ACT TWO ━━ CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Underestimate Me, Please

     LOVISA SAT ADJACENT TO PAUL, shoulders brushing against each other every so often as they sat on the sand, awaiting Jessica's resurface from the cavern. She was to undergo the ritual to become the new Reverend Mother, but as she had told Paul earlier, they were ignorant of what the process actually entailed.

Lovisa repeatedly cupped sand into her hand and lifted her arm, watching as it fell through her fingers. Despite the simplicity, she found it to be a fascinating phenomenon — at least, interesting enough to occupy her attention while they waited.

Paul, on the other hand, bounced between worrying about his mother and focusing on the girl sitting beside him. He couldn't stop thinking about his dreams of her, which have been becoming more frequent and more realistic. Recently, she's been speaking a language that Paul's dream-self hasn't been able to decipher.

Lovisa glanced towards Paul, noticing his facial expression, deep in thought.

"She'll be fine," she tried to reassure him. "I'm sure Jessica has been trained to withstand things much worse."

Paul, briefly taken off-guard since his mother wasn't currently occupying his mind, nodded in agreement. Lovisa wasn't convinced by his half-hearted nod, but she didn't feel that it was her place to pry further, so she returned her attention back to the sand. Paul glanced to the right, and saw the mature members of the sietch talking amongst themselves while looking towards Paul once in a while. Ignoring their gazes, he looked to the left, where the Fedaykin were sitting, conversing and laughing.

The girl whom he recently learned was Lovisa's sister, from Lovisa herself, kept stealing glances their way, focusing on her older, estranged sister. Upon noticing Paul's attention, she looked away, rejoining her peers' conversation.

"Have you spoken to your sister?" He asked Lovisa, desperate to fill the silence lingering between them. She paused, her hand buried within the sand.

"No..." Lovisa trailed off, resuming her action, "...not yet." She cast a quick glance over her shoulder towards Daphne, just as quickly averting her gaze. "I doubt she wants to speak to me, either."

"I don't think that," Paul added. "Don't you think your mother told her about you?"

"I'm certain she has," Lovisa replied. She faced Paul, "And that is exactly why I believe she's ignoring me." Her eyes flitted to the ground, "It's difficult to compare to a ghost."

Lovisa's words remained heavy in the air, establishing a foreign awkwardness between her and Paul. After learning about the truth behind her childhood, Lovisa did find Paul, as promised. He could tell, though, that the conversation with her mother weighed on her. She didn't disclose what they discussed, but Lovisa did admit that the Fedaykin who was constantly in Chani's shadow was indeed her younger sister.

Desperate to break through the thickness of this unspoken barrier between them, Paul decided to reveal, "You've been in my dreams recently."

Lovisa froze, snapping her head towards him, "What?"

Paul avoided her reaction and continued, "You speak this language that I don't know." He faced her, "It sounds like..." Paul mimicked the sounds he's since memorized from his dreams. He internally repeats the pattern of sounds throughout the day in hopes that his subconscious will reveal the words' meanings to him.

"It sounds like Ginazee," Lovisa identified. She furrowed her eyebrows, "What was I...doing in your dream?"

Paul stiffened. He had a difficult time mustering up the courage to admit that Lovisa's been in his dreams at all, let alone that she was in bed with him...naked —

He attempted to speak nonchalantly, staring at the sand in front of him, "We were just...together." He looked at Lovisa's face, still contorted in confusion. Curious, he inquired further, "Why?"

"It's just — if I, in your dream, said what I believe I did..." she began, "...it sounded like a warning."

Paul's eyebrows flinched inwards, "A 'warning?'" Lovisa wordlessly nodded, remembering those same words echoing throughout the Ginaz School campus the day House Moritani attacked.

Her last day on Ginaz, before the rest of her life began.

"It's an enemy warning used in battle. Especially if the opponent is a dangerous one," Lovisa explained. "'To warn of an impending doom,' to be more literal."

Paul looked into Lovisa's eyes, that seemed to have drifted away from their current state. He felt his own sense of his surroundings fall away, instantly wondering what this "warning" could apply to.

Too many things, he thought to himself. Becoming the Muad'Dib, for one. His mother becoming the Reverend Mother, for another.

