ACT ONE ━━ CHAPTER SIX
(Don't) Bite the Hand that Feeds You

THIS DREAM FELT SO LIFELIKE, Paul was unsure it was a dream at all. That sensation applied to all of his dreams — they were more like memories. He was lying in his bed in Arrakeen, but there was a woman lying beside him. Paul craned his head to the right and noticed that the woman appeared to be wearing nothing underneath the bed sheet thrown over her body, her bare arms and legs peeking out from beneath it. She slowly dragged her fingers along Paul's naked arm, prompting him to turn his head even further towards her.

It was the Fremen girl — Aminu, he quickly remembered — although she looked different. Cleaner, definitely, without all of the sand and spice staining her skin and hair that now cascaded over her shoulders in burgundy ringlets. There was something else about her, but Paul couldn't pinpoint the difference between dream-Aminu and the real-Aminu.

"Lisan al-Gaib..." she whispered, following her trailing fingers with her eyes. Her hand ascended all the way to the side of Paul's face, resting her thumb on the spot between his eyebrows, similar to the Bene Gesserit. Was that what was different? Paul asked himself. Is she a Bene Gesserit?

Aminu began speaking in a different language that Paul didn't immediately recognize. He felt a shiver run through him at the sudden coldness in her tone. Her soft smile melted from her face as she spoke, leading Paul to think that it was something negative. Eventually, Paul recognized that her words sounded similar to Bene Gesserits'.

He was able to decipher the words she kept chanting, "The daughter of Atreides and the son of Harkonnen will produce the Kwisatz Haderach...but he has already come..." Now that Paul understood what she was saying, Aminu added a new sentence, "The son of Atreides and the daughter of Harkonnen, instead, will produce..." Aminu's tranquil expression quickly morphed into one of pure terror. Her extended hand began shaking as tears welled up in her eyes, the precursor for the violent sobs attempting to escape from her throat. Aminu's eyes glazed over as if she were sucked into a vision.

Aminu began gasping for air as she fought to get her next words out.

"...the God-Emperor!"

Paul shot awake, sitting upright. He instinctively turned to his right, but there was no evidence that someone was in bed with him. Upon noticing that he was gasping for breath, he quickly calmed himself down. It was a dream, he internally repeated.

The narrow windows in Paul's room informed him that it was early in the morning, too early to begin his day. From experience, Paul knew that he would not be able to return to sleep after his dream. Instead, he reached for the projector on the table at the end of his bed and continued the filmbook he was studying before their departure to Arrakis.

The hologram shone before him, "The largest and most dangerous organism on Arrakis is the sandworm, capable of reaching 400 meters in length." Paul's eyebrows slightly furrowed at the familiar words recited to him not too long ago by Aminu. "To avoid making rhythmic noises, which attract the sandworms, the Fremen cross desert spaces using the sandwalk..." a Fremen in the hologram began demonstrating the sandwalk, in the exact same manner as Aminu the day before. "...a dance-like motion with irregular rhythm which emulates the natural sounds of the desert."

The Fremen was replaced with a hologram of an indigenous bush, "What scant plant life exists on Arrakis is thanks to the Fremen, who have cultivated deep-rooted terranic plants such as saguaro, burrobush, sand-verbena and incense bush." Paul crawled off of the bed in order to get a closer look. He noticed something small rustling within the bush's branches, identifying a small mouse.

"Muad'Dib," Paul remembered. He smiled fondly at the rodent, recalling Aminu's anecdote. Her descriptors about the sandworm and sandwalk seemed to be mechanically recited word for word from the filmbook Paul was currently studying, but when she spoke about the Muad'Dib, her words were evidently more genuine.

"The shepherd's tree has the deepest documented roots, stretching more than 450 feet deep. These plants cling to life in a parched, nutrient-poor landscape..." Paul began to hear a low buzz towards his left, and slowly turned towards the sound.

It took a moment to find it, but Paul soon localized the source of the noise. A small, perfect circle was being burrowed into the wall from the other side. Slowly, a sharp needle flew through the opening, closely followed by the body of a hunter-seeker attached to it.

From within the small confines inside the wall, Lovisa focused on the monitor receiving visual input from the hunter-seeker that she thread through a water pipe. Its suspensor field was too compressed to gather an entirely accurate view, so Lovisa needed to trust her own skill and instinct.

As the hunter-seeker entered the room, Lovisa could make out Paul's silhouette standing next to a hologram that Lovisa couldn't entirely decipher. She cursed under her breath as she noticed that the outline of Paul's body had disappeared, likely because he had stepped into the hologram to confuse the hunter-seeker.

