elves."
Gideon asked, "How much do I have in the coin purse now?"
"This is a special container, Finelen. It is much deeper than it appears. It is imbued and enchanted to be larger on the inside than on the outside. You have," she said, rummaging through the purse and counting the types of coins, "a small fortune here!"
"Wow! Ragan was really generous," said Gideon.
"Ragan is indeed very wealthy in many ways, and with this, you can make a good start on this world," responded Laurelin. "Come, let's go inside and get you some boots!"
They entered a shop that was smaller than the tailor shop but had quite a large variety of footwear. There were tall boots and short boots, slippers and sandals. All sizes and colors were assembled. In short, Gideon felt that most of the shoe stores on Earth could not hold a candle to this for quality.
Then a sign caught Gideon's eye.
You may design here.
"Now that's something you don't see every day where I come from," he said to Laurelin.
"Is that right?" replied Laurelin. "I had a pair done that way. It is really quite nice. You can be original."
"Well, I surely have enough money to get a fairly nice set of boots, so I think I'll try to have something made to my specifications," said Gideon as he approached the shoemaker who was just finishing with a customer.
"Excuse me, good sir. I would like to design my boots."
"Certainly, sir, I will get you the pattern book and a list of colors so that you can make a proper selection," said the elf. This shoemaker, who was shorter than most of the elves that Gideon had met so far, stood at slightly under six feet. He returned with a book of drawings of shoe types and the colors available. Gideon flipped slowly through the book for a few minutes while the shoemaker set about making shoes for another customer. After about ten minutes, Gideon made his final decision, and he told the shoemaker what he wanted.
"I would like the padded wyvern-hide boots, and I want them done in this particular pattern," he said, showing the pattern to the shoemaker. The shoemaker nodded in affirmation, and then he said, "An excellent choice, sir. Now I will need to measure your foot. Please have a seat, and I'll be with you in a moment." Then he went into the other room.
"A pretty good choice, don't you think, Laurelin?" said Gideon, proud of his choice. He smiled; he was beginning to like this world. Laurelin agreed by nodding that it was 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?"