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her muscles, bit by bit.
Baron Harkonnen admonished the Reverend Mother with a cruel smile. "Tell the
Bene Gesserit never to annoy me again with their genetic schemes."
She raised herself to one arm, then gradually gathered her torn clothes and
climbed to her feet with nearly full coordination. Mohiam raised her chin
proudly, but could not hide her humiliation. And the Baron could not hide his
pleasure at watching her.
You think you have won, she thought. We shall see about that.
Satisfied with what she had done, and the inevitability of her terrible revenge,
the Reverend Mother strode out of Harkonnen Keep. The Baron's Burseg followed
her for part of the way, then let her return alone and unescorted to the shuttle
like a chastened dog. Other guards remained rigid and at attention, guarding
the foot of the ramp.
Mohiam calmed herself as she approached the craft and finally allowed herself a
slight smile. No matter what had occurred back there, she now carried another
Harkonnen daughter inside her. And that, of course, was what the Bene Gesserit
had wanted all along . . . .
How simple things were when our Messiah was only a dream.
-STILGAR, Naib of Sietch Tabr
For Pardot Kynes, life would never be the same now that he had been accepted
into the sietch.
His wedding day to Frieth approached, requiring that he spend hours on
preparation and meditation, learning Fremen marriage rituals, especially the
ahal, the ceremony of a woman choosing a mate -- and Frieth had certainly been
the initiator in this relationship. Many other fascinations distracted him, but
he knew he could not make any mistakes in such a delicate matter.
For the sietch leaders, this was a grand occasion, more spectacular than any
normal Fremen wedding. Never before had an outsider married one of their women,
though Naib Heinar had heard of it happening occasionally in other sietches.
After the would-be assassin Uliet had sacrificed himself, the tale told
throughout the sietch (and no doubt spread among other hidden Fremen
communities) was that Uliet had received a true vision from God, that he had
been directed in his actions. Old one-eyed Heinar, as well as sietch elders
Jerath, Aliid, and Garnah, were suitably chagrined for having questioned the
impassioned words of the Planetologist in the first place.
Though Heinar gravely offered to step down as Naib, bowing to the man he now
believed to be a prophet from beyond the stars, Kynes had no interest in
becoming the leader of the sietch. He had too much work to do -- challenges on
a scale grander than mere local politics. He was perfectly happy to be left
alone to concentrate on his terraforming plan and study the data collected from
instruments scattered all around the desert. He needed to understand the great
sandy expanse and its subtleties before he could know precisely how to change
things for the better.
The Fremen worked hard to comply with anything Kynes suggested, no matter how
absurd it might seem. They believed everything he said now. So preoccupied was
Kynes, however, that he barely noticed their devotion. If the Planetologist
said he needed certain measurements, Fremen scrambled across the desert, setting
up collection points in remote regions, reopening the botanical testing stations
that had been long abandoned by the Imperium. Some devoted assistants even
traveled to the forbidden territories in the south, using a mode of
transportation they had kept secret from him.
During those frantic first weeks of information gathering, two Fremen men were
lost -- though Kynes never learned of it. He reveled in the glorious data
flooding to him. This was more than he had ever dreamed of accomplishing in
years of working alone as the Imperial Planetologist. He was in a scientific
paradise.
The day before his wedding, he wrote up his first carefully edited report since
joining the sietch, culminating weeks of work. A Fremen messenger delivered it
to Arrakeen, where it was then transmitted to the Emperor. Kynes's work with
the Fremen threatened to put him in a conflict of interest as Imperial
Planetologist, but he had to keep up appearances. Nowhere in his report did he
mention, or even hint at, his newfound relationship with the desert people.
Kaitain must never suspect that he had "gone native."
In his mind, Arrakis no longer existed. This planet was now, and forever would
be, Dune; after living in the sietch he could not think of it by anything other
than its Fremen name. The more he discovered, the more Pardot Kynes realized
that this strangely dry and barren planet held far deeper secrets than even the
Emperor realized.
Dune was a treasure box waiting to be opened.
Brash young Stilgar had recovered completely from his Harkonnen sword wound and
insisted on helping Kynes with chores and tedious duties. The ambitious Fremen
youth claimed it was the only way to decrease a heavy water burden upon his
clan. The Planetologist did not feel he was owed such an obligation, but he
bent against pressure from the sietch, like a willow before the wind. The
Fremen would not overlook or forget a thing like that.
Stilgar's unwed sister Frieth was offered to him as a wife. Almost without the
Planetologist noticing, she seemed to have adopted him, mending his clothes,
offering him food before he realized he was hungry. Her hands were quick, her
blue eyes alive with a lightning intelligence, and she had saved him from many
faux pas even before he could react. He had considered her attentions little
more than appreciation for saving the life of her brother, and had accepted her
without further consideration.
Kynes had never before thought about marriage, for he was too solitary a man,
too driven in his work. Yet after being graciously welcomed into the community,
he began to understand how quickly the Fremen took offense. Kynes knew he dared
not refuse. He also realized that, given the many Harkonnen political
restrictions against Fremen on this world, perhaps his marriage to Frieth would
smooth the way for future researchers.
And so, with the rising of both full moons, Pardot Kynes joined the other Fremen
for the marriage ritual. Before this night was over, he would be a husband. He
had a sparse beard now, the first of his life. Frieth, though hesitant to speak
her mind about anything, seemed to like it.
Led by pirate-eyed Heinar, as well as the Sayyadina of the sietch -- a female
religious leader much like a Reverend Mother -- the wedding party came down from
the mountains after a long and careful journey and out onto the open sands
rippled with dunes. The moons shone down, bathing the sandscape with a pearly,
glistening luster.
Staring at the sinuous dunes, Kynes thought for the first time that they
reminded him of the gentle, sensuous curves of a woman's flesh. Perhaps I have
my mind on the marriage more than I'd thought.
They walked single file onto the dunes, climbing the packed windward side and
then breaking a trail along the soft crest. Alert for wormsign or Harkonnen
spycraft, spotters from the sietch had climbed to lookout points. With his
fellow tribesmen keeping watch, Kynes felt entirely safe. He was one of them
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