Outside Sietch Tabr at dawn, Chani stands without a stillsuit and feels exposed in the desert while labor pains begin. She reflects that returning to the desert is not a homecoming but a recognition of what has always pursued her. Paul’s blindness weighs on her, and she questions why he has brought such an unusual company to the sietch, including Bijaz, Hayt, Edric, Mohiam, Lichna, Stilgar, Harah, Irulan, and Alia.

Chani remembers asking Paul about the value of these companions. Paul answered by rejecting calculations of usefulness and lamenting that they had become “money-rich and life-poor,” then touched Chani’s pregnant abdomen. In the present, Chani sees signs that Arrakis itself has changed: fringe plantings, water odors, muddy-footed Fremen, and a worm fleeing the deadly presence of water. These signs make Chani feel that water has become poison and that only the old desert remains clean.

A great storm approaches, and Hayt calls Chani back into the sietch. Chani initially fears the ghola as something returned from death, but Hayt’s concern for Chani’s safety dispels that fear. Hayt helps Chani through the sietch entrance before the wind can shred exposed flesh.

Inside, Chani is struck by familiar sietch smells mixed with unfamiliar outworld odors brought by Paul’s government entourage. Hayt urges Chani to go to the medics, and Chani asks why Paul fears for Chani but not for the children. Hayt says Paul cannot think of a child without remembering that Paul and Chani’s firstborn was killed by Sardaukar. Chani also recalls the flight from Arrakeen, when blind Paul personally piloted the ornithopter to Sietch Tabr.

When Chani admits that labor has begun, Hayt rushes Chani to her quarters, giving advice about accepting birth without striving against it. Hayt calls for Harah and the medics, and attendants surround Chani as another contraction overtakes her. Chani is taken into the birth chamber while Hayt remains outside.

Alone in the outer passage, Hayt examines the panic driving his actions. Hayt realizes the panic is not centered on Chani’s possible death but on the thought of facing Paul afterward in grief. Forcing himself into mentat awareness, Hayt sees Bijaz as the source of something hidden inside him and understands that the dwarf has implanted a compulsion. When a passing courier asks whether Hayt said something, Hayt replies, “I said everything.”