Chapter Text
The emperor’s ship was a colossus of a vehicle. The sight of one ship landing into another and sealing itself off from the death of empty space was something I had to shut out by physically closing my eyelids and pretending I was on-world. On any world. The Baron and I were escorted down monolithic halls with ceiling-high windows through which white stars glittered in a sea of the blackest darkness I’d ever seen. I trailed behind Feyd, trying to remember my training and conceal just how impressed and awestruck I was. We had a small group of household slaves. Maidservants and manservants hauling luggage and two of Feyd’s new mentats trailed behind. It was a modest piece of Feyd’s household. Only the most trusted, select few are allowed onboard. I refused to feel honored.
The hour I’d been anxiously waiting for was late. After hours, Feyd returned and informed me that I’d be attending court which was being held. It must have been midnight. Stupid girl, there’s no such thing as midnight in space. I was used to Geidi Prime hours. For all I knew, it was six in the morning for the emperor's court. How could Feyd-Rautha remain so alert and aware after being awake for what must have been a day and a half? How was this monster of a man so superhuman? “The emperor wants to see you, and so does the Reverend Mother. She’ll be watching for signs of progress.” He said, entering the bedchamber with haste.
“As we spoke about? The progress, I mean.” I asked for clarification as he approached me and smoothed a strand of hair back into my bun. “Mmhmm.” He murmured, surveying me for any imperfections to remedy. “I remember, Feyd.” I said, trying to reassure him. “You will be a good girl or I’ll have your witching tongue.” He threatened playfully and I rolled my eyes at him. We both stiffened a bit as our eyes met. Getting into character. We had a more familiar relationship now. A connected relationship, despite all of our best efforts to resist it. To resist bonding.
I felt the need to fill the silence. “I want to serve you in this, Feyd-Rautha. Your pleasure is my greatest desire.” I verbalized, surprising the both of us. Feyd looked utterly enchanted, staring down at me with his right hand on my cheek. “If all goes well, I will be in your debt.” He said, leaning into the honesty we’ve suddenly decided to embrace. “No, you won’t. This is my duty now.” I disagreed softly, bringing my hand to cradle his own which caressed my cheek. “I’m fortunate to have found you. I knew when I first laid eyes on you: You’re good material. And I don’t waste good material.” Feyd murmured, his raspy voice barely above a whisper and I was barely able to maintain a stoic expression. In a vision, I’d once seen his uncle, the old baron say something similar to him. I didn’t mention it. “We mustn’t delay any further.” I said, knowing we were both beginning to regret the vulnerability we shared with one another. He removed his hand and nodded. “Walk behind me and mind your expressions, body language, and don’t speak.” He instructed. Back to business. I was almost grateful for it. Almost.
“Yes, sir.” I agreed, composing myself. He gave me a curious sideways glance. “Sir? That’s new.” He remarked. “Sounds… Military. Is that what you called your commanding officers?” He asked, curious about my personal history. Of course he was. It was leverage. I bit my lip. “Something like that.” Only in Chaksoba. And the meaning was a little different. But I didn’t need to say all that. He knew what I meant. “Well, keep it up. Consider it a compromise.” Feyd said, quite generously. I could live with ‘sir’, even if it did remind me of my days as a free woman. It was at least more dignified than ‘master’. It accurately reflected our relationship. He had control over me, but it wasn’t infinite. Even if I was his inferior, there was a mutual respect that extended everywhere but the bedroom when he’d completely and utterly degrade me while I begged for more like a desperate, wanton slut. I steeled my wandering mind as I followed him out into the hall.
My posture was humble, but refined. I tried my best, at least. The emperor’s throne room was sleek, simple, and large enough to not seem crowded even while what must have been a hundred different finely-dressed nobles chatted and mingled in small groups. There he sat across the long room. Shaddam Corrino, the emperor. He was a small old man I’d seen in dreams before. Next to him stood two women: his truthsayer and ally, the Reverend Mother Mohiam, and his favorite daughter Irulan.
Irulan’s beauty was shrouded by a veil, the same black net the Reverend Mothers wear, only instead of a headdress she wore a draped shawl atop her head that matched with the rich purple of her gown. I soon realized that the crowds were parting for us as Feyd-Rautha approached the Emperor’s seat to pay tribute or greet his lord or something courtly like that. Their eyes were fixated on him, and then to me. The strangeness of us was apparently breathtaking for many and disgusting for some.
