"Mother Superior." But his eyes were on the other two women - the ones he had not yet met. He had never met an acolyte before, but they were undoubtedly Bene Gesserit. So young compared to most of the ones he had known. Sheeana too, had been surprising that way.
Arha was quiet and had been for awhile, simply watching Tess and Katara work, so still she could have been made of stone. They were definitely getting better. She blinked and finally moved, her blue-within-blue eyes soft as she peered at Duncan.
She was dressed in her white leather, the buckles gleaming in the light as she turned.
"We were almost finished for today anyway." Sheeana signaled her students to come join her. "Sisters, meet Duncan Idaho, one of the few men permitted to learn our ways." This was mostly for their benefit. Since their Sharing, Arha knew everything Sheeana knew about him...
Katara had been anxious to do some training since the nightmare, and she had thrown herself into this, staying focus. It didn't mean she was perfect, but with Tess's help, they were able to be a formidable match (JUST formidable) against Sheeana. When Sheeana had them stopped, she exchanged a knowing look with Tess, happy to be with her sister again. Once she introduced the man (he looked like a boy, but if Sheeana said MAN, there was little doubt) Katara paid attention. This was the one Sheeana had talked to her about. How exactly did you react to someone like him though?
Katara just gave him a polite bow, smiling. "It's nice to meet you Duncan: I am Katara, of the Southern Water Tribe."
"Tennessee Lee, from Amontadilla," the other girl says, giving Duncan a playful little mock-salute. Her Southern Applachian accent is clear and thick, restrained just enough not to harm intelligibility. In her plain coveralls she doesn't look like much-curvaceous and attractive, but a first glance would judge her body as soft, seemingly without the dedicated buildup of core muscle needed to support the ways of prana bindu training. "But my friends call me Tess," she adds, clearly intending that Duncan be included in that group. Her manner and tone-open, caring, naive, the sort of person to think the best of everyone.
The flash of light when the fourth sister moved drew Duncan's attention (it was probably intended to, considering the source), but he kept his focus on the two acolytes to whom he was being introduced. How many Bene Gesserit were among the woken?
"Hello, Katara," Duncan copied the bow, just as politely, "And Tess." Who received a respectful nod as opposed to a playful salute. Both girls women seemed quite open and kind, but he easily remained wary. Kindness could be all the more dangerous for being genuine, and no less a tool.
And now he looked pointedly at the fourth, the other Reverend Mother.
"I am Arha Masaari, Duncan," she said quietly, fixing her gaze on him with a soft smile. It was an open smile, no guile, nothing just herself...even if she did have many layers. "And I am pleased to meet you."
"We..." An ambiguous pronoun. "...Are the last of this order. We are all willing participants in the dream." Keywords. Darwi would say them to his adult self...Would he know them now? Automatically remember she was referring to the mature humanity that was their goal?
"We," Katara said, and here she indicated herself and Tess, "Don't know all that much about you, but are willing to learn, now that you're here. We're actually pretty curious about the only man we've heard trained by the Bene Gesserit. That, and well, your name has a tendency to pop in the books we've ready concerning matters on Rakis."
Yes Sheeana, Katara is that nerdy.
"And we would be happy to tell you about us as well. Tess and I are both from worlds far different from yours, with pretty varied backgrounds, and we are both honored to serve as Bene Gesserit now."
Tess gives a little nod at Katara's comment. "I do hope we don't put y'off any by all the attention," she adds. "It's nice t'meet'cha, Duncan." And she means it-but then, she thinks that way about just about everybody.
"Arha Masaari," Duncan acknowledged. Sheeana's words didn't mean anything to him for now, although he was troubled (certainly surprised) to think of the entire sisterhood of the Known Universe - so far as the Mother Superior knew - reduced to so few. These new students must have begun their study recently, and thus relatively late. Still witches.
Duncan really couldn't help it - he liked them. All the while certain that he was meant to.
"You're from different worlds?" Duncan repeated, interested not only in said other worlds but also in the fact that Katara had told him. Need-to-know? "From my point in time," addressing Sheeana (who didn't need to be told, but), "I've mostly remained on... Gammu."
