Chapter 37

At dawn in the Sareer, Leto senses Siona following and reflects on his vulnerability and the Ixian satellites that maintain the desert. He recalls Moneo outfitting Siona in a stillsuit and warning her that the Worm will come. Leto seals the Little Citadel behind them and leads Siona into the dunes, letting the silence and scale unsettle her.

When Siona joins him atop a dune, Leto invokes the Fremen past and has her ride on his back, recreating ancestral memories. As they travel deeper into increasingly complex dune fields, he describes climate control, the fragility of this maintained desert, and the equality forged by Fremen interdependence. Siona challenges his beliefs; Leto answers obliquely, stressing continuity and memory.

Leto stops and makes Siona gauge distance and time, then has her eat protomor. He declares his aim: to sensitize her to the Golden Path and her own capacities. He reveals the core of the test—they will have to walk out of the desert together, without tracks to follow or refuge to return to, reliant on the stillsuit and careful water use.

Confronted with the peril, Siona tests the limits of freedom and threats. Leto counters with the lesson of mutual need, refusing coercion while insisting on necessity. He warns her about the dangers of the slip-face and the discipline required. Finally, Leto chooses to wait out the day in shade to conserve water, planning to travel by night and begin the true ordeal of survival.