"

Gunther stops running and scratches his head. "You know, I don't remember," he says with a shrug. Off he goes again, and within a minute, both arrive at the dam … only to meet the other Kadie there as well.

It looks like Zahnrad, sort of. His fur is completely black and blown straight back. He rubs at some goggles he's wearing, then lifts them up to make him look like an inverted bandit. "Hey, Olivia. You a friend of Gunther's? Isn't he a bit young for you?" he asks.

Olivia studies Zahnrad with a grin. "Hello to you, too. Blown yourself up again, I see." Then she nods at the other Kadie. "Gunther and I have just met. He thought I was an invading horde but I think we've finally come to a peace agreement. Anyway, he's going to show me how to ride over to the Millers' in this basket thing you have."

Zahnrad wiggles a finger in his ear briefly. "Blown away to see me? You are? That's nice of you to say," he says, grinning. "You've both gone to pieces? You sure look whole to me."

Olivia looks disgruntled. "Since you're the one whose fur is all black and stuck backwards, I think that you're more blown away to see me than I am to see you!"

"Huh?" Zahnrad says and shakes his head. "Why are you so mad? Quit mumbling, will you?" Zahnrad says.

Olivia steps closer to Zahn and yells into one of his ears, "That explosion has affected your hearing! You should ask your Mom to give you some ear drops; maybe that will help!"

Zahnrad jerks his head back and winces. "Gah! You don't have to yell," he grouses. "Say, if you're going over to the Millers, would you drop this off for me?" he asks, offering a folded note. "I need to replace some of my blueprint paper. It, er, had an accident."

Olivia throws her hands into the air. It is obvious that she is fighting a losing battle. "Yes, I'll do it," she says, very clearly and distinctly. "Assuming that I don't plummet to my death before I get there."

Zahnrad leans in and sniffs Olivia's hat. "Yeah, your plumage smells like death. Forgot to use the fan, huh?" he replies with a grin. With a pat on her shoulder he says, "Well, thanks. Gunther can get you across. He's only dropped one person."

Olivia takes the note from Zahn and grumbles, "Yeah, that's very reassuring. And I already know my hat is going to need a wash, thanks."

With a wave, Zahnrad walks back towards his shop.

"Y'know, he's really strange," Gunther comments.

Olivia looks after the retreating Kadie and sighs. "He can be, yeah. But he's nice sometimes, too – when he's not busy trying to skyrocket himself into the spirit world, that is."

"Heh, he's been blowing up stuff all morning. Something about trying to determine the most explosive liquids," Gunther comments with a shrug. "Anyway! This way," he says and motions, heading over to a basket hanging from what looks like some pretty sturdy rope.

Olivia mutters to herself, "Gas pipes, inflatable boats, spinning airships, and now exploding liquids?!" She shakes her head and follows Gunther over to the basket. "Hmm," she says as she examines it, "so exactly how do you work this, er, cargo transport?"

"Hop in!" Gunther says. He heads over to something covered in a tarp. He pulls it back and says, "Tada!" Olivia finds herself staring at a giant wheel it looks like someone could stand inside.

Olivia eyes the whole contraption warily. "Hop in the basket or the wheel? Not that either option makes me feel any less nervous, mind you… "

Gunther grins. "Basket, of course. Now, we could power it off the dam, but this is more fun," he says.

Olivia closes her eyes for a few moments while she gathers all her courage. Then she open them and climbs carefully into the basket, calling over to Gunther, "Just to let you know – if you do drop me, my ghost is coming back to haunt you!"

Gunther just rolls his eyes. "Girls," he mutters. The Kadie climbs into the large wheel and starts walking slowly. The wheel begins to turn and he says, "When you need to come back, just ask a Miller to use the wheel on the other side, or just pull the automation lever."

Olivia grabs the sides of the basket tightly as they begin to move. "O-okay," she says quietly, not wanting to break the Kadie's concentration.

The Kadie slowly gets up to a jog in the wheel he's standing in. The basket sways and rocks, rising up and sliding out and over the dam. The trip is slow and the rope creaks overhead ominously. But, it seems to hold and she finds herself on the other side within a few minutes. The basket settles down quietly.

"Whew!" Olivia sighs in relief as she clambers out of the basket. "Thanks, Gunther!" she calls up to him, waving. "I was really nervous about this at first but after a while, I began to enjoy the view!"

"You better not have been using that time to plan an invasion!" Gunther calls back.

Olivia grins at him. "Not at all. Best of luck to you as you fight back the hordes!"

The center of the warehouse is taken up by several desks, with diligent Skeeks and a lone Kadie apprentice working on book bindings or tabulating numbers on paper and abacus. At the lead desk sits a blue-furred Skeek, dressed all in blue clothing and using a quill to write (in blue ink) on a sheet of oddly brown paper.

Olivia approaches the desk with the blue-furred Skeek sitting at it and gently clears her throat so that she will be noticed. "Excuse me, but I'm Olivia Weaver. I'm supposed to pick up hemp fibers for my aunt… ?"

"Oh, is it that time already?" the blue Skeek asks, looking up from his work and staring at Olivia's face for a moment (with blue eyes, of course). "Errr, Weaver, right? I don't think I've seen you before … and I'd have remembered, I'm certain! How much did you need and what are you offering?"

Olivia blinks as she takes in the awesome blueness of this Skeek. "Weaver, yes sir, Olivia Weaver. I know that you usually deal with Hermann, but he isn't well today. As for what we need … well, my aunt just told me to get all the hemp I could. And since I had to ride a basket over here, I suppose that means all that the basket can carry without falling!" Then she thinks for a moment and adds hesitantly, "As for payment, what does Hermann usually give you? I've never done this before, so … " She looks at the other Skeek for help.