Paul stood, needing to distract himself from the thoughts looming in his head. He took a few steps towards the Fedaykin, who were laughing amongst themselves.

"What are you guys laughing about?" Paul asked in an attempt to join the conversation.

Chani chuckled, "Don't bother." Paul noticed her peers glancing towards the cavern his mother was currently in, whispering amusedly with one another.

"You don't believe in all this?" Paul asked, motioning towards the cavern.

"No, we don't," Lovisa's sister suddenly spoke up, taking both Paul and Lovisa by surprise. Upon hearing her sister speak for the first time, Lovisa rose from her seated position to stand next to Paul.

Shishakli, on Chani's other side, explained, "These are old Southern beliefs."

"Southern beliefs?" Paul asked, curious of that phrase's meaning.

"Southern tribes believe in the Lisan al-Gaib," Lovisa explained from beside Paul. The Fedaykin's brows barely raised, simultaneously impressed but suspicious of the Outworlder's knowledge of their culture. "The Messiah who will deliver them from evil."

Paul refocused his attention on the Fedaykin from Lovisa, asking, "You don't believe in the Lisan al-Gaib?"

Chani's face suddenly grew serious, "We believe in Fremen." Her peers muttered words of agreement. "You want to control people, you tell them a messiah will come. Then they'll wait for centuries."

From behind Lovisa and Paul, Stilgar's voice rang out after exiting the cavern, "Now, we must pray."

Paul nodded towards him, "What about him?"

"Stilgar?" Chani asked in clarification. "He's from the South." She smiled amusedly, as if the answer was obvious, "You didn't notice his accent?" She and her peers chuckled.

Lovisa locked eyes with Daphne but didn't speak at first, unsure of what to say.

Eventually, she bit the bullet, "What will happen to her?" Although Lovisa didn't specify who "her" was, it was obvious she meant Jessica.

All signs of laughter melted from Daphne's face as she spat out, in Chakobsa, "She'll drink worm piss." The group around her laughed, which Lovisa could tell fed Daphne's ego. Lovisa quickly scanned the rest of the Fedaykin and noticed that Daphne appeared to be the youngest of the group by a couple years. She obviously wanted to fit in with them, even if that meant through insults.

Suddenly infuriated, Lovisa asked in the same manner, "Who taught you to speak like that?" The laughs fell flat upon hearing Lovisa speak the Fremen language with nearly the same level of fluency.

Shishakli raised an eyebrow in intrigue, "It seems the Outworlder did her homework."

Stilgar shouted from across the sand, "Shut up! We are praying." Surprisingly, to Lovisa at least, the Fedaykin members remained quiet as the elder members began reciting prayers. After glancing at her sister one last time, Lovisa returned to her previous spot between the two groups, peering inside of the cavern. She squinted in a futile attempt to get a better look, but from her angle, all she could see was darkness.

Believing that she began to hear gasps, Lovisa took a step closer. The Sayyadina were talking excitedly with one another — no, worriedly. Frightened that something had gone wrong, Lovisa jogged to the entrance of the cavern despite the yells of protest from behind her from either group.

Lovisa rounded the first corner of the cavern to see the Sayyadina holding their now-deceased Reverend Mother, while Jessica laid writhing on the floor before them. The nuns all looked at Lovisa with wide eyes, but she ignored them as she knelt beside Jessica and grabbed onto her chin in an attempt to still her seizing face.

"Jessica?" Lovisa asked, using her free hand to hold her jerking arm against her body. "Jessica?" Veins bulged out of Jessica's face and neck, so far that Lovisa feared they would explode. Lovisa looked at the women staring at her, shouting in Chakobsa, "What did you do?!"

One Sayyadina, a young girl looking so frightened as if she was close to death, whispered, "Abomination."

Lovisa narrowed her eyes, unsure of that word's meaning in the context of this situation. She didn't have time to ask further before Paul's footsteps came inside the cavern too.

"Lovisa — ?" Paul stopped short at the vision of his unconscious mother.

"I don't know what they did to her," Lovisa quickly explained. "She was seizing — "

"Poison transmutation..." Paul mumbled.

Lovisa narrowed her eyes, "What?"

