Khentii Mountains
After Yesügei's death, Yesügei's Khiyad clan abandoned Hoelun, wife Sochigel, and all of Yesügei's children to follow a rival chieftain. Hoelun immediately took charge of the group and began running up and down the Onon River valley gathering roots, berries, and millet to feed her family. As the boys grew, they learned how to hunt and fish in northern Mongolia's Khentii Mountains, improving the family's situation considerably. Hoelun taught her sons the basics of unity and support for one another, but sibling rivalry between the two eldest sons of the group, Temujin and Behter, eventually led to Temujin murdering Behter, a crime for which Hoelun chastised her son angrily. Despite the killing, Behter's mother Sochigel and surviving brother Belgutai bore no ill will toward Hoelun and her sons and continued living with them.