DUNE-A False Haderach (OC X Shishakli) (OC x Alia)

Part 17

Chapter 9b

~Start of movie DUNE 1~

IRULAN CORRINO

Irulan Corrino knew much of jealousy. She knew of living under a shadow much like her own father, the Padishah Emperor, who feared the looming shadow of the Duke Leto of House Atreides as the royal doctors declared him unable to have any more heirs.

With five daughters, and no male heirs to inherit his throne, the Emperor saw enemies and vultures everywhere, even the Duke whom he had once called a brother had not been spared from that gaze, and now had prompted him to take a drastic step under the advisement of the Great Reverend mother.

The very Reverend Mother, who was her teacher since birth, teaching her the ways of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood as they raised her to be an astute and adequate successor to her father's throne.

Her initial education had been seen by her mother, Anirul Corrino, another sister of the Bene Gesserit of hidden rank until she had fallen to a plot aimed at the concubine of the Duke Leto Atreides when she had come to the Kaitain to give birth. The Queen had been killed in place of the woman she had called a sister in senses more than one, and the Emperor had rejoiced as he was rid of his failure of a wife, a wife who had failed to give him his desired heir.

Her rites had been performed according to ceremony, yet her father would turn his attention towards finding a new woman rather quickly, as he was finally rid of his Bene Gesserit wife. This showed that there was little love in their marriage, one that was but a union born out of pacts and necessities known to few, not even herself.

Yet the fates would be cruel, denying the most powerful man in the Imperium his long-lost desire as the Royal physician would declare him impotent, a very well-guarded secret to this day, one that would shatter the Emperor's ambition of a male heir.

"Was it really necessary?" she questioned the Reverend Mother, who had just returned from a small pilgrimage across the galaxy, her intents and purpose known only to her, for that was how the order worked.

"All our actions are necessary," the Reverend Mother chided her as Irulan lowered her gaze, showing nothing of how she felt on the inside at those words.

"House Atreides grows too powerful, and if the trend were to continue, they would soon pose a threat to the Emperor himself," she elaborated, and it was true. She was well versed in the politics of the Landsraad and knew how the Duke grew powerful by the day, threatening his father's position.

"The Duke and my father share blood. They called each other brothers in their youth. Perhaps there could have been another way," she asked, and the Reverend Mother shook her head.

"We cannot leave the fate of the Imperium of youthful friendships. A ruler must make hard decisions for the betterment of the greater good. Your father's decision is for the betterment of the Imperium," she suggested softly, and how much of that was the truth, she wondered.

"And what of the Harkonens? After this, the Harkonens will have too much power; how do we deal with them," she questioned, and Gaius Helen Mohaim looked at her with a narrowed gaze as if evaluating her.

"They shall be handled, and mayhaps they could be incorporated through a union. I have heard that the Baron favors his younger nephew Feyd-Rautha Harkonen and desires a Royal match for him," she said, and her head snapped towards the Reverend Mother at that.

"Feyd-Rautha Harkonen, he is a psychopath," she spoke appalled by the consideration of a match between the Royal family and that man.

"He is more animal than man, and animals are easier to train than men. If it comes to it, there are ways to handle such men and their tendencies," she said as she busied herself once more, leaving Irulan to her thoughts.