"Your daddy's left for a trip," I whispered against Leto's head as I held him close, "he'll be back soon, though. Don't worry."
I rocked him in my arms while I watched my dad train group of Fremen a few ways away from me. Paul felt it necessary to to travel to a new sietch to make alliances with as many Fremen possible. Though I didn't disagree with his plan, it worried me to be without him for a few days. Every time the two of us had managed to separate, it wasn't by choice.
Paul's survival was no longer a secret, though his identity was known by the Fremen as Muad'dib. If the name of this great soldier somehow made it back to the Harkonnens, they would have no idea he was actually the Atreides heir.
"How's this little man?" My dad cooed as he held his arms up to take Leto from my grasp. There was a bead of sweat that had collected on his forehead from his training and he took my baby with sticky hands.
"Don't get your sweat on him," I warned, "he smells nice right now and I'd like to keep it that way."
Ignoring me, my dad held Leto close to his chest to rock him. It was always an odd sight to see the big Warmaster Gurney Halleck holding his grandson with a silk touch. As odd as it felt to see, my heart warmed to see Leto be loved so hard by his family.
My dad looked over his shoulder to see the next set of Fremen arriving to go through training. "Here," he offered my child back to me, "I'll see more of my little boy later."
I resumed rocking Leto and allowed my eyes to travel across the room. I watched the dozens of Fremen going about their days and wondered what Paul was doing at the moment. Was he meeting with a new Naib? In the middle of travel? He could been sleeping right now for all I knew.
The sound of a familiar voice caught my attention and I turned my head to see Shipo, the female Naib whose sietch we stumbled across after fleeing Giedi Prime.
"Shipo!" I exclaimed in surprise and moved to greet her.
The older woman looked away from Stilgar to face me, her eyes widening in sight at the child in my arms.
"Ophelia," she greeted warmly, "how are you? Is this who I think it is?" She asked as she eyed Leto with a smile.
I nodded. "His name is Leto, after his Grace."
She nodded knowingly, offering her finger to my baby. Instinctively, he gripped the finger tightly in his palm.
"What a beautiful young boy." She cooed, admiring my child.
Another familiar voice echoed against the stone wall just a few ways away from me. I turned my head, Leto still in my arms to see Zeina making her way over. She looked just a bit taller now, her youthful features having matured since the last time I saw her.
"Zeina," I smiled, "you're here too."
The girl's eyes widened at the sight of me with a child, but she quickly recovered. "Yeah, I came along with Shipo. The baby- is it yours?"
I let out a chuckled, realizing there were people who still had yet to know I was ever pregnant. "Yes, he is. His name is Leto."
She took a moment to process this, quickly wiping the surprised expression from her face. "Wow, that was fast."
"The spice accelerated the growth," Shipo muttered quietly as she toyed with Leto's hand, "especially growing in a womb not previously exposed to the melange."
I hadn't considered this, or that the spice had any odd effects on Leto. After all, the Fremen grew up on spice diets and it has never jeopardized their health. Though Leto is different I know and I see it in his deep blue eyes which are the result of spice intake.
Before I could respond Shipo quickly drew away from Leto and brought her attention back to Stilgar. "I'd love to meet with your Reverened Mother. Is she here?"
"I am." Lady Jessica answered as she began to make her way over from what felt like thin air. Jessica always seemed to be one step ahead of us, always the one to catch us by surprise.
"Ah," Shipo greeter her fellow sister, "I was hoping the two of us could discuss a possible training regiment for the members of your sietch. I think we would benefit from sharing our teachings with our people."
"Teach them in the Way?" Jessica raised a brow. "What makes you think this would be a good idea? You know the extensive training required to become a Bene Gesserit. What makes you think we could teach any of our lessons to the average person."
"Not the average person, the Fremen." Shipo corrected. She paused and glanced sideways at Zeina who was watched her quietly from a few feet away. "Zeina, are you able to help Stilgar this afternoon and keep yourself busy while I discuss things with the Reverend Mother Jessica?"
"Actually," Stilgar interjected, "Chani, would you be able to give Zeina a tour of the compound? I think it would give the both of you something to do."
Chani was a bit further away from us, sitting amongst a few other Fremen. At the sound of her name thought she turned her head to face Stilgar.
I could see Zeina's shoulders slump and her cheeks flushed, sneaking a quick glance at Chani. "But I want to do something useful."
"Getting used to our compound is useful." Chani mused as she made her way closer. "If we were to get attacked in the next ten minutes then you'd want to know where to run."
Seeing them side by side made me realize Zeina was almost the same height as Chani. Zeina avoided Chani's eyes her gaze sending Shipo a pointed glare.
"Go on," Stilgar ushered them with the wave of his hand, "we'll be here when you get back."
Zeina's shoulders slouched even more if that was possible before trudging after Chani. Despite them being nearly the same age, I imagined Zeina to be at least 9 years old at heart.
"So," Stilgar began, "Maud'dib, he is away?"
I nodded, my thoughts going to Paul who I hadn't seen in the last few days. "He'll be back soon though I hope."
I silently wondered what he was doing right now. Was he alright? Was he thinking of me? I knew I was definitely thinking of him.
The day fell into night and my mind rested on Paul. It was odd, I had some strange feeling settle in my chest and it would not go away. My anxiety was growing.
"Paul is going to be okay, right?" I asked my dad as he passed me Leto.
"Of course," he answered, puzzled. "Why wouldn't he be?"
I didn't answer. I knew how stupid it would sound to say I have a feeling. What feeling? What would I even do?
My dad pressed a kiss to the side of my head, then the same to Leto's forehead. "Get some rest, kid. Don't think too hard. Paul will be fine."
I nodded and watched my father leave me and baby Leto in our room. I set Leto down in his crib and paused.
The feeling in my chest began to grow, almost heavy. It was almost a feeling of... knowing?
Suddenly I knew what I had to do. I scooped Leto back in my arms and quickly rushed out the door to try and catch my dad. I had somewhere I needed to be.
***
i'm sorry i didn't make this longer. i wanted to but I thought it would be better to give you guys this chapter now and give you more later.
let me just say i am SO sorry for not updating in like 4 months lol. i think my motivation dropped and i totally forgot about this story. also let me just say it is so hard to come back to this plot because i literally forgot alia and leto's names like how does that happen. so my apologies if i have any future plot holes, i can't remember the last 40 chapters very well LMAO
butttttt i am back <3 i missed you all <3 thank you guys so much for the votes and comments, i do my best to read them all <3
with love,
via <3