Golden Legeica
Getting lost in Saherimos is never
a good thing. Few other places on Subeta (or Atebus) are more forbidding. By day, it is a hot and empty, with few animals venturing out into the sunlight for longer than a moment or two; by night, it is pleasantly cold but full of the cries of desert predators, not to mention caravans of nomadic Saheric, some of them less than friendly to outsiders. The native pets are secretive and mistrusting: Bhakorus prefer to disappear into the sands when spotted by outsiders, Koras distrust anything with a mouth, and Demis spend too much time with their heads in the clouds to notice outsiders in trouble. Archani are slow to trust and reluctant to help foreigners, Festers are harsh and incomprehensible, and anybody with an ounce of knowledge on Saherimos knows better than to trust a Jollin. The only pet readily willing to help a stranded foreigner is the Kerubi, and they stay away from well-traveled paths when the moon rises over the Saherimos sands. This is what causes you to despair as you wander around the dunes, following the footprints of a band of Bhakoru that passed this way a while ago: it is well into the nighttime hours, so no Kerubi would be around to help you find your way back to the Souk.You have been walking for hours under the moon's pale light; your feet have grown tired, so you decide (against your better judgement) to stop and take a rest. You eyeball the water in your canteen; you have enough for the night, but if the morning fog doesn't roll in, you will be out of luck for water tomorrow. This does little to settle your nerves. The whistling of the nighttime wind over the tops of the bluish dunes mimics the feeling of loneliness in your heart; its quite beautiful far out in the Saheric Plains, but its beauty could be deadly if you nod off and a Jollin catches you by surprise. Your feet ache from walking through sand all day, and the pack of supplies on your back feels like its gained weight rather than lost it. Oh, why did you think that a trek out to the Secluded Shrine at dusk would be a good idea?
Just as you begin to lose all hope,
a shadow flits over the sands out of the corner of your eye and hopelessness is replaced by fear. Your muscles go tense; you want to jump out of your skin and leave it behind to run across the dunes and away from the predator that has likely cast the shadow. Either that, or the sand should swallow you up and hide you from the teeth and claws or spears -- better death by suffocation than a grisly demise by the will of an Archan or a tribe of unapproachable Saheric. All you can do is wrap your cloak around you and wait to see what cast the shadow, which grows and grows as the steady beats of large feet on the sand reach your ears. Whatever is approaching, it approaches from above; you can feel the sands of the dune at your back shift and tremble as the large creature approaches. It must be an Archan; you prepare to beg for mercy the way your guidebook taught you, swallowing against the lump in your throat as you throw yourself prostrate in the sand and bow to the mighty beast cresting the dune above you."Stop that nonsense; that's Archani fodder," a light, almost boyish voice says sternly but not angrily; you lift your head to see a Golden Legeica standing at the crown of the dune, bluish sand lapping around his fetlocks like water. His scales do not shine like gems in the moonlight as they should; rather, they are dull and weather-beaten, like intricately-swirled stone or the horns of a Donadak. His mane and tail are brown and curled, the ample fur no doubt useful for shielding his chest and neck from desert storms; he has obviously endured many with the amount of Saheric sand that covers the scales on his withers. The most uncanny thing about him is his eyes: they are blue, the most brilliant blue you have ever seen, and they seem to glow like the moon above.
You struggle to your feet as he descends the dune to meet you; his stride is regal and purposeful, his split hooves no doubt easing his trek through the sandy landscape. You mentally check your guidebook on the native species of Saherimos: Legeicas aren't on the list, so what is this one doing here? Perhaps he belongs to somebody in a nearby tour group? Either way, you can't express how relieved you are to see another living creature that doesn't seem keen on eating you, even if he does perturb you a bit with his standoffish nature. Legeicas are naturally just and somber, but this one is unnaturally so; the way he watches you is unnerving, like he is studying some deep-seated part of you that he would have no way of accessing if he were anything short of a mind-reader.
"You are lost, and you are tired,"
he says after a long while. You can only nod, having lost the energy to offer up a sarcastic quip in return. He studies you again, still standing a foot or so away from you; after a long, tense while, he walks purposefully to your side and presents his profile to you, bowing his neck as he speaks again: "Get on."You oblige after a few moments of struggling with your weak and sore legs; hours of slogging through sand haven't been kind to your calf muscles, and they protest the idea of mounting a Legeica with all their might. Eventually, after a bit of help from the still-nameless stranger, you haul yourself onto his back and he jostles you about a bit to assure maximum comfort of both parties. His rocky scales are hard but smooth beneath your backside, and you absently think that you should have tucked your cloak under your rump to ease what would no doubt be a long ride. He takes a few experimental steps, as if testing your ability to ride; you catch sight of his glowing blue eyes as he shifts his head ever so slightly to look back at you. "Hold onto my mane, and try not to doze off," he says not unkindly.
