ACT ONE ━━ CHAPTER FOUR
Old Friends in New Places

TO SEAMLESSLY INSERT LOVISA INTO ARRAKIS' SOCIETY, they thought it would be best to drop her off outside of the main city, directly into Fremen territory. Atreides was to be arriving in three days' time, and this way Lovisa's abilities would be most-directly tested.

How well she would be able to gain a Fremen sietch's trust, how well she would be able to then leave the sietch after presumably gaining said trust for the inner city of Arrakis, and how well she could get in as close a proximity as possible to the primary targets: the Atreides clan.

Lovisa was dressed on the ornithopter in clothing fitting for those residing on Arrakis, and a cover story was penned for when Lovisa would plead her case to the Fremen, who were traditionally very selective of who they admitted into their sietches. Lovisa, now to be known as "Aminu Faizan," would sell the story of a young, orphaned girl who was running away to escape her recently collapsed sietch after they had been attacked by Harkonnens, killing nearly everyone including her father, the naib. Lovisa was instructed to keep her story concise to few details in order to maintain her disguise.

     From her prior research of documentations about the Fremen, Lovisa initially worried about the concreteness of the backstory since Fremen are renowned for emotional stability — an almost lack of emotion, according to the Harkonnen entries. However, with Lovisa's additional fib of losing her father, she was fairly certain they would allow for some compassion as even the Fremen understood the importance of family — it was what their sietches were built upon, after all — and that the recent traumatic event of losing not only her parent, but essentially her entire community as well, was to blame for Lovisa's apparent amnesia.

Harkonnen housed an inventory of stillsuits after decades of encounters with the Fremen from which Lovisa could choose in order to find one that fit her figure since, unlike her fabled background, there was no outwitting the Arrakis climate. Blood and sand were tastefully splattered across Lovisa's stillsuit to coincide with her story, and the ornithopter was growing closer to the ground by the second.

The pilot, the only other person in the vehicle, reached towards the ground and grabbed a sheathed knife. He held it out towards Lovisa.

     She hesitantly accepted it. Upon closer inspection, she noticed the ornate designs on the cover belonging to the Fremen. Lovisa unsheathed the knife and noticed the milky-white appearance of a crysknife, coming from the tooth of a sandworm.

     Lovisa looked towards the Harkonnen pilot in confusion, "A crysknife? Where did you get this?"

     "Faizan," the Harkonnen pilot said as if it were obvious.

     Her eyes slightly widened, "As in...the naib? So, the sietch really is gone?"

     The pilot furrowed his eyebrows in her surprise, "The less rats, the better." He returned his attention towards the operating the ornithopter, "Prepare for landing." Lovisa slid the crysknife into her stillsuit and stood up from the narrow chair she had been occupying the entire ride. She stepped towards the middle of the small aircraft, facing the back of the ornithopter where the ramp would descend once they were within closer proximity of the ground.

"Ramp descending." Lovisa watched as the metal contraptions inside the ornithopter shifted to open the ramp whose swift contact with the ground created a minuscule dust whirl.

Lovisa inserted the nose plugs of the stillsuit into her nostrils and ensured that they were secure before bending her knees in an athletic stance to jump out of the in-motion vehicle. Since the aircraft was, indeed, still flying above ground at a rather quick speed, Lovisa's landing was less than ideal as her body naturally transitioned to a somersault once it made impact on the sandy earth.

Her agile self quickly recovered, legs immediately picking up her body once it ceased rolling from the combined speed of the ornithopter and the early beginnings of a dust whirl trailing her.

Upon gathering herself, Lovisa adjusted the linen cloth covering her shoulders like a shawl as she began trekking forward towards the last known sight of Sietch Tuek, Harkonnen's — and by association, Lovisa's — current target.

The rocky formations that infamously housed Fremen sietches were not too far off in the distance, but Lovisa took her time making the trek there as to not waste the water accumulating in her stillsuit. Despite being a false Fremen, she would need to take part in the mutual danger of living in the unforgiving environment.

Suddenly, Lovisa's steady pace was interrupted by the slight rumbling of the sand beneath her feet. She paused momentarily, unsure if perhaps the natural geographical formation of the desert fooled her brain into believing it was moving when really, it was just from the gravity of her own being. However, even while unmoving, the ground shook beneath her yet again.

Lovisa slowly rotated her head over her left shoulder, glancing at her surroundings. Using her hand to pull her shawl further over her face so her vision couldn't be interfered by the sun, her eyebrows knit together as her eyes analyzed the horizon. At the seemingly small ruffle from underneath the sand in the distance, Lovisa's face slowly relaxed in realization of where the commotion was coming from — more so from what.