He looked at her and repeated himself, "Poison transmutation. Advanced Bene Gesserit can do it. Her body's fighting off whatever is inside of her." Lovisa glanced back down at Jessica in disbelief that she was still breathing. She set two fingers against Jessica's carotid artery, initially feeling nothing but eventually noticing a very, very faint pulse.

Lovisa exhaled a sigh of relief before assisting Paul in carrying Jessica out of the cavern and into the light for the Fremen to see. Both groups rose to their feet; the elders appeared ecstatic to see that Jessica had survived the ritual, while the Fedaykin immediately grew angry at the blasphemous words that were about to spew from the former group's lips.

Stilgar immediately began proclaiming something in Chakobsa while Lovisa and Paul rested Jessica's body on the ground. Paul sat beside her, resting a comforting hand on her head. Lovisa faced the groups as angered Fedaykin began arguing back.

"That was no miracle!" Chani shouted.

"You saw it with your own eyes!" Stilgar countered. He explained to his peers, "The Mother of the Lisan al-Gaib shall survive the Holy Poison and she did — as written!"

"Her people wrote that!" Chani argued, pointing towards Jessica's limp body.

Stilgar waved her off, "Blasphemy. The prophecy has been accomplished."

Shishakli spoke from beside Chani, "The Mahdi must be Fremen!"

"Arrakis must be freed by its own people!" Chani added. The argument continued, although it didn't appear that either side would come out victorious.

Paul, having already heard enough of it, mumbled from his seat on the ground, "She's right..." He looked at the arguing groups and shouted loud enough for them to hear, "She's right!" Everyone stopped and looked towards Paul, waiting for what he had to say next. "It's no miracle," he continued. "My mother was trained to do that. Poison transmutation is something advanced Bene Gesserit can do."

Paul stood, "I'm not the Mahdi. I'm not here to lead." He stepped towards them as he spoke in Chakobsa, "I'm here to learn your ways." Lovisa noticed the Fremen — Fedaykin, especially — glanced at one another at his use of their language. "Let me fight beside you. That's all I'm asking."

Lovisa noticed that the Fedaykin continued to look at one another, non-verbally agreeing to allow the Outworlder to attempt to join their ranks. Obviously, though, they didn't believe he would make it long as one of them. After all, a couple days ago, Paul was sitting high and mighty within Arrakeen as the son of the Duke.

The other group, led by Stilgar, also exchanged glances amongst themselves. This time, with hints of glee. As if Paul's humble proclamation only further confirmed that he is the Lisan al-Gaib.

Stilgar nodded towards Paul, a ghost of a smile on his lips, "Very well." He turned and began retreating back towards the sietch, the elders following suit. Paul spared one glance towards Lovisa before returning to his still-unconscious mother's side, leaving Lovisa by herself in front of the Fedaykin.

She locked eyes with Daphne, itching to say something — anything, to her, but she simply couldn't think of something to say. What do you say to your long-lost sister, whose very existence you were uninformed about, after thirteen years?

Lovisa didn't have the opportunity to act on her thoughts, anyway. Daphne turned and moved back towards the makeshift tent that she was sitting under previously, leaving Lovisa to return to Jessica's side with Paul.

Now, all they had to do was wait.

AT THE FIRST SIGN OF NIGHTFALL, Stilgar had called upon Paul to join him outside of the sietch. With Jessica finally conscious and now all-knowing thanks to the Water of Life, Lovisa accompanied Paul to Stilgar's meeting place, which overlooked the endless sprawling dunes of Arrakis. Some of the Fedaykin, including Chani, Shishakli, and Daphne, watched from afar, as well as some of the elders in Stilgar's circle. Even Taika was there, her gaze burning into Lovisa's skin as she watched her every move.

Stilgar eyed Lovisa disapprovingly, but ignored her in lieu of addressing Paul, "If you wanna fight with us, first thing, you must learn to be one with the desert." He handed him a packed satchel, "So, here is a tent and enough food." He pointed outwards, towards the south, "I want you to cross that small erg and come back. Travel by night." He looked back at Paul, "You know how to use a paracompass?"

Paul nodded, "Yes."

