"Being..." He almost said 'water-' "...bound to smugglers is a dangerous situation. But sometimes there is little choice." Stilgar nodded with understanding. "And what is the location?"

"If told, could you trust? Not speak of this place?" Bomilcar offered with a shrug. A person should be trustworthy enough not to reveal such things. Otherwise why would the Fremen trust them.

"That is why I ensured that only I was bound." she nodded in understanding.

"We already know Dune, Buzmali. The trust requires we learn what you know, what directions they gave you. Did the smugglers give you a name, or just the coordinates?"

"Just the coordinates." Cuyler answered. "He said it was a spaceport."

"Ah. Landing is what they could have made. I'll check those coordinates if you show them to me. Will the rest of your group be arriving there?" That had indeed been the plan based on a bet the advance team would discover the site for their final investigation in the area. Which was now happening.

"Ah. Landing is what they could have made. I'll check those coordinates if you show them to me. Will the rest of your group be arriving there?" That had indeed been the plan based on a bet the advance team would discover the site for their final investigation in the area. Which was now happening.

"Yes." she nodded. "We'll need to meet them."

Stilgar looked at their thopter.

"There are two thopters." He admitted with some concern. "One has to go across the erg, the other may get closer to Orgiz." He left the matter for them to decide on who goes where. "I must go across the erg, another can lead to Orgiz if this is what you want now." So there were other Fremen near, as he didn't seem to be meaning Ahmina. "Or we can all go where the rest of you is meant to come."

"If we're trying to find something, I should probably go." Cuyler said.

"To Orgiz. Protect if needed," he says to Cuyler, nodding at her.

Stilgar looked at the two.

"Chani will lead you there."

He gestured, and two more Fremen emerged from the rocks up there, having stayed completely obscured until now.

The first of them drew attention for reasons that were obvious on first look.

Bomilcar blinked. Then looked between them. Then blinked again. "Really?" he asked nobody in particular. It was... uncanny.

Cuyler was silent for a moment, unintentionally holding her breath.

Finally, she nodded. "I am pleased we could meet."

The resemblance had only several possible explanations. A random genetic quirk couldn't be entirely dismissed, but was extremely unlikely. One could get spooked into thinking one of them could be a Tleilaxu face dancer, but it was very unlikely too, given important differences in the looks of Chani and Cuyler. Twins separated at birth was a cliche with little credibility. The likeliest seemed to be a non-random genetic circumstance: common ancestry. But even that seemed extremely remote in possibility: how could Cuyler have anything to do with Fremen gene stock? Even if it were true, how far back did it go? The puzzle had to keep confounding.

The elfin-faced girl called Chani seemed to have accommodated the mystery already as she didn't waste time on staring. For a Zensunni, not as fixated on getting a logical explanation for everything in their acceptance of wonders and portents, it was perhaps easier to follow through without being perplexed. She gave them all a passing glance of her Ibad eyes, nodded in greeting, uttered a 'Subakh ul kuhar', and moved to their thopter to investigate its condition and controls.

Cuyler looked at Bomilcar. "Let's go."

The guardian nodded, ready to move.

They made their way to the thopter.

Ahmina turned to Stillgar for a moment

''They will need my help as well, my naib. Can I accompany Chani in this endeavor?''

Waiting to see the others' choices, Edwell chimes in, "I will go on to the Cave of Birds, meet up with the ones who told us of its existence and the rest of the auditors. The plan was for them to rendezvous with us there if they didn't hear back from us." He would be of limited use scouting out Orgiz, but he could ensure the data was passed on to the others and perhaps get a better idea of the strength these Fremen were hiding.

Ahmina wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 11, 2021 1:29 pm

Ahmina turned to Stillgar for a moment

''They will need my help as well, my naib. Can I accompany Chani in this endeavor?''

"Keep helping them." Stilgar said in Chakobsa, then his face reacted somewhat to Edwell uttering the name of the place they were going. So the offworlders knew more. He didn't dramatise it though, just considered the implications.

"Then we must prepare for their coming." He just quipped, and showed the rest of the auditors a path up the canyon, to their hidden thopter. Mapes would fly with them there too, but was now busy collapsing the stilltent and camouflaging the marks of their stay. The other Fremen that had only descended, she called him Shishakli, was helping her.

"We would have to fly low, between the dunes, to avoid detection. Travelling by day is dangerous and best avoided, but we can't wait." Stilgar said.

Meanwhile, Chani got the handle of the thopter control and waited for Ahmina and offworlders to join her. There was a slight frown on her face.

Cuyler picked a seat with a good view, ready to watch for trouble.

Bomilcar moved to sit next to the pilot seat. He suspected he would feel distracted if Ahmina was in a seat in front of him the whole time. Guilt would eat him alive if he didn't distract himself with observation.

Ahmina nodded to Stillgar and moved to place herself behind Chani. Leaning forward she whispered in Chakobsa ''Something on your mind?''

"Why does this offworld woman look like me." It was an answer more than a question - the reason for her disquiet, even as she was hiding it. "You could have told me about it, Ahmina."