Although never in the presence of one herself, Lovisa had listened to enough audio recordings during her research to recognize the sound of a sandworm when she heard one. She waited three seconds with her feet planted, unmoving, to see if the sandworm would shift its path. Perhaps it wasn't after her; after all, she was only one person and — unless the sandworm was directly beneath her — the vibrations emitted from her walking pace weren't enough to lure a sandworm towards her.

Three seconds went by, and Lovisa eyed the sandworm's path being drawn above ground in the sand, continuing in her direction. Eyes narrowed in confusion, a rare occurrence, she quickly ran down the list of vibration-emitting objects that attracted sandworms that she had previously memorized: thumpers, spice harvesters, ornithopters —

Lovisa's eyes retracted yet again as she cursed to herself, "Shit." She turned and began sprinting towards the rock formations, prohibiting herself from looking back in order to maintain a steady, swift pace. Lovisa hardly had any time to devise a plan to distract the sandworm, too preoccupied with trying to, firstly, outrun the beast. The longer she ran, the more unsteady her steps became as the sandworm's momentum crept behind her. Lovisa eyed the large rocks, encouraging herself to at least reach them before making her next move.

The whooshing of the sand behind her combined with Lovisa's own heartbeat invading her eardrums prevented her from hearing anything else, even her own thoughts. Only when the former of the sounds slowly decreased in volume did Lovisa recognize a new vibration entering her earshot.

Her pace slowed as she glanced over her shoulder — exactly what she told herself not to do — and noticed the sandworm's path shifting. It was no longer right on her tail, as she could see from its print left in the sand, but was instead treading in the direction perpendicular from where she stood. Lovisa used her hand to shield her eyes from the sun since her shawl was hanging loose around her neck, displaced from sprinting, and could vaguely see a figure in the distance. From the same direction was a sound similar to a heartbeat.

Catching her breath, Lovisa mumbled to herself, "A thumper." Suddenly, a hand clamped down on her shoulder and Lovisa didn't hesitate in reacting. She grabbed onto her attacker's hand with both of hers and contorted her body around the figure in order to bend their arm behind their back, incapacitating them from making a further move.

"Ah — ! I come in peace!" The figure spoke in Fremen. Lovisa's eyebrows immediately peaked in intrigue at the familiar voice, even if not in their native tongue. She used her nondominant hand to pull the person's shawl from their face.

She released her grip, "Duncan?"

Duncan straightened his previously bent posture, squinting down at the foreigner with the same surprise, "Lovisa? What are you doing here?" He took in her appearance, "What happened to you? Are you alright?"

She nodded, glancing over his impeccable Fremen attire, "Yes, I'm fine, I —" Lovisa looked back up at him, his head and upper torso shielding her small frame from the sun, "— have you joined the Fremen?"

He shook his head, "No, I'm only here on a mission from Atreides. To scope out the Fremen, learn their ways, attempt to conceive an alliance." Duncan shook his head again as he took in her battered appearance, "Forgive me, I'm still confused on why you're covered in blood." Lovisa truthfully forgot about her own mission for a moment, glancing down at her stained stillsuit before recalling what she was meant to be doing. She then noticed that the rocky formation was directly behind Duncan, and realized that their interaction could very well be spied upon by the nearby sietch.

Lovisa lowered her voice and spoke in a rushed tone, "You cannot tell anyone that you know who I am. Understand?"

His eyebrows furrowed together, "What? Why not — ?"

"Duncan, please," Lovisa interrupted. "I'm..." Within a split-second, she debated whether or not to let Duncan in on the plan. After all, he was of Atreides, the rival House.

The House Lovisa was to gather information in order to infiltrate.

She sighed, continuing her explanation, "If anyone pries, I'm from another sietch that just collapsed. A Harkonnen attack. My father, the naib, was murdered, and I thought I would be next and fled."

Without even being informed, Duncan quickly connected the pieces, narrowing his eyes — this time, not from the sun, "That's why you're here? As a spy?"

Panic rushed over Lovisa's body as she plead, "Duncan, please —"

"Idaho," Lovisa and Duncan turned towards the new voice. A man strode towards them, visibly a born and bred Fremen. He nodded towards Lovisa, "Who's this?" Lovisa glanced behind the man and noticed that he was coming from the direction of the thumper, presuming he was the one who had set it off. Lovisa then glanced behind Duncan's shoulders and noticed Fremen heads peeking out from behind the mountain's ridges.

Immediately, Lovisa got into character, forcing her bottom lip to tremble and eyes to get teary.

She turned towards the man, portraying herself as distraught, "My sietch has fallen. The Harkonnens attacked. My father — the naib — was killed." Lovisa shook her head, glancing at the ground in an act of catching her breath from gasping, when really, she was gathering her thoughts. She looked back up at the man, "It happened so quickly — and I could only assume that I was their next target — so I fled."

