"And these are?" Farrad'n was trying very hard not to be intimidated by the two men standing before him. Two muscular, attractive young men who had been brought by his attractive, liberal-minded wife to the room that he had begun to consider their private sanctuary.

"Your new bodyguards," Ghani replied, not really looking at him, but continuing to mentally size up the recruits that Stilgar had hand picked and trained for this task.

"What does a court scribe need with bodyguards?"

"You're much more than a court scribe," Ghani finally turned to look at him, "I would feel more comfortable while we're traveling if there are guards for you, specifically."

"What about the army of Sardukar that Leto is sending with us?"

"That's just for show." And, she thought to herself, I don't completely trust them.

She didn't want to give voice to the worry. If she said the words aloud, it made them truer somehow. Everything about this trip made her nervous. Travel was dangerous, particularly since she had never been to any of the places where they were going. It could be so easy for an "accident" to take place, and she knew exactly who the victim would be.

Farrad'n continued to look at her, unconvinced.

"They've been selected and trained by Stilgar himself. I don't trust anyone more than him."

That detail made him breathe a little easier. Stilgar liked him, he thought. He didn't have any reason to want to kill him at least, making him an ally in Farrad'n's opinion. He had few enough of those as it was these days.

"Do they have names, or am I supposed to just call them 1 and 2?" he was a little put off by how quiet they were, never once moving.

Ghani smirked as she came to stand beside her husband. "The one of the left is Ibin Scamander. The one on the right is Tez Molochi. They are your body guards, so they will only take orders from you."

"Wonderful," Farrad'n was frowning again, "looks like we will have to tell the steward to add two more."

She understood on the intellectual level that Farrad'n might be irritated by the supposed slight to his ability to take care of himself, and, by extension, his manhood. But she wasn't willing to let his pride leave them with holes in their safety protocols. Why was he complaining so much? If he had actually been made Emperor, or even if he had just been her legal husband, he would have had body guards. He had had them his entire life, up until relocating to Dune.

He had become complacent, she realized. The isolation of the palace or the seitches made him forget that he was still recognized throughout the Imperium. Farrad'n was enjoying being a Fremen so much that he forgot he was the male head of House Corrino.

After two months of planning, and endless hours pouring over itineraries, reading travelogues, visiting doctors, studying Imperial protocol, and reviewing travelers' lists, Ghani had nearly convinced herself that this "good will tour" was never going to happen. The morning of her departure, she awoke at dawn. Wanting a few moments to herself, she eased out from under Farrad'n's arm and made her way to the Shadout Mapes Garden.

It continued to grow in size with each progressive season. She wondered what the Shadout Mapes herself would have thought of it. A flicker of movement, of early morning light being reflected, caught her eye.

"Leaving so soon? I thought you would be on hand to say goodbye."

Leto smiled at her, "just returning, actually. I had to soak up as much time in the desert as possible before you left, since I'll be stuck here until you return." He sat beside her on a rock.

"Are you afraid?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Neither of us have ever been off-world. Our mother never even left Arrakis, and neither did our father once he came here. These other places…I have memories of them, but they give me no comfort since they aren't my own memories."

Leto reached forward and squeezed her hand. "It's right that you are doing this. It was a good idea. It will settle everything, and there will be peace, at least for a time. Our station demands sacrifice."

"Oh don't quote Irulan's claptrap to me, Leto! I really don't want to hear it. I don't care about duty and responsibility. I'm Fremen. I belong on Arrakis. What was I thinking, saying I would leave?"

"Where's the brave Fremen sister I know?"

"She's hiding under her bed." He chuckled at Ghani's pout as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"You're going. I suggest you accept that fact. You will do what you have been assigned to do, and when you are done you will return. You will still be Fremen when you get back."

"But not the same kind of Fremen."

He didn't respond.

"Do you remember, when we were younger? The assassins? So many of them were Fremen who had left Dune to go fight in our father's name on other worlds. They came back different. They weren't really Fremen anymore."

