The Preserve, Late Friday Night
"Father."
Leto had guessed what was coming once the same dream had recurred several nights in a row. Then the urge to return to Fandom grew strong, and he gave in to it. This had happened before after all, although not to him, and of all the things the island could force upon its inhabitants, even the former ones, this was hardly the worst.
It wasn't the worst, but it was still... not painful, but seeing his father in front of him filled him with grief.
"My son?" The hooded figure of Paul Atreides moved slowly forward, letting his staff guide him as his sight could not.
Leto approached him, moving close enough so that he could place a hand on his father's shoulder. "Yes father. It seems a place beyond our universe offered us one more meeting, without neither of us being able to predict it."
"A place of freedom then," Paul said. "From the visions. You have been here before?"
"I have lived here. That is why I am sometimes drawn back. That is why you are here."
Leto felt a hard grip on his arm, the one covered with wormskin. "Your voice is still the same. How much have you changed?"
"Not much. Not yet. Could you see me you would still recognize me."
Paul's other hand reached out to touch his face. "You could have stayed here. Free of the curse of prescience you could have shaped your own life. Don't you think that is what a father would wish for his child?"
Leto let his father run his fingers across the human skin of his face. "Then you should have stayed to teach me that lesson." There was harshness now just below the surface, and Leto spoke in his father's voice as a reminder of what he was: pre-born, caught in the memories of his ancestors. "I may be many things but I am still you child." His voice was his own again. "But unlike Ghanima I may be able to forgive you and I will not spend these few days accusing you or letting you accuse me. We have both made our choices."
Paul sighed. "An agreement then."
[NFI.]
Leto had guessed what was coming once the same dream had recurred several nights in a row. Then the urge to return to Fandom grew strong, and he gave in to it. This had happened before after all, although not to him, and of all the things the island could force upon its inhabitants, even the former ones, this was hardly the worst.
It wasn't the worst, but it was still... not painful, but seeing his father in front of him filled him with grief.
"My son?" The hooded figure of Paul Atreides moved slowly forward, letting his staff guide him as his sight could not.
Leto approached him, moving close enough so that he could place a hand on his father's shoulder. "Yes father. It seems a place beyond our universe offered us one more meeting, without neither of us being able to predict it."
"A place of freedom then," Paul said. "From the visions. You have been here before?"
"I have lived here. That is why I am sometimes drawn back. That is why you are here."
Leto felt a hard grip on his arm, the one covered with wormskin. "Your voice is still the same. How much have you changed?"
"Not much. Not yet. Could you see me you would still recognize me."
Paul's other hand reached out to touch his face. "You could have stayed here. Free of the curse of prescience you could have shaped your own life. Don't you think that is what a father would wish for his child?"
Leto let his father run his fingers across the human skin of his face. "Then you should have stayed to teach me that lesson." There was harshness now just below the surface, and Leto spoke in his father's voice as a reminder of what he was: pre-born, caught in the memories of his ancestors. "I may be many things but I am still you child." His voice was his own again. "But unlike Ghanima I may be able to forgive you and I will not spend these few days accusing you or letting you accuse me. We have both made our choices."
Paul sighed. "An agreement then."
[NFI.]