Author's Notes: Hola! I will try to keep this relatively short, but it has already gotten quite out of hand. Hope you enjoy and reviews (both good and bad!) are always appreciated!!! Oh, yes, inner dialog appears in italics…
Disclaimer: Duh, I don't own anything.
Prologue
She stood in his bedchamber and watched as he shoved things (clothes, books, etc) into a soft leather duffle bag.
"Where are you going?" she asked impatiently.
"Out onto the sands," he replied without looking at her or stopping his packing.
"How long will you be gone?" She felt as though she were interrogating him.
"One standard month," he replied, again without ceasing his activity.
"And what exactly are you going to do, out on the sand, for a month?"
This time he did pause. He resisted his first impulse, which was to ask her why she cared. He slowly turned to face her, still holding a shirt in his hands. Finally he drew his eyes up to look her in the eyes.
"His Imperial Majesty has given me a position within his court, which means that I will be residing here. Since I don't know how to survive here, Stilgar has been 'kind' enough to offer hospitality and to train me in Fremen survival skills…" He paused again, cocked his head slightly to the side and looked off into the distance, "One month really isn't long enough. I wish he had made it three." He returned his eyes to her face and held them there, forcing himself to remember every pore of her skin. Would she change very much in one month?
As she returned his stare, Ghani was doing the same thing. He was very healthy, she mused, but rather soft, even considering the training he had received from the Sardaukar. He would most likely never be a warrior, although eventually he would be able to defend himself. Leto was wise in making him a scribe. Farad'n, or Harq Al-Ada, or whatever you were supposed to call him now, would return from the desert leaner, harder, and with rougher edges. For some reason, she was particularly interested to see him when he came back.
"You will have an excellent time in the seitches with Stilgar," she remarked at last. "And he's very good at training off-worlders. He's the one who taught my father." She let that hang, almost sorry she had said it.
Farad'n used her distraction to his advantage. Before she realized what he was planning and before she could stab him, he closed the distance between them and placed a kiss on her cheek. As he pulled back, he inhaled deeply, trying to get a bit of her scent for his brain to register. In the next second he was gone, nothing but a rustle of cape in the hall. Ghani remained, holding her hand to a cheek that still felt warm from his lips.