After the Sisterhood is outlawed on Rossak, Valya Harkonnen is forced back to Lankiveil with other displaced Sisters. Cut off from Reverend Mother Raquella and the order's plans, Valya feels that everything she had worked toward has collapsed. Her parents welcome Valya home, but Valya finds Lankiveil cold, small, and politically stagnant.

Valya waits anxiously for Griffin Harkonnen, believing that Griffin is the only family member who shares her ambition to restore House Harkonnen. Valya resents Vergyl Harkonnen's passivity, especially when Vergyl accepts news that Lankiveil's Landsraad proxy has supported Manford Torondo's Butlerian petition. Valya concludes that if House Harkonnen is to rise again, that work will fall to Valya and Griffin.

Two local fishermen arrive with a long package delivered by the VenHold Spacing Fleet. Valya senses danger and tears open the container, revealing Griffin's dead body. Vergyl and Sonia are devastated, while Valya uses Sisterhood discipline to steady herself and absorb the shock.

A letter from Vorian Atreides accompanies the body. Vorian claims that Griffin died heroically while defending him from attackers, but Valya rejects the message as lies because Griffin had left to assassinate Vorian. Valya decides that Vorian is responsible for Griffin's death, making the Harkonnen vendetta even more personal.

The same delivery includes an official proclamation confirming that Griffin had been accepted as Lankiveil's planetary representative to the Landsraad. Valya tears the document apart, symbolically destroying the political future Griffin had just attained. After promising Griffin's body that the vendetta will never end, Valya retreats to her room.

Alone, Valya takes out a capsule of the dangerous Rossak drug stolen from Sister Karee's lab, identical to the dose that nearly killed Anna Corrino. Valya reasons that if the poison transforms her into a Reverend Mother, with access to Other Memory and control of her body chemistry, Valya will become powerful enough to hunt and destroy Vorian. Valya swallows the pill.