𝐀𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐜𝐡, a man came down from a ledge and spoke to Stilgar in Chakobsa. Chani began to translate even though we could understand what they were saying. The man was asking why we had arrived so late and telling Stilgar that he thought we were spies. "You're not welcome here." he spat at us 

"He says-" Chani began 

"We got that" Paul cut her off "Thanks." 

"Stay close to me," Stilgar said as we made our way into the Sietch "There is something you will want to see." Paul and I looked at each other, what was he going to show us? We walked in with the rest of the Fremen and were instantly in awe of what we were seeing. The rock walls were carved perfectly with inscriptions and symbols along them. The ceilings were tall and this place was huge in general. 

We continued walking until we came to an area where most of the Fremen were gathered. They looked at us as if we were animals, I didn't take too much offense from it though, we were intruders and they had never even seen us before. As soon as they saw the body of Jamis, everything broke out into chaos. People were yelling and chanting and touching the body. 

"You killed Jamis" someone yelled at me, I stepped back a little and Paul grabbed my hand "It's ok" he signaled "You had to do it, he challenged you" I knew that it was true but I still felt guilty. Jamis was a person too, he had family and friends and because of me, he was dead.

The chaos continued and Stilgar tried to calm everyone down. "They don't know what they are saying" he yelled. Another man walked up to Paul 

"Lisan al Gaib, Lisan al Gaib" he cried, bowing down to Paul "Mahdi." It seemed that some of the Fremen believed that he was the messiah while others just thought that we were murderers and spies.

Once everyone had calmed down a little bit, we were led to an open area where everyone sat talking and eating. I noticed a woman, sitting hunched in the corner. Even though her hood was up, I could see a couple of strands of red hair. I didn't think red was a common hair color for the Fremen and I had only known one person my whole life who had red hair.  "Paul" I nudged his shoulder "that woman" I pointed at her and his eyes widened 

"Could it be?" he asked walking over slowly. Just as he reached her she tilted her head up and we could see that it was her mother. How though? How was it possible? "Mother" he gasped grabbing her in a hug "you're alright" 

"Everything will be ok," she said softly "I am here now" 

"But how did you survive?" I asked her. She patted the floor for us to sit down next to her before she started to tell her story 

"When you both had left, I was running to escape. The Harkonnens came and killed the people that I was with but through the chaos I managed to escape and find some of the Fremen who were hiding. They had wanted to kill me because I meant nothing but trouble to them, and that's when I told her of you Paul." 

"Me?" he asked, "what stories are you telling now?"

"I told them that my son was the Messiah they had heard about, the rumored Lisan al Gaib. I said that I would be able to have them gain your trust, Paul. It was risky because some do not believe in you but I was lucky, I found the ones who had faith." 

"How long have you been here?" I asked her 

"Not too long" she sounded very tired "It took a few days to travel here." 

"I'm glad that we are all safe," I said but then I paused "Have you heard anything about my mother? or Blaize and Zach?" Jessica looked like she wanted to say something but stopped herself before she could tell me 

"Uh, no, I haven't heard anything," she said softly "I'm sorry Mila." I nodded and sifted through the sand on the floor awkwardly. I knew that she wasn't telling me something but I didn't know what it was or why she was hiding it. 

"It looks like your Bene Gesserit propaganda has taken route," Paul told her "Some of them already think I'm their Messiah, others, false profit. I must sway the nonbelievers. If they follow me we can disrupt spice production, that's the only way to get to the emperor."

"Your father didn't believe in revenge" she whispered 

"Yeah well I do," he said 

"Paul maybe she's right," I said "I know that we have all lost so much, but maybe we shouldn't seek revenge. It might not end well." He did not reply as he had his eyes closed, he didn't even seem to hear me "Paul?" I asked and he suddenly shook out of his trance but not before others had noticed 

"Too spicy for the foreigner?" A woman asked laughing, the people around her laughed too. Paul looked down at his food with a furrowed brow 

"what is it?" I asked him 

"There is spice in the food" 

"You'll soon have bright blue eyes, "I told him "We all will." He already had a greenish color to his eyes but I thought that blue would look good. 

"Woman" Stilgar appeared suddenly "Come with me." Jessica stood up and went with him. We had no idea where she was going but I hoped that she would be ok. 