Lovisa slowly moved the device forward, hoping that Paul would soon reveal himself. When the sunlight streamed in through the window, it caught his eyes and caused the different shades of brown to glisten and create a target for Lovisa to move towards. She was growing anxious of how much time she had left before security began rampaging through the building in search of the Na-Duke's assassin.

Making an impulsive decision, Lovisa locked the hunter-seeker's target on the glint of Paul's eye and commanded it to pursue it. The device flew as fast as it could, extending its poisonous needle even further. Lovisa watched in anticipation for the needle to make contact with Paul, but suddenly, the hunter-seeker slowed to a near stop.

"C'mon..." she mumbled to herself. "...where are you?" The hunter-seeker's target detection had faded away when Paul's eye could no longer be detected. Now, it would attack the next movement it sensed. Suddenly, the visual feed abruptly changed before going void altogether, prompting an error message to appear on the monitor.

Lovisa's eyes went wide, "Shit." She was close enough to the hunter-seeker that their connection wouldn't have been disrupted from distance. The only reason why the visual feed would no longer be rendering was if the device was destroyed.

And if the device was destroyed, there were certainly already Atreides men on their way.

"What's wrong?" Lovisa closed her eyes in annoyance of the Harkonnen solider who had been cemented into the wall six weeks ago in preparation for Lovisa's arrival. Without hesitation, Lovisa removed the knife from her hilt and stabbed the man in the jugular, ensuring that he would quickly bleed out and not be able to even blow air in the direction of Lovisa, let alone out her to the Atreides men who would detain him.

She shuffled around him and began crawling down the incredibly narrow water pipe that she had used to get to that spot to begin with. Lovisa could hear ruckus erupt on the outside of the walls, but she continued crawling along the inside of the pipe. Although it was meant to disperse water throughout Arrakeen as needed, any leftover droplets had quickly evaporated. Lovisa would've welcomed a bit of wetness to help lubricate the pipe so she could slide out faster, but it seemed that her tactics were working against her.

After Lovisa turned a corner, remembering the map of the pipes that she had memorized, she felt the pipe shake from behind her. She cast a quick glance over her shoulder, only to see that the pipe from where she originated had been blown apart. Lovisa's eyes widened as light flooded in from the corridor, diving further down the pipe to seclude herself as much as possible. Murmurs of Atreides men rumbled throughout the pipe, but nothing of worth hit Lovisa's ears. Nothing mentioning her name, at least.

Lovisa finally made it to the exterior wall, punching through the panel that concealed the pipe from the outside. She wiggled her way out of the pipe and fell onto the sand, scurrying up to a crouch. Lovisa glanced around to ensure she remained incognito before securing the panel back onto the side of the building. She dusted herself off before slowly walking around the corner of the building, looking towards the nearest entrance.

Atreides men were running inside, while others continued looking around the premises, undoubtedly securing the area. Lovisa inched closer along the side of the building, going undetected as she slipped into an entrance that brought her near her bedroom. After scanning the corridor for incoming soldiers, Lovisa quickly sneaked into her room and silently shut the door behind her.

With her back against the door, Lovisa finally exhaled a heavy breath. She was unsuccessful, yes, but she remained undetected under Atreides' radar. Now, it was simply returning to previously-scheduled programming as Aminu, the Fremen refugee.

Lovisa quietly creaked her door open, peering into the corridor. From the right angle, she caught a sliver of the scene. The wall beside Paul's room had been blown into, rocks and rubble lining the ground. Her Harkonnen confidant had been killed, likely from Lovisa's initial attack, but made certain by Atreides' weapons. Although the scene was fairly far away, the Duke's and Mentat's voices echoed off the stone walls, allowing Lovisa to hear clearly.

"The Harkonnen agent was cemented into that hole six weeks ago," the Mentat began. "Ran the hunter-seeker through a water pipe inside the walls." Lovisa silently narrowed her eyes, but for once, she didn't mind that she wasn't receiving credit for her work. "Sire, I failed you today. There's no excuse. You have my resignation."

Leto looked at the Mentat startled, almost offended, "You would deprive us of your talents at this time?"

"Sire, my honor demands —"

"They tried to take the life of my son!" Leto bellowed. Lovisa could swear she felt the walls shake. "I don't give a damn about your honor. You want absolution? Go catch some spies."

With his closing order, Lovisa retreated back into her bedroom and closed the door behind her.

Go catch some spies.

Not if Lovisa had anything to do with it.

EARLY IN THE MORNING, Lovisa was summoned by the Duke to accompany him and a few select men to the spice silos, where Atreides is supposed to accumulate spice every twenty-five days for shipment. Leto reasoned that since Aminu is Fremen, she would have some helpful insight into the spice operations. Lovisa accepted, but truthfully admitted that she had no experience with harvesting spice since, in her sietch, that was appointed to someone else.