I could feel the eyes on my back as much as I heard the surprised gasps. Surely this lot has seen more brutality than a couple of marks? God knows they’ve caused more. Feyd eventually reached the emperor once the crowds had hushed to hear what was about to transpire between the two men. I looked up to glance at Mohiam and suddenly felt her voice echoing in my own mind like a powerful daydream, or the kind of auditory hallucination you hear when you’ve spent too many hours in the desert and miss the company of other human beings.
“Your power grows, Nahya. I’ve seen it. You have the baron held tightly in your clutches. I must say I’m impressed.” I heard Mohiam in my own mind, bouncing back and forth from lobe to cortex and back again. I did my best to remain as still and expressionless as a statue. “I do hope you’ve reconsidered my offer.” She added before severing the telepathic connection as the emperor began to speak.
“Baron Harkonnen, I’m happy to have you here. You are most welcome.” The emperor said. I figured it was customary for the higher ranking man to speak first. As a fremen, every custom the off-worlders held was strange to me. “I am ever honored to be received, emperor. As am I honored to serve you.” Feyd said, bowing for the first time. I did as well, figuring it wouldn’t be proper for me to remain standing, facing the emperor himself while my own legal master lowered himself.
“You’ve proven to be most effective in your appointment overseeing Arrakis. I see you’ve even brought us your own desert flower, plucked straight from the sands.” Shaddam said, leaning to the side to rest his right arm on the edge of his throne to gaze at me. Feyd turned around but his feet remained planted. I looked up at Feyd, then to the emperor, then to Feyd and did as I was silently bid and moved to the baron’s left side so the emperor may examine me.
“Respectfully, my liege, she’s not straight from the sands. As you can see, I’ve had her for a considerable amount of time. A feral fremen such as the specimen I initially met, would not be suitable for presenting to your fine court.” Feyd said confidently, implying that a wild fremen would be too much to handle not for the emperor, but for his court of slack-jawed nobles. Feyd wasn’t a flatterer in the traditional sense. He was far too subtle for that. He was something entirely more masterful. He was a full-fledged manipulator. The emperor seemed to have noticed this, but was pleased by the young man’s sense. Shaddam’s eyes didn’t widen, but definitely focused on the branding that spelled Feyd’s full first name on my lower stomach. “Turn around.” The emperor muttured, his voice barely audible. I obeyed, catching a glimpse of Feyd as I did. His eyes seemed pleased. More than pleased. The bastard seemed aroused at the public display of ownership.
Shaddam made impressed noises of fascination and perverse interest as he surveyed the scarification on my back. “Your family’s sigil was always as fierce as your family's reputation. A fascinating combination of the two. Very fascinating indeed. Tell me, how does a young man such as yourself condition a wild fremen specimen to behave so subserviently?” Shaddam asked, almost as if he were taking mental notes.
I hadn’t been told to turn back around so, to my horror, I was facing the crowd. I kept my eyes on the floor and pretended I was somewhere else. Somewhere back on Arrakis, where the moons were glowing and the desert was cool in the night air. I would ask my two aunts and my father’s two wives: “How does this night find you?” as is customary for the younger person to do and they would say. “Very good, and you?” and I would answer and we would feast on the rabbit my father had brought home and they would tell me about my mother and how beautiful she was before she died. Soon enough I felt the familiar invasion come inside my mind as Feyd and the emperor were speaking, only it wasn’t from Mohiam. It was a gentler essence, like a sister’s. “You can turn around now. Turn around and pay attention. You must pay attention. Pleasant memories have no place here, my dear.” Margot said telepathically.
I began to search for her in the crowd but couldn’t see her beautiful blonde curls anywhere. I looked to Feyd and he did not look back at me for a while. When he finally did, it was because the emperor had begun to speak about me again instead of the dissent of the natives on Arrakis. “I hear you’ve made this fremen your concubine and she now carries your heir?” Shaddam had said. I turned around as Feyd stared me down. “Yes, emperor. I made the decision to bring fremen blood into my lineage a long time ago.” He admitted. I hadn’t known that. And Feyd was Twenty. What was a long time ago? Eighteen? Fifteen? “About when they started giving your brother Rabban such a hard time?” The emperor laughed. Feyd smiled. “Precisely.” He said, and whether it was the truth or an attempt at flattery, I wasn't sure.
