Gideon barked out a hearty laughter at the lad's hushed words about undercloths. He was still clearly a bit of an innocent little sprite. "That they do, Billie, that they do," he said once he'd recovered from the laughter, having to even thumb away some tears from his eyes the hearty laugh had brought from him. The little lad surely had a way of keeping things interesting for Gideon when he was already bored almost to tears thanks to the fog.

He watched quietly as Billie continued to clean up the mess on the ground before the lad looked up to him and asked his question. He shook his head slightly in response. "Nope," he answered simply, "It's just a bit of ornament. They'd work just the same if they were a solid bit of wood. Though the more carving that's done, the easier they can break over time. Strips away some of the strength and integrity after all." He tried not to do too much carving though. He'd hate for a wand to be broken quickly because too much of the wood had been stripped away.

"I wish I knew the answer to that," he said with a sigh, "An expedition went underway some two weeks ago. Hopefully the find the cause sooner rather than later. This should be my busy season, after all." And.. it was far from that. Which was extremely frustrating.

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