"That's alright," Leto assured her. "Then, I am certain you would appreciate a trip to see your home again, yes?" He looked out the window of the office they were in, longingly, "I, personally, would enjoy nothing more than to return to Caladan, even if for a short while."

During their brief meeting, Lovisa observed Leto's face and once again, was met with conflicting views. The Emperor's and Baron's warnings took precedence in her mind, but at the same time, she believed that Leto was not nearly as manipulative as they made him out to be.

Nonetheless, Lovisa met with Leto, Paul, their Warmaster, and a few others as they awaited further direction from Dr. Liet Kynes, the "Judge of Change." Upon learning that she was sent from the Imperium, Lovisa slightly paled in worry that her cover would be blown.

Lovisa ensured that her stillsuit was on correctly prior to meeting with the men, complete with a shawl wrapped around her head and neck to try and hide her face. Lovisa kept her head down as Dr. Kynes explained the importance of the stillsuits and checked that the foreigners had them on correctly.

"Let's have a look at you, lad," she told Paul. Her eyebrows knit together as she did a once over, "You've worn a stillsuit before?"

Paul shook his head, "No, this is my first time."

"Your desert boots are fitted slip-fashion at the ankle. Who taught you that?" Lovisa glanced over in curiosity, acknowledging Paul's seamless fit in the stillsuit. She quickly became self-conscious that Paul looked more believable in that stillsuit than she did.

"It seemed the right way."

Dr. Kynes took half a step back, muttering in Chakobsa, "He shall know your ways as though born to them."

"Are you Fremen?" Paul asked.

"I am accepted in both sietch and village." Dr. Kynes made eye-contact with Lovisa and held it for a moment too long. Lovisa worried that this woman was about to expose her as a spy. Perhaps she put on her stillsuit wrong. Did she remember her colored contacts that match the bright, blue eyes of the Fremen? Without inquiring about Aminu's legitimacy further, Dr. Kynes continued, "Now, come and see the spice sands on which your livelihood depends."

Lovisa clambered into the ornithopter with Leto, Dr. Kynes, Paul, and the Warmaster. The latter kept his eyes on Lovisa the entire time, still mistrusting. Lovisa, instead, divided her gaze between the Duke, his son, and through the window at the infinite desert. Although she knew that she should be listening in to their conversation to gather more intel, Lovisa couldn't help but look out the window in awe. As dangerous as it was, the desert was breathtaking.

"Is that a worm?" Leto asked, piquing Lovisa's interest. She followed his gaze and identified the large, moving dust clouds.

"Big one," Dr. Kynes confirmed with her binoculars. "You have good eyes." She activated her transponder, "Calling crawler Delta Ajax niner. Wormsign warning. Acknowledge."

A crackle sounded before a voice came through, "Who calls Delta Ajax niner? Over."

"Unlisted flight. Imperium business," Dr. Kynes replied. "Wormsign north and east of you. 3.7 kilometers."

"Delta Ajax niner, this is Spotter One. Wormsign confirmed. Stand by for contact fix. Worm is on intercept course to your position. Contact in five minutes."

"So what happens now?" Leto inquired.

Dr. Kynes explained, "They'll call a carryall to lift the crawler. They'll harvest right up to the last minute." More conversation came through her transponder, until Lovisa noticed a carryall fly near them and position itself over the crawler. Four anchors unfolded from the carryall's belly and attempted to lock onto the crawler. An explosion erupted from one of the anchor sites, rendering it useless.

Panicked voices complaining about the shot anchor emitted over the intercom, one man's voice finally saying, "Hydraulics are dead. We won't make it. You need to evacuate." Lovisa looked up, slightly panicked herself, towards Dr. Kynes. Although she seemed to be a relatively calm woman, even she was visibly stressed.

"How many men on that crawler?" Leto asked aloud.

"Crew of twenty-one," Dr. Kynes answered.

"Our ships can take six each."

"That's still three short," Paul pointed out.

Leto glanced over his shoulder towards him, "We'll find a way." Lovisa watched as the rightful Duke piloted the orinithopter towards the crawler, commanding over the intercom that seven men each board the Atreides ships.

"Sir, there's protocol for a reason. If we take one step out there, we're as good as dead. Besides, we've got a full load of spice. We can't just leave it."

"Damn the spice! I want every man off that crawler now!" Lovisa watched as Leto used the same tone of voice as he did after his son's attempted assassination. He had the same sense of urgency and protection over men he had never met before as his own son.

As the ramp in the back of the ship began descending, Lovisa tuned back into her surroundings. Once Leto landed the ornithopter, Lovisa ran towards the crawler to direct people into either one of the three ships.

