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Moneo preceded them with a guard detail which took up position on Leto's ledge. Moneo stood on the chamber floor just below Leto's face, glanced at Leto. turned to the open hall.
The women entered in a double file, ten of them led by two Reverend Mothers in traditional black robes.
"That is Anteac on the left, Luyseyal on the right," Moneo said.
The names recalled for Leto the earlier words about the Reverend Mothers brought in by Moneo, agitated and distrustful. Moneo did not like the witches.
"They're both Truthsayers," Moneo had said. "Anteac is much older than Luyseyal, but the latter is reputed to be the best Truthsayer the Bene Gesserit have. You may note that Anteac has a scar on her forehead whose origin we have been unable to discover. Luyseyal has red hair and appears remarkably young for one of her reputation."
As he watched the Reverend Mothers approach with their entourage, Leto felt the quick surge of his memories. The women wore their hoods forward, shrouding their faces. The attendants and acolytes walked at a respectful distance behind... it was all of a piece. Some patterns did not change. These women might have been entering a real sietch with real Fremen here to honor them.
Their heads know what their bodies deny, he thought.
Leto's penetrating vision saw the subservient caution in their eyes, but they strode up the long chamber like people confident of their religious power.
It pleased Leto to think that the Bene Gesserit possessed only such powers as he permitted. The reasons for this indulgence were clear to him. Of all the people in his Empire, Reverend Mothers were most like him-limited to the memories of only their female ancestors and the collateral female identities of their inheritance ritual-still, each of them did exist as somewhat of an integrated mob.
The Reverend Mothers came to a stop at the required ten paces from Leto's ledge. The entourage spread out on each side.
It amused Leto to greet such delegations in the voice and persona of his grandmother, Jessica. The Bene Gesserit had come to expect this and he did not disappoint them.
"Welcome, Sisters," he said. The voice was a smooth contralto, definitely Jessica's controlled feminine tones with just a hint of mockery-a voice recorded and often studied in the Sisterhood's Chapter House.
As he spoke, Leto sensed menace. Reverend Mothers were never pleased when he greeted them this way, but the reaction here carried different undertones. Moneo, too, sensed it. He raised n finger and the guards moved closer to Leto.
Anteac spoke first: "Lord, we watched that display in the plaza this morning. What do you gain by such antics?"
So that's the tone we wish to set, he thought.
Speaking in his own voice, he said: "You are temporarily in my good graces. Would you change that?"
"Lord," Anteac said, "we are shocked that you could thus punish an Ambassador. We do not understand what you gain by this."
"I gain nothing. I am diminishes:."
Luyseyal spoke up: "This can only reinforce thoughts of oppression."
"I wonder why so few ever thought of the Bene Gesserit as oppressors?" Leto asked.
Anteac spoke to her companion: "If it pleases the God Emperor to inform us, he will do so. Let us get to the purposes of our Embassy."
Leto smiled. "The two of you can come closer. Leave your attendants and approach."
Moneo stepped two paces to his right as the Reverend Mothers moved in characteristic silent gliding to within three paces of the ledge.
"It's almost as though they had no feet:" Moneo had once complained.
Recalling this, Leto observed how carefully Moneo watched the two women. They were menacing, but Moneo dared not object to their nearness. The God Emperor had ordered it; thus it would be.
Leto lifted his attention to the attendants waiting where the Bene Gesserit entourage had first stopped. The acolytes wore hoodless black gowns. He saw tiny clues to forbidden rituals about them-an amulet, a small trinket, a colorful corner of a kerchief so arranged that more color might be flashed carefully. Leto knew that the Reverend Mothers allowed this because they no longer could share the spice as once they had.
Ritual substitutes.
There were significant changes across the past ten years. A new parsimony had entered the Sisterhood's thinking.
They are coming out, Leto told himself. The old, old mysteries are still here.
The ancient patterns had lain dormant in the Bene Gesserit memories for all of those mille
Now, they emerge. I must warn my Fish Speakers.
He returned his attention to the Reverend Mothers.
"You have requests?"
"What is it like to be you'?" Luyseyal asked.
Leto blinked. That was an interesting attack. They had not tried it in more than a generation. Well... why not?
"Sometimes my dreams are blocked off and redirected into strange places," he said. "If my cosmic memories are a web, as you two certainly know, then think about the dimensions of my web and where such memories and dreams might lead."
"You speak of our certain knowledge," Anteac said, "Why can't we join forces at last'? We are more alike than we are different."
"I would sooner link myself to those degenerate Great Houses bewailing their lost spice riches'."
Anteac held herself still, but Luyseyal pointed a finger at Leto. "We offer community!"
"And I insist on conflict?"
Anteac stirred, then: "It is said that there is a principle of conflict which originated with the single cell and has never deteriorated."
"Some things remain incompatible," Leto agreed.
"Then how does our Sisterhood maintain its community?" Luyseyal demanded.
Leto hardened his voice. "As you well know, the secret of community lies in suppression of the incompatible."
"There can be enormous value in cooperation," Anteac said.
"To you, not to me."
Anteac contrived a sigh. "Then, Lord, will you tell us about the physical changes in your person?"
"Someone besides yourself should know about and record such things," Luyseyal said.
"In case something dreadful should happen to me?" Leto asked.
"Lord!" Anteac protested. "We do not..."
"You dissect me with words when you would prefer sharper instruments," Leto said. "Hypocrisy offends me."
"We protest, Lord," Anteac said.
"Indeed you do. I hear you."
Luyseyal crept a few millimeters closer to the ledge, bringing a sharp stare from Moneo, who glanced up at Leto then. Moneo's expression demanded action, but Leto ignored him, curious now about Luyseyal's intentions. The sense of menace was centered in the red-haired one.
What is she? Leto wondered. Could she be a Face Dancer, after all?
No. None of the telltale signs were there. No. Luyseyal presented an elaborately relaxed appearance, not even a little twist of her features to test the God Emperor's powers of observation.
"Will you not tell us about your physical changes, Lord?" Anteac asked.
Diversion! Leto thought.
"My brain grows enormous," he said. "Most of the human skull has dissolved away. There are no severe limits to the growth of my cortex and its attendant nervous system."
Moneo darted a startled glance at Leto. Why was the God Emperor giving away such vital information? These two would trade it.
But both women were obviously fascinated by this revelation, hesitating in whatever plan they had evolved.
"Does your brain have a center?" Luyseyal asked.
"I am the center," Leto said.
"A location?" Anteac asked. She gestured vaguely at him. Luyseyal glided a few millimeters closer to the ledge.
"What value do you place on the things I reveal to you?" Leto asked.
The two women betrayed no change of expression, which was betrayal enough by itself. A smile flirted across Leto's lips.