The grand viewport of the Imperial Palace looked out over Kaitain's skyline.
Shaddam stood before it, his hands clasped behind his back, watching the envoy's ship as it slowly lifted from the landing platform below.
Its hull caught the morning light as it climbed, growing smaller until it was nothing more than a glint in the distant blue skies of Kaitain.
He didn't move away, however.
He stood there for several long moments, his eyes not leaving the now empty sky.
"Your majesty..." the aide beside Shaddam hesitated for a moment.
"The envoy has departed," he finally spoke.
"Yes," Shaddam said softly, but he still had yet to move for several more moments.
Taking a deep breath, he finally looked away.
Shaddam turned from the viewport and walked to his desk, where a document lay waiting.
A CHOAM financial review that contained House Richese's current standing, all of their active contracts, and their outstanding Imperial obligations.
Unremarkable on its surface.
He sat down in silence and made a small note on it.
It took him only a few minutes to finish.
"Send this to Administrator Ceel," he said, sliding it toward the aide without looking up. "Tell him I have concerns regarding House Richese's current debt obligations to the Imperial treasury and unpaid amounts. Nothing urgent." He paused. "Just something to look into." He said as his falshed towards the aide for a moment.
"Of course, Your Majesty."
The aide picked up the file and walked out of the room as he began making his way towards Administrator Ceel's office.
Shaddam leaned back in his chair as the aide left.
His eyes drifted back toward the viewport.
'This envoy is traveling to Arrakis to hand Paul Atreides the keys to the universe.' The thought flashed in Shaddam's head
His jaw tightened for a moment, but soon he relaxed.
"Fifty years is a long time." He muttered.
...
The hall had been prepared.
Banners of House Atreides hung, but there were no crowds.
Only stone walls, high ceilings, and a still silence.
Paul stood at the center of the room.
To his left, Jessica stood, she was still and composed.
Behind him, Gurney, Thufir, and Duncan stood in a loose line as witnesses no grand ceremony was needed.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps reached the room.
Only a few moments had passed, and the sound of several footsteps grew nearer.
Soon, the Imperial Envoy entered from the far end of the hall, led by the Herald of change, flanked by two attendants, his robes immaculate despite the journey. He carried a sealed case in both hands.
A few Bene Gesserit sisters quietly followed within the envoy, and the spacing guild representatives were present.
The Herald of change walked ahead of the envoy and stopped at an appropriate distance from Paul.
The attendants took their positions on either side as the Herald of change straightened and opened the case, producing a scroll bound in Imperial gold thread.
The silence in the room deepened.
His voice filled it as he began to announce.
"By the grace of Shaddam IV, of House Corrino, ascendant to the Golden Lion Throne, Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe, and by the collective and recorded voice of the Landsraad, whose judgment stands as witness across the Imperium —"
He paused briefly, his eyes moving from the scroll to Paul.
"— I stand before you as Herald of the Change."
"Where once House Atreides held Arrakis as steward by Imperial appointment, that distinction is hereby dissolved."
"The Landsraad has spoken. The Emperor has ratified."
"Arrakis, Dune, its deserts, its people, its spice, and all dominion therein, is henceforth granted to House Atreides as sovereign fief, to be held in perpetuity and reviewed by Landsraad vote at the passage of fifty years."
He lowered the scroll slightly.
"Duke Paul Atreides."
His voice didn't change, but something in the room did.
"Do you accept this grant, its privileges, and the full burden of its governance, before these witnesses and before the Imperium?"
The room was very quiet.
Paul felt Jessica's stillness beside him. Felt Thufir's eyes on his back. He felt the weight of the scroll, the room, the words that had just been spoken but it did not deter him, he fought for this.
His mind drifted for a moment as he thought of the fifty years, but he snapped out of it. Finally taking a deep breath, he spoke.
"House Atreides accepts." Paul said.
The envoy stepped forward and presented the scroll on a table, and one of the attendants stepped forward and began dripping melted wax on the bottom of the scroll.
The wax fell in a small area only, and Paul clenched his fist as he pressed his signet ring against the red wax, leaving an imprint of House Atreides and officially accepting Arrakis.
The Herald of change stepped back, his task completed.
With a small bow again.
He turned around and began walking out of the room.
The rest of the envoy quietly followed behind him as they left the room, leaving it feeling empty once more.
"It is done..." Paul muttered to himself as he grabbed the scroll and glanced over it once before he carefully folded it.
It didn't feel like victory.
It felt like an arrival.
Nobody spoke in the room for a long moment.
....
In silence, Shaddam sat in his office.
A messenger stood in front of him at this moment.
"Count Aldric has stated that the order from House Atreides precedes your orders, your majesty. House Richese pointed to the fact that this is due to the importance of spice once again flowing." The messenger said.
Shaddam was silent for a few moments before he nodded.
"Leave," he said softly.
He watched silently as the messeger left the room.
The door clicked shut.
Shaddam's hand swept across the desk.
The documents scattered, some items falling to the floor, the inkwell tipped, spilling a dark stain across the wood before he caught it, his hand pressing flat against the desk, breathing hard.
A long moment passed beofre he straightened slowly. His eyes moved to the spilled ink.
In silence he sat back down.
Leaning back on his chair, his thoughts ran.
'Rejection was expected,'
"They are prepared for attack on ally houses... but."
Shaddam paused for a moment.
His teeth grit.
"Is this all i can do anymore" he muttered as he decided to use one of the two things he still held power over.
'Bureaucracy,' The word flashed through his mind.
"Permits. Reviews. Delays."
"Every shipment questioned. Every contract examined." he said with a deep frown.