Edgedancer: Chapter 3

Hauka, a female captain of the guard, inspects wagons coming into Yeddaw for contraband or refugees, and gets farmers' papers notarized. Nissiquan, a male scribe, likes to be out in the sun. He's the deputy scribe of immigration for the day and okays farmers' wagonloads and/or imposes taxes on them. Lift explodes from the farmer's grain after a brief conversation about pancakes. The farmer is outraged. Lift lands on Hauka's shoulders, then leaps away into the guard chamber. She knocks a table of food to the floor, then begins eating pancakes while being pursued by Hauka. She then escapes out a window and onto the building's roof. Making her way back inside, she grabs more pancakes, passes the guards toward the farmer/smuggler, yet has her leg grabbed by Hauka. Lift the pops the hitch on the chull wagon and Hauka releases her leg as the wagon rolls toward a ledge. Hauka grabs the wagon and it eventually comes to a halt. Lift sits atop the grain in the wagon eating her last pancake, then kicks open the tailgate and the grain pours into the immigrant quarter from which cheers are then heard. Lift is nowhere to be seen and Hauka takes a break for the next hour.