r humor nor soul She sits each evening during the music and fiyfcng, glaring at me from under her black hood I never did agree with the Sisterhood's dtrec tive and she knows it She told me today that she's already made it impossible for me to delay any longer, but she wouldn't say any more When she left I did two careful psycho kinesthetic probes looking for poison, but diere was nothing unusual except a dim aura mingling with my cells Whatever that is, it seems to enhance rather than harm my chemistry Maybe that's why my complexion has cleared But then, two months later, Anunl discovered the truth of the threats and the "aura ' Mohiam was here again this afternoon I must seduce poor ShadtUm after all It will be difficult after all the^e years of trust and friendship She hates him, though, as much as she hates me-him for his "inattention to the Empire and me &w my lack of daughters That aura that lives in me is a little gift from the Sisterhood, a residual poison that only kills upon withdrawal We were told of such a thing on Gamont aad DOW I know why mat was the one poison they didn't allow us to neutralize- they use it OR us' 1 knew there was a good reason to hate Mohiam, but aow I hate my own order Obviously this Bene Gessent stratagem was effective, for the couple produced five daughters Irulan, 10165, Chalice, 10168, Wensicm, 10170, Josifa, 10172, and Rugi, 10175 Anunl'" relationship with her daughters was never very close She began Irulan's Bene Gessent training almost from birth, as she was instructed to do by the Sisterhood, but the two showed little affection for each other Irulan adored her father, was jealous of any time her mother spent with him, and so spent most of her time trying to turn Shaddam against his wife While \nunl was merely cool toward Irulan, she was actually repelled by Wensicia Anunl s journals show that she despaired of the child's aggressive, hostile, and even malicious beha\ior When Anunl found the four-year-old Wensicia using a prism to burn holes in the fur of the family lap-cat, Anunl renounced her completely Apparently the only daughter Anunl loved was Chalice, a sweet child with a voice as golden as her hair Anunl's days were spent with her music her books, and her gardening, while her nights were spent performing the Sisterhood's duties She produced several hundred poems, two iohos of lusichord music, and thirty eight journal volumes But Anunl was frequently unhappy during the final ten years of her life The constant pregnancies interrupted her work and disturbed her psyche I was not meant to be a womb only M> real children come not from my body but from my mind The poems show my soul but the songs which float from Binnbec are my real delights They carry my spin! white these daughters these vessels of blood and bone, are my duty, meaning no more to me than did those daily lessons I used to hand in so reluctantly Finally, when she learned that five daughters were not enough to satisfs the Sisterhood's demands, Anunl decided death was prefera ble to everlasting breeding First she stopped ingesting any food or liquid in an attempt to avoid the poison, but she continued to find the aura present among her cells She then deduced that the poison was a contact one and eliminated touching things intimate to her until she finally found the source R M Mohiam had impregnated the wood and the strings of AmmPs beloved Binnbec, making the instrument of her joy also the instrument of her destruction CORRINO FARAD N CORRINO FARAD N In a commentary on her music, Harq al Ada writes of his grandmother, "I wish I had known Anunl Her portrait shows a slender elegant golden-haired woman whose large amber eyes glow in a heart shaped face But her songs introduced me to a fragile dryad dancing through a world far lovelier than any I have ever known May she and Binnbec be given a corner of Eterni ty in which to play their melodies " OWE Further references Princess Irulan Atonies Comno In My Father s House tr RebethVreeb Arrakis Studies 4 (Kaitam Linthnn UP) Harq al Ada Houses and Homes L C Temporary Senes 99 (contains excerpts from Anunl s dianes) CORRINO.