Jemunu-jah knew of a human term that was both more succinct and more applicable to the condition Masurathoo was describing. It was sucking up. The Deyzara were masters at it. No Sakuntala could do it. We have too much pride, he told himself. Too much individual dignity and self-respect. Where the line was to be drawn between pride and arrogance, however, was still a matter of some debate among those Sakuntala who had done successful business dealings with the humans and the thranx—and the Deyzara themselves. Couldn’t one have both self-respect and credit? The contradiction led many Sakuntala to simultaneously despise and envy the Deyzara. That was not a healthy condition.
“Why do the Deyzara work so hard to please the humans?” he blurted. “Why you abase yourselves before them so blindly?”
Masurathoo looked over at him in surprise, his trunk weaving in mild agitation. “It’s not blindness that is at work, dear me, no. We know exactly what we are doing, my friend. It is much easier to do business with a friend than with an enemy. Most intelligent beings are susceptible to flattery. Humans and thranx and many others of the Commonwealth are no different, no. It is simply good business practice.”
“Then why,” Jemunu-jah asked pointedly, “don’t you do the same to us?”
He expected the Deyzara to hesitate and was surprised when Masurathoo did not. “No reason to. We do not do enough important business with the Sakuntala. In such instances, flattery would not only be a waste of time, it would be seen for what it was: a calculated falsehood.”