Pulse of the Imperium

Nirilli smiled. "I'm sure you would be welcome to come with us. You seem like a keen observer. You may help us find an important clue as to why this terrible thing happened." "I don't know that we will meet the bakka . What an honor that would be! I prayed to see her - to glimpse her - at the endpo...

"I have only been taught of a single bakka. The weeper who mourns for all mankind, and for the wanderers, in particular. I ... I don't know. I have always assumed there was only one, and that she is eternal. Spirit. So she could not need a successor. Though..." She tilted her head, thinking. Reachi...

“The bakka – the weeper who mourns for all mankind – has filled the marshes of Harmonthep from her weeping. May it not drown today." "She..." she hesitated and then dropped her voice to a whisper. “The weeper cries because there is imbalance. La, la, la, she cries. She cries because the wanderers s...

Nirilli nodded. "It's what I would have wanted if I'd died today. It would be harder to find my family, since they are barge-bound, and could be anywhere on the river veins. But someone could have tried." "And it takes understanding. Grief must be carefully balanced. The bakka carries too much alre...

Nirilli frowned. It did, on reflection, suggest a certain suspicion of her people which had not occurred to her. "Oh no. I mean, I don't think so. I thought we might notify their families. Convey the Archon's grief. Invite them to participate in the funerary rites." Of course, she would ask the Arc...

"His muse is surely the Archon herself! She is an inspiration to us all. He cares for her." "We did talk about muses. Since we had been talking about lions wanting to devour people and love and muses, it made me think about the poet and the muse. Is there a love that is devouring? Does the poet con...

"Here is one he shared with me recently." "Cicada is dear to cicada, Ant loves ant, hawks hawk; But me the muse and song enchant. Of this may my house be full; For neither sleep nor spring Suddenly appearing is more sweet, Nor flowers to bees, Than the presence of the muse to me." "We were talking ...

"No," she shook her head. "Or not here, anyway." "He spends time there. He walks the streets. He listens and learns. Isn't that remarkable? I wish I could visit. He lives there, he said. Half here, half there. Have you ever heard of such a thing? He does know how it happens. Only that it does." He'...

Nirilli smiled at the mention of Pankratos' name. "He was so heroic, wasn't he? He is a friend of mine. He is a tremendous athlete, but also philosophical and kind. He has always been kind to me." Though he didn't need to be. She was a slave. "I see him more as he spends more time with the Archon. ...

Nirilli nodded. "Yes, I am Nirilli, a slave to the Archon. A handmaid and performer. A singer and dancer." A little more information. "It is kind of you to say so." Commendable. She did smile at that. "I only wanted to prevent any guests from being harmed." She did not appear to mind the examinatio...

Nirilli watched as the Sister turned toward her. She gave a reverent bow and then a welcoming smile. And on her way she was. Breaking from Cordana's orbit, Shinah crossed over to the vicinity of the slave girl. "Nirilli, was it not?" Shinah asked the factually unnecessary, but socially expected, qu...

"This is not good enough, Sister." Cordana gently chastised. "Our enemy has a plan. By waiting for the truth of it to fall into our lap we won't subvert it. Try to answer the 'why' question. By this you may learn where the strings lead." Holding her composure, Shinah inclined her head towards the R...

Cordana leaned against the wall to bring her spine a bit of a relief, her face toward the garden. "Not as extinct as you may think, Sister. Between the Ptolemaii and the Atreides, there has been a bit of a cultural revival of those ancient tropes here in the Delta Pavonis. Part spontaneous, part nu...

Cordana needed a moment of introspection, perhaps a consultation with her Other Memories. "Quoting Sophocles, and 'King Oedipus' at that. Let us for a moment assume this was actually genuine, a blurt of his identity as is and not just a way to throw you off. What would you make of it, Sister?" Shin...

"Had you been able to secure a sample of his DNA we would have a fair chance of determining his source stock. The Tleilaxu play these mind games with us, you see. They compound layers of discoverable so that we don't know how deep we must dig. Did he say anything?" Shinah pressed her lips together ...

Shinah had waited for an opportune moment away from the uninitiated to speak with Cordana. "I saw him fight, Reverend Mother." That much had been plain, but Shinah did have a way of stating the obvious. She recounted her observations of Pankratos. His skill and his movement, all retold with exacting...

Shinah was processing what she had seen, especially the part where her observations had, themselves, been noted.

An unfortunate outcome, but painfully little time for subtlety as it was. The price was worth paying.

She hovered about the edge of the crowd, taking in the interplay between the others.

Ah, the favorite, Shinah thought as Pankratos waded in to the fight. His physicality was undeniable. But what was it that she was told prior to all this? Suspicions about him abounded. The lion looked to be well in hand by this point, but Shinah remained nearby to be nearby - her actual objective no...

While Shinah moved unseen by the people in the Oon, she noticed a small loophole in her plan downstairs - people were using the 175 W exit to pour out, so getting back in would require either piercing through the crowd or convincing them to make way... [Shinah is outside 177] The ways of the Bene G...

Shinah spent her time moving to put her plan into action.

Assuming I moved to the exits last turn:
Maneuver - Along the outside
Maneuver - Back inside to where I can actually do some sneaky stuff