The food had been at the tables for ten minutes before Saran started to ask questions.
She had her cup in her left hand, and her right arm rested on the table, angled toward him, close enough that her shoulder brushed his when she leaned in. She was not performing anything. She was simply close, the way someone is close when the thing that interests them is in that direction.
"Who is managing the city while you're gone?" she said.
"Khulgen, as Ikh Jarghuchi. He holds civil and administrative authority across the whole western territory."
Batu reached for his cup. "Mahmud ibn Nasir manages the civil accounts and the construction effort. He came from Bukhara, and he'd run urban administration for more than a decade under three different authorities. Orel handles the tribute tallies and the census records."
Saran looked at him. "And... where does my role sit inside that hierarchy?"
"Theoretically, above it," he said. "On civil matters, they answer to you when I'm in the field."