"Oh —"

"Why aren't I being tasked with the same thing?" Lovisa asked, making her presence known.

Stilgar's eyebrows raised in surprise, "Well, I gathered, due to your injury...you would not be up to the task."

Lovisa shook her head, not risking any excuse for them to not accept her as one of their own, "I'm fine." She nodded in the direction Stilgar pointed, "I want to go too." At Stilgar's unimpressed gaze, Lovisa emphasized, "I want to fight with you."

Stilgar hummed, an emotionless expression on his face. He simply snapped his fingers, and one of his comrades delivered a similar satchel to Lovisa, who immediately shrugged the strap over her shoulder.

Stilgar pointed in the opposite direction, towards the north, "You, then, will cross that small erg and come back." He narrowed his eyes, "Do you know how to use a paracompass?"

"Yes," Lovisa answered, even if she truthfully had never used one in practice before, only in theory while learning the Fremen's ways. Stilgar let out a small sigh. Paul's eyes lingered on Lovisa, concerned about her aforementioned injury, but he was certain that she could take care of herself.

Instead of voicing his thoughts, he asked Stilgar, "Anything else we should know?"

"Uh, beside the worms and the Harkonnens..." Stilgar began, "...beware of the trapdoor spiders. Centipedes are very nasty. Not the big ones. They are harmless. But the little ones, you have to worry about. And..." he trailed off in thought. Stilgar snapped his fingers, "...oh! Don't ever, ever listen to the jinn.

"The jinn?" Lovisa asked, unfamiliar with that term despite her extensive research.

Stilgar explained, "Jinn. Desert spirits. They whisper at night." He imitated their sounds. "They, they can possess you. Really, be careful. They are demons." Stilgar growled, before emitting a low chuckle. His face turned serious, "But it's true. Don't listen to them."

Lovisa and Paul each slowly nodded in understanding, before facing one another.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Lovisa spoke.

The corners of Paul's mouth barely lifted in a smile as he nodded, repeating her words affirmingly, "I'll see you tomorrow." Neither of them moved.

The desert didn't necessarily frighten either of them, but it felt like there was...something...hanging in the air. As if they were forgetting to do something before they went on their separate adventures.

Paul — the more socially-aware of the too, it seemed — figured it out and stepped forward to wrap his arms around Lovisa's shoulders. Lovisa, although initially stunned, returned the hug. She momentarily closed her eyes, wishing somehow that their circumstances were different. If they could just skip this part — whatever this was.

"This" meaning trekking the desert by their lonesomes, essentially sent out to die; remaining gawked at by the other Fremen for being Outworlders, the Lisan al-Gaib and a spy alike; pushing down whatever connection was between them in favor of working towards their goal: fighting with the Fremen in order to bring down the Emperor.

Lovisa inhaled deeply, taking note of the scent radiating from Paul's body. Underneath the sweat and natural scent that the desert provided, this was the first time Lovisa had noticed his specific musky smell.

Taika came forward, a small smile on her lips.

"I have faith in both of you," she told Lovisa and Paul, who naturally separated. Taika faced the latter first, resting her hand on his shoulder. Lovisa noticed a blue piece of fabric wrapped around Taika's palm.

Was she injured? Lovisa asked herself.

Taika rested her clothed hand on Paul's cheek in a maternal manner, "Be brave, Paul. For your mother." Paul, although confused at Taika's sudden niceness towards him, nodded in appreciation of her words of encouragement. Taika smiled, removing her hand as she moved to stand before her daughter.

Lovisa stood wordlessly as Taika unwrapped the blue fabric from her hand and, instead, wrapped it around Lovisa's hairline to keep her hair out of her face. Lovisa's eyebrows flinched slightly, confused at her mother's sudden maternal nature, but was distracted by the scent radiating from what must've been the ribbon.

It smelled like Paul.

Lovisa's eyes flickered towards Paul, who, too, stood watching the interaction, before asking Taika in a hushed tone, "What is this?"

"A Fremen symbol," Taika nonchalantly answered as she tied the ribbon into a knot at the base of Lovisa's skull.

Lovisa's eyebrows furrowed, "A symbol of what?" Taika's pursed lips turned into a knowing smirk. She leaned closer towards Lovisa, so that only she could hear her next words.

