Kala Wukar.
She who walks the desert.
She who is one with the sand.
She who is one with Arrakis.
The girl who he dreamed of long before she came to him in reality.
Aphra of Arrakis. The Desert Walker.
(Dune; Paul Atreides)
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chapter six: the fall of the home
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Hands pushed into Paul's back, digging deep as they searched and checked his vitals. Aphra had been ordered to take Paul to see Dr. Yueh as soon as they had landed back at the landing field. Jessica had looked none too happy about his state, but had thanked Aphra profusely for saving his life.
Jessica's stare was intent on her son as she grasped tightly onto Aphra's hand beside her. Aphra sometimes forgot that Jessica was a mother first before her other duties. Aphra herself took comfort in the hold of the woman. The fear and panic of the narrow escape from death had not left her even now.
Confusing thoughts swirled in her mind, making way to more stress. The adrenaline that had shot through her when that voice had pushed her to save Paul had not been something she had ever experienced before. And perhaps at one point she could have said it was only a sense of duty that drove her in her impulsive actions, but now she wasn't sure. When she had knelt before him in the sand she had been scared. Completely terrified at the thought of losing him. What she had seen staring back at her had perhaps terrified her more.
Through Paul's spice-induced haze, she had seen the way he had looked at her. Adoration, love, acceptance, falling. When she had seen those emotions in him, she finally realized those same ones in herself. It was no longer the prospect of destiny tying her to Paul Atreides, it was the connection of love.
It was no longer just the journey that made her, the Kala Wukar a guide to him. She was no longer just a guide. She was the sun and the desert, all for him. To him. And it was no longer her status as the Kala Wukar that made him follow her, it was love.
All that she had once known and now knew clicked together like pieces of a puzzle that had never quite fit before. It had taken her all this time to realize it, and now that she did, it felt as if she could breathe peacefully once more. Things made sense.
"Spice is a psychoactive chemical. You seem to be sensitive," Dr. Yueh took a step back, his hand falling from Paul's back, "You'll be fine."
Jessica nodded to the man, "Thank you, Dr. Yueh."
Dr. Yueh bowed his head before departing from the room and then Jessica was kneeling on the ground before her son. Paul's expression was troubled, twisted into one of confusion and unease.
"That wasn't an allergic reaction," Paul insisted.
Aphra took a step back from the two, her eyes flitting over to the closed door. She wasn't sure if this was a conversation she should be listening to, but something told her to stay, a little voice in her head that pleaded for her not to leave him alone.
"It was a vision. My eyes were wide open."
"What did you see?" Jessica asked, leaning forward.
Paul closed his eyes as he relayed the contents of his vision to the two in front of him.
