The Arms Hotel, Room 618, Monday evening

[future_sandworm]

"Alice?"

Leto reached out a hand to wrap his fingers around hers. He had postponed the conversation about the future, knowing that Alice's mind envisioned burning disaster. He did not. He could imagine happiness, but he couldn't see it like he did the rest of the fate of his universe. Alice's path in his life was invisible to him, as was that of

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[notyourpawn]

Alice considered his words, tried to rearrange them into pieces that made sense.

"Is that what you fear most?" she asked. "Destiny?"

[future_sandworm]

"I don't fear it, but I'm trapped by knowing the future, like my father was," he replied. He had listened to Alice, trying to respond to her feelings. Perhaps explaining what he felt would make a difference. It had been many years, and yet now it felt like just days ago since they parted.

"It was my choice, and I made it with open eyes." He tried to meet her eyes. "I've changed, and I will continue to do so for almost four thousand years. Seeing you, and our child, have a life outside that vision would mean more to me than I can say."

[notyourpawn]

"Four thousand years?" Alice asked. "But ... whatever shall you do, in all that time?"

Some people craved immortality, or the approximation thereof. Alice wasn't one of them. Leto's lifespan seemed more curse than blessing, to her.

[future_sandworm]

And that was another of the many reasons why Leto loved her. She understood things that others did not.

"I'll have enough time to rule the Imperium in a way that will avoid the extinction of humanity," he replied. Holding out an arm covered with wormskin, he added: "I merged with the sandtrout and let them create a new skin. Over the centuries the transformation will continue, making me less and less human."