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"But you must obey Siona."
"Of course, Lord. That is your command."
"You must obey her in all things."
"I will do it, Lord."
Another test. Nayla does not question my tests. She treats them as flea bites. Her Lord commands? Nayla obeys. I must not let anything change that relationship.
She would have made a superb Shadout in the old days, Leto thought. It was one of the reasons he had given Nayla a crysknife, a real one preserved from Sietch Tabr. It had belonged to one of Stilgar's wives. Nayla wore it in a concealed sheath beneath her robes, more a talisman than a weapon. He had given it to her in the original ritual, a ceremony which had surprised him by evoking emotions he had thought forever buried.
"This is the tooth of Shai-Hulud."
He had extended the blade to her on his silvery-skinned hands.
"Take it and you become part of both past and future. Soil it and the past will give you no future."
Nayla had accepted the blade, then the sheath.
"Draw the blood of a finger," Leto had commanded.
Nayla had obeyed.
"Sheath the blade. Never remove it without drawing blood."
Again, Nayla had obeyed.
As Leto watched the three-dimensional image of Nayla's approach, his reflections on that old ceremony were touched by sadness. Unless fixed in the Old Fremen way, the blade would grow increasingly brittle and useless. It would keep its crysknife shape throughout Nayla's life, but little longer.
I have thrown away a bit of the past.
How sad it was that the Shadout of old had become today's Fish Speaker. And a true crysknife had been used to bind a servant more strongly to her master. He knew that some thought his Fish Speakers were really priestesses-- Leto's answer to the Bene Gesserit.
"He creates another religion," the Bene Gesserit said.
Nonsense! I have not created a religion. I am the religion!
Nayla entered the tower sanctuary and stood three paces from Leto's cart, her gaze lowered in proper subservience.
Still in his memories, Leto said: "Look at me, woman!"
She obeyed.
"I have created a holy obscenity!" he said. "This religion built around my person disgusts me!"
"Yes, Lord."
Nayla's green eyes on the gilded cushions of her cheeks stared out at him without questioning, without comprehension, without the need of either response.
If I sent her out to collect the stars, she would go and she would attempt it. She thinks I am testing her again. I do believe she could anger me.
"This damnable religion should end with me!" Leto shouted. "Why should I want to loose a religion upon my people? Religions wreck from within-- Empires and individuals alike! It's all the same."
"Yes, Lord."
"Religions create radicals and fanatics like you!"
"Thank You, Lord."
The short-lived pseudo-rage sank back out of sight into the depths of his memories. Nothing dented the hard surface of Nayla's faith.
"Topri has reported to me through Moneo," Leto said. "Tell me about this Topri."
"Topri is a worm."
"Isn't that what you call me when you're among the rebels?"
"I obey my Lord in everything."
Touche!
"Topri is not worth cultivating then?" Leto asked.
"Siona assessed him correctly. He is clumsy. He says things which others will repeat, thus exposing his hand in the matter. Within seconds after Kobat began to speak, she had confirmation that Topri was a spy."
Everyone agrees, even Moneo, Leto thought. Topri is not a good spy.
The agreement amused Leto. The petty machinations muddied water which remained completely transparent to him. The performers, however, still suited his designs.
"Siona does not suspect you?" Leto asked.
"I am not clumsy."
"Do you know why I summoned you?"
"To test my faith."
Ahhh, Nayla. How little you know of testing.
"I want your assessment of Siona. I want to see it on your face and see it in your movements and hear it in your voice." Leto said. "Is she ready?"
"The Fish Speakers need that one, Lord. Why do You risk losing her?"
"Forcing the issue is the surest way of losing what I treasure most in her," Leto said. "She must come to me with all of her strengths
intact."
Nayla lowered her gaze. "As my Lord commands."
Leto recognized the response. It was a Nayla reaction to whatever she failed to understand.
"Will she survive the test, Nayla?"
"As my Lord describes the test ..." Nayla lifted her gaze to Leto's face, shrugged. "I do not know, Lord. Certainly, she is strong. She was the only one to survive the wolves. But she is ruled by hate."
"Quite naturally. Tell me, Nayla, what will she do with the things she stole from me?"
