skies of rust || ❝ d'you breathe the name of your saviour in your hour of need. ❞

[spicetrance]

SKIES OF RUST

I hope to never fall, where enough is not the same it was before.

Come feed the rain
'Cause without your love my life
Ain't nothing but this carnival of rust CODE BY TESSISAMESS

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THREAD COLLAPSE.

[spicetrance]

[ Destiny. Fate. Are those concepts true or can they be manipulated? The Bene Gesserits had been waiting for their male counterpart. The Shortening of the Way. Had that been set in motion or foreseen? Can any human or person truly believe in a higher power or concept of a force guiding them when human plans set in motions for thousands of years shift it? The source may not matter to most, but for some reason, it nags at his mind. It connects him and Bastila and perhaps it always has.

Why?

Some led them apart. Some led them closer. The one that she has chosen is lined in gold. He can only see parts of it. Moments. It could lead to a child... children. It could lead to danger hiding in the shadows. Paul can't see the details and he truthfully doesn't wish to see anymore. He has seen enough. ]

The fallout from ignoring an order from the Emperor would have been tremendous. [ Fingers continue to stroke into her hair. ] A loss of holdings in CHOAM. Military involvement. War if sides had been picked between the Atreides and the Emperor. Taking the offer of Arrakis was the least damaging to the Imperium. Just not to our house.

[ Paul, in his childish way, would have wished no one to die. No one taking the place for another. Someone would have died. The Emperor was out for blood. The fact that the wards had survived, and unborn child, will send rippled through the Imperium. Shock and awe. It will make a statement grander than what the Landsraad can quickly decide on. How he will do that, and how he can even garner their attention? He has no idea on how to do just yet. All he knows is that he must cripple the Harkonnens to the point it brings spice trade down to get the emperor involved. ]

There is more to you than simply being a ward to my family, Basi. There is more for you to see in this life--more you could do. Asking if you would come almost destroyed those possibilities. Staying with me may close them off to you entirely. You could have always asked the Sisterhood to help you off-world. They would have risked incurring the wrath of the Harkonnens. They don't fear the Baron like most do.

[ That was, at least, the impression he had garnered from the Supreme Reverend Mother. ]

Why stay here if you thought us all dead?

[ They must have kept her alive as to not garner the wrath of the Bene Gesserits so openly. They wouldn't care if they upset the witches. It's more the political power play at hand. Killing an acolyte of the Bene Gesserits would bring unfavorable views as opposed to the Landsraad knowing, but not saying, that the blood feud with the Atreides had ended on Arrakis. ]

They won't care that you are missing. They'll proclaim you as dead. The Sisterhood may be angered, or, they may know that you have disappeared into the desert. The Harkonnens can simply say that Maud'dib killed all in the facility and left nothing behind. They sent you there to die.

All because they don't know who is behind Maud'dib. Just a Fremen insurgent.

[ He rests his head against hers further. Eyes remained close. They'll need to sleep at some point. Yet, his mind races with everything for the need to catch up on what has been missed because of these events. Not just arriving on Arrakis. What should of been said before they left Caladan. ]

I wonder what will you do now to help Maud'dib's cause?

[ Paul feels the words unable to leave him. She has agreed to courtship, but, another thing he wishes to say remains lodged inside him. It must not be the time to say it, if there is ever such a thing as a time to say anything. ] I would have you at my side, Bastila Shan. Confidant, friend, advisor, suitress.

[battlemeditation]

[ Bastila wants to believe them to be true, because it's important to her that she and Paul can control their own destinies, their own fates. Paul might say otherwise, however reluctantly, given what he has seen in dreams and visions, but Bastila refuses to believe that their paths are already decided. And as far as she is concerned, Paul's path and her path are the same. They are connected, intertwined, no matter what the Bene Gesserit have to say.

If he can just admit that they are connected and hang all the rest of his visions, except for the ones he wants to see become reality? That is good enough for her. Of course, she can't know the nature of his thoughts, even though she can venture a guess at them based upon his expressions and his words.

And, well, if what he can see leads them closer, and if it leads to children... So much the better. She wants a life with Paul, and if that life includes having a family together, again, she has no complaints. ]

I know that there was no ignoring the orders from the Emperor, but I wish that the outcome had been different. I know we all wish that, and that there is no use in wishing, but I can hardly help it. If I could reach back and do something to save your father, you know that I would.

[ She hums quietly in thought, not because she finds anything about this moment they are sharing anything less than serious, but because she needs a moment to gather her thoughts. She knows that she stays close to the Atreides by her own choice; it may not have started out that way, and some would say it still is not her choice, but even if she had all the choices in the world, she would still stay with them as long as they allowed her to. ]

There may be an entire world out there for me to see, and much more for me to do, but- I choose to remain here. I choose to remain with you. I do not need those other possibilities, whatever they may be. All I need is to be yours, to walk with you and talk with you and simply be here. I would never ask the Sisterhood for that.

[ For anything, if she is being honest with herself. Well, that is not entirely true. She would ask for their help if it came down to Paul's life being in danger and the Sisterhood could do something about it.

She stares at Paul then, or what she can see of him, with a longing in her eyes: a longing to place both hands on either side of his face and pull him in for a kiss. But for the moment, although it takes great effort, she refrains. ]

I did not- I was not ready to give all of you up as dead. How could anyone be ready for that?

[ She had thought about what she would do if she was the only one left alive; would she try to leave Arrakis? Surely the Sisterhood would see her secreted off-world. But where would she go? What would she do? Either path seemed to lead to no future that she wanted for herself. ]

I do not care what the Harkonnens think. The only thing that I have to say about them is that I wish they were all dead, and of course, that is an impossibility.

[ She slides a little closer to him then, pressing more of herself against him, simply because she wants to be close to him, not because she wishes to do anything more. The time is not right for that, she tells herself. ]

I wonder... What would Muad'dib have me do? Still, I find that what Paul Atreides desires to be of greater importance.

[ He states what he would have her do, and she smiles warmly at him. ] Then it is good that I am here with no intention of ever leaving your side. And if you wish for me to fulfill those roles for you, I shall do my best to see your wishes fulfilled to the letter.

[ And again, that urge to simply kiss him without thought of propriety rises to the surface. How long can she resist this urge? ]