"Of love, tytär."

Before Lovisa had an opportunity to discredit Taika's words, Taika spoke aloud for their audience to hear, "Good luck, daughter." After two pats on Lovisa's shoulder, Taika stepped to the side, near Daphne.

Stilgar clapped his hands together, "Very well." He motioned towards the desert, "Off you go." Lovisa and Paul locked eyes one last time, exchanging similar curt nods of encouragement, before turning around in synch and beginning their departures in the desert.

Lovisa held her paracompass in front of her, memorizing the specific direction she was heading in so that she could remember the precisely-opposite direction she would need to retreat back in. Knowing that she was a long way's away from being in worm's territory, Lovisa walked normally, but still remained alert of her surroundings.

Although she could tell by the sound of her footsteps, to be sure, every so often Lovisa would survey the sand's hollowness or lack thereof. So far, she's only encountered packed sand beneath her fists. While it seemed like the erg wasn't too far from her starting point, it felt like the dune was becoming further away the closer Lovisa walked towards it.

Only the sounds of her feet shuffling through the sand and her never-ending thoughts occupied Lovisa's mind. Particularly her mother's parting words to her. Did Taika truly believe that Lovisa loved Paul? Or that he loved her? They had known each other for a mere matter of days. Lovisa wasn't even completely sure what their relationship consisted of. Ex-assigned assassin turned...confidant?

Relationship label aside, perhaps the most glaring barrier was that Lovisa was unsure of what love felt like.

Despite what she grew up believing, in retrospect, Lovisa realized that she was raised in a loveless home on Ginaz. Since learning information about her true heritage, small pieces of the overall puzzle began clicking into place. Tauno's cold nature towards her. He was surely only fulfilling whatever task House Harkonnen left him with — or, maybe even what they had threatened him to carry out.

At the same time, Lovisa remembered, Tauno was imprisoned. He was a member of the Sardaukar, which was a fact she would never forget since it was his Corrino-issued blade that brought about her best friend's dying breath. If Harkonnen truly assigned him with the task of raising Lovisa as a child, why wouldn't he make that information known when there were even whispers of his arrest? Especially with how close the Emperor, who rules the Prison Planet, apparently is with the Baron? Why would he go through so much trouble to suggest that she and him run away when he approached her at the ecology station — ?

"Because I did truly care for you."

Lovisa flew herself around, crysknife drawn at the foreign voice in the realm of silence. Her eyes narrowed, scanning for the source of the sound within the darkness. She didn't see anything, or anyone, until the slightest movement caught her eye in the distance.

Sitting atop a dune was Tauno, still wearing his bloodied Sardaukar uniform. Lovisa's pinched face relaxed in realization of the familiar face, before stiffening up immediately after.

Tauno is dead, she reminded herself. You killed him after he killed Duncan.

Is this what a jinn looks like? Lovisa wondered. Although she listened to Stilgar's warning, he didn't exactly go into further detail about what these spirits looked like.

Tauno, or his ghost, stood and began scaling down the dune towards Lovisa, "I did see you as my own sister." Lovisa remained still, unsure of how to react. Unfortunately, how to approach jinn was not in the Fremen filmbooks that she studied. His figure continued coming closer, although Lovisa noticed the lack of footsteps behind him. "We were each other's only family, after all."

Fearful of what would happen if this spirit got too close, Lovisa began running in the opposite direction. She forbid herself from looking over her shoulder, heart racing at not only the sight of her dead brother, but at his voice.

It sounds just like him —

Lovisa skid to a stop as soon as she heard the hollow thump beneath her feet. She immediately scanned her surroundings, paranoid of seeing the large silhouette of a worm barreling her way in the distance. After all, that hollow sound meant that she was in worm territory now. Seeing nothing unusual, Lovisa snapped her head backwards, anticipating seeing Tauno's ghostly figure on her heels.

Instead, she was alone.

Lovisa momentarily shut her eyes, grateful. When she opened her eyes, she had just noticed that the night sky had begun to melt into the warm colors of the morning light. She took it as her cue to set up her stilltent and wait until the next nightfall to continue her voyage.

