maqbara

𝐈, ˢᵃⁿᵈˢ ᵈᵉᵉᵖ ᵃⁿᵈ ᵗʳᵘᵉ

Chani most likely is the one following me, but I don't stop to converse with her; instead I keep going, no need to push through the crowd as their reluctance to touch me creates a bubble of air with each step I take.

I get to the great doors at the end of my path and shove them forwards, Chani still tailing me closely. When I'm finally free of the reverend mothers gaze, I yank down my veil of raspy fabric and take a deep breath in. That's when Chani catches up to me, and grasps tightly onto my arm.

"What the hell was that?" She hisses through gritted teeth. If only I could explain it.

"It's bene gesserit sorcery, they used it against me, but somehow I....." the words seem to tumble from my lips before I myself can stop them."I don't know it was this....this voice that wasn't mine. It was like it was.."

"Theirs?" She finishes, and I nod. "Either way, you shouldn't tell them they're a waste of time, Zahid-"

"They're granting us banishment!" I snap.

"Banishment or not, whatever they might grant us we'll go south anyway. You know so. Why do you trust them so much?"

"I....I fear they know something we do not."

"In relation to what?" Her voice had lowered to a whisper now.

"I've been having dreams, Chani. Ones of a boy, but he's certainly not of fremen nature. His skin is pale and even though he is purely male, when he speaks his voice is distorted and sounds just as theirs did moments ago. There's been word of him, I've heard it. Some even call him the mahdi-"

"Stop that! We don't source our truths from weakly pillared prophecies."

"I know this, I don't believe in a single prophecy. I just wanted answers."

"It seems you are being subjected to bene gesserit visions. These are far more serious than any half witted dream." A voice speaks from behind the two of us. It's an older woman, whom is draped from head to toe in sandy hued fabrics. She's nothing but a regular, but her words imply some sort of unforeseen wisdom.

"What does this boy tell you?" She asks, her voice worn and tired.

"He speaks my name. That's all." I fail to mention how much this enchants me. The way it creeps past his lips as he looks to my eyes has me so intrigued that I feel as if I want more, every morning I wake. But that has been all he's ever said.

"Be careful, child. You might be tied down tighter than you think." She tells me, smiling. A strange feeling arises in my heart as I look to her, and it's so unusual that I almost feel sickly. I look to Chani to try and halt it, but she looks just as confused as I do, and soon she pulls us away from this woman's presence, interlocking our hands and ushering us back to our group.

"Chani, what does that me-"

"Shhh," she hushes, placing one finger to her mouth as she does so. She brings us through the winding alleyways of the fremen's north, and gestures for me to shun my wrap back up to my face.

She does the same, and soon we are almost unrecognisable. We walk again through crowds of others like us, and soon, we've reached our travellers, eating their rations by the rocks.

"Hā, Stilgar," she voices, and they all look up to meet only our eyes. They know it's us, but they still stare unknowingly at me. It feels eerie, and wrong - little did I know, this would be something I'd have to get used to.