Day 1 LA: A way in

[Ahmina]

/gasps!

The fremen girl had told Liet she would need them to underestimate her so she needed to act demure and subdued.

She lowered her head and gaze to return to work

[Lady Fenring]

"Enough ghafla tonight." The Lady spoke in Chakobsa, an ancient battle tongue that was the tongue of the Fremen. The word meant 'negligence', but it could also mean 'sin' or 'crime' as it implied irresponsibility when the welfare of a group was at stake. "Ketman at night is a child's play, but Al-Lat's torment is not yet done." Another sentence packed with meaning.

Ahmina felt targeted, and as if in a presence of a Reverend Mother, which might have been the case, though this woman was very different from Mother Ramallo. Ketman was the practice of concealing the identity when revealing it might be harmful, which universally meant Fremen infiltration. Al-Lat was the name Fremen had given to their sun, Canopus, but its deeper meaning was: Sun-Daughter.

"Have you told your new personnel about the basins, Mapes?" That was in Galach again, as if the piercing into the cognizance of the Fremen culture had never happened.

[The Shadout Mapes]

"Not yet, my lady." Mapes said quickly, and her voice betrayed some anxiety.

[Ahmina]

Did she know? How could she? Was she a witch?

Ahmina worked on her tasks like a good serving girl

[Lady Fenring]

"Make sure that you do. For your people to enjoy my countenance here, there has to be adaptation."

Again, that woman tapped into the kind of vocabulary that triggered meanings. Countenance was what a naib could offer within the purview of their sietch, but it was always conditional on abiding by the rules of the sietch, however harsh they were. The imperative to adapt, to yield to the environmental pressures and survive, was being ingrained deeply in every Fremen's early education. Here she was saying: I am a force of nature, this is a storm and you are in the eye of it, one false move and it'll tear your flesh, but as long as you follow its rhythm, you have a chance to make it through.

To know such things without being a Fremen, she had to be a witch.

Then, Lady Fenring turned around and left, bringing her back to a crysknife that could come from Ahmina or Mapes. Trust, naivete, or supreme confidence?

/exit

[Ahmina]

When the lady was gone Ahmina just looked at Mapes, wondering if there was going to be an explanation

[The Shadout Mapes]

"She met mother Ramallo and they together changed the water for us. It happened only once, and no more, because we can't trust her Count. He is a demon. He kills when he must and when he likes alike. He is the iduali of the soul." Mapes said with some fear in her voice, speaking only in Chakobsa other servants wouldn't understand. "This palace holds evil and holds hope, like the gut of Shaitan."

[Ahmina]

''I already regret leaving the desert...but duty comes first'' she replied in the same tongue ''How will the banquet proceed?''

[The Shadout Mapes]

"This is not fully known, but..." The Mapes described the usual pattern of such an event, including the atrocious water-scattering custom.

/Fade to disclosure