The man stayed quiet, not seeming too convinced in Lovisa's opinion. Duncan glanced between the man and Lovisa, the former internally pleading for Duncan to go along with her ruse.

The man asked Duncna, "What did you say this girl's name was, Idaho?" Lovisa looked directly into Duncan's eyes, heart pounding as she anticipated his next words.

Duncan swallowed the lump in his throat before responding, "I didn't."

Quickly reacting in order to prevent any further questions, Lovisa sniffled as she lowly answered, "Aminu, sir." She nodded behind him towards the direction of the thumper, "I assume you set off the thumper?" She shook her head, "I could never thank you enough."

He pursed his lips nonchalantly in response to her graciousness, shoulders barely moving in an accepting manner. He waited another beat before asking, "...say, what sietch are you from?"

Lovisa answered in the same slow manner as him, retaining the grieving daughter act, "...Faizan's." The man eyed Lovisa's fittingly distraught appearance, including the red blood caked onto her suit. Duncan tried to read the man's mind, desperate for a reaction — a positive reaction, for Lovisa's sake.

The man lowly sighed, "Well, c'mon, then, girl. I say you'll travel with us for the time being."

Lovisa's eyes traveled from her feet to his eyes as she hesitantly asked, "You...you have that authority?"

He exhaled an arrogant chuckle, "Here, I am in charge." He extended his hand towards her, "Esmar Tuek." Lovisa's shoulders barely perked up, not enough to be noticeable from under her stillsuit, Tuek's Sietch. Tuek glanced up at Duncan, "Perhaps Idaho can ask his comrade Atreides for a favor."

Lovisa narrowed her eyebrows, feigning confusion as she faced Duncan, "'Atreides?'"

Tuek explained, "They'll be arriving on Arrakis within the next few days." Once again, he let out a hollow laugh, "With the Mahdi in tow, no less." He walked past Lovisa and Duncan and motioned for them to follow, "Come."

Lovisa went to step forward but Duncan subtly caught her arm, speaking lowly, "Stay close, understand?"

She sighed, "Duncan —"

In Lovisa's same pleading tone from earlier, Duncan asked, "Lovisa, please." She glanced at the sand in thought, wondering if their apparent closeness would interfere with the quality of information she'd be able to acquire.

Ultimately, she nodded in agreement, trusting in their years-long friendship — after all, she trusted Duncan far more than she did any Harkonnen. Duncan nodded back in response, releasing his soft grip on her arm and allowing her to walk ahead of him and scale the rock.

On the opposite side, members of the sietch stood and watched as Lovisa followed Tuek down the makeshift steps composed of rocks on the side of the formation, towards the entrance to the cave system hidden underneath. Lovisa glanced out of her peripheral vision at the men and women, feeling particularly under scrutiny with their unwavering gazes — glares, more accurately.

Once they dropped down onto the lower level of earth, Lovisa followed Tuek as he walked towards the entrance of the sietch. In the side of the rock formation was a large opening that, if the planet were to move the wrong way, appeared to be able to swallow the sietch beneath it whole.

Upon entering the cavern, the amount of light drastically diminished as the rocks shielded the sietch from the sun. Archways were burrowed into the sides of the rock from the inside, creating small spaces where Lovisa presumed trading and commerce occurred from the looks of Fremen manning the makeshift counters. She couldn't get a clear view of their products, but Harkonnen were interested in Tuek's sietch for a reason — because they were the most well-known spice smugglers on Arrakis, a relation Harkonnen would desperately need if the rest of their actions didn't go according to plan.

As they walked deeper into the sietch, more eyes laid upon Lovisa, the newcomer. She didn't feel threatened by their gazes, but she would be lying if she didn't admit that the way everyone immediately ceased what they were doing solely to look her way caused slight discomfort.

Tuek led Lovisa down a set of stairs, deeper into their underground infrastructure. A shadow cast across their figures as a brief period of very little light came over them, inserting themselves in near complete darkness until they reached the landing. Lovisa looked around, noticing the naturally manufactured caves versus the man-made ones above. The ridges of the archways weren't nearly as smooth as the ones above ground, and the knowledge of being within a natural landscape brought Lovisa some comfort. At least here, she wasn't surrounded by merely Fremen-made structures; here, they were the guests in the planet's home.

Lovisa noticed that, as they continued walking, the archways and other wall openings became covered with tattered cloths.

Tuek commented, "These are our living quarters — " The yalis, Lovisa thought to herself. " — the yalis. I'm afraid we don't have any vacancies at the moment, and," he hollowly laughed as he glanced over his shoulder at Lovisa, "we weren't planning on having any guests any time soon."

"I have room." Tuek and Lovisa stopped and turned at Duncan who had been trailing behind them.

