God Emperor of Dune was in high spirits this evening. The emissary from House Richese was turning herself inside out to charm and entertain him. The Empress sat silently observing those around her with the court scribe at her right. The Holy Grandmother and the Lady Irulan were seated several spaces away, out of earshot of the antics at the head of the table.

As Tanilla Richese finished another amusing story, Leto chuckled. Then he turned to look at his sister. "All this eating has made me lethargic. Would you care to accompany me for a stroll?" Ghani demurely bowed her head and took the arm that was offered to her.

Following their royal example, other people around the table began to get up and walk around. Farad'n looked up and saw Tanilla Richese looking at him expectantly. He suppressed a sigh. Ghani was right; something was up with her.

"Are you feeling restless also, Lady Tanilla?" he asked, smiling at her with as much charm as he could muster. She beamed back at him.

"Yes, I do believe I am. I would very much love to see the garden from where all these beautiful flowers came."

"Well then, please allow me to give you a tour," he replied, rising. Courtly flirting was well within the realm of training he had received, but for some reason, tonight he just did not feel like making the effort. Too far in to back out now, he took her arm and led her through the doors to the courtyard.

Once outside, she turned to him. "I know who you are, my lord," she breathed in what he was sure she thought was a sultry voice.

"Well, you should, madam," he evaded, "I was introduced to you yesterday during your court appearance."

"I don't mean that mockery that you are living under," she spat. Not a great deal of patience with this one.

"Pardon?"

"I know that you are Prince Farad'n, heir to House Corrino and hope for all the Imperium," she replied desperately, with a hand on his arm to force him to stop walking.

"Farad'n Corrino is no more," he replied quietly, "my name is Harq al-Ada now and I am the royal scribe."

"But you could be so much more!"

"I really don't understand what you are talking about."

"Don't be dense," she said quickly, "the fact that you live gives so many of us hope. You can defeat the tyrant that sits on the throne, that defiles the whole Universe with his behavior…marrying his own sister…"she looked away a moment in disgust, but hurried to continue, "If you were to make a move toward a coup, you would have the support of all the Great Houses!"

Great Houses my ass, he thought, what power do they have?

"How do you know what the Families will do?"

"There are many other planets in the Imperium, sire, places where people feel free to speak."

"What do they care? Leto will keep them rich."

"For now. But for how long? He proposes changes, frightening things. People don't like change."

"So this is the real reason you are here, to try to talk me into making a political move."

"Yes."

"And with all the support of the Great Houses, I would obviously be victorious and ascend the throne…with you at my side, no doubt."

She licked her lips. "If that is your wish." She stepped closer to him.

Farad'n took a deep breath. This was a difficult move to play. He could humor her, for now, to stay in her good graces, even though he had no desire to be Emperor. Or did he? He could imagine himself in Leto's place, sitting on the Golden Lion Throne. But when he turned to see his Empress, he did not see Tanilla Richese….

…he saw Ghani.

That was the answer. He did want to be in Leto's place, but it was a choice between the throne and Ghanima. He could not have both.

And when Leto discovered the conspiracy, as he inevitably would, Farad'n would be killed, but not before he would have to see the look of betrayal in Ghani's eyes.

He glared at Tanilla, put his hands on her upper arms and pushed until she was forced to take a step back.

"Take your plots, and yourself, and leave Arrakis. Don't ever come here again." He turned on his heel and stalked away from her.

"You will be Emperor. It is your destiny, my lord!" she called after him, then, to herself, "whether you accept it, or not."

Meanwhile, Leto and Ghani walked along the balcony over the garden.

"Are you enjoying yourself, Ghani?" Leto asked.

"It's a lovely party, your majesty."

"Don't call me that."

"As you wish, your highness."

"Ghani…" he stopped walking. She sighed.

"Leto, what do you want me to say?"

"Say that you are actually glad to spend some time with me, for once. Tell me what you've been doing with yourself. I never see you. I never get to talk to you. I miss you." He tugged on her pinkie finger as he had when they were little. The guilt got to her.

"Things can't be as they were before, Leto. You and I walk different paths now."

"I don't want things to change."

"You were the one who made the decision that they had to."

"I did what needed to be done," he replied angrily, voice changing subtly, becoming monstrous.

"And consequences are consequences," she shot back. He looked down and saw Harq al-Ada and Tanilla Richese wander into the garden below. It reminded him that he had a theory to test.

"The Lady Tanilla seems quite taken with our scribe," he said smoothly in an apparent change of subject.

"I'm sure she has a reason for it."

"Perhaps, but this may serve my ends in any case. I think a child of her and al-Ada would be a benefit to my breeding program."

