A Drau Guide and a Human Soldier

While travelling near the western frontier, our party acquired both a Human military escort and two Drau guides, and the arrangement was tense from the beginning. One of the soldiers, a young corporal, treated the guides with exaggerated politeness of the sort that communicates distrust more efficiently than open rudeness. He spoke slowly to them despite their fluent Human speech, repeated simple instructions, and once attempted to demonstrate how a compass worked. The elder Drau listened patiently.

On the third day, the corporal became separated from the road during heavy rain and failed to return by dusk. The elder Drau found him, which did not improve the corporal’s dignity. What improved his behaviour was learning that the Drau had followed his trail by observing broken stems, mud disturbance, and displaced moss over nearly three miles of terrain in which the soldier believed he had left no track.

The next morning, the corporal handed the guide his compass. The Drau asked why. The corporal said, “You explain it to me.” That was better. Pride is not incurable; it merely responds poorly to lectures.