with her pupils seated around her, altered a small quantity of the Water of Life and bid each of diem drink from it Then, as the girls entered the sharing nance the drug induced, she spoke briefly to them about the water in the basin, reminding them that it held the future life of all their people within its depths as surely as each of them held a smaller portion of that future within their own bodies The talk was a cover, designed to relax the girls while turning their minds to consideration of serious issues While they pondered the future of tfieir tribe, the Reverend Mother studied, probed, observed in hope of finding one in the group who might eventually take her place The matter of finding such a candidate had become most urgent to Ramallo she was an old woman and had suffered the ill luck several years before of having her apprenticed Sayyadma killed in an explosion in a sietch factory Chant, the ok) Reverend Mother saw, demonstrated many of the traits necessary for a Sayyadma She possessed courage, intelligence, and compassion, she was capable of considering her own mortality while dis counting it in the light of her people's survival With enormous relief, RanUlk) decided to initiate her during the next tnbal assembly In 10191, less than three months after her return to Sietch Tabr, Chani was caught up in die shattering of the peace that followed the Harkonnen-Sardaukar attack on House Atreides Sietch Tabr was well outside the combat areas, but Stilgar had received an order from Liet-Kynes to take a band out into the desert in search of Paul Atreides and his mother, the Lady Jessica Included in the command was a request that Stilgar take Chani along as part of the group, and the Reverend Mother seconded mat request The Lady Jessica was known to be one of the Bene Gesserit, and messages sent back to the sietch by the Shadout Mapes had indicated that Jessica might be something more as well Whatever the outcome of their hunt for the two fugitives might be, the Reverend Mother wished to hear Chani's impressions of die encounter, since it was impossible for her to witness it herself (Ramallo had not left the sietch, except m a palanquin for many years) Both at that first meeting, and on the journey back to the sietch, Chani found herself more impressed by Lady Jessica than by her son The Atreides was a handsome boy, not much older than she was herself and the murmunngs of his being the Lisan al-Gaib filled her with wonder But the woman, Ihe out-freyn Sayyadma, had bested Stilgar-Stilgar'-in single combat using her weirding ways No other female to Cham's knowledge, had ever even contemplated equal combat against a Freman Naib She studied the outworld woman with a combination of fear and awe, and had much to tell her instructress on her return home When Paul killed Janus after the hot-tempered Fremen called him out by challenging Jessica's part in the legend, Chani was forced to reconsider After all, this supposedly soft outworlder had managed to slay an adult Fremen with a knife while receiving hardly a scratch himselt But it was not until his mother "passed within" to become a Reverend Mother and take Ramallo's place (the old woman had not survived long enough for Chani to succeed her) that Chain realized how Paul would dominate the rest of her life The new Reverend Mother had converted the Water of Life for the tnbe distributing it among them to induce the spice orgy-the touching of minds which bound the Fremen more tightly to one another Sensitive to the wishes of the others, Chani drew away Usul, as Paul was now known, allowing the tnbe to enjoy their communion without the discor dant note of a still alien mind The two of them retreated to Cham's private quarters, where the presence of the rest of the tnbe could scarcely be felt Chani, now a complete orphan, reminded him that they were alike m one thing each had lost a father to the Harkonnens Paul revealed to her the visions that had shown him far closer connections with her Lost in the spice trance, Chani shared those visions and found that she had entered a state of Fremen tau with this newcomer, the two of them had been inseparably joined ATHEIBES, LADY CHANI 49 ATREIDES LADY CHANI The next two years were both the most joyous and the most frightening of Chain's life She had her Usul, her mate, despite the Reverend Mother Jessica s misgivings qon-ceming their "mamage of youth" She watched the legend and the power grow around him, rejoicing m his strength and exulting in his victories She added to his stature among the tribes at times by fighting challengers she considered unworthy of facing him, and sending them to the deathstitls herself It was during the period, too, that she presented him with his firstborn son, whom they named Leto in honor of the martyred Duke But there was terror ra those years as well Usul, though not a Prcmen born, had to behave as one or lose his hold on the tribes-this adaptation required him to learn, much later in life &an was usual, the ways of the free people Chain was the Sayyadma of the Rite the mormftg Usul became a sandnder, calling and controlling the huge sandworm that terrified all but the Fremen and awed even them.