a good choice.
"I've got one question though," he continued. "What is a wyvern?"
Laurelin raised her eyes heavenward as if asking for strength, and she began to tell him as the shoemaker came back.
"A wyvern is dragon-kin," she said. "It is smaller, and the wild ones dwell in mountain regions. There is even a militant Order of the Wyvern."
"Well, well, are you ready?" asked the master shoemaker with his salesperson-type grin. Gideon nodded. "Very good. Now if you will kindly remove your boots, we can begin." Gideon began to remove the boots he had been given by the Valora family near Taros, and the shoemaker proceeded to measure the length, width, and other parameters of his feet.
The master shoemaker stood up and said, "I will be able to have your boots ready by tomorrow afternoon at the latest. If you would pay half now, I would be appreciative."
"How much is it?" asked Gideon.
The shoemaker calculated. "It comes to fourteen golden sovereigns. A minimum of seven payable now, if you please."
Gideon did not bother to quibble to obtain a slightly lower price. He merely paid the fourteen sovereigns; then he and Laurelin left the shop.
"Where to now, Finelen?" asked Laurelin as they stepped back out into the street.
Then, a smile lit his face as he asked, "Is there any place on this world where the ocean surf is particularly decent?"
"Ocean surf?" asked the elf maiden, perplexed.
"Yeah. Ocean surf."
"Well," she said after a moment's thought, "most of the coast off Lindorian Province has particularly lovely waves especially off the shores of the Calenfalas and Malloren forests region."
"Far out! Laurelin, I want you to take me to the nearest and best elven carpenter."
"Far out?" asked Laurelin, even more perplexed.
"Yeah," replied Gideon. "Where I come from, that means really cool."
"But you said far out. I thought you meant a long distance away, not cold to the touch. You are not making any sense, Finelen."
"No," replied Gideon. "Far out means 'cool.' Excellent. I'm gonna see about having a surfboard made. If you elves are such great craftsmen, then an elven-made board would be the max!"
Laurelin shook her head and repeated to herself softly that far out meant "cool."
By now, Laurelin appeared word-shocked. Her eyes had a faraway look.
"Wh-what?" was all she could say.
"Sorry, Laurelin," he replied, seeing her trying to make sense of his jargon. "I slipped for a moment just then. I started thinking about the surfboard, and my mind went back to Malibu when I was a kid. Ridin' the wild surf."
"Malibu? I thought you said you were from a place called Earth?" said Laurelin, recovering and speaking more softly.
"Uh," replied Gideon, realizing his recent, more excited outburst may have been overheard and he had committed a breach of secrecy. Quickly, he spoke more softly and directly to Laurelin. "Malibu…is, uh, just a beach area off the coastline of one of the states."
"Oh," said Laurelin slowly. "Okay…sure." Then she added, "Finelen?"
"Yeah?"
"You speak very strangely in Malibu."
A little while later, Gideon and Laurelin reached the carpentry shop located on the aptly named Woodcarver's Lane. Soon after entering the shop, the two were greeted by a tall, mature-looking elf with pale, silver-white hair. He introduced himself as Elendil, the master carpenter.
"Elendil, huh?" asked Gideon in honest surprise. "You're kidding. Really?"
"Yes, sir," replied the elf. "That is my name. You have heard of me? I am well-known in these lands."
"Yeah, I've heard of you," said Gideon, masterfully holding back the urge to laugh. The coincidence was almost too much to bear. A few years back, he'd read the Lord of the Rings and recognized the name as a relative of the half-elven lord of Rivendell. Meeting a real elf who went by the name of a fictional character created by a man on Earth was almost too much to take. "A fellow named Tolkien mentioned you. Said you were a pretty good mariner. Is that true?"
"Well, yes. I've had some sailing experience in years past, and I'm an excellent shipwright." The master carpenter looked strangely at Gideon, a half smile on his face. Gideon nearly burst into laughter right there and then but somehow maintained control of himself and got down to business. Such a coincidence of names he found very amusing.
"Well, that's good to know. You may be just the craftsman I'm looking for. I'm looking for someone to design a new type of sailing rig. It's small, about seven feet nine inches tall; light, made from one of the softer hardwoods you have; and smoothed to ride the ocean surf. I call it a surfboard."
"A surfboard, eh?" replied Elendil enthusiastically, and then he added skeptically, "A board to ride on the ocean surf? Why would anyone want to do such a thing?"
"Sport," answered Gideon with an exuberant smile. "One of the most exhilarating sports ever."
The elf looked strangely at Gideon in way of reply.
Gideon saw this reaction, and his smile faded a few notches.
"Here," he continued, "let me show you what I want, and you decide if you can make it, okay? Got some drawing charcoal and some parchment?"
The elf named Elendil found some paper and drawing utensils, and Gideon got to work, scratching out his dream surfboard.
Elendil looked on in wonder at the possibility.
"Can you do it?"
"It will take some time, but yes…I can do it. I seem to recall a somewhat similar water skimmer being used by younglings several years back off the coast of Calenfalas region."
"How much?"
The elf worked the numbers, considering equipment and labor, and finally replied, "Perhaps twenty gold sovereigns as it is custom work." Gideon nodded in agreement.
After leaving Elendil, the master carpenter, and Woodcarver's Lane, Gideon asked Laurelin if there was a place nearby where he could wash up. "You could reserve a private room at an inn and take a bath there," replied Laurelin, "or perhaps you would not mind a walk to one of the recreation facilities. They have excellent public baths there. Come to think of it, I could do with a good bath to wash myself."
Then Gideon remembered that he should look into purchasing some undergarments. He asked Laurelin where he might find some. She suggested a store that sold such things for the guildsmen. However, she added that she did not see the point in wearing such things. She believed that if one bathed or maintained cleanliness regularly, it did not matter. Nevertheless, Gideon went to the shop and purchased a few loincloths and collarless, sleeveless torso covers.
The pair then proceeded down toward the east side of the city. Along the way, Gideon was again awestruck by its beauty. They passed