"But I thought that…" she let slip, but quickly recovered herself, "if that is what you think is best."

Leto noticed her stumble and pressed on. "It might be even better if I married him off to her. That would settle everything nicely."

Ghani forced herself to breathe. "You must do what you think is best, of course. I am not feeling well, please excurse me."

She did not wait for his permission; instead, she turned her back to him and left the balcony.

Upon reaching her rooms, Ghani immediately began packing.

I've been away from the desert too long, she thought, this place is suffocating me.

Oppressive splendor.

As she hurried down the hall, she nearly crashed into her grandmother.

"Ghanima, where are you going in such a hurry?"

"Out to the seitches. I've been away from my people for too long."

She did not wait to hear the response. She did not look back to see Jessica's face. As she approached the door, she tightened her grip on the thumper. She could already feel the sand blowing onto her face.

Chapter 7

Farrad'n discovered a very short time later that his presence was requested in the Emperor's private salon. Immediately. The Fedykin that escorted him there gave no hints as to the nature of the call, but Farrad'n didn't blame them. They probably didn't know anyway. He found Leto sitting on an ornate chair with a scowl screwed on his face.

"You wanted to see me, sire?" he asked pleasantly, hoping that he didn't appear as nervous as he felt. He couldn't really be this upset about a simple seating arrangement change, could he?

"Where is my sister?" Leto barked in the strangest tone that Farrad'n had ever heard. It sounded almost like The Voice of the Bene Gesserit, but not exactly.

"I have no idea where she is. When last I saw her, she was with you on the balcony."

"Don't you dare lie to me."

"I'm not," Farrad'n replied, feeling surprisingly calm, "I'm a terrible liar, therefore, I very rarely bother. I don't know where Ghanima is."

"I find that extremely difficult to believe."

Farrad'n was in the midst of shrugging, and praying, as he was sure that his life would be ended very shortly, when a voice rang out from the doorway.

"Don't badger your cousin, Leto. I am certain he doesn't know your sister's whereabouts," Jessica glared at her grandson in the same manner she did his father when he was a child. "I, however, know exactly where she is."

"Then enlighten us," Leto savagely replied. Jessica continued to glare at him until he had the decency to look embarrassed before she would continue.

"I saw Ghani rushing down the hallway as I walked to my rooms. She was dressed in Fremen robes and said that she was going out to the seitches. She also looked very upset. So tell me why, Leto, she would look thus?" Jessica arched one eyebrow.

Leto made a face, but answered. "I was baiting her and it possibly upset her."

"Did she say which seitch she was going to?" Farrad'n asked Jessica, who shook her head in the negative. "It was probably Tabr. I'll throw some things together and go get her."

"Wait just one minute, al-Ada!" Leto's outburst forced him to stop his trip toward the door. "Who says you will be the one to go after her?"

"Well you can't very well go," he replied.

"And why not?"

"Who will hold audiences if both you and Ghanima are not in Arrakeen? Besides, she is mad at you, she'll need some calming down before she's ready to come home." This line of reasoning shocked Leto. Since when did al-Ada know Ghani so well? Farrad'n turned his back once again and hurried toward his rooms. After he left, Jessica stared at Leto.

"I'm surprised you let him go so easily. You looked ready to kill him."

"A part of me wanted to. But I can't. This thing between them, it's my fault. How can I blame either of them for walking down a path that I forced them on?"

"That's very merciful."

"Yes," Leto agreed forlornly, "and it's killing me."

Chapter 8

Ghani pressed some sand between her toes. She loved the grainy feel of it. She took a deep breath, wishing to inhale the whole desert into her lungs. The sand behind her shifted. She picked up her head.

"How many times do you have to be told not to sit with your back to the door?" Farrad'n asked.

"I'm outside, my back would be exposed to danger no matter where I face." She stood and turned to face him. "What happened to you?" She stepped closer to him and put her hand lightly on his chin to move his face to the side. Near his eye were bloody scrapes that could only have been caused by sand. She moved her hand gently over them.

"The worm and I had a transportation dispute. I wasn't quite able to stick the dismount this time," he joked, trying not to focus on the fact that she was actually touching him for the first time; at least, for the first time without a weapon clutched in the other hand. She pulled her hand away and placed it angrily on her hip.

"You could have been killed, you realize?"

"Yes, but worms are still the best mode of transportation, and I had done it before."

"By yourself?" He blushed.

"Not completely. When I was out here learning from Stilgar, there were usually other people around when I rode." She made a strangely happy face, but said nothing. Instead, she turned toward the door in the stone wall that led into the seitch.

"So, did Leto