15th year of the reigns of Milfore and Yetnul 30th day of spring

I can’t help but to castigate my past self for speaking rashly. Unla-Ela has proven themself to be possessed of good foresight and planning. To my chagrin I had spoken ill of their insistence on bringing those hairy beasts of theirs, tormans, I believe they are called. The smell of those lumbering beasts is beyond the pale, worse by far than our own lopecs which are by no means absent a particular fragrance themselves. They eat twice what a lopec does while being capable of carrying little more weight. To top it off they are clearly distressed by the heat and humidity, to the point that it has slowed our expedition's progress. It seemed clear to me that they were a costly liability and I raised the prospect of replacing them with an equal number of lopecs almost daily.

Frankly I was beside myself at the prospect of half the gear smelling of the sweat of those animals, unsuited as they are to the heat of Malepre. Unla-Ela insisted however, and has proven to be in the right. As we have climbed into the cold and rarefied air of the mountains the tormen have gained in strength even as the lopecs lost it in near equal measure.

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I can only be thankful that Unla-Ela has had the good grace to not say I told you so. Though the hint of smugness, attempt to conceal it though they might, in their expression this morning, as we redistributed the cargo spoke volumes. I don’t hold this against them overmuch as I am, apparently, far from the first to give them grief on their insistence at bringing the animals, and their feeling of vindication has been an obvious boon to their morale.

One of my scouts reported that they believe they’ve caught sight of the valley that was reported by a group of prospectors. If we maintain our rate of progress, which those tormans may just allow, we should get our first glimpse of the valley tomorrow. Since morale is still high among the expedition members from both contingents, I think allowing the approaching vista to be a pleasant surprise, will justify keeping them ignorant of our progress for a day.

I am looking forward to pushing Malepre’s frontier, and Unla-Ela’s enthusiasm for discovery and sense of wonder are contagious. My main lingering point of worry is the dangerous and unknown magical plants or animals that, going by history, will certainly be present. It can be almost impossible to properly defend against some threats without very specific preparations and I fear that we will be forced to learn the specifics of whatever new dangers await us the hard way. I am confident in my abilities as a military leader, but it is a rare person who can contemplate the near certain prospect of serious casualties with complete sang-froid.