After days of travel, we finally arrived at the Burning Phoenix Clan's compound, and while my former peers were shuffled to the slave pens, I stood before the clan's leader.
I'd heard tales of the once great Tatar empires, thought I had never travelled to their lands. By all appearances, Timur is cut from the same cloth as their fabled Khans. He was at once imperious and casual, questioning me with impatience from a throne of hide and bone.
Naturally, he was impressed by my intellect and gentlemanly demeanor. Granted he did not say so aloud, but I was escorted to a small, private chamber instead of a cell. Surely that says as much.