Fire and Dust | Paul Atreides

II. An Unnerving Sundering

Sun rays, stabbing through the small holes of the brown curtains. The holes a product of age, having been within Rhaenerys's room for years before it was ever hers. The furniture never changed or moved as to preserve the environment of generations past and present. Her eyes fluttered opened as her body naturally awoke on its routine. She sat up, cracking her neck as she moved off her duvet.

"Good morning, my lady," spoke the soft voice of her favored maid, Shara Tenant. Rhaenerys rubbed her eyes and looked toward the older woman. Shara was a bit younger than Rhaenerys's mother but the woman seemed to be constantly stressed, evident by the bags under eyes and the permanent creases between her brows. Shara held a golden dress in her arms, patiently waiting to help Rhaenerys into it.

"A golden dress? For breakfast?" Rhaenerys asked.
"It is an important breakfast," Shara Tenant said with a soft smile. The younger woman slowly stood from her bed and approached the handmaiden as Shara placed the dress in her arms on the bed. Rhaenerys turned around as Shara's hands came up to help undo the ties on the back of the gown. The white silken dress fell to her ankles before Shara's hands came around the front of Rhaenerys to help her put on her bra.

"What makes this breakfast special?" Rhaenerys asked. Shara shrugged behind her, the sound of shuffling causing Rhaenerys to turn her head only for Shara to repeat the action. The young woman huffed as her maid helped her into the fresh dress. It was a comfortable, velvet like golden fabric. The long sleeves drooped down her arms and to the floor, sadly the length was the purposeful design of the dress. The long skirt however just levitated right before the ground unlike the sleeves. Rhaenerys allowed Shara to ruffle and pin up the sleeves to prevent them dragging.

"May I escort you, my lady?" Shara asked with a smile. Rhaenerys furrowed her brows with an amused smirk.
"An escort? Just to the dining hall? Is my father being named emperor?" Rhaenerys laughed as Shara shook her head.

"No my lady, but it is still important news," she said calmly, holding out an arm for Rhaenerys. The younger girl smiled as she took her handmaidens arm and exited her chambers. The two walked in peaceful silence on their way to the dining hall. Rhaenerys was greeted curtly by a few other servants they had walked past.

The girl was greeted by Radismah Montess, a mentat who worked attending her father. "My lady," Radismah greeted as he walked into the dining hall, holding the door open for the two women. Radismah never attended breakfast with the royal family, he ate with the warmaster and his men in the west wing. Rhaenerys brows furrowed at that but before she could ask, her brows fell onto her entire family in the dining hall. All clad in gold as well.

"Good morning, Rhaenerys," her father, Archduke Talaegon Donaereon, spoke with a fresh happiness.
"What's the special occasion?" Rhaenerys asked as she walked over and sat beside her younger sister Daelys and across her younger brother Taelor and mother. The Archduke clapped his hands as he chewed his bacon.

    "Well, my daughter, I have news that truly removed a weight from my heart," he laughed. "Your engagement to Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen has been dissolved. The Emperor has determined you will marry the Atreides heir, Paul Atreides."

    Rhaenerys stared at her father in shock, a bright tooth smiled return to her from his foolish face. "Dissolved? Why has it been dissolved?" She asked anxiously. The emperor rarely meddled in inter-house marriage unless it was of great importance. And to meddle in the affairs of a house as dangerous and unstable as house Harkonnen was a large matter. Stripping the Na-Baron of the woman he viewed as his property and awarding her to the heir of his house's everlasting enemy.

    "A matter of politics he would not further discuss and what the emperor wants must go. Perhaps an act of empathy to you, most likely not," Her father began, gesturing sternly for her to sit while he spoke. Rhaenerys obeyed silently as the old man rambled further. "But I will not deny such a blessing. The young Harkonnen would most likely have led you to an early death."