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"And now Assan Tariq will never return to Shuloch You o back with me or not at all because this is o back"
How old his voice sounds, Leto thought, and the thought was a wrenching pain He said: "I&039;ve the hawk ring of the Atreides concealed in my dishdasha Do you wish me to return it to you?"
"If I&039;d only died," Paul whispered "I truly wanted to die when I went into the desert that night, but I knew I could not leave this world I had to coend," Leto said "I know And the jackals of Jacurutu aiting for you that night as you knew they would be They wanted your visions! You knew that"
"I refused I never gave them one vision"
"But they contaminated you They fed you spice essence and plied you omen and dreams And you did have visions"
"Sometimes" How sly his voice sounded
"Will you take back your hawk ring?" Leto asked
Paul sat down suddenly on the sand, a dark blotch in the starlight "No!"
So he knows the futility of that path, Leto thought This revealed h The contest of the visions had ross discarding of alternates Paul knew he could not win, but he hoped yet to nullify that single vision to which Leto clung
Presently Paul said: "Yes, I was contaminated by the Jacurutu But you contaminate yourself"
"That&039;s true," Leto adood Freo into the desert finally? Will you let me find peace on my own terms?" He pounded the sand beside him
"No, I&039;ll not perht to fall upon your knife if you insist upon it"
"And you would have my body!"
"True"
"No!"
And so he knows that path, Leto thought The enshrining of Muad&039;Dib&039;s body by his son could be contrived as a form of cement for Leto&039;s vision
"You never told them, did you, father?" Leto asked
"I never told them"
"But I told thele"
Paul&039;s shoulders sagged "You cannot," he whispered "You cannot"
"I am a creature of this desert now, father," Leto said "Would you speak thus to a Coriolis stor that path," Paul said, his voice husky and treury and haruspication have always been their own torments But I was never lost in the possible futures because this one is unspeakable!"
"Your Jihad will be a sureed "I&039;ll take you to Gurney Halleck now"
"Gurney! He serves the Sisterhood through my mother"
And now Leto understood the extent of his father&039;s vision "No, father Gurney no longer serves anyone I know the place to find hiend to be created"
"I see that I cannot sway you Let me touch you, then, for you arefingers, felt their strength, matched it, and resisted every shift of Paul&039;s arm "Not even a poisoned knife will harm me now," Leto said "I&039;htless eyes and Paul released his grip, dropped his hand to his side "If I&039;d chosen your way, I&039;d have become the bicouros of shaitan What will you become?"
"For a time they&039;ll call me the in to wonder and, finally, they&039;ll understand You didn&039;t take your vision far enough, father Your hands did good things and evil"
"But the evil was known after the event!"
"Which is the way of reat evils," Leto said "You crossed over only into a part of h?"
"You know I couldn&039;t stay there I could never do an evil act which was known before the act I&039;m not Jacurutu" He clahs alone at night?"
"It is sad that you were never really Fremen," Leto said "We Frees can choose between evils It&039;s always been that way for us"
"Fremen, is it? Slaves of the fate you helped to make?" Paul stepped toward Leto, reached out in an oddly shy movement, touched Leto&039;s sheathed arm, explored up it to where the membrane exposed an ear, then the cheek and, finally, the mouth "Ahhhh, that is your own flesh yet," he said "Where will that flesh take you?" He dropped his hand
"Into a place where humans may create their futures froht say the saht&039;ve been," Leto said "I sa it goes with Alia A demon lives in her, father Ghani and I know that derandfather"
Paul buried his face in his hands His shoulders shook for a moment, then he lowered his hands and his mouth was set in a harsh line "There is a curse upon our House I prayed that you would throw that ring into the sand, that you&039;d deny me and run away to make another life It was there for you"
"At what price?"
After a long silence, Paul said: "The end adjusts the path behind it Just once I failed to fight for my principles Just once I accepted the Mahdinate I did it for Chani, but it made me a bad leader"
Leto found he couldn&039;t answer this The memory of that decision was there within him
"I cannot lie to you any more than I could lie to myself," Paul said "I know this Every man should have such an auditor I will only ask this one thing: is the Typhoon Struggle necessary?"
"It&039;s that or huuished"
Paul heard the truth in Leto&039;s words, spoke in a low voice which acknowledged the greater breadth of his son&039;s vision "I did not see that a the choices"
"I believe the Sisterhood suspects it," Leto said "I cannot accept any other explanation of ht wind blew coldly around thes He tre this, Leto said: "You&039;ve a kit, father I&039;ll inflate the tent and we can spend this night in co he would have no coht or any other Muad&039;Dib, The Hero, must be destroyed He&039;d said it hio on now
Fremen were the first huh which to experience the movements and relationships of their planetary system They were the first people anywhere to express clie whose written symbols euage itself was part of the system it described Its written form carried the shape of what it described The intie of as available to support life was implicit in this develope/system interaction by the fact that Fre animals -The Story of Liet-Kynes by Harq al-Ada
"Kaveh wahid," Stilgar said Bring coffee He signaled with a raised hand to an aide who stood at one side near the single door to the austere rock-walled rooht This was the place where the old Fremen Naib usually took his spartan breakfast, and it was alht he did not feel hungry He stood, stretching his muscles
Duncan Idaho sat on a low cushion near the door, trying to suppress a yawn He had just realized that, while they talked, he and Stilgar had gone through an entire night
"Forgive ht"
"To stay awake all night adds a day to your life," Stilgar said, accepting the tray with coffee as it was passed in the door He pushed a low bench in front of Idaho, placed the tray on it and sat across fro, but Idaho&039;s was a borrowed garment worn because the people of Tabr had resented the Atreides green of his working uniforar poured the dark brew from the fat copper carafe, sipped first, and lifted his cup as a signal to Idaho - the ancient Fremen custom: "It is safe; I have taken some of it "
The coffee was Harah&039;s work, done just as Stilgar preferred it: the beans roasted to a rose-brown, ground to a fine powder in a stone mortar while still hot, and boiled ie added
Idaho inhaled the spice-rich aroma, sipped carefully but noisily He still did not know if he had convinced Stilgar His ishly in the early hours of the , all of his computations confronted at last by the inescapable datue from Gurney Halleck
Alia had known about Leto! She&039;d known
And Javid had to be a part of that knowing
"Iup the argureements, Ghani is safe here You and Irulan are safe here But you es, yes, but you iven uest and an old friend who has shared your dangers," Idaho said, knowing he&039;d used this argu it carefully into its place on the tray and keeping his attention on it as he spoke "We Fres that arouse such feelings in others," he said He raised his attention to Idaho&039;s face
He ht He said: "It was not uilt"
"I understand that," Stilgar said "I raise the question to impress upon you our Fre with: Fremen Even Alia thinks Frear said "They want the people to s the grey wind of sin, taking that into the everlasting This is a great blotch by which they seek to know their own piety" He spoke in a level voice, but Idaho heard the bitterness and wondered why that bitterness could not sway Stilgar
"It&039;s an old, old trick of autocratic rule," Idaho said "Alia knows it well Good subjectsof failure The good autocrat provides many opportunities for failure in the populace"
"I&039;ve noticed" Stilgar spoke dryly "But you ive me if I mention to you once more that this is your wife of whom you speak It is the sister of Muad&039;Dib"
"She&039;s possessed, I tell you!"
"Many say it She will have to undergo the test one day Meanwhile there are other considerationsI&039;ve told you can be verified The coh Alia&039;s Teainst the twins had accooes there All of the strings lead to Alia&039;s office, to the Regency"
Stilgar shook his head, drew in a deep breath "This is neutral territory I&039;ve given o on this way!" Idaho protested