Magic system isn't saidar/saidin oriented. Although it is vaguely similar, there are plenty of differences that lead to it being used quite differently than saidar and saidin. In some places, it's more of a hard magic system, in others, more soft. It's really hard to describe without telling you how it works. But I promise, it's not the same as Jordan's system. Sure, there are some similarities, but that can hardly be avoided, can it? Well, at least, not having this work the way I want it to. Oh, and you'll see what the other half was (it's not a female half of the same thing). But the moral of the story is, Goodkind already stole Jordan's system. I don't need to as well. The next chapter gets into the magic system quite a bit more, and you continue to learn new things about it throughout the story.
I thought about starting with the scene with the wagons, but decided against it. Now that you mention it, though, I think I will. It gives the reader a moment before jumping into the action. And it does set up the scene a little better. I was eventually planning on having Khyus flash-back to that scene, but there didn't seem to be a good place to do it, so it probably would be best to put it in at the beginning.
For your benefit, so you're not confused (since I won't be re-writing this scene for a little while, with NaNoWriMo going on), here's what happened with the wagons. Khyus is in town looking around (no, I don't know why yet. I'll figure out a suitable reason before writing the wagon scene in), so he stops to browse through the merchant carts. He stops by one merchant who is selling wolfhounds. Then, when he is the only person standing next to the cart the merchant is using to display his wolfhounds (kind of like a platform, to make them stand out more amongst all the other goods), Quinn (the mage. I can't keep calling him the mage, or I'll go insane. You actually find out this name in chapter 2) tips the cart over, causing several large, powerful wolfhounds to a)become very scared, and b) run loose. Quinn also uses Deviation (the actual name of the magic system, or so I think. I'm not 100% on this yet, but I like it. Anyone have any problems with it? If so, I really would like to hear about them) to keep the animals scared, and easily provoked. They run loose through the wagons, knocking some over (the smaller carts), knocking products off of others, and just outright destroying some of the other stall-type setups. This results in several unhappy merchants, who blame Khyus (he was, after all, the only one anywhere near the wolfhound cart). Most of them stay behind to try to catch the hounds before they do any more damage, but four of them chase Khyus, who begins to run, recognizing that the merchants probably aren't particularly happy with him, and it would be in his best interest to not be caught. Khyus is also very confused about why the cart tipped over, since it hasn't occurred to him that someone used 'magic' yet. And that, my friends, brings you to where you started.
I was worried that this scene might feel rushed, so the fact that you felt it was confirms it for me. I'll have to go back and flesh it out a little.
As to why he doesn't want to work for the government, the simple reason is that most mages who work for the government end up dead. I was going to put more detail about this in later. I probably still will. At that point, I'll ask whether you thought it was better placed there or in this chapter. If I end up putting it there, though, I may have a few tidbits in here to help the reader understand.
Why Khyus knows Quinn is a mage - Well, Quinn does materialize out of thin air about three feet in front of him. I'd say that would lead you to believe the person was using magic, and in this world, the only people who have any magic that Khyus knows of are the mages. Even if he encountered other magic (which does exist, though I don't think I'll get into it much in this book), he'd probably still think the user was a mage. I can make this more explicit, though, if you think it's necessary.
I'm not sure how to work in the details of rogue mage vs government mage. It's an important detail, but there really doesn't seem to be a place in this chapter to do it. Khyus is a little bit freaked out at this point, so he's not going to be so much worried about the fact that this man is a rogue mage as the fact that this man is a mage who doesn't appear to be far from killing him. In fact, he'd probably prefer a rogue mage to a government one (hence the reaction to the Recruiting Squad at the end of the chapter - Recruiting Squads are (mostly) mages). I'll work it in later, and you can tell me if it works there, or if you need the detail here.
I tried to keep the details on the setting light in this particular scene. I didn't want it to feel like a travelogue, and I didn't want the reader to get bored with endless details. If you feel like you need to know more, though, I could definitely add a little more in. Part of the reason I was so sketchy in the first place is that I'm still not 100% sure on all of my setting details. This is, after all, a discovery write, which is proving very interesting for me.
And you're right. I go from Khyus being exhausted to needing to walk. Hmmm. Not really sure why I did that. I'll have to change the ending of the chapter. And I think the lack of thought has more to do with me writing late at night and not wanting to think too much about what Khyus is thinking about. The scene really does need it to be complete. Thanks for pointing that out.
I'll work on going into Khyus' thoughts and feelings more. I just reread it, and you're right, there really isn't any emotional attachment to him. And I'll try to be less telly.
Keep the comments coming. These are really good points. Thanks for your thoughts, Frog and Recovering_Cynic.
Side note, I've got about a third of the way through chapter 2 now. I like Quinn. A lot. Definitely more than I like Khyus, though I think I understand Khyus slightly better than I do Quinn. But Quinn keeps surprising me, and that's fun.
EDIT: Since I've had several comments about this via email now, no Khyus didn't steal anything. The line about him being a thief is a mistake. Not really sure what I was thinking.