From then on, there was no question that Temur was part of the clan. As the hands of days passed, he even heard one or two people from other traveling alliances refer to him as "Tsareg Temur," and though he was careful to correct them, he began to wonder, with a little hope, if Altantsetseg did indeed intend to adopt him.
Edene came to his blankets every night, until Altantsetseg offered to give them a small tent of their own -- with a show of bad grace and a complaint about scaring the horses. Edene refused: Her small sister and cousin needed the tent more.
Altantsetseg humphed, but Temur caught the edge of her toothless grin and realized that she`d been teasing. That eased his heart more than anything. Old women teased and crabbed and picked -- but only to families.
He breathed in and breathed out and felt the war that much farther away and unmissed.