"A marriage alliance," Batu said. "Between the Jochid line and the Toluid house."
The silence that followed was brief. She let it settle before she answered, the way a careful person let something settle before deciding what to do with it.
"That's not what I came here to discuss."
"No."
She looked at him steadily. The lamp between them threw its light across the low table and left the ger's corners dark. In that light her face had the perspective of someone who had been reading political situations for decades and was reading this one now, fast and without sentiment.
"The previous deal already gives you what you need from this meeting," she said. "So why the marriage on top of it?"
"Because that deal only lasts as long as our mutual interests last," Batu said. "Which may be a long time and may not be. What I'm asking for lasts longer than mutual interests."
"How much longer."
"A generation."
