Navigators of Dune

The voices grew entirely quiet. She could not even hear a low background hum of hushed awe. They had seen what she accomplished, and what she could accomplish … and Valya felt certain they were impressed. And fearful of her.

She allowed herself a smile, then—feeling more satisfied than she had expected—she climbed into bed and fell into a deep and rejuvenating sleep.

Each life has numerous crossroads, paths taken and paths avoided. After each such crux-point, one should examine the thought processes that went into the significant decisions, the opportunities grasped, the successes and failures. The same is true with personal relationships. All important things in life can be distilled down to personal relationships.

—Old Earth philosopher (name unknown)

As they hunted for Tula Harkonnen on Chusuk, Vor knew they might face significant danger on this world, yet the potential reward—justice for Orry—outweighed any such concerns. But even if they were successful, would that be the end of the feud?

Wary and alert, he and Willem sat at a table in a crowded performance hall, surrounded by young dancers, hypnotic music, lights, and show-smoke. Occasionally eager partners tried to coax the two men out onto the dance floor. As part of his act, so as not to draw attention, handsome Willem let himself be swept away, even though he did not know the traditional dance steps.

He often behaved in an aloof manner with strangers, reminding Vor much of himself as a younger man, but Vor could also see that during the weeks the two had spent on Chusuk searching, Willem had grown close to a pretty brunette who found his helpless clumsiness endearing. Though Willem was coy toward her, even standoffish at times, Vor watched the attraction build between the two young people, as if a magnetic force were pulling them together—and seeing this made Vor sad rather than happy. It made him think of lost possibilities … Nevertheless, it was a night filled with bright music, laughter, and a haze of pheromones.

While Willem danced with the young woman he liked the most, Vor never dropped his guard, never stopped watching for their quarry.

After arriving on Chusuk, the two men had asked discreet questions, built around a story that instantly generated trust; they showed happy images of Tula from Orry’s wedding day, and the tale of a runaway bride inspired sympathy, but few useful answers. Some people claimed to have seen a young woman who resembled Tula in the square playing a baliset, but Vor and Willem had not been able to find her; just recently, two helpful witnesses had even said she occasionally went to this performance hall. Could it be her?

Despite spending several evenings here, the two had seen no sign of her, but they kept watching.

Willem blended right in—young, dashing, and fun-loving, although Vor knew he had a hardened core beneath his friendly exterior. Now Vor let himself be led out onto the floor by a laughing redhead, only half listening to her clever conversation as he kept moving, scanning the crowd. Attractive, she appeared to be in her late thirties, and would have no idea how old Vor really was—more than two hundred years of age, from a strange procedure his cymek father, Agamemnon, had administered to him in his youth.

Tula was somewhere on Chusuk—probably in this very city, and she might have been seen in this place. He could not be sure if she guessed they were hunting for her, but she did know what Vor and Willem looked like. They had again disguised their features as best they could, but Tula Harkonnen had been trained in the Sisterhood, and Vor would never underestimate her abilities.

They had to find her first, and get her before she got them.

The music rose and skirled. The local musicians used an assortment of unique instruments, including a small harpsie that put out a grandiose sound, a trumpetta played by three men at side-by-side mouthpieces, and a number of stringed balisets, for which the master craftsmen of Chusuk were famed.

The band stage was flanked by warm pools of water, where shimmer-suited couples cavorted in a splashing ritual of aquatic foreplay that usually led them to rooms in the back. These lissome swimmers also provided entertainment for the more lethargic audience members.

Here in the performance hall, few gave the two men a second glance, although Vor did notice a pair of statuesque women eyeing them steadily. He supposed that offworlders would naturally be seen as exotic. Those women, though, did not flirt or ask either of the two to dance.