Great Schools of Dune, #2
Mentats of Dune
by Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson
Contents
Chapter 14 (The wise instructor does not teach everything she knows)
Overview
Raquella reunites with Valya Harkonnen—now a Reverend Mother—and meets Valya’s fierce younger sister, Tula. Weighing succession amid a fractured Sisterhood, Raquella endorses Valya’s plan for combat training and secretly assigns her to recover the hidden Rossak breeding computers. With time running out, Raquella stakes the Sisterhood’s future on Valya’s success.
Summary
Returning to Wallach IX with newly trained Sister Mentats, Raquella is relieved to find Valya Harkonnen back in the Sisterhood and newly elevated as a Reverend Mother. She considers succession as her failing health and a schism with Dorotea’s faction threaten the order. Valya introduces her younger sister, Tula, whose intensity Raquella sees as a tool to shape.
The school’s rebuilding contrasts starkly with lost Rossak, and the ten Sister Mentats assess their austere new home. Raquella notes potential rivalry between Valya and the gifted Mentat Reverend Mother Fielle, resolving to align them as allies to strengthen the Sisterhood rather than fracture it further.
Observing Valya and Tula’s lethal, synchronized martial display, Raquella recognizes their training value. Valya argues that Sisters must be able to defend themselves after prior massacres; Raquella agrees, authorizing development of combat instruction to enhance the order’s resilience.
Privately, Raquella shifts to urgent priorities: the hidden Rossak breeding-record computers. She explains their necessity and secrecy, despite the deaths and schism they caused. Valya accepts the mission with steely resolve, pledging to retrieve the components she once hid and restore the Sisterhood’s genetic guidance.
As they finalize plans, Raquella admits time is short. She invests authority in Valya to lead a select team to Rossak, keep the secret, and return quickly—an act signaling Raquella’s tentative bet on Valya as the Sisterhood’s future while her own life wanes.
Who Appears
- Raquella Berto-AnirulMother Superior; frail but resolute. Weighs succession, approves combat training, orders retrieval of hidden breeding computers.
- Valya HarkonnenNewly made Reverend Mother; returns to the Sisterhood, demonstrates combat prowess, advocates training, accepts secret Rossak recovery mission.
- Tula HarkonnenValya’s younger sister; intense, skilled fighter trained by Valya, potential asset for Sisterhood programs.
- FielleBright Sister Mentat close to Raquella; potential rival-ally to Valya in rebuilding efforts.