Once she was gone I turned to Paul and whispered "Do you think your mom knows more than she'sletting on about my family?" I asked "She seemed unsure about what answer to give me"

"I don't know Mila" he shook his head "She's really rattled up and probably isn't thinking straight" 

I sighed and nodded "Yeah you're probably right." I knew he wasn't, Lady Jessica was Bene Gesserit and she was very strong, she was not rattled up and I needed to know what she was hiding. 

 ↦↦↦↦↦ ↦↦↦↦↦ ↦↦↦↦↦ ↦↦↦↦↦

A little bit later, I was sitting under a small tent in the sand trying to fall asleep. It was so hot that I was having no such luck. I could hear Chani and Paul arguing behind me. Paul seemed to be having a hard time understanding why not everyone believed in him. If I were the Fremen I would be skeptical too. 

"We must pray" Stilgar yelled coming out from the rocks, many people joined him in a circle and began their prayers while the rest watched. Paul came over to me looking rather distraught.

"Are you ok?" I asked 

"That girl said something odd to me" he pointed to the one sitting next to Chani, "she told me that my mother would drink the piss of Shai'Hulud and die" 

"We did learn that it is poison" I recalled "but why would your mom ever drink that stuff, she is way too smart for that"

"It's a trick, I know it" he laid down under the tent and closed his eyes "I can't lose her again Mila"

"You won't," I told him

"How can you be so sure?"

"One of the things that is taught when becoming a Bene Gesserit is how to transmute poison. My mother knew how and Jessica will too, she will be fine Paul" I took his hand gently "and when she beats their test, she will be the reverend mother." 

"I hope you're right" he mumbled. He opened his eyes and I could see that slowly but surely they were becoming blue. I wondered if mine were too. I was surprised that I was as pale as I am. We had been in the desert for quite a while and I was still as pale as a sheet. "Hey come here." He patted the surface next to him and I lay down resting my head on his chest. "I know I seem to be making this all about me and I'm sorry. We both lost everything that night."

"You haven't been making it all about you," I told him softly "I just haven't much talked about my family, I know that sounds bad but I don't want to be sad every second of every day, it's just easier for me not to mention them." 

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it now?" he asked rubbing my shoulder for comfort 

"I don't know" I sighed "I just don't understand how Blaize could have died or been taken so easily," I said, "he always seemed so strong."

"He was strong, but the Harkonnens are ruthless," Paul said "They took down some of our best fighters." I knew that he was thinking about Duncan. Duncan's loss was one of the hardest and most shocking. 

"One day the Harkonnens will be gone," I told him "We will have our freedom and it will be for everyone that we have lost." He leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to my lips. 

"I hope so," he said as people erupted into chaos all of a sudden. People were yelling and screaming as we approached them and saw Lady Jessica on the ground. 

"Mother" Paul sprung into action and pulled her head into his lap. She was alive but her breathing was very shaky and she was close to passing out. Just as I had said, she survived the poison. 

"This was no miracle" Chani yelled 

"You saw it with your own eyes," Stilgar told her exasperatedly, everyone groaned and rolled their eyes "Mother of the Lisan Al Gaib shall survive the Hold Poison and she did, as written." With those words, people began yelling again 

"Her people wrote that," Chani said angrily 

"Blasphemy!" Stilgar dismissed her "The prophecy has been accomplished." Unfortunately, Chani was right. It wasn't a miracle, she had been trained to do that for years.

"The Mahdi must be Fremen" another screamed "Arrakis must be freed by its own people" 

"She's right" Paul yelled and everyone went quiet "It's no miracle, the Bene Gesserit prepared her for this." Stilgar looked astounded 

"Poison transmutation is something high levels of the Bene Gesserit are trained to be able to do" I added "I was to start learning in a couple of years too."  

"I'm not the Mahdi," Paul told them standing up "I'm not here to lead, I am here to learn your ways and fight beside you, that is all that I am asking."

There was dead silence for a few moments before Stilgar whispered "The Mahdi is too humble to say he is the Mahdi, even more reason to believe he is. As written" People began mumbling to each other and nodding their heads. 

"you seem to be winning them over," I told Paul

"For now" he replied "but I have a lot of work to do"