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Irulan glanced at Alia, stood up and crossed to stand facing Ghanima "Ghani, I&039;d kill him myself if that were the way to solve matters And Farad&039;n&039;s my own blood, as you so kindly eher than your commitment to Fre from you than it does from my precious aunt," Ghanima said "The blood of a brother cannot be washed off That&039;s more than soether Then: "Farad&039;n holds your grandmother captive He holds Duncan and if we don&039;t -"

"I&039;m not satisfied with your stories of how all this happened," Ghani past Irulan at Alia "Once Duncan died rather than let eneer the sarand in her chair "I&039;ht: Duncan! Duncan! You weren&039;t supposed to do it this way

Ghani the overtones of contrivance in Alia&039;s voice, stared across at her aunt "You&039;re lying, O Worandmother What is it you fear to tell us about her and your precious Duncan?"

"You&039;ve heard it all," Alia said, but she felt a stab of fear at this bald accusation and what it iue hadI know, you know" Turning to Irulan: "You work on her She must be made to -"

Ghanima interrupted with a coarse Frely from the immature lips Into the quick silence she said: "You think me just a mere child, that you have years in which to work on ain, O Heavenly Regent You know better than anyone the years I have within me I&039;ll listen to thery retort, stared hard at Ghanian to rise in Alia Had she accepted her own compromise with the lives which came to her pre-born? Alia said: "There&039;s time yet for you to see reason"

"There may be time yet for me to see Farad&039;n&039;s blood spurt around my knife," Ghanima said "Depend on it If I&039;m ever left alone with him, one of us will surely die"

"You think you loved your brother ame! I was mother to him as I was to you I was -"

"You never knew him, "Ghanima said "All of you, except at ti us children You&039;re the fools! Alia knows! Look at her run away fro," Alia said, but she turned her back on Irulan and Ghani not to hear this arguiven up on Ghanirily, Alia sent them from the room Relief was obvious on their faces as they obeyed

"You run," Ghanima persisted

"I&039;ve chosen a way of life which suitscross-legged on the cot Was it possible she&039;d ns of it in Ghanile betrayal Alia wondered then: Has she seen it in me? But how could she?

"You feared to be thefor a multitude," Ghanima accused "But we&039;re the preborn and we know You&039;ll be their , conscious or unconscious You cannot deny theht: Yes, I know you - Aboone, but for now I can only pity you and despise you

Silence hung between Ghani which alerted the Bene Gesserit training in Irulan She glanced from one to the other, then: "Why&039;re you so quiet suddenly?"

"I&039;ve just had a thought which requires considerable reflection," Alia said

"Reflect at your leisure, dear aunt," Ghanier, said: "Enough for now! Leave her to think Perhaps she&039;ll come to her senses"

Irulan arose, said: "It&039;s alo, would you care to hear the latest e from Farad&039;n? He"

"I would not," Ghani me by that ridiculous diminutive Ghani! It merely supports the mistaken assumption that I&039;row so suddenly quiet?" Irulan asked, reverting to her previous question, but casting it now in a delicate hter "Irulan! You&039;d try Voice on me?"

"What?" Irulan was taken aback

"You&039;d teach your grands," Ghanima said

"I&039;d what?"

"The fact that I remember the expression and you&039;ve never even heard it before should give you pause," Ghanima said "It was an old expression of scorn when you Bene Gesserit were young But if that doesn&039;t chasten you, ask yourself what your royal parents could&039;ve been thinking of when they na, Irulan flushed "You&039;re trying to goad me, Ghanima"

"And you tried to use Voice on me On me! I remember the first human efforts in that direction I reet out of here, all of you"

But Alia was intrigued now, caught by an inner suggestion which sluffed her fatigue aside She said: "Perhaps I&039;ve a suggestion which could change your h escaped Ghanima, then: "Reflect but a moment: If I desire to kill Farad&039;n, I need but fall in with your plans I presuht of that Beware of Ghani in a tractableutterly candid with you"

"That&039;s what I hoped," Alia said "If you"

"The blood of a brother cannot be washed away," Ghanio before ive, never to forget Isn&039;t that our catechism? I warn you here, and I&039;ll say it publicly: you cannot betrothme would believe it? Farad&039;n hi of such a betrothal, would laugh into their sleeves and say; &039;See! She lures him into a trap&039; If you"

"I understand that," Alia said,in shocked silence, aware already of where this conversation was headed

"And so I would be luring him into a trap," Ghaniree, but he may not fall If you wish this false betrothal as the erandmother and your precious Duncan, so be it But it&039;s on your head Buy theh, is mine Him I&039;ll kill"

Irulan whirled to face Alia before she could speak "Alia! If we go back on our word" She let it hang there a ly reflected on the potential wrath a the Great Houses in Faufreluches Assembled, the destructive consequences to believe in Atreides honor, the loss of religious trust, all of the great and sainst us," Irulan protested "All belief in Paul&039;s prophethood would be destroyed It the Eht to decide what is wrong and what is right?" Alia asked, voice ood and evil I need but proclaim"

"You can&039;t do this!" Irulan protested "Paul&039;s memory"

