Olivia is sent on an errand by her aunt to pick up some heavy hemp fibers for her aunt, for making ropes and nets. In the Crafters' Alley, she hires Ducky – a Skeek more formally known as Lump Tanner – to take her over to the Millers to do some bargaining. They ride in a wagon pulled by Pretzel – a cross-eyed, flatulent rughrat. Olivia has some difficulty understanding Ducky's instructions when they reach the river – because Ducky communicates solely by pantomime.

Olivia disembarks, and encounters a young Kadie (squirrel) sentry by the name of Gunther, who at first accuses Olivia of being a spy. She also briefly runs into Zahnrad, who has been dabbling with explosives (and it shows).

When Gunther learns that Olivia going over the river to the Millers, he excitedly proclaims that this will be the second time he gets to use the "bucket" – an awkward conveyance for sending a passenger (or cargo) across a cable stretched over the river – and that he's only lost one passenger. Olivia is a bit worried at this, but is determined to complete her task, so she goes across anyway – and fortunately makes it across without incident.

At the Millers, Olivia bargains with a Skeek aptly named Blue (since he has blue fur, wears blue clothes, has blue eyes, and so forth), and works out a deal in exchange for an amount of cotton. Only afterwards does she find out that there's another way across the river, and that going over in the basket was entirely a "tradition" imposed upon newcomers by the Kadies.