"Go! Go! Go!" She heard Paul urge them on as the last few ran towards the refuge of a ship. Lovisa followed one of the workers into her original ornithopter, where she sat down and began to rebuckle herself.

The Warmaster entered the ship, analyzing the passengers' faces, "Paul?! Paul?!"

Lovisa whipped her head around, only to feel her heart drop as she saw Paul beside the crawler, kneeling in the sand. She couldn't explain this new sensation she felt towards him, especially when seeing him so close to mortal danger. All she knew is that, before her mind could catch up, her body went into full flight as she jumped out of the ornithopter and began sprinting towards him.

"Paul! Paul!" She called out, holding onto the shawl around her face as sand began blowing into her face. "Paul!"

Lovisa nearly collapsed onto the ground beside him, grabbing onto his arm and attempting to pull him up, "Paul, let's go!" Paul's body remained set in the sand, his head reacting in almost slow motion as he looked over towards Lovisa.

He squinted, "Who...are you?" The question caught Lovisa off guard, making her go still for a second.

She quickly shook it off, using all of her strength to pull Paul onto his feet, "We need to go!" This time, Paul was receptive and began running alongside Lovisa towards the ornithopter. She kept a firm grip on Paul's hand, afraid that he would fall back onto the sand if she didn't.

Paul tripped and fell, bringing Lovisa to the ground with him. As the sandworm grew closer, the sand around them began to sink and pull them under. Since Lovisa hit the ground with greater force than Paul, she was sinking quicker.

Their hands had unlinked after the fall, and Lovisa outstretched a desperate hand as she felt herself begin to be buried alive, "Paul! Paul!" She tried to keep herself above ground by digging with her other hand, but it seemed that the more she resisted the sand, the quicker it took her with it.

Sand began to cover Lovisa's head and body, quickly making its way to her face and neck. She thrashed her head around in an attempt to prolong the sand from entering her eyes or mouth. Lovisa panicked as the sand begin pulling her in deeper into the earth, the sand beginning to cover her eyes and graze her bottom lip. Lovisa screwed her eyes and mouth shut in defiance of her inevitable fate, hoping to buy herself a few more seconds before she was eaten alive by the sandworm.

As the sand fully consumed her, Lovisa counted in her head. One...two...three...four — until hands gripped onto her one of her arms and began pulling her up, out of the sand. As soon as the dry heat of the desert air hit her face; Lovisa gasped for air. She opened her eyes, staring into those of Paul Atreides, who was mere centimeters away from her face and seemingly free from his prior trance. Lovisa's ears rang as he pulled her to her feet and, like she had attempted earlier, dragged her into the ornithopter that was beginning to depart off the ground.

Paul jumped onto the floor of the ship and grabbed onto a stray rope connected to an interior wall, holding Lovisa close to his body with his other arm so that neither of them fell from the open ramp as Leto ascended the ornithopter into the air. Paul glanced down to see the sandworm's mouth open and swallow the crawler whole. A shiver ran down his spine as he remembered the compromising position he and Aminu were just in. Aminu, whom he was subconsciously pinning down on top of his body, partly out of his own fear of being eaten, and partly out of concern that she wasn't fully present.

He attempted to look at her face at the same moment she removed her cheek from his chest. Wordlessly, Lovisa stared at Paul's frustratingly selfless face through her burgundy curls whipping around her face, no longer contained in the shawl that had unraveled from her neck when she was pulled under the sand. For a moment, she wished that they had found themselves in this position under different circumstances.

     Paul's curls cradled his face similarly to hers from the impact of the wind. His eyes shone from the reflection of the sun on the sand, entrancing Lovisa with the layered shades of hazel. From her angle, Lovisa had no doubt why he was believed to be akin to a god. He looked like he was built from great myths.

     Unknown to her, Paul believed the same about her. He truly had never seen anyone like her. Her hair, coiled in perfect ruby ringlets; her eyes, bewitchingly blue; her skin, tanned and littered with freckles — covering her forehead, multiplying across her cheeks, landing on her upper lip...

     Before either could humor themselves further, Lovisa was shook back into reality by the jostling of the ship. She blinked quickly, glancing back down at the ginormous sinkhole leading into the sandworm's mouth.

Lovisa was saved by Paul Atreides, whom she was sent to kill. The realization tied a knot in her stomach.

Now, she would be indebted to him forever.

lovisa's so smart and such a baddie i love her but she also has her moments where she's just a girl ❤️ like the rest of us. also i feel almost...giddy for her?? like this is her first true interaction with a boy (without sparring/fighting lol) aw 🥹🤭

(yes i'm aware that they almost died and she's honestly just holding on for dear life to not fall 1000+ feet to her death...but details, details...)