Dorbei arrived before the others. The road dust was still on him, pale along both shoulders and across his riding coat, the specific coating that came from distance covered without stopping. He had made the ride from his territory because the meeting was worth it.
He sat without speaking.
Kirsa came through the entrance a few minutes after. He took the seat at the far end and set his hands flat, reading the space the way he read everything, without announcement.
The Khar Kheshig stood outside the entrance. Both flanks of the tent's outer face, Suuqai at the near edge. Torghul noticed it when he arrived, a brief check as he came through, reading the faces, and then he let it go and sat.
Batu looked at all three of them.
"Torghul's tumen goes east," he said. "I ride with it. The Khar Kheshig goes with me."
He looked at Dorbei.
