As the rest of the camp began to open and welcome Anshi's Uncle and various relatives, Anshi and the older man sat in his yurt, sipping a warmed rice liquor and working the day's knots and tensions from their muscles. Each man was hesitant. Anshi had asked for total privacy before anything relating to the massacre was spoken about. He wanted the information told systematically, clinically, and where no one was around that the Chieftain did not know one hundred percent. Who knew if there were people involved who could overhear? The initial meeting had stripped their emotions bare and they had become a little awkward, unsure of how to approach one another. How do you break down barriers that must be ripped away? Anshi wanted the story from beginning to end, chronologically laid out from his Uncle's point of view. It was the only way for him to handle it.

Anshi hummed a bit as he poured the golden liquid into bowls and offered one with a reverent bow to his Uncle. Now that they were on his turf, and he felt more settled and secure among his Lan Family and his caravan, he was relaxing more, and the humming was an automatic way to aid the adjustment. His Uncle closed his eyes and listened and a tear escaped. He quickly wiped it away. He knew what was about to happen; he could sense it was time and that Anshi was preparing himself for what would be a necessary conversation. He was nervous, waiting for this moment, and took a long draft of liquor. Anshi stepped outside and issued orders for privacy to Lan Sya Mu, who nodded quietly.

"No one will pass, Leader Anshi. Is it time? Are you ready?"

He raised a hand to his forehead, and she saw a slight tremor. She wanted to soothe him in some way but chose, as a soldier, to do her best to obey with no show of emotion.

"You will do well, Sir."

He smiled tightly. "I hope you are right and thank you."

She nodded, facing stoically to the front, and felt her heart twist in secret love and pity. Tonight was needed, but tonight would also be a dark one. She would protect him in whatever ways she could allow herself.

He returned and Maral waited until Anshi settled across from him. He saw him start to speak then closed his lips, unsure of where to start. The usually assured demeanor was fading and he could see only a lost and injured nephew, one he had adored as a child.

"Anshi. May I choose a spot to begin? I will lay it out as you want. No skipping ahead. Just as it happened. Is that what you want?"

Anshi looked mutely at the older man, gratefully, fearfully.

' I remember that we had been waiting for your caravan to arrive and it was late. Much later than expected. Your father, my younger and most independent brother was never late and as hours grew into the next day I gathered a band of my best warriors and sent a call out to a group of soldiers we had a treaty with, headed by a General you knew well at Cloud Recesses, later. General Hu Ming."

"Ming?"

"Yes. We had an agreement. When we were in her general area, she would add protection if we needed her. We provided work as local guides and added manpower if she needed it. A mutual relationship that benefited us both. We searched frantically along the Spice Road and the areas surrounding it. We were growing beyond concern when early one morning, we saw the vultures. There were many and they darkened the sky. My heart sank and I was filled with terror at the sight."

He paused, noting how pale Anshi had become, sweat beading his brow. His green eyes had dulled from emerald to the dark green of a night-time forest. He reached over and gripped his nephew's shoulder.

"Let me know when to continue."

Anshi's bloodless lips twisted grimly and squeezed Maral's hand. "Go on. This must be done. I knew what coming here and seeking these answers would cost me. I am prepared."

His Uncle spoke softly. "You have courage, my child."

"For a while, I had given up on everything. I turned from my gift. I sealed my self away and let the world do what it wanted to with me. I no longer cared. Then my Lans found me and I began to live again, But who can live fully unless the truth is faced? Unless the fear that rules you is subjugated and no longer affects you. I need to hear this, just as you saw it. Reality is ruthless but that is preferable to the not knowing and the imagining that fills the void."

Lan Sya Mu stood steadfast as she was approached by two people. Lan Qiang and Lan Xiao Mian walked hand-in-hand up to her.

"Leader Anshi is quartered with his Uncle. He wished no visitors."

Lan Qiang glanced at the yurt and heard quiet, intense murmurs within. He looked at his cousin in mute inquiry and she nodded once. He closed his eyes in sadness.

"What, what is it?" Asked Lan Xiao Mian in concern.

He whispered, "Anshi is learning of his family's fate right now. We must leave and give him his privacy."

Xia0 Mian's delicate hand covered her mouth and her eye shone with tears but she spoke firmly. "Of course. He will call us when he needs us. It is just so terrible for him. But there is no other way. It is why he came here."

