MERCURIAL ( paul atreides.. )

006. We Are Longing Beats..

The only pain stronger than generally being proven wrong was having been mistaken in the detriment of both Paul and Mercury, young souls bound to the certainty of a couple of weeks of torture. Vanity was what he had battled before in the many times when he turned himself blind to specks of knowledge, only to later scorn at himself and accept his moral scar for a lesson; Gurney Halleck had decided this was his fault and he was willing to accept any and all punishment for his wrong timing to turn himself into prudence made flesh. He had concluded: Mercury Yaranes was not on Arrakis because he had stopped her from talking with the Duke. His very heart clenched itself short of a couple of beats, mourning the seconds of agony he had inflicted upon his newest liege in the first moments after he took his pledge. Of course, it was pure terror which lit his soul, more fiery than the desert that blew light and sand into their eyes as a greeting.

Their ship had left Caladan on the premise of lies even Duke Leto, a fooled lover at Lady Jessica's little finger, could sniff the suffocating presence of. Once their rusted crafts were airborne, they attached themselves to a Spacing Guild transporter, from where, thankfully to the array of emotions which was destructively building up in the confined dark places, travel happened instantaneously. The miracles of space travel made most sick to the stomach; space folding, one of the many gifts scratched into the common brain of all humanity in the Imperium by the Holtzman Effect, was the means by which the Spacing Guild controlled interstellar travel. Their monopoly over space was a rich industry interlinked with the usage of tons of Spice Melange, meant to rectify the past probabilities of a failed journey and reduce them to zero. 

In almost no time, a new star shone gold over their quickly sweating skins; a new atmosphere infected their lungs and purified their nostrils of any freshness and humidity they brought with themselves from a planet now a galaxy away. Their feet thudded steps into new soil who hissed, ever so quietly at their presence, that unmistakably loud dumbness of guests. Halleck did not feel wanted there, no matter the chants of the local people gathered to witness their arrival.

Passing their army was an old melancholy of home and though respect bid him to shout in patriotism and pathos the name of his house, raising the choir of the soldiers aligned for Duke Leto to walk beside them, assess, then lead them into the planet-bound travel vessels, Gurney Halleck was aware his first liege was displeased, worried and trapped into some nuance of stern decisiveness he was ready to receive all the anger of. Fittingly so, Duke Leto decided toi board onto the far less comfortable military vessel from the landing grounds which would see the power of his House arrive in waves for at least a day now, separating himself consciously from both his wife and his son for a while now. They were in a locally popular means of transport: an ornithopter. Inside that cabin attached to flapping wings, Lady Jessica and Paul would be guided through Arrakis and towards the biggest city it could offer them as a seat of power by the patient pilot who was Thufir Hawat.

The military vessel was heading for Arrakeen too, only without the sightseeing. 

It was the privacy of being surrounded by his own men which released the chains around the Duke's tongue and he cursed with ardour none has ever seen him call forth. It was the type of fury his grandfather dipped in madness when he attacked bulls head first. "Kiran did not call Mercury home," he concluded, bubbling an anger which has seethed in him since they emerged from the seas of Caladan for the last time. "He would never do this to our children, not after we have planned this..." 

Feeling himself get too loud about details nearing too closely the reveal of schemes not ready yet to see daylight, he bit his own words to concealment. "It couldn't have been money either," he added, quieter, more like himself. The roar had passed and Leto could finally look to his left, at Gurney Halleck. His eyes were searching for debates, but there were none to be spoken, for he was correct: with House Atreides as an ally, House Yaranes had no real worries about budgeting; still, Halleck had heard Kiran had taken special interest during the two months prior of the official empiric announcement of the power change in settling all the details linked to the monetary cover and compensations for Mercury's travel with them via Space Guild transport.