"I gain nothing. I am diminished."
Luyseyal spoke up: "This can only reinforce thoughts of oppression."
"I wonder why so few ever thought of the Bene Gesserit as oppressors?" Leto asked.
Anteac spoke to her companion: "If it pleases the God Emperor to inform us, he will do so. Let us get to the purposes of our Embassy."
Leto smiled. "The two of you can come closer. Leave your attendants and approach."
Moneo stepped two paces to his right as the Reverend Mothers moved in characteristic silent gliding to within three paces of the ledge.
"It's almost as though they had no feet!" Moneo had once complained.
Recalling this, Leto observed how carefully Moneo watched the two women. They were menacing, but Moneo dared not object to their nearness. The God Emperor had ordered it; thus it would be.
Leto lifted his attention to the attendants waiting where the Bene Gesserit entourage had first stopped. The acolytes wore hoodless black gowns. He saw tiny clues to forbidden rituals about them--an amulet, a small trinket, a colorful corner of a kerchief so arranged that more color might be flashed carefully. Leto knew that the Reverend Mothers allowed this because they no longer could share the spice as once they had.
Ritual substitutes.
There were significant changes across the past ten years. A new parsimony had entered the Sisterhood's thinking.
They are coming out, Leto told himself. The old, old mysteries are still here.
The ancient patterns had lain dormant in the Bene Gesserit memories for all of those millennia.
Now, they emerge. I must warn my Fish Speakers.
He returned his attention to the Reverend Mothers.
"You have requests?"
"What is it like to be you?" Luyseyal asked.
Leto blinked. That was an interesting attack. They had not tried it in more than a generation. Well ... why not?
"Sometimes my dreams are blocked off and redirected into strange places," he said. "If my cosmic memories are a web, as you two certainly know, then think about the dimensions of my web and where such memories and dreams might lead."
"You speak of our certain knowledge," Anteac said. "Why can't we join forces at last? We are more alike than we are different."
"I would sooner link myself to those degenerate Great Houses bewailing their lost spice riches!"
Anteac held herself still, but Luyseyal pointed a finger at Leto. "We offer community!"
"And I insist on conflict?"
Anteac stirred, then: "It is said that there is a principle of conflict which originated with the single cell and has never deteriorated."
"Some things remain incompatible," Leto agreed.
"Then how does our Sisterhood maintain its community?" Luyseyal demanded.
Leto hardened his voice. "As you well know, the secret of community lies in suppression of the incompatible."
"There can be enormous value in cooperation," Anteac said.
"To you, not to me."
Anteac contrived a sigh. "Then, Lord, will you tell us about the physical changes in your person?"
"Someone besides yourself should know about and record such things," Luyseyal said.
"In case something dreadful should happen to me?" Leto asked.
"Lord!" Anteac protested. "We do not ..."
"You dissect me with words when you would prefer sharper instruments," Leto said. "Hypocrisy offends me."
"We protest, Lord," Anteac said.
"Indeed you do. I hear you."
Luyseyal crept a few millimeters closer to the ledge, bringing a sharp stare from Moneo, who glanced up at Leto then. Moneo's expression demanded action, but Leto ignored him, curious now about Luyseyal's intentions. The sense of menace was centered in the red-haired one.
What is she? Leto wondered. Could she be a Face Dancer, after all?
No. None of the telltale signs were there. No. Luyseyal presented an elaborately relaxed appearance, not even a little twist of her features to test the God Emperor's powers of observation.
"Will you not tell us about your physical changes, Lord?" Anteac asked.
Diversion! Leto thought.
"My brain grows enormous," he said. "Most of the human skull has dissolved away. There are no severe limits to the growth of my cortex and its attendant nervous system."
Moneo darted a startled glance at Leto. Why was the God Emperor giving away such vital information? These two would trade it.
But both women were obviously fascinated by this revelation, hesitating in whatever plan they had evolved.
"Does your brain have a center?" Luyseyal asked.
"I am the center," Leto said.
"A location?" Anteac asked. She gestured vaguely at him. Luyseyal glided a few millimeters closer to the ledge.
"What value do you place on the things I reveal to you?" Leto asked.
The two women betrayed no change of expression, which was betrayal enough by itself. A smile flitted across Leto's lips.
"The marketplace has captured you," he said. "Even the Bene Gesserit has been infected by the suk mentality."
"We do not deserve that accusation," Anteac said.
"But you do. The suk mentality dominates my Empire. The uses of the market have only been sharpened and amplified by the demands of our times. We have all become traders."
"Even you, Lord?" Luyseyal asked.
"You tempt my wrath," he said. "You're a specialist in that, aren't you?"
"Lord?" Luyseyal's voice was calm, but overly controlled.
"Specialists are not to be trusted," Leto said. "Specialists are masters of exclusion, experts in the narrow."
"We hope to be architects of a better future," Anteac said.
"Better than what?" Leto asked.
Luyseyal eased herself a fractional pace closer to Leto.
"We hope to set our standards by your judgment, Lord," Anteac said.
"But you would be architects. Would you build higher walls? Never forget, Sisters, that I know you. You are efficient purveyors of blinders."
"Life continues, Lord," Anteac said.
"Indeed! And so does the universe."
Luyseyal eased herself a bit closer, ignoring the fixity of Moneo's attention.
Leto smelled it then and almost lau
ghed aloud.
Spice-essence!
They had brought some spice-essence. They knew the old stories about sandworms and spice-essence, of course. Luyseyal carried it. She thought of it as a specific poison for sandworms. That was obvious. Bene Gesserit records and the Oral History agreed on this. The essence shattered the worm, precipitating its dissolution and resulting (eventually) in sandtrout which would produce more sandworms--etcetera, etcetera, etcetera ...
"There is another change in me that you should know about," Leto said. "I am not yet sandworm, not fully. Think of me as something closer to a colony creature with sensory alterations."
Luyseyal's left hand moved almost imperceptibly toward a fold in her gown. Moneo saw it and looked to Leto for instructions, but Leto only returned the hooded glare of Luyseyal's eyes.