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

Part 38

Chapter 28

SHISHAKLI

Shishakli had grown up beside Inzal, watched him grow from a little toddler to the man he was today, and in that time she had heard many a tales about the sister he had never met, a mysterious figure shrouded in the mists of the unknown.

A sister who she pitied after learning of her circumstances, a person reduced to only ever be used as a tool by the Emperor and the people whom she cared about.

When he mentioned the plot of someone from the King's retinue trying to assassinate the Princess, she laughed it off, thinking it was all too cruel an act even for the throne.

And yet Inzal had never been wrong, and though she believed that this might be the time. He was right, and indeed, an assassin had been sent hidden within the retinue, ready to strike down the Princess.

And he had foiled that plan, and now the congregation was set to begin, and in a day, the Emperor himself was set to arrive on Arrakis to set into motion the greatest change in the history of Imperium.

"I never thought that life on Arrakis was so tough," the Princess replied as she looked around the Sietch clad in a Fremen stillsuit, she had wished to see the place where Inzal had grown up and so she had come with her to Tabr, the place where all of it had begun.

The planet was tense and on edge as they all felt nervous about their future, a future few of them had ever imagined they would see in their lifetimes. Much had begun to change already, the lifting of the embargo had allowed them to exchange the spice for provisions, and finally the true wealth from the Spice trade began to flow into their coffers.

"We lived like slaves, any who the Harkonnen captured they tortured and killed for amusement. We lived on our planet like slaves, hiding away in these sietches, many dying of hunger and thirst," she told her as she sat down and watched the children of the sietch play infront of her, there was joy on their faces as they tumbled and tossed in the sand unaware of the upheaval that was set to change their lives.

"Inzal grew up here," she asked, and she nodded.

"He did. We found him in a broken pod in the dunes an hour from here.," she added as she pointed out of the cave.

"He was but a babe, and had we not found him, he would have died in an hour from the heat if not earlier had a Sand Worm caught his scent," she added, still vividly recalling the day she had first met him.

"And then we took him in, even though many spoke against it, citing the water it would require to rear a child not their own," she mentioned.

"And yet all of us today are in his debt. For the first time in thousands of years, we walk free on our own land, and we owe it all to him, your brother," she said and looked at the Princess who had a dazed look on her face as she looked around the sietch.

"He never forgot about you, you know," she added, startling the Princess, who frowned.

"He was a jolly kid, and in Fremen culture, we do not waste water in tears, yet he did cry. I never figured out the reason until a few years ago myself," she mentioned, having only recently made the connection.

"It was the day your mother died. And he cried not just for her but for you as well, knowing that you would only ever be thought of as a pawn by those around you. Even half a galaxy away, he cared for you more than he would ever admit," she told her.

She was trained in the Bene Gesserit ways and would know that she was telling the truth, for she had no reason to lie. Inzal would always be on the lookout for news about Irulan, often bribing the smugglers to fetch news about her specifically.