Relying mostly on her own instinct and what she could remember about Paul setting up their stilltent after escaping Arrakeen, Lovisa managed to dig deep enough to the sand that, upon inflating the tent, its exterior was hidden beneath a layer of sand. She quickly descended into the small opening of the tent, ensuring to cover the opening as best she could with sand before sealing herself inside.

Lovisa collapsed onto the floor of the tent, leaning against the wall hardened by the solid sand behind it. She closed her eyes and exhaled deeply, finally able to catch her breath after being hyper-aware of her surroundings since she left the safety of the sietch. With her eyes closed, all she could feel was the scratchy fabric of the tent beneath her hands, and all she could smell was the slight mildew scent emitted from the stilltent as it made an effort to capture the sweat and tears from the air and repurpose them into the spigot to be consumed.

There was something else, too —

Lovisa opened her eyes. She instinctively moved her nose towards her shoulder, inhaling as she got in the vicinity of her own temple.

Paul.

The blue makeshift headband Taika had wrapped around Lovisa's head had, somehow, still held onto Paul's scent captured from the brief moment Taika rested her hand on his shoulder and cupped his cheek. Lovisa inhaled deeply, returning to their farewell hug. Then, their hug after the Tahaddi Challenge. Then, their close proximity while watching Arrakeen collapse in flames. Then —

Lovisa questioned herself, mumbling aloud, "What are you doing?" Her mind returned to Taika's allegations including feelings of infatuation...love, to be precise.

Although she would never admit it, Lovisa didn't even know what "love" truly was. Romantic love, at least. Sure, she felt a close bond to Duncan — but as a brother. Or Tauno, before he stabbed her in the back — but once again, as a brother. That was common amongst the Ginaz Swordmaster Candidates, though. None of them pursued relationships because their entire being was devoted to being a Swordmaster. The few exceptions occurred if they were shipped off to other planets to serve different houses, like Duncan was with House Atreides.

The thought of Duncan's life being cut short sent a pang of hurt through Lovisa's chest. It pained her to ponder what his life could have been — what it should have been. Instead, it was cut fatally short.

Would that happen to me, too? She wondered. It wouldn't be far off — dying too young while serving what she believed to be her life's purpose, before she had the chance to even think of the idea of having a family. A real family.

Of course, these thoughts never would've crossed her mind a week ago. But now, that she's learned the truth behind her abduction and how she was actually loved and appreciated, and that she's met someone with whom there is the possibility of creating something deeper with —

The pounding of sand from above Lovisa's head brought her back to reality. Her racing thoughts ceased in lieu of analyzing the source of the sounds above her. The undeniable footsteps came in waves, belonging to what Lovisa assumed was a group.

She closed her eyes in protest, assuming her probable ill fate.

Harkonnens.

Between her and Paul, Lovisa's path was north, in the direction of where the Harkonnen ships were landing and squadrons were infiltrating. Closer, forceful footsteps sounded right above the opening of Lovisa's stilltent. She watched it eerily, wishing that the worst-case scenario did not happen. She internally willed the stilltent to remain hidden, and remain closed off to her unwanted visitors.

The stomping suddenly ceased. Lovisa had a white-knuckle grip on the handle of her crysknife. There was only one entrance and exit of the stilltent; she would have to wait until she was certain no one was longer above her. Lovisa slowly creeped to below the entrance of the stilltent, glancing upwards.

In a split-second, a sword bust down from above and into the stilltent, forcing Lovisa to flinch backwards. The sword's owner, whom Lovisa presumed was a Harkonnen, remained on the other side of the entrance, only his hand gripping onto the hilt of the sword in Lovisa's view.

Returning to reality, Lovisa stabbed her assailant's wrist with her crysknife, forcing them to drop their sword onto the ground as they retracted their hand in pain. Lovisa grabbed the free weapon and switched it into her left hand, with which she was dominant, so that she had a better chance of survival. The crysknife had far too short of a blade to be able to combat the Harkonnens from the safety of the stilltent.

Lovisa waited quietly for more Harkonnens to rush the opening. She could certainly not exit the tent, where she would surely be surrounded and killed on sight. Instead, she would need to wait to be attacked — and she was prepared to wait all night.

