Valya is assigned by Reverend Mother Raquella to conduct a private hour of intensive training for Anna Corrino and Josef Venport’s young daughters, Sabine and Candys. Valya is initially annoyed to be pulled away from the computerized breeding records, but she recognizes the political value of building ties with both House Corrino and Venport Holdings.

Valya takes the three acolytes to observe a burrower colony behind a plaz wall, presenting the insects’ tunnels as a lesson in patterns, purpose, and hidden order. Anna complains that her brothers did not send her to Rossak to watch insects, while the Venport sisters show more focus. Valya insists that family names should mean nothing inside the Sisterhood, even though Valya privately hopes to use those same connections to restore Harkonnen fortunes.

Valya tells Anna that some Sorceresses have learned to influence the burrowers’ tunnel patterns through concentrated thought. Anna reveals that at the palace she could shape a special fogwood tree into a secret hiding place and had refused to demonstrate the talent for Sister Dorotea. Valya encourages Anna rather than dismissing her, winning Anna’s trust and framing self-discipline as the path to unexpected power.

Later, alone in the secret breeding-record caverns, Valya searches through genealogical and historical archives. She finds old letters between Abulurd Harkonnen and Vorian Atreides showing that Vorian once promised to rehabilitate Xavier Harkonnen’s reputation as a hero rather than a traitor. The records also show that after the Bridge of Hrethgir and the Battle of Corrin, Vorian abandoned Abulurd, allowed his exile, and failed to restore the Harkonnen name.

The discovery overwhelms Valya and deepens her hatred of Vorian. Valya traces the Harkonnen line back through Abulurd, Xavier, and earlier ancestors, grieving over how heroic deeds were buried beneath disgrace. While working, Valya feels an unexplained warm gust and hears a fading whisper in the cavern, but sees no one and cannot identify the source.

After remembering how Sister Arlett recruited Valya from Lankiveil and gave her a path beyond her bleak prospects, Valya returns to the main school. Anna hurries to Valya, pursued by Sister Dorotea, and asks to work on the breeding program. Valya deflects Anna’s request by saying the records are restricted until Anna becomes a full Sister, while privately wondering what Anna knows about the Harkonnen connection to the Corrino bloodline.