Great Schools of Dune, #2
Mentats of Dune
by Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson
Contents
Chapter 77 (Sand flows through my veins)
Overview
Taref rejects offworld wealth and technology to reclaim his Fremen identity, selling his advanced stillsuit for a reclaimed one and discarding foreign clothes. Haunted by sabotaging the Imperial Barge’s navigation after the Emperor’s death, he learns Venport erased records and walks alone into the desert to accept fate or renewal.
Summary
Taref returns to Arrakis determined to cast off every offworld tie. Though he could afford comfort thanks to Directeur Venport, he rejects the lure of water and a fine house, realizing desert sunrises and raw spice matter more than his abandoned dream of traveling to Caladan.
Disliking the alien smell and feel of his VenHold-modified stillsuit, Taref sells it to a blue-eyed vendor and buys a repaired, traditional suit taken from a dead man. He discards his offworld clothes, keeping only necessities: water, spice, and food, intent on surviving by desert ways.
Wracked by guilt over his role in events on Arrakis, Taref reflects on sabotaging the Imperial Barge’s navigation after the Emperor’s death by sandworm. Though his work was incomplete, he believes it sufficient to doom the vessel, and he learns Venport purged port and orbital records to mask the disappearance.
Estranged from his sietch for dreaming of the wrong things, Taref now seeks a truer transformation. Accepting that the desert may either claim him or save him, he walks alone into the furnace-hot wastes to find himself, letting the desert’s harsh embrace decide his future.
Who Appears
- TarefFremen operative who rejects offworld life, trades for a traditional stillsuit, and returns alone to the desert, guilty over sabotaging the Imperial Barge.
- Directeur Josef VenportOffstage, covers up the barge’s disappearance by purging spaceport and orbital records.
- Blue-eyed vendorBuys Taref’s advanced stillsuit and sells him a repaired, traditional one.