Tuek rose an eyebrow, "You only have one room, Idaho. Many others have multiple rooms in their yalis."

Duncan scoffed, "And would you like to break the news that an outsider will be living among us for an indefinite amount of time? Without even proving that she's worthy?"

Lovisa's ego was bruised as she instinctively became defensive, "I can prove that I'm worthy." She glanced over at Tuek, "To anyone. Against anyone." Harkonnen prepared her for a potential Tahaddi Challenge, in which a current member of the sietch would fight Lovisa for a spot in the tribe — depending on the tribe's rules, possibly to the death. Because of the nature of Turk's sietch, it was safe to assume that their Tahaddi Challenges ended with only one left standing.

Tuek raised his other eyebrow, amused, but Duncan spoke before he had the chance, "No, you've just witnessed a massacre. You're too unstable." Duncan motioned to her small stature, "And a child."

Lovisa opened her mouth to retort, but Tuek raised his hand, "Silence." Both Duncan and Lovisa closed their mouths in simultaneous respect and obedience, awaiting Tuek's next words. He dropped his hand and addressed Lovisa, "You may stay here until Atreides arrives." He blinked, transiting his sight from Lovisa to Duncan, "And then she will become your sole responsibility. She will no longer be welcome here." Duncan nodded in understanding.

"For now, however," Tuek continued, "if anyone questions your being here, you can say that your presence is temporarily allowed under my authority." Lovisa positioned her head and neck in a slight bow towards Tuek as a sign of respect, giving him his cue to leave and address the masses.

Duncan and Lovisa stood in silence until they ensured Tuek was out of earshot.

The former lowly sighed under his breath before grabbing onto Lovisa's upper arm, pulling her into the room behind him, "C'mon." He lifted the tarp covering the opening as both of them entered the yali, just as quickly dropping it behind them in an effort to create a sound barrier between the room and the hallway.

Lovisa stood in the center of the room, honestly underwhelmed. Granted, Duncan only had one room and most of the other yalis had multiple to house an entire bloodline, but truthfully, Lovisa wasn't impressed in the slightest. The room's stone walls matched those all over the sietch, and there was a single mattress pushed to the side of the room with tattered blankets thrown across it. Lovisa internally cringed at the thought of Duncan attempting to squeeze his large frame onto that small object. That's why he's so out of sorts, Lovisa concluded.

Duncan walked towards the other side of the room — barely three steps from the entrance — and sat in the raggedy chair whose legs were hanging on by a thread. Literally, thread was tied around the legs which appeared to have broken at some point. Lovisa half-expected the piece of furniture to snap underneath Duncan's weight, but it withstood his body mass albeit swaying with every minute movement.

He cradled his head in his hands, which Lovisa found quite unnecessary.

She scoffed, "Oh, get beside yourself — "

Duncan shot up and placed a hand over her mouth, speaking in a hushed tone, "No — you don't speak." He used his free hand to motion around the room, "Not here. There's ears everywhere, and you're already not the most popular, either."

Lovisa shrugged his hand away, speaking in a similar tone, "If anyone has an issue with me, let them at it. I can hold my own."

Duncan shook his head, "Fremen fighting is something you've never experienced, Lovisa. They're a different breed of warrior." Lovisa rolled her eyes, unimpressed at Duncan's Fremen propaganda. He drew himself closer as he made his voice even lower, barely speaking loud enough for Lovisa to hear, "You must, must keep your identity hidden. Understand? Fremen are not welcoming of hardly anyone, let alone a Harkonnen."

"I am not a Harkonnen."

Duncan nodded sarcastically, "Oh, that's right — you're from the prison planet now."

Lovisa narrowed her eyes, "You're acting like I've committed some unspeakable crime. You know why I was sent there — you were there!" Duncan stayed quiet, knowing that she was in the right. "What was I to do, Duncan? If you were called before the Emperor and the Baron's nephew, what would you do? Reject their order?" At Duncan's silence, Lovisa urged him on, "Please, pray tell." At his continued silence, she nodded, jabbing her index finger into his chest (although his stillsuit prevented him from feeling her pokes), "Exactly. I had no choice." She turned and threw herself down on the mattress, getting caught off-guard from the underestimated distance between herself and the mattress.

Duncan sighed, "What are you to do?"

Lovisa laid her head on the incredibly thin pillow, staring at the ceiling, "Gather information on the sietch. On Fremen in general. Build relations in case Harkonnen's spice supply runs dangerously low."

Duncan's eyes narrowed, shocked at how mild the plan seemed, "That's it?"

Lovisa blinked once, "That's it."

Oh, Lovisa thought to herself, and I'm to assist in assassinating the Duke before doing the same to his son. Not difficult at all.

buckle ur seatbelts ladies and gents things are abt to get interesting