Arturo arrived from the south with the army that couldn't move at Zhao's pace, plus some reinforcements he had been gathering by messages since the situation started shifting.
He came fast but without unnecessary urgency, at the methodical pace Julius associated with his middle brother when he had been managing something complicated for a long time and had been managing it well despite how it looked from the outside.
Jaw set and eyes clear. The specific composure of an Arturo who had already spent everything that could be spent on emotion and was now operating purely on the remaining structure underneath it.
He positioned himself beside Julius and read the flow in two seconds.
"The southern wall army is compressing the defensive perimeter," he said. "Here?"
"Here's where I need you."
Nothing else passed between the two brothers, because nothing else was necessary for the immediate function. The words that weren't said were words both of them already knew.
