Contents
Chapter 14
Overview
Reverend Mothers Anteac and Luyseyal arrive in Onn to obstruction: shabby quarters, no communications, and Fish Speaker guards. An Ixian contact, Othwi Yake, covertly warns that Face Dancers have infiltrated and that the Tleilaxu will strike Leto before he reaches Onn. The Sisters debate contacting Siona or warning Leto but are effectively contained, heightening the impending threat.
Summary
Anteac and Luyseyal land with the Bene Gesserit delegation for Festival Time and are immediately marginalized: poor, remote quarters, dead communications, and an audience with Leto pushed to last, threatening their spice allotments. Fish Speaker guards enforce restrictions, signaling deliberate isolation.
A postulate messenger returns from the Ixian Embassy with a layered message. Othwi Yake, known to the Sisters, introduces a Tleilaxu Face Dancer who declares a plan to kill Leto before he reaches Onn. Yake secretly signals that Face Dancers have invaded the Embassy and immobilized the Ixians, implying the warning is both genuine and a trap to expose Bene Gesserit channels.
Anteac and Luyseyal assess motives and risks: the Tleilaxu likely want to force Bene Gesserit complicity, and any warning to Leto could reveal Bene Gesserit networks. They weigh Siona’s rumored oracular obscurity as a possible factor yet lack certainty about her role.
Concluding that the plot is imminent and their options are constrained, they consider extreme possibilities, including a Face Dancer replacing a Duncan Idaho ghola. Resolved to prepare for the worst, they summon a Fish Speaker guard, still blocked from direct action as the assassination threat closes in on Leto’s approach to Onn.
Who Appears
- Reverend Mother Tertius Eileen AnteacSenior Bene Gesserit Truthsayer; analyzes warnings, manages risks, and seeks to prepare amid confinement.
- Marcus Claire LuyseyalYounger Truthsayer; challenges assumptions, urges warning Leto, and considers Siona’s significance.
- Othwi YakeIxian Embassy official and Bene Gesserit asset; covertly signals Face Dancer infiltration.
- Face Dancer (Tleilaxu)Delivers message promising to kill Leto before Onn; evidence of Ixian Embassy compromise.
- Fish Speaker escort officerImposes restrictions, delays audience, and blocks communications, effectively isolating the Sisters.
- Postulate messengerCarries and recites the Ixian/Tleilaxu message; confirms covert signal from Yake.
- Leto II (God Emperor)Offstage target of an imminent Tleilaxu assassination attempt en route to Onn.
- SionaConsidered by the Sisters as a unique variable potentially affecting prescient sight.