"Thank you, Cousin, please let him know we love him." The young man wrapped his arm around the girl as the couple walked away in sorrow. Lan Sya Mu, watched them fade into lilac time, happy that they had one another, worry filling her mind for the man within the yurt, duty forcing her to hold firm and solid before the entrance.

"You may continue, Uncle. Every nuance, please. I have my duty to shoulder, and I must know everything you know to fulfill it one day."

'You could smell it before you could see it. The metallic smell of blood settles in your nose and mouth. Bodies were littered everywhere. There was some movement. Survivors, mainly women, and children were mourning their dead. We found my brother's yurt and it was the one hub of activity. Women were working frantically to revive Yenay, who was clinging to life. She had your red coat gripped in one hand.

There were others gathered and weeping and I could see the lifeless body of your father. Your eldest brother, Tarkhan was stretched dead across him, killed as he tried to protect him from the onslaught. They...they had been butchered savagely. Batbayan, your second brother, lay dead at their feet. Their wounds were vicious and numerous. 

Your fifth brother, Davaajav, was missing, as you were. Another hub of activity was off to the north of the tent and several people were gathered around your third and fourth brothers who lay wounded. Your fourth brother, Chinua, was in very bad shape but was hanging on with severe head injuries, while your third brother,  Gan-Chono was injured but in much better condition."

Anshi lurched to his feet. "Wait! Are you telling me that two, possibly three of my brothers survived?"

"Yes Anshi, you are not as alone as you thought. They have mourned your loss for a long time. Chinua was taken to a monastery after he was stabilized, and he later joined their order there, after he healed. Your third brother, Gan Chono recovered and assumed the leadership of the Great Eagle Tribe. It was decimated but has slowly grown over the years. There has been no word of Davaajav since. No trace of him remained. He was only ten at the time. I am sorry, I know you were close."

Anshi stumbled and would have fallen except for his uncle's support.

"I am sorry. You were adamant I stay silent on the matter and until I could relay the story in order and in complete secrecy. I should have overruled you."

Anshi laughed through his tears. "Remind me to bow to your wisdom in all matters from now on Uncle. My brothers, my brothers. I want to see them, Uncle! And I must search for Davaajav as well." 

He felt a jolt.  A sudden picture of Davaajav, his chubby face, just beginning to lengthen, merry sapphire. eyes. his infectious laugh. A gentle and somewhat fantastical boy as well, who would sit with him under the stars. pointing them out, teaching Anshi their names and legends and speaking as he if already knew the gods in ways others did not comprehend. He cringed at the thought that the boy's fate may have been as bad as his own. 

He smiled at the other worldliness of Chinua, lost in studies and submerged in prayer and good works...Anshi was not surprised he had entered the secular world. 

And there had been Gan Chono, a silent boy, mature and solitary, who worked hard to equal his father and older brothers, a capable strategist and warrior who had earned the right, though battle and sorrow of that tragedy, to be his old tribes' leader. 

He wanted to be with them, badly.

"Then you will, my boy. I can take you to see your brother, Chinua. The monastery he resides in, is near Qian and we will escort you there once your visit to the Dowager Queen and negotiations are complete. As for where Gan-Chono and the Great Eagle Tribe is, they remain very secretive. I have run into them only twice in all these years, but several of them chose to stay with us. You will meet them when they arrive here. However, Gan Chono does not mingle easily after the attack. His trust is gone it seems. You will have difficulty convincing him of your heritage."

"He has nothing to fear. I have no claim to the Great Eagle Tribe. He has worked hard and helped them survive. He was next in line after Batbayan. It is his tribe now. I have my own tribe to lead."

"You are a good man Anshi and a wise one."

Anshi sat in a daze, numbed at the news. His brothers lived and he was overjoyed.

A/N:

Anshi's immediate family tree...

                                                           The Great Eagle Tribe

Paternal Grandfather: Khasar Khan         m.       Grandmother:Enkhtuya

Father: Daniyar                                                  m.        Mother: Rakhat

                                                               Children: 

                                            Tarkhan- died at age of 20

                                          Batbayan- died at age of 19

         Gan Chono -assumes leadership of Great Eagle Tribe at age 17

                                    Chinua- enters monastary- age 15

                                     Davaajav-disappeared at age 10

                              Anshi Dilnar-captured and enslaved at 5