Navigators of Dune

Deborah leaned close to ask in a low tone, “Is this wise? If she is killed, it might demoralize the others.”

“This must be a real proving ground, and a memorable event will make it even more so.” Each Sister was taught to focus on the attainment of perfect bodily control, mastering their reflexes, their movements, one muscle at a time. Anyone who knew the techniques could easily survive such a fall with grace.

As Gabi stood on the edge, mentally preparing herself, the Sorceress spotters withdrew along the slope. The young Acolyte shot an appreciative glance in Valya’s direction, and without further hesitation, hurled herself down the precipitous slope. She rolled and dodged, controlling her plunge so well that she seemed to flow over the ground. She avoided the sharp rocks, landed briefly on tiny ledges, rebounding and continuing down, until she reached the bottom and landed on her feet, breathless and triumphant.

Energized by the success, more Acolytes followed Gabi over the edge, demanding no rescues, and many did not fare as well. At the end of the exercise, two had suffered broken bones, several with lacerations, and one experienced a concussion. But none of them died.

“One should never expect to be rescued,” Valya said to Deborah as they watched the end of the exercise.

A wave of sadness overtook her. No one had saved her brother Griffin from the evil Vorian Atreides.…

For hours, Valya had let her mind work through her own treacherous obstacle course, with dangerous consequences for failure. The Atreides knew that Tula had assassinated Orry, and now they were hunting for the young woman.

Even so, she realized that Vorian could have attacked and killed her family on Lankiveil, but had refrained from doing so. He was a difficult man to understand.

Valya wouldn’t make the assumption that they were safe now. She would send Sisters to Lankiveil to watch over her family, in case the Atreides returned. She couldn’t leave her family vulnerable, although she doubted if Vorian would come back to do them harm, now that he had forfeited his chance.

House Harkonnen must not remain in the shadows forever: eight decades of disgrace was long enough. At the same time, Valya needed to protect her family—every one of them.

Memory may be a safety net, but forgetfulness is a blessing.

—TULA HARKONNEN, songs from Chusuk

Chusuk’s scars from the Jihad had been nearly erased. The planet had been a smoldering wreck after the brutal thinking machines were driven out, but with songs of victory and freedom in their hearts, the survivors had reclaimed their world, rebuilt their cities. The people focused on universities, festivals, cultural expressions, and craft guilds that built the finest musical instruments in the Imperium. Chusuk had become a planet of art and poetry, as if the nightmarish subjugation of the thinking machines had altered the psyche of the population, inspiring them and providing emotional depths for them to draw upon.

Tula Harkonnen could try to forget her own dark past here, vanish into everyday life, and exist as a normal young woman with a quiet demeanor and shy disposition. No one on Chusuk knew who she really was … any more than the people of Caladan had known when Valya sent her there to seduce and murder Orry Atreides.

Now, she dressed in plain clothes and bound her long blonde hair back. Tula was too beautiful to be invisible, but she tried not to draw attention to herself. When she played her family baliset, she was proficient enough that people stopped and listened, while some skilled practitioners offered her some advice.

No one could see the blackness that surrounded her heart. The young woman had been so fierce a fighter, so focused on reclaiming Harkonnen honor against the vile Atreides that she believed everything Valya told her—and did as she was commanded.

But each night now as she went to sleep in her lonely bed on Chusuk, Tula thought of her traumatic wedding night, of how handsome Orry had looked dozing beside her, languid and fully vulnerable after their lovemaking … unprepared for the sharp, swift edge of her knife.

Initially she had not questioned the mission, but once it was complete and she returned to Wallach IX, she had begun to wonder about what she’d done. Following orders like a soldier, Tula had killed a young man whose only crime was that he had Atreides blood in his veins. But young Orry had been isolated on Caladan all his life, generations removed from the harm that Vorian Atreides had committed against their great-grandfather. Orry had known nothing about how Griffin had died on Arrakis.

Valya had been vehement, though: “Only the death of an Atreides innocent can begin to repay the crimes that Vorian committed against our family.”