You try not to, but its all you can manage to hold your head up. The night wind is cool as it moves over your shoulders and through your hair, and the sure and steady strides of the Legeica over the sand are reminiscent of a gently-rocking boat, enough to put anyone to sleep. He moves gracefully but quickly in a direction you suppose is southeast, only accompanied by the sounds of his own hooves digging into the ground and the whisper of his long feathering and tail through the sand. Its strange, you think: nighttime is when the desert is most active, but since this strange creature has shown up, the desert has been quiet and empty. Its almost as if his presence is keeping other creatures away...
Dawn comes faster than you expected, and the Saherimos morning fog drifts in as expected; its so thick that its difficult to see the dunes rising up a few feet away from you. Far ahead, you can hear the clamor of the morning market in the Souk -- the Legeica has brought you back to civilization, and just in time for the wettest part of the day. He crests the ridge of a large dune, and through the fog, you can make out the tall, rounded shapes of the crowded Souk; he stops, and you are eager to slide off his back and stretch your aching legs. "You know your way from here?" he asks quietly, pawing the sand as if nervous to go any closer (which you find curious, but refrain from questioning). You assure him that you do, and thank him for bringing you out of the wildness of the desert and back into civilization. You take a few steps in the direction of the morning market, but then, feeling exceedingly rude for having not done it in the first place, turn and ask him for his name. You should at least show him a bit of kindness for all the good he has done for you.
"I am Fremen," he says in reply.
He has already disappeared into the fog, his silhouette and his glowing blue eyes the only thing that can be seen through the thick moisture in the air. Puzzled but also hungry and ravenously thirsty, you hurriedly thank him a second time and rush down into the market for a good, long drink and a hearty breakfast. The natives seem to have been worried about you, and when you recount the tale of your adventure to them over your meal, they listen in a reverent state of awe.You learn from them that the Fremen were an ancient race of Saheric people who could survive in the most barren corners of the desert by recycling their own water. They were a hearty people, some of the first people to colonize the distant wastes of the desert; their currency was water, and they worshiped great wormlike creatures that lived under the shifting sands. Evidently, the change in the times had driven them out of modern Saherimos: they were only spoken of in textbooks, but no one knew if they were truly dead or not. Tracking a Fremen tribe was said to be impossible, and since they could read the desert in ways long forgotten by the Saheric tribes today, there could still be some tribes in the empty corners where no one dared to travel. Few Saheric today could trace their roots back to the Fremen -- today's Saheric had grown soft and comfortable compared to the Fremen way of life, and to be called Fremen is one of the highest honors among the nomadic Saheric tribes.
The natives tell you in hushed tones that the creature that saved you in the desert is a sand spirit, one of the most ancient and esteemed in Saheric lore. He is the embodiment of the Fremen people, their way of life, their beliefs, and the giant Sandworms that they worshiped so long ago. There is even talk that he was once their king. You know of the Saheric people's strong belief in sand spirits dictating the flow of the world around them, but you can't help but wonder if this alleged Fremen spirit was a spirit at all: nobody had seen a Fremen for years, but did that mean they were well and truly dead? What if this Fremen was real, a real desert wanderer with the power to summon giant Sandworms and send away predators with his mere presence?
You don't know what to believe, but as you look out over the bluish dunes rising up for miles and miles beyond, you feel a sense of mysticism that no other land has inspired in you. Perhaps there is more to Saherimos than meets the untrained tourist eye -- you shall have to investigate further into these people, their beliefs, and the history of the awe-inspiring Fremen tribes. However, this time, you will be sure not to get lost in the desert.
Family:
Ghanima -- It has been too long, sister, since we have seen each other...I wish so desperately to remove those lonely months from you, to keep them from haunting you; there was no other way to start down the path to Secher Nibw had I not left you! You were never far from my mind, dear sister, while I roamed the sands alone...I wished so badly to share those nights with you.Chani -- Mother, my beloved mother...if it weren't for you and the spice, Ghani and I wouldn't be here. I owe you so much more than my life, the life you gave up for me and my sister...
Credits:
Fanpet for Leto Atreides II from the book/miniseries Children of Dune (2003); I don't own the character, only the changes to suit Subeta (and there were quite a few this time around).Overlay, story, layout and coding by
Charles.
Background art and Saherimos history/culture (c) Subeta.
A huge thank-you to
Corgi's Canon Project for help with native species of Saherimos.