The blue Skeek nods, and begins to rummage through one of the desk drawers. While he does this, Olivia notices that the paper he was writing on has soaked up the ink to turn his writing into a blurry mess. "Ah, here we go," he says, sitting up straight once more with a regular piece of paper in his hand. "Last time, it looks like Hermann picked up eight bales for six yards of heavy canvas and twelve pounds of scrap felt."

Olivia tries to mentally calculate how many trips across the dam in the basket all that is going to take. "We do have some more canvas produced, finally, now that our awful Loom #4 is up and running again. I don't know about the felt, but we've accumulated a lot of the more delicate cotton. Leftover scrap from all the cloth for spring dresses being made, I'm sure. Would you be able to use that?"

"Cotton?" the Skeek asks, looking thoughtful. He pulls open a large ledger, and pages through it quickly. "Let's see… Leather, charcoal, bone meal," he reads off as he runs his finger down the page. He then turns and yells to one of the bookbinders, "Dewey! Do we need cotton? It's not on the list but I remember seeing it somewhere."

"Whut?" Dewey calls back – a middle-aged Skeek with large spectacles. He pulls a wad of cotton out of his left ear, and shouts back, "What was that?"

"Ah, never mind," the blue Skeek calls back. "Yes … yes we need cotton. For the pulper's earplugs. How much can you offer?" he says to Olivia.

Olivia imagines the four huge bags full of cotton scraps pushed to one corner of the Weavers' storehouse and thinks of how many pounds that would be. "We've got about eight to ten pounds of the stuff, I would say."

"Oh, that could last us a while then, if they remember to keep their ears clean," the Skeek says, chewing on a claw in thought. His eyes wander over Olivia's colorful attire, and he asks, "What about dyes and pigments? Do you have anything that could color stuff like this?" He holds out the brown piece of paper to Olivia. It's thicker than normal paper, and she can see that it must have almost no rag in it at all.

Olivia takes the paper and slides it through her fingers to get the feel of it. After a few moments' thought, she murmurs, "Well, it'd have to be a very specially-balanced dye to color something like this. It feels like it has mostly woody fibers in it and not much rag. Something light, so that it won't break this stuff down. Perhaps one of the dyes we use for that fine cotton would work on it."

"Really?" the Miller asks, looking hopeful. "We don't actually know what this stuff might be useful for, but if it can be colored, then people may still want it. Oh … if you can make two pounds of that cotton in the form of gauze, then I can let you have the hemp today as well."

Olivia nods at this. "I think we can do that. Perhaps Hermann will be up for the task while he's nursing his leg. As for the dye to use on this paper … if you give me a few sample sheets, I'll see if any of our less-acidic dyes will work on it. It'd be interesting to try, anyway! I'm sure you can tell that I like coloring things," she says mischievously, pointing to the dark plum-colored overalls she wears and the kelly-green shirt underneath.

"I noticed!" the Skeek says, smiling. He offers his hand, and says, "I'm Blue, by the way. Nice to meet you."

Olivia takes the other Skeek's hand and grins in return. "Nice to meet you, too."

"I'll have some of the boys bring the bales over for you," Blue offers. He then turns and shouts to one of the apprentices, "Ralph! Get some samples of the low-felt blend, weights 10 through 50, and get a few boys together to bring eight bales of hemp across the river."

A spotted Skeek jumps at the shout, then quickly goes about the relayed tasks.

"Thanks very much," Olivia says gratefully. Then she asks, "By the way, do you use the basket across the dam to bring all those bales over to the other side? Eight just seems like an awful lot to put in there without it falling off!"

"Oh, of course not," Blue answers, chuckling. "There's a walkway along the top, next to the water wheels."

Olivia rubs her forehead for a moment before saying, "Yes, of course there's a walkway. I guess I just didn't see it as I was coming in." Under her breath, however, she mutters, "I'm going to kill that kid!"

"This must be your first time to the dam," Blue says, as Ralph returns with a string-tied bundle of the experimental paper. "They always make you ride the basket the first time."

Olivia just shakes her head and grins, inwardly laughing at herself. "It is my first time – how could you tell? I'll know better for next time, though!"

"I'm not sure why the Wingnuts do it… Kadie paranoia, I imagine," Blue says, handing over the bundle of paper and a receipt listing the goods exchanged: eight bales of heavy hemp for six pounds of raw cotton and two pounds of cotton gauze.

"Knowing one of them personally, I'll bet it's just to have the last laugh on all those not so technically-minded as they are!" Olivia responds, taking the paper and the receipt.

"Wouldn't surprise me a bit," Blue says, and then he waves to the line of young Skeeks that has formed to carry the bales of hemp. "Escort Miss Olivia across the walk, boys, and load up her cart. She's bringing us fresh bandages in return!"

The response is not exactly enthusiastic, but the train of Skeeks moves quickly enough towards the door, the last one in line waiting for Olivia.

After thanking Blue once more, Olivia walks over to join the last Skeek. Then she asks in an undertone, "Do you need a lot of bandages around here, what with the pulping hammers going all the time? I guess they could cause some awful accidents… "

"Oh, we all know how to avoid those," the boy whispers back. "We mostly need them for when one of the Wingnuts blow something up."

Olivia smiles at the boy. "I may need lessons in accident-avoidance from the Millers, then. No matter how many times I've worked on our Loom #4, it always seems to injure me somehow." As she follows him out, she says, "By the way, did you see that really big explosion Zahnrad just caused a half-hour ago… ?"