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The words transfixed him He felt terror rooted in the heavy matter of his body By this he knew his body still existed, but the reckless nature and enor contaain its obedience He kneas subht of those collective lives whose memories once had ht that heat last into Abo in terror

He had come to depend upon his victory and the neon benevolent cooperation of those ainst him, all of the on a surface which had no roots, unable to give any expression to his own life He tried to concentrate upon afra ancient He recalled his father&039;s early training: Let the hands grow young, then old But his whole body was iression iven him their memories

A diamond thunderbolt shattered hi apart, yet he retained a sense of hi, he felt his body breathing In Out He took in a deep breath: yin He let it out: yang

Sorasp lay a place of supreme independence, a victory over all of the confusions inherent in his multitude of lives - no false sense of command, but a true victory He knew his previous ht power in the reality of his trance, choosing that rather than face the fears which he and Ghanima had fed in each other

Fear defeated Alia!

But the seeking after power spread another trap, diverting him into fantasy He saw the illusion The entire illusion process rotated half a turn and now he knew a center froht of his visions, of his inner lives

Elation flooded hih, but he denied hi it would bar the doors of ht I have seen your illusion You no longer invent the next moment for me You merely show me how to create new moments I&039;ll not lock h his awareness as though wiping a surface clean and in its wake he felt his entire body, an einfalle which reported in most minute detail on every cell, every nerve He entered a state of intense quiet In this quiet, he heard voices, knowing they cah they echoed in a chasave hiave hiive hio back out there and have another look at his; she&039;ll call us if anything starts to go wrong" Namri

"I don&039;t like this business of Sabiha" Halleck

"She&039;s a necessary ingredient" Naht outside himself and darkness within, but the darkness was secretive, protective, and waran to blaze up and he felt that it ca outward like a brilliant cloud His body beca him upward, yet he retained that einfalle contact with every cell and nerve The led or mixed They became very quiet in duplication of his own inner silence, each memory-life discrete, an entity incorporeal and undivided

Leto spoke to them then: "I am your spirit I am the only life you can realize I am the house of your spirit in the land which is nowhere, the land which is your only reible universe reverts to chaos Creative and abysmal are inextricably linked in me; only I can mediate between them WithoutThrough me, you and they will find the only way out of chaos: understanding by living"

With this he let go of hi the entirety of his past It was not victory, not defeat, but a new thing to be shared with any inner life he chose Leto savored this newness, letting it possess every cell, every nerve, giving up what the einfalle had presented to hi the totality in the same instant

After a time, he awoke in white darkness With a flash of awareness he knehere his flesh was: seated on sand about a kilometer from the cliff hich marked the northern boundary of the sietch He knew that sietch now: Jacurutu for certain and Fondak But it was far different frolers allowed

A young wolobe anchored to her left sleeve and drifting just above her head When Leto looked away fro woman; she was the one from his vision earlier, the roaster of coffee She was Namri&039;s niece, as ready with a knife as Nareen robe over a grey stillsuit Sabiha, that was her name And Na in his eyes, said: "It&039;s alht here"

"And ood coffee"

This statele- and explicit instructions for her present behavior

"It&039;s the hour of assassins," Leto said "But your knife is no longer needed" He glanced at the crysknife in her lap

"Nae of that," she said

Not Halleck, then She only confire collector and eraser of unwanted evidence," Leto said "I&039;ve used hihtly on the knife handle

"How much is revealed by where we sit and hoe sit," he said "You sit upon the rug and I upon the sand"

Her hand closed over the knife handle

Leto yawned, a gaping and stretching which made his jaws ache "I&039;ve had a vision which included you," he said

Her shoulders relaxed slightly

"We&039;ve been very one-sided about Arrakis," he said "Barbaric of us There&039;s a certain , but noe ht into better balance"

