Spiritual guide of the Fremen This holy woman's final act initiated the Lady Jessica into the mysteries of the office of Reverend Mother The ceremony was occasioned by the Reverend Mother s premonition of her own death, since at that time she was already very old, her life very bnrtie Yet, despite the apparent fragility of her body under its hooded gown, Muad Dib was to recall later the aura of Idtent strength flowing from her presence touching all who saw her He was reminded then he later said, of Reverend Mother Gams Helen Mohiam and the certainty of power and authority she radiated when he first met her The comparison could give neither Reverend Mother Gams Helen nor Reverend Mother Alynda Ramallo any slight Both were wholly dedicated servants of a cause they believed m Each in her own way fulfilled a vital mission and did so with foresight and courage What was unknown until the Dar es Balat dig was the precise extent to which then- mutual bond was forged by the Lady Jessica Natural mother and spiritual mother blood history sensibility mission-past, present, and future-merged in Jessica To her and in her was bequeathed and held the ancient thought and way the independence, resilience, and strength of maternal genetics 432 and early training, and the rebirth of courage, experience, and spirit of her inheritance from Mother Ramallo A fascinating question has been raised by the Rakis Finds did Mohiam and Ramallo meet'' Did they in fact form a friendship that endured across decades and lightyears^ The conjecture arises from these circumstances One of the chief teachers of Helen was the Reverend Mother Decius Nancy Croesia, who included among her other duties traveling to various planets in periodic checks on the effectiveness of the Panopha Prophcticus On such a tnp to Dune, Helen accompanied her, and R M Croesia records in her Memoirs that her student made a close friend of a Fremen girl named Alynda-and Alynda was Ramallo's first name If this was Ramallo, could she have known, when she befriended an only slightly younger girl named Helen Mohiam, that weir lives would be inextricably twined? Could either of them foresee men that the secret child of one would become the spiritual child and heir of the other' If so, then Reverend Mother Gams Helen played a generous part la directing matters so that Jessica's ordeal and triumph would take place at the hands of the beloved Rever end Mother Ramallo Truly the Reverend Mother of the Fremen had had a distinguished career, marked by admiration, respect, and love And the achievements of "Alynda were recorded with obvious pleasure by Reverend Mother Gaius Helen in her diaries By no meaas had she forgotten her old friend For her, 'Alynda" would always be the image of the sleader, laughing confidante of so long ago Of this life-long attachment.