Batu turned to the rider.
"Bring him to the entrance," he said.
Orda's eyes came off the fire. He turned his cup in his hands. The rider went.
The others kept their silence. Tangqut had his hands flat on his knees. Toqa-Timur had not moved from his position by the ger's inner wall. Siban was still at the edge where he had been for the past hour.
Berke came through alone.
He stopped when he had come far enough in to watch what he had walked into. He took in the brothers there, the food, Siban standing apart, and then his eyes found Batu first.
The brothers were there, the eldest to one side, the others ranged around the space, but he went to Batu directly. That told everyone what the walk from the outer perimeter to this ger had cost him and what he'd decided to do with it.
"You came alone," Batu said.
"Yes."
"Why."
Berke accepted the cup when it was offered by Toqa-Timur, and he held it before answering. He was considering the right version of the answer.