Minutes passed. The soldiers above were likely devising a plan on how to smoke out the rat hidden in the stilltent. While glancing back towards the entrance often, Lovisa glanced around the stilltent, attempting to think of her own plan of attack. She eyed the walls of the tent and wondered if she could use them to her advantage. Her momentary idea was interrupted by the rustling sounds from above. Suddenly, the ceiling of the stilltent began caving in. Undeniable panic arose within Lovisa. She couldn't stay in the stilltent, and her attackers knew that just as much as she did.

Lovisa attempted to survey her assailants above by the sounds of their footsteps. Although they were only shuffling around, trying to keep quiet, she could make out three distinct pairs, belonging to those with heavy, light, and moderate footings. Surely there were more than three Harkonnens above, as they usually travel in packs, but perhaps there were only three soldiers waiting directly above the stilltent.

The tent continued to close in on Lovisa, leaving her with few options. She didn't have time to be rational, only to quickly act upon her instincts. Due to the decreasing space within the stilltent, Lovisa could touch both sides with her outstretched arms. She hiked up a foot onto the wall that remained stiff with the resistance of the packed sand behind it, and pushed herself up towards the opening.

The unfortunate soldier hovering above the stilltent's opening, curious about the newfound sounds below, was the first victim of Lovisa's blade. She used the limp body as a shield as she ascended from the stilltent and rolled onto the sand above. Lovisa quickly pushed the corpse off of herself as she sprung up onto her feet and began swinging.

There wasn't enough time to survey her surroundings. Lovisa could feel the presence of others, though, and knew that she was surrounded. She had knowingly given in to their trap, and now would need to fight her way out. Lovisa swung her sword around, unsure exactly where her opponents were. On Ginaz, though, she had been trained to fight blindfolded, and this was not much different.

Lovisa grunted with every jab she made, making sure to use enough force to penetrate through the Harkonnen armor. Once the number of soldiers fallen to the ground began to dwindle, she could make out the few soldiers surrounding her. When it was only three of them left, Lovisa was able to strategically switch between attacking and defending.

The soldiers on either her right and left began to charge at the same time, but Lovisa slid on the sand a split second before they could make impact with her torso. Instead, they impaled each other's abdomens all the way through to the other side of their armor. Lovisa quickly hopped to her feet and spun around to face her last opponent. With one last burst of energy from the adrenaline coursing through her veins, Lovisa charged first, slashed their legs as she slid past, then seamlessly mounted their back before delivering the final blow into the side of their neck with her crysknife. After the Harkonnen's hands went limp and their sword fell to the ground, Lovisa released her grip on them and allowed their body to slump onto the sand as well.

Breathless, Lovisa fell onto her knees to allow herself momentary relief. She rested her hands on the sand as she caught her breath, looking around to ensure there weren't any stragglers. No soldiers could be seen, but in the far, far distance Lovisa could see the faint silhouette of a Harkonnen ship in the air. That was all she needed to see before scurrying back on her feet, rummaging in her bag for the paracompass, and beginning her trek back to the sietch.

Upon looking for the device, Lovisa's hand felt something unfamiliar. The tool itself was made out of metal, connected to a flimsy tube. Lovisa pulled it out of the satchel, immediately recognizing it as the portable deathstill instruments the other Fremen used to pull the water from the Harkonnen soldiers' bodies before they made their journey to Sietch Tabr. Lovisa felt around in the satchel for the corresponding pouches to hold the actual water itself, and was pleasantly surprised to find plenty of them. The pouches themselves were oval shaped and made out of a hard material with a ribbed texture.

Eyeing up the fallen squadron, Lovisa immediately connected the tube into the first empty pouch. After sticking the needle-end of the instrument into the first soldier's body, Lovisa watched as water immediately began flowing through the deathstill and into the pouch. Coincidentally, there were ten pouches in the satchel, which Lovisa was able to fill from each of the ten Harkonnens.

Almost as if she was meant to encounter them.

As Lovisa began stashing the filled pouches as well as the deathstill itself back into her satchel, she noticed the shimmering of the spice on the sand. She glanced up into the sky, noticing the light of the early morning beginning to shine down on the desert.

