back to you | paul atreides

twenty four

"Make sure you stay quiet and you stay alert," Ramoe warned me. "The desert is not kind to strangers."

I tried not to be too alarmed by her words. Ramoe turned away and began moving in our opposite direction, quickly followed by the other Fremen.

I exchanged a look with Yuma before following behind the rest of them as Ramoe took the lead. 

"We can trust them," Yuma assured me. "At least for now. They know I can tell if they plan to betray us. I practice in the same ways as them."

So we followed after them, unsure of where they would take us. The group of Fremen continued downwards through a dark cave. The darkness of the night made things hard to see to begin with, so I found myself stumbling as I tried to navigate the unlit cave.

From the corner of my eye I could see movement of a figured up ahead of me. As the figure got closer to me, I realized she was one of the younger Fremen girls who had pulled away from the rest of the group. Her demeanour wasn't nearly as intimidating as the others, and she didn't look at me as a threat; despite the pitch black cave I could see the curiosity behind her eyes.

"Ophelia." The girl spoke, not in an accusing or questioning way, but almost as if she was trying out the name.

"Yeah," I answered, unsure of what to really say next. I sensed Yuma's presence on my other side which eased me slightly. "And... what's your name?"

The cave continued even further downwards, as if we were travelling down a slope to nowhere. The curious part was that the deeper down we travelled, it almost looked like my surroundings were getting brighter. The lighting grew, allowing me to make out the girl's features.

"My name is Zeina." She answered plainly. Her voice sounded young, youthful. She was likely only a few years younger than me. 

I looked forward in towards the front of the of the group towards the woman who called herself Ramoe. "Is she your leader?"

"Leader?" Zeina repeated. "We are taking you to our Naib, if that's what you're asking."

"The Naib is the leader of their sietch." Yuma added quietly from my side. "He'll be the one to decide whether we can find refuge here. If he rejects us then we'll have to leave."

"She," Zeina corrected Yuma with a defensive tone.

"She?" Yuma repeated. "Your Naib is a woman?"

Zeina nodded. For some reason Yuma seemed quite surprised by this.

"Is that bad?" I asked her.

She shook her head and stared off ahead of us, deep in thought. "Not bad, just curious... A Naib will come to power by fighting and killing the previous, which is why it's always a man who is the Naib. I wonder how that is your leader is a woman..."

I could see the slight change in posture as Zeina raised her chin proudly. "Our sietch is not as... traditional as others."

Before I could respond with further questions, I could finally see where the light was coming from. We exited the end of the tunnel to reveal the open space of their home. My eyes widened at the sight.

I recalled learning how few Fremen existed, their numbers no more than a few thousand. But here it felt as though I was standing before a bunker holding well above that number. I could only imagine how many Fremen there were living on Arrakis if this was only one of their Sietches.

"Welcome," Ramoe's voice echoed from the front of the group. "To our sietch."

***

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS/UPDATE!!!!!!!

hey guys! sorry for the short chapter but i need to ask you all for your input before we move forward.

so there are 2 ways i could take this story;

1. i could follow the original plot of dune, where a 2-3ish years pass before the story picks up again. if i were to do this, id use the next 1-2 chapters to tie the loose ends so that we can move 2-3 years ahead (spoiler, if i chose this path then i would make it so that paul and lia haven't seen each other during those 2-3 years and they only find each other those 3 years later)

2. i can ditch the original plot and just continue from here without a time skip (only downside is that when the next movie comes out it wont be anything similar to what i write) but the plot might be less complex and frustrating? lol it would basically just be my own personal spin on the second half of the book

3. if you guys have any other ideas, or something that might help stay true to the original storyline while also adding my own twist please let me know!! im out of ideas and need some inspiration. the direction of this story is heavily influenced by what you guys want to happen, so please please tell me your thoughts!

as always lmk what you think! hope you enjoy this chapter!

with love,
via <3