“I’m surprised a Harkonnen would welcome the blood of a fremen.” Irulan, the imperial princess said. The sound of her voice wasn’t soft like Margot’s. It didn’t drip honey or sing like a windchime. Instead it was mature. Stately. The voice of a queen. I involuntarily looked at her and her eyes were set on Feyd. My stomach turned and my eyes snapped back to the floor. “You sound disappointed, princess.” Feyd said, eliciting quiet but shocked gasps from the court behind us. Shaddam laughed lightly, taking no offense from the remark. Probably because Feyd was invaluable to him as governor of Arrakis and the only man in his service who’s ever been able to increase spice production, tame the fremen, and parade a pregnant fremen concubine through his court as a triumph to top it all off.
“I sound nothing of the sort, my lord. I said I was surprised is all. Or need I remind you of a particularly infamous rivalry involving the inhabitants of Arrakis and your own house?” Irulan snapped with the exact wit of a princess unbridled and utterly adored by her father. I prayed that her challenges would never be ones Feyd would have to take on. God knows how much he loves a challenge.
“Now now, daughter. The baron only jests. But, dear baron, the princess’ question is one I think we all have in mind, if you would be so kind as to enlighten us all.” The emperor decided that the baron would answer and so the matter was settled. Feyd kept his composure, but I could tell he was displeased. “As you can see, my fremen concubine has taken what would break most men’s minds. Primitive as they are, the fremen are a strong people. Maybe the strongest among us. And her status as my concubine is a good example to them. An example that states that if they kneel before the Harkonnen and serve the servants of the emperor, they will prosper.” Feyd explained, justifying my concubinage by skillfully weaving the ways it serves the emperor into his answer. I wondered if Feyd was born with all of his skills or if they developed as a result of his impeccable education. Genetics certainly played a factor. He had unexplainable natural instincts.
“Well, we shall see what becomes of House Harkonnen, which is certainly in such capable hands as your own, young baron. Your lady is welcome as well.” The emperor said as he shifted from Feyd to me. We made eye contact that unsettled me. “Thank you, my dear, for allowing us to examine you.” Shaddam complimented and I knew I had to speak in response. “I am grateful to have been saved from the yolk of rebels and received by your majesty as your servant.” I said as I bowed lowly, just as Margot had taught me. As I passed to leave with Feyd taking me by my arm, I caught a glimpse of the Reverend Mother, and I didn’t need her voice in my mind to let me know that she wanted to see me in private again.
“Not even my student, the Princess Irulan, is capable of telepathic communication.” Mohiam revealed, making me feel just as flattered as she intended. We were sitting together, as equals, in the reverend Mother’s own reception chamber on the imperial ship. I steeled my emotions toward neutrality. “You've tried it before, haven’t you? Only yesterday I was receptive?” I asked,, changing the subject. “Indeed, perceptive girl.” The Reverend Mother remarked. She cleared her throat and I could tell she was about to get into the real business she had with me. “I must impress upon you the importance of us having one of your daughters for our order.” I scoffed as Mohiam spoke, despite myself.
She gave me a stone-faced look. “You have one of Feyd’s daughters for your purposes already.” I argued, referring to little Marie whom Margot still carried, though she was nearing her birthing-time. “I didn’t say I needed a daughter of the baron’s, I said I needed a daughter of yours.” She admitted candidly, ever in service of what she believed the Bene Gesserit order needed. I was truly shocked and it was an effort to conceal the signs of my surprise from my face.
“You hold great power, Nahya. I’m not sure how and I’d be very interested to investigate your heritage, but-” I interrupted her. “My mother was an off-worlder.” I admitted, causing her to pause. “You mean to tell me, you’re only half fremen?” Mohiam asked with urgency in her voice. I nodded. “Why haven’t you informed me of this when we spoke before?” Mohiam demanded, her voice steady but her eyes suddenly dark. “Truthfully, Reverend Mother, it wasn’t any of your business.” I said, feeling brave and honest. “Well, the past doesn’t matter now. Thank you for telling me. Is there anything else you can tell me about your parents?” She asked, sighing. I could tell we were both too tired to fixate on anything. “My father was a respected fremen warrior, killed by Harkonnens. My mother was my father’s first wife. She died giving birth to me.” I said, eager to move the conversation forward as fast as possible.
“Father wouldn’t speak of her but my other mothers would tell me about her personality and what she looked like-” I said after a moment of unsatisfied silence. “And?” The Reverend Mother demanded, sounding more eager and curious than a Reverend Mother should. “And, fair skin, blue-green eyes, blonde hair. I always imagined she looked like Lady Margot.” I admitted, hating how vulnerable she was forcing me to be. She sat back into her chair, rubbing her lip with her finger through the netting of her veil. “Interesting.”