"Lambs provide wool when they are older."
"True. So the kids in a war camp take care of animals, learn to fight and are taught survival."
"Yes."
"War is awful."
"It, too, is necessary. The Eternal Blue Sky has declared all four corners of the world are ours. We must ride out and claim them."
"You really believe that?" I peered at him.
"It is true. Look what we have done in a hundred years. We claimed the east and west and everything in between."
It doesn't last. I didn't know much about this time period, but it was no great leap to assume time wore away the Mongols' hold on the known world the way it had every other great civilization.
"You are a good warrior," I observed, somewhat disturbed to recall how good he was.
"I am my clan's champion. Only the greatest warrior is chosen as a guardian."
"I know it's an honor but … wouldn't you rather be at war with everyone else?"
"Father Sky has blessed me with this fate. I am grateful for it."
He wasn't like me. He didn't question why things unfolded the way they did.
"Although …" He trailed off.
"Although what?"
"I have no wife. No sons."
"Do you want a family?"
He gave me another of his odd looks. "Do you not?"
"I don't think so."
"Warriors do not generally live long. I chose to become a guardian instead of marrying," he explained.
"I understand that. You're always at war," I said. "So you worry you won't have a family."
"At times."
I wasn't expecting his candid response. It left me feeling a little more … confused about who he really was or rather, how he could have such extremes.
"Taylor was my husband," I said quietly. "I was married to him for a few days before he died. I don't think I want a family. It's too easy to lose someone, and it hurts when you do."
"It is the nature of things, goddess," he said.
"Well, I don't like it. I won't be married again."
"Neither will I, as long as you are alive."
"Sorry, Batu."
"I have no regrets, ugly one."
"I'm not ugly!"
"I know." He smiled without looking at me.
I wasn't certain how to take his response. Part of me wanted to double check and make sure I'd heard him right while the other part of me screamed about not getting attached or involved with anyone in this world.
Deciding to go with silence, I slid back into my thoughts for a while before turning my attention to my surroundings. The four horses trailed us the way he said they would, and we traveled from water source to water source through green grasses towards snowcapped mountains in the distance.