"Change is a part of life, Ghani. If you were really so conservative, you wouldn't be consorting with an off-worlder."

"Don't you drag him into this. Farrad'n acts more like a native than some of us who were born here."

They stared at each other. Leto understood Ghanima's passive jibe.

"I don't want to fight with you, not today," he sighed.

"Then why do you insist on aggravating me?"

"I don't know you anymore, Ghani. I don't know where the landmines are in conversation with you."

Now it was her turn to not respond.

"I'll miss you," she said, trying to hold the tears back. Why did she spend so much time crying lately? How had she not flooded the desert by this point?

"I'll miss you, too. But I am confident that you will succeed in smoothing over ruffled feathers."

"I'll do my best." She moved forward and embraced him, feeling for the first time, how his skin was changing. There was a rough texture under her fingertips now that was nothing like her own. Scaly and sharp at some points. He really was transforming into something else. Placing a hand on either side of his face, she repositioned him so that she was looking him in the eye. "Don't change too much while I'm gone."

"Don't be gone too long."

The thopter ride to the heighliner was fine, she had been aboard thopters before. It was the sight of the massive ship and the feeling of confinement she faced upon boarding that had her forcing herself to breathe and counting backwards from one hundred.

Ghani clutched the armrests of her seat and started counting again.

Sometimes, it was a bad thing to be well informed. In preparation for the tour, she had studied some treatises on space travel. She understood the concepts and technology behind it. The Navigators, products of forced evolution, had the mental power to fold space when under the influence of the Spice. For all intents and purposes, travel off-world was nearly instantaneous.

As much as she was well versed in the technology, she was still Fremen, a member of a people who cloaked themselves in tradition and superstition. Did forced evolution create abominations? She knew that it had in her own family, in herself. The Spice was not a resource to be trifled with. Being pre-born, she had limitless abilities that her peers did not, but those same abilities came with a price. They had the power to drive a person mad if they weren't careful, like they had to her aunt, Alia.

Folding space; the very concept made her feel claustrophobic. The entire weight of the universe would be pressing down upon them.

Movement in the cabin distracted her from her panic as Farrad'n took his seat beside her, but slightly behind her on her left. Irulan and Jessica were seated behind and to the right. The rest of the cabin was filled with security, including Farrad'n's new bodyguards. Suddenly she felt a warm, calming sensation in the form of Farrad'n's hand resting on her upper arm. She inhaled again deeply and began contemplating her husband's recent behavior.

Almost immediately upon entering the thopter to begin their trip, Farrad'n had seemed like a different person. He was more confident, answering questions and giving orders that in many ways should probably have been Ghani's responsibility. It was as though he knew his wife was a blink away from outright panic and was doing what he could to prevent it. So much in their lives depended on appearances, the Empress HAD to appear to be perfectly calm and in control at all times.

But it was more than that, she realized as she subtly turned to look at him. This was the life that he had been born to, and he was leaving a world in which he had had an awkward start at best. It had taken him so long to become accustomed to living on Arrakis, not to mention adjusting again when their relationship had blossomed. Add to this mixture the poison of always being cautious, never knowing for sure if death at the hands of one of those closest to you was in your immediate future.

He didn't trust Leto, but that was good, neither did she, not completely.

He didn't completely trust the Fremen, Stilgar included, but he did feel more comfortable around them in the seitches than he did in the city.

Nor did he completely trust her, a fact which, while slightly disconcerting since her feelings grew for him hourly, made her proud. A man who didn't allow himself to get swept up into romance was one she could trust.

And that was what he was now, as he sat beside her, a man. She was seeing him through new eyes.

When Farrad'n had first come to Dune, he was still very much a child, and a self-conscious one at that.

Now he wore adulthood like a well-loved shoe, slipping into a role that he had been trained to from the cradle. She would be leaning on him so much in the coming days and perhaps for the first time, she was confident that he wouldn't let her down.

Meeting his eye, she gave him a small smile, which he returned covertly.

Steeling herself for travel as the Navigator's voice came on the intercom, she at last felt that everything would be alright.