The army came down the east bank through the afternoon cold, and Sarai was visible before the first riders reached the settlement.

It was different from when they had left.

The workshop district had expanded along the eastern side, with three structures that had not been there before, their fires burning and the smoke going straight up in the still air.

The market section showed a prosperous character in how it was positioned, not the temporary boom of an early settlement.

On the track leading to the depot, the footfall of the last weeks had beaten the ground into a packed surface that had not existed before the raid.

More people stood at the outskirts than Batu had left here.

He counted the new ger clusters as the column descended and observed what they told him about who had come and from where. Khulgen was at the settlement’s outer line when the column reached it, with Saran beside him.

Her attendants were arranged around her with careful closeness.

She wore a heavy riding coat with the front panels sitting differently than they used to. She watched the column come in with her arms at her sides and did not perform anything for it.

"You’re back," she said when Batu pulled up.

Batu held her gaze for a moment. "Yes."

"The depot’s ready for the loads," Khulgen said. "The livestock goes east to the winter pasture. I’ve got the intake riders organized."

He glanced back at the column, already moving behind them. "It’ll be done through the evening."

"Good," Batu said. "We’ll walk the city while it moves."

They moved into the settlement on foot, with the horses handed off to the attendants.

Khulgen had his summary ready and gave it as they walked, not waiting for Batu to ask.

"The workshops. There are six now."

He pointed with a slight motion toward the eastern line of structures as they passed it.

"Two metalworkers came through with a Rus caravan out of the Ayas network. The leather worker came in from the Kipchak tributary families that resettled from the southern pasture steppes."

He looked at the workshop district as they passed it, confirming what he was saying with what was in front of them.

"The tanning building went from one structure to two. The load exceeded the first building’s capacity before the end of the month."

Batu looked at the expanded tanning district without stopping. Two buildings. The smell of the work was specific and present in the cold air.

"The settler program," Khulgen continued.

"Thirty-four enrolled families over the departure count. Twenty-two have completed permanent residence and filed for the land allocation. The other twelve are in gers and building through winter."

He paused for a step.

"The grain reserve was at forty percent above the standard before the raid’s addition. After what the column’s carrying, we’re into winter with full depot capacity."

Saran said, "The Kipchak families have started to integrate."

Khulgen waited.

"The women," she said. "Not the men. The men are in the workshops or the herds."

She folded her hands loosely in front of her coat as they walked.

"The women started working with the settler wives from the Rus caravan families after they arrived. Felt-making. The Rus women know weaving and the Kipchak women know felt, and they’ve been working together every morning for a while."

She was looking at the residential quarter as they passed it.

"There are children from three different groups in the same streets now. I don’t know exactly when that started."

Batu looked at the street she was watching.

A cluster of children on the packed ground between two ger structures, close enough to a nearby fire to have its warmth.

He noted it and kept moving.

"The fire-weapon contacts," Khulgen said.

"A rider came back from Kashgar through the Ayas relay last week. The craftsman’s agreed to review the contract terms in the spring. He wants an intermediary meeting at Samarkand before he commits."

He kept his voice even.

"The second one, east of Samarkand, his position on the Ferghana road has been confirmed. The Ayas contact there says he’s watching what the Kashgar man does before he moves."

Both were moving toward the plan without being in it yet. The third was still unknown. Batu noted it and let the report continue.

"Merchant traffic. Three additional caravans through the Samarkand link in the past month. One eastbound left a representative, a Uyghur trader asking about representation rights at the market. I told him we’d discuss it when you returned."

"We will," Batu said.

They reached the depot. Khulgen stopped at its outer side and looked at the supply riders beginning to organize the incoming loads. He had work to do here, and they both knew it.

"The rest I can put in writing before the evening."

"Tomorrow," Batu said.

Khulgen turned back to the depot without ceremony.

Their residence was at the settlement’s center, where the track widened before the administrative quarter.

Permanent timber on the windward sides, felt panels on the rest, a brazier fire burning inside from the smell of it even before the door.

The attendants peeled off at the outer boundary. Saran had arranged this, or they had learned it was the proper thing to do.

"You look the same," she said.

"Slightly more tired."

"Really? I was starting to think you never got tired."

She paused at the door and looked back at Sarai for a moment, the riders still moving through it, the depot smoke, the workshop fires going in the cold.

"It’s bigger than when you left."

"Yes."

She turned and looked at him with the direct attention she brought to everything.

"Come inside, Batu-aa. It’s cold and there’s food, and I’ve been wanting to actually talk to you since the second week of the absence."

She went through the door. He followed.

The brazier threw its light across the interior.

Outside, the winter shrouded the settlement, the riders and the depot, full of what the raid had taken from Bulgars.

The door closed against the cold.