"Is just another tool of Church and State," Ghanima said "Don&039;t speak foolishness, Irulan" Ghanima touched the crysknife at her waist, looked up at Alia "I&039;ve ent of all that&039;s Holy in Muad&039;Dib&039;s Eed you Lure Farad&039;n into our parlor if you will"

"This is recklessness," Irulan pleaded

"You agree to this betrothal, Ghani Irulan

"On my terms," Ghanima said, hand still on her crysknife

"I washher hands "I illing to argue for a true betrothal to heal -"

"We&039;ll give you a woundhim quickly, if he&039;ll come And perhaps he will Would he suspect a child of my tender years? Let us plan the formal ceremony of betrothal to require his presence Let there be an opportunity for me to be alone with him just a minute or two"

Irulan shuddered at this evidence that Ghanima was, after all, Fremen entire, child no different from adult in this terrible bloodiness After all, Fremen children were accusto woht collect the bodies and haul the with the voice of a Fremen child, piled horror upon horror by the studied maturity of her words, by the ancient sense of vendetta which hung like an aura around her

"Done," Alia said, and she fought to keep voice and face frolee "We&039;ll prepare the fornatures witnessed by the proper assee from the Great Houses Farad&039;n cannot possibly doubt -"

"He&039;ll doubt, but he&039;ll couards But will they think to guard him from me?"

"For the love of all that Paul tried to do," Irulan protested, "let us at least make Farad&039;n&039;s death appear an accident, or the result ofyou," Irulan said "Abandon this rash insanity Declare kanly against Farad&039;n, anything to -"

"We don&039;t require forainst him," Ghanima said "The whole Empire knoe must feel" She pointed to the sleeve of her robe "We wear the yellow of e it for the black of a Fremen betrothed, will that fool anyone?"

"Pray that it fools Farad&039;n," Alia said, "and the delegates of the Great Houses we invite to witness the -"

"Every one of those delegates will turn against you," Irulan said "You know that!"

"Excellent point," Ghaniates with care, Alia Theylater"

Irulan threw up her arms in despair, turned and fled

"Have her put under close surveillance lest she try to warn her nephew," Ghanima said

"Don&039;t try to teach me how to conduct a plot," Alia said She turned and followed Irulan, but at a slower pace The guards outside and the waiting aides were sucked up in her wake like sand particles drawn into the vortex of a rising worm

Ghanima shook her head sadly froht: It&039;s as poor Leto and I thought Gods beloish it&039;d been ht control of the Atreides twins and, when the death of Leto was announced, this movement of plot and counterplot was amplified Note the relative motivations: the Sisterhood feared Alia, an adult Aboenetic characteristics carried by the Atreides The Church hierarchy of Auqaf and Hajj saw only the power implicit in control of Muad&039;Dib&039;s heir CHOAM wanted a doorway to the wealth of Dune Farad&039;n and his Sardaukar sought a return to glory for House Corrino The Spacing Guild feared the equation Arrakis = ate Jessica wished to repair what her disobedience to the Bene Gesserit had created Few thought to ask the that their plans ht be, until it was too late -The Book of Kreos

Shortly after the eveningpast the arched doorway to his chae had been left open and Leto had seen so wheeled past, three women with the obvious off-world sophistication of dress which lers This ht have been no different except that he ar

It was a peculiar walk his lobe He could see infinite timespaces, but he had to press into his own future before knowing in which ed and receded, but they were his now They were like waves on a beach, but if they rose too high, he could co the royal Haruain he would listen to thoseits head up out of the stage and calling cues for his behavior His father ca to be a man When you are a man, you will seek in vain for the child you were"

All the while, he felt his body being plagued by the fleas and lice of an old sietch poorly ht his heavily spice-laced food appeared bothered by the creatures Did these people have is, or was it only that they had lived with thenore discomfort?

Who were these people assembled around Gurney? How had they come to this place? Was this Jacurutu? His ly people and Gurney was the ugliest Perfection floated here, though, dorly surface

Part of hie by the heavy dosages of e in every meal His child&039;s body wanted to rebel while her persona raved with the immediate presence of memories carried over from thousands of eons

His mind returned from its walk, and he wondered if his body had really stayed behind Spice confused the senses He felt the pressures of self-li barachan dunes of the bled slowly building theainst a desert cliff One day a few trickles of sand would flow over the cliff, then more and more and more and only the sand would remain exposed to the sky

But the cliff would still be there underneath

I&039;ht

He kneould co of life and death His captors kept sending him back into the spice thralldom, unsatisfied with his responses at every return Always, treacherous Namri waited there with his knife Leto knew countless pasts and futures, but he had yet to learn ould satisfy Na outside of the visions The life and death branching lured Leto His life, he kneould have to possess so which carried it above the vision circu of this de and his outer existence was the trance This terrified hio back to the sietch with its fleas, its Naht

But a coward, even a coward, esture which could make him whole once more? How could he awaken from trance and vision into the universe which Gurney de from aimless visions, he knew he could die in a prison of his own choosing In this he had at last come to cooperate with his captors Somewhere he had to find wisdom, an inner balance which would reflect upon the universe and return to hiht he seek his Golden Path and survive the skin which was not his own