through the tempest, be it deluge or sand [closed to friends of hers]

[worm-dancer.livejournal.com]

Gore dripped from the magnificent body of the worm, running in warm gummy runnels down the thick leathery hide. It wasn't its own gore; the creature's body was mineral. But water was poison to it. Its internal fires burnt out of control to compensate, raging and magnificently hot. Celluler water, black and stinking but still dangerously wet from the zombies....

The pearl of Leto Atreides' consciousness within the scaly body reached out. Sister...daughter...wronged one...

Sheeana arrived just in time to see the great body dissolve into sandtrout. She dashed onto the sand in the converted swimming pool. She could only hug the body of the magnificent dyer. She collapsed onto her side as the last of it flowed away.

No. Not like this. No. What if it's poisoned the sandtrout? They'll try to encyst the necrotic water and...then i'll...be... This had been the man/worm/hybrid who had taken her village from her, had been her constant companion, who she had mothered back into existence in those years on Chapterhouse, who had looked out with her from portholes at the burning of her homeworld, who had accompanied her into exile. Without Leto and his Golden Path, it had all been for nothing.

She let out the Fremen wail of grief: Lalalalalala... a repeated 'no', painful to the ears.

She shed water for the dead.

Comments

[jedimacguyver.livejournal.com]

"I disagree," He soothed, leaning into her with a comforting conspiratorial edge, "Good Jedi have gone rogue for less reason than grief. These are extraordinary times, filled with death and loss. If you can bear it, it will make you stronger."

[worm-dancer.livejournal.com]

"There's no secret to balance. You just have to get in tune with the waves." Even if her voice hadn't suddenly changed, becoming older, that she had used a water metaphor would have been a tipoff that she had accessed Other Memory to dig up that quote. It was an unsettling thing to most who had never seen it. "My mentor taught me that. You are right. As long as one sandtrout remains, there will be hope." The old Sheeana was back, unflappable and always ready with a pithy remark, no longer seeming only her seventeen years.

[jedimacguyver.livejournal.com]

...and if Obi-Wan hadn't seen it from Arha, or had it explained, by now, he would have been quite startled by the shift. Instead, he smiled and leg go of their embrace with a gently encouraging pat.

"There is always hope, Sheeana," said he, "Even when things look their darkest, never give up hope."

[worm-dancer.livejournal.com]

"You are a good man, ObeeUan Qenobee. How is Arha? I did not get a chance to see her since the fight." And by his reaction, she'd know how (and who!) her Sister was doing.

[jedimacguyver.livejournal.com]

Obi-Wan couldn't help the rising flush. Dammit, Bene Gesserit! It wasn't fair, it'd been a long damn time since he'd felt this way, and he'd rather not be teased.

"She's...tired, still," He made a valiant try at civility, which improved as he spoke, "I meant to set her in some minor exercises, before I detoured here, but it can wait. I haven't the faintest idea where we'll find the components for a Lightsaber on this ship, let alone a focusing crystal with the right clarity."

[worm-dancer.livejournal.com]

Oho, nice job Sister. He's a fine catch, will make a good man with a bit more sophistication.

Mercurial as the desert wind, her mood changes to curiosity. "Is that how it works? The beam is reflected through a crystal?"

[jedimacguyver.livejournal.com]

"Not precisely, no, but without a crystal to focus the beam, the blade will only barely function," Obi-Wan replied, "Most people look at a lightsaber and assume that the amount of power produced by such a thing to be enormous, but really it's the crystal that gives a Lightsaber it's color, power and stability. Only a Jedi can create such a thing, the amount of fine control needed in it's construction is immense."

[worm-dancer.livejournal.com]

"Mm." Sheeana filed that information away for further reference. There was an inkling of a test she wanted to do. But first there were more important things to know. The subject abruptly returned to Arha. "I hope she is happy. Our order wronged her. It was one of a number of mistakes we made in that era."

[jedimacguyver.livejournal.com]

"One thing I'm very sure of; there aren't many in this place who are happy," Obi-Wan replied morosely, picking up on Sheeana's mercurial topic changes deftly, by now, "But as far as anyone can be, at the moment, I think she is. She seemed at least pleased with me, this morning, which is all one can hope."