A puzzled frown touched Sabiha&039;s face

"My vision," he said "Unless we restore the dance of life here on Dune, the dragon on the floor of the desert will be no reat wor hie," he said "Without spice, the Empire falls apart The Guild will not move Planets will slowly lose their clear memories of each other They&039;ll turn inward upon theators lose their norant of that which is above us and below us"

"You speak very strangely," she said "How have you seen ht He said: "I&039;ve becoes which must come to pass If I do not write them, you&039;ll encounter such heartache as no human should experience"

"What words are these?" she asked, but her hand rehtly on the knife

Leto turned his head toward the cliffs of Jacurutu, seeing the beginning glohich would be Second Moon e behind the rocks The death-screah his - a predator bird, night creature here He saw the elow of many eyes as they swept past above him, headed for crannies in the cliff

"I must follow the dictates of my new heart," Leto said "You look upon me as a mere child, Sabiha, but if -"

"They warned me about you," Sabiha said, and now her shoulders were stiff with readiness

He heard the fear in her voice, said: "Don&039;t fear ht more years than this flesh of mine For that, I honor you But I have untold thousands more years of other lives, far more than you have known Don&039;t look upon ed the many futures and, in one, saw us entwined in love You and I, Sabiha"

"What are This can&039;t " She broke off in confusion

"The idea could grow on you," he said "Now help me back to the sietch, for I&039;ve been in far places and am ith the weariness of my travels Namri must hear where I have been"

He saw the indecision in her, said: "Am I not the Guest of the Cavern? Nas to do lest our universe degenerate"

"I don&039;t believe that about the worms," she said

"Nor about us entwined in love?"

She shook her head But he could see the thoughts drifting through her mind like windblown feathers His words both attracted and repelled her To be consort of power, that certainly carried high allure Yet there were her uncle&039;s orders But one day this son of Muad&039;Dib ht rule here on Dune and in the farthest reaches of their universe She encountered then an extre aversion to such a future The consort of Leto would be seen by everyone, would be an object of gossip and speculations She could have wealth, though, and

"I am the son of Muad&039;Dib, able to see the future," he said

Slowly she replaced her knife in its sheath, lifted herself easily fro, crossed to his side and helped him to his feet Leto found hi neatly and draped it across her right shoulder He saw herupon his words: Entwined in love?

Size is another thing that changes, he thought

She put a hand on his arm then to help him and control him He stumbled and she spoke sharply: "We&039;re too far froht attract a worm

Leto felt that his body had become a dry shell like that abandoned by an insect He knew this shell: it was one with the society which had been built upon the ion of the Golden Elixir It was eh aims had fallen into wizardry which was enforced by the ion had another nanated the intensity and insanity of those who thought they could bring the universe to paradise at the point of a crysknife But that too would change as lx had changed For they were otten the language which had given them their name

"The Jihad was a kind of mass insanity," heon the proble their presence out here on open sand She was aon his words, then interpreted theue She felt the weakness of him, the way he&039;d been drained by the trance It seemed pointless and cruel to her If he were to be killed as Namri said, then it should be done quickly without all of this by-play Leto had spoken of a ht Certainly that must be the randive her sanction to these perilous acts against a child?

Child?

Again she reflected upon his words They were at the cliff base now and she stopped her charge, letting hi down at hiht, she asked: "How could there be no e that," he said "Have no fear I can change anything"

"But it&039;s-"

"Some questions have no answers," he said "I&039;ve seen that future, but the contradictions would only confuse you This is a changing universe and we are the strangest change of all We resonate toNow, there&039;s a barrier which we o against our most basic, our dearest wishes But it must be done"

"What must be done?"

"Have you ever killed a friend?" he asked and, turning, led the way into the gap which sloped upward to the sietch&039;s hidden entrance He ue would per his robe and pulling hi a friend?"

"He&039;ll die anyway," Leto said "I don&039;t have to do it, but I could prevent it If I don&039;t prevent it, is that not killing him?"

"Who is this ill die?"

"The alternative keeps ive ain he turned away from her, and this ti to answer her questions Best she not know until the tiht