Unlike last time, Lovisa didn't decide to set up her stilltent and wait until the next nightfall. This time around, Lovisa needed to return to the sietch. She shrugged the strap of the satchel on her shoulder, fished out the paracompass from inside it, and began retracing her steps.

When Lovisa finally exited worm territory, her journey's time became much shorter since she had the freedom to walk normally, and with quickened speed, desperate to return to Sietch Tabr — something she never thought that she would wish.

Once the unforgiving Arrakis' sun began to rise higher in the sky, Lovisa began to feel lightheaded. Without stopping, she managed to reach into the satchel and pull out a wrapped portion of food, carnally biting into the mushed-up meal. The large amount of spice both cooked into the meal and from the sand that was being kicked into the air and involuntarily inhaled took Lovisa's nervous system off-guard, prompting her to stumble.

Lovisa quickly shook it off, continuing on her path to the sietch. She could begin to see the rocky structure that housed it in the distance, with Fremen members littering outside of it. Lovisa furrowed her eyebrows, why are they outside at this hour?

Her pace quickened as she became desperate to make her presence known to her peers. To inform them that she was indeed alive. To prove all of them wrong.

With great difficulty, Lovisa scaled the last dune separating her from the sietch members, who were now close enough that Lovisa could hear their voices conversing in Chakobsa, but still too far to decipher exactly what they were saying.

Paul, among those Fremen, prepared to embark on his first voyage as one of them. He readjusted his stillsuit, removing and replacing the straps over his shoulders. While it was already fitted perfectly, he needing something to occupy his antsy hands. Since he had returned to Sietch Tabr but Lovisa didn't, he had been extremely on edge. He didn't want to speak to anyone — not even Jessica. That night, even, he was planning on sneaking out to go find her.

He knew that she was alive. She had to be.

Whispers began surrounding Paul like wildfire. His head immediately shot up in curiosity, noticing that everyone was peering at something behind him. Paul turned around and followed their gazes, eyes landing on a shadowy figure standing on top of the dune directly before them. With the sun's position, this person's front was cascaded by black, but Paul could immediately identify their silhouette. It was the same one that has plagued his recent dreams.

The same time this figure seamlessly descended the dune towards the Fremen, Paul moved through the crowd to get closer. Stilgar's front faced the newcomer, hand hovering over his crysknife.

"Stop," he ordered. The figure continued towards him.

"Wait — !" Paul called from within the crowd, that was now closing in on him, preventing him from moving as quickly.

"Stop!" Stilgar shouted, grasping onto the handle of his weapon.

"Wait — !" Paul pleaded, now forcibly shoving his way through the gathered audience.

"Who — ?" Stilgar stopped himself short as the figure came onto even ground, stopping before him. With the dune behind them, the shadow previously concealing their identity was now blocked by the mountain of sand. Silence rang throughout the crowd.

Lovisa Koskinen stood before Stilgar, blood splattered all over her stillsuit and satchel, which was now hanging lower than it did when it was originally given to her from the additional weight. Her own face appeared to be bruised and battered, stray blood sprinkled over her face, a combination of her own and her opponents'. She threw the satchel onto the ground before Stilgar, its heavy contents spilling out before him.

Slowly, Stilgar crouched down to examine what Lovisa had brought back. He picked up the full deathstill pouch nearest him, measuring the amount of water with his hand. He used his free hand to lift the satchel, counting both the pouches strewn on the ground as well as the few that remained inside the bag.

Ten.

Stilgar's eyes returned to Lovisa, whom he kept his gaze locked on as he stood back to his full height.

He held up the pouch still in his hand, "You were attacked? Or did you attack?"

"An entire Harkonnen squadron attacked me," Lovisa explained.

"And...?" Stilgar trailed off, searching for more answers.

"And I..." Lovisa began, stumbling slightly as her lightheadedness began catching up to her. "...I..." She stumbled again, the ground beneath her feet beginning to spin.

"Lovisa?" Paul asked, finally breaking free from within the clutches of the crowd.

"...I killed them..." Lovisa finished,

right before she collapsed onto the ground.

hope you all enjoyed this longer chapter and all of lovisa's girlboss activities 💅🏼😤💥