"I may not be the one to ask, in the case of the Duncan Idahos you've read about. The events in those records either weren't of my life, or they aren't of my life yet. For that..." He shrugs. (His nonchalance. Let him show you it.) "I have heard that there's another Duncan Idaho aboard, but I've yet to come across him."
"I am from the time of the first Duncan," Arha murmured. "And of Paul Muad'dib. I remember well the first battles on Arrakis and the time of the Harkonnen purge by Muad'dib and his desert power. Such things are recent for me, though my part to play in them was small." Arha frowned slightly, glancing at her hands before folding them across her knee.
"I was healer to the Fremen forces," she said quietly. "And a quiet desert mouse." But this was not really the place for her own history and she was quiet once more.
Katara nodded, smiling. "We'd love to demonstrate what we can do later on if you like, but for now we're just here to serve, so the ball is in your court to use a phrase. We've heard the stories of the worlds Arha and Sheeana made as their home, and we would love to hear more about where you are from, if you don't mind."
Katara was upfront, and eager to hear his stories. He seemed like a very knowledgeable guy, and it helped that he was VERY easy on the eyes.
"Y'forgot the info-sharin' part," Tess says pleasantly to Sheeana. She's not going to be blunt about it-but if there's anything like core pillars to what the grasshoppers do, anarcho-communist charity is only one of them. To be an explorer, in ways no twentieth-century person could have considered-that's the other.
"And Katara's got it right," she says more directly to Duncan. And in more than one says. A nudge young, maybe, but...
Sheeana had gotten the measure of him; Duncan was very very interested in everything everyone had to say. Especially in what Arha had mentioned, about being from the time of Paul (the image of a boy his age in his mind's eye, there and then gone) Maud'dib and the Freman, even before the reign of the God-Emperor. The stuff of ancient history.
He wanted to interrogate ask her of her time, but something warned him away. ("Harkonnen" - like the no-globe. A spark of raw emotion flared at the name before it was subconsciously packaged away.) He could always ask her another time. Or find his other self
( ... )
"I didn't mean to interrupt."
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She was dressed in her white leather, the buckles gleaming in the light as she turned.
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Katara just gave him a polite bow, smiling. "It's nice to meet you Duncan: I am Katara, of the Southern Water Tribe."
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The flash of light when the fourth sister moved drew Duncan's attention (it was probably intended to, considering the source), but he kept his focus on the two acolytes to whom he was being introduced. How many Bene Gesserit were among the woken?
"Hello, Katara," Duncan copied the bow, just as politely, "And Tess." Who received a respectful nod as opposed to a playful salute. Both girls women seemed quite open and kind, but he easily remained wary. Kindness could be all the more dangerous for being genuine, and no less a tool.
And now he looked pointedly at the fourth, the other Reverend Mother.
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Yes Sheeana, Katara is that nerdy.
"And we would be happy to tell you about us as well. Tess and I are both from worlds far different from yours, with pretty varied backgrounds, and we are both honored to serve as Bene Gesserit now."
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Duncan really couldn't help it - he liked them. All the while certain that he was meant to.
"You're from different worlds?" Duncan repeated, interested not only in said other worlds but also in the fact that Katara had told him. Need-to-know? "From my point in time," addressing Sheeana (who didn't need to be told, but), "I've mostly remained on... Gammu."
"I may not be the one to ask, in the case of the Duncan Idahos you've read about. The events in those records either weren't of my life, or they aren't of my life yet. For that..." He shrugs. (His nonchalance. Let him show you it.) "I have heard that there's another Duncan Idaho aboard, but I've yet to come across him."
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( ... )
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"I was healer to the Fremen forces," she said quietly. "And a quiet desert mouse." But this was not really the place for her own history and she was quiet once more.
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Katara was upfront, and eager to hear his stories. He seemed like a very knowledgeable guy, and it helped that he was VERY easy on the eyes.
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"And Katara's got it right," she says more directly to Duncan. And in more than one says. A nudge young, maybe, but...
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He wanted to interrogate ask her of her time, but something warned him away. ("Harkonnen" - like the no-globe. A spark of raw emotion flared at the name before it was subconsciously packaged away.) He could always ask her another time. Or find his other self ( ... )
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