"This place is rotten!" Idaho said. He gestured with his free hand at the corridor behind him. "There are some things I'll never accept!"
Moneo stared down the empty corridor without seeing. "You must mature, Duncan. You must."
Idaho's hand tensed on the knife. "What does that mean?"
"These are sensitive times. Anything unsettling to him, anything... must be prevented."
Idaho held himself on the edge of violence, his anger restrained only by something puzzling in Moneo's manner. Words had been spoken, though, which could not be ignored.
"I'm not some damned immature child you can..."
"Duncan!" It was the loudest sound Idaho had ever heard from the mild-mannered Moneo. Surprise stayed Idaho's hand while Moneo continued: "If the demands of your flesh are for maturity, but something holds you in adolescence, quite nasty behavior develops. Let go."
"Are... you... accusing... me... of.,
"No!" Moneo gestured at the corridor. "Oh, I know. what you must've seen back there, but it..."
"Two women in a passionate kiss! You think that's not..."
"It's not important. Youth explores its potential in many ways."
Idaho balanced himself on the edge of an explosion, rocking forward on his toes. "I'm glad to learn about you, Moneo."
"Yes, well, I've learned about you, several times."
Moneo watched the effect of these words as they twisted through Idaho, tangling him. The gholas could never avoid a fascination with the others who had preceded them.
Idaho spoke in a hoarse whisper: "What have you learned?"
"You have taught me valuable things," Moneo said. "All of us try to evolve, but if something blocks us, we can transfer our potential into pain-seeking it or giving it. Adolescents are particularly vulnerable."
Idaho leaned close to Moneo. "I'm talking about sex!"
"Of course you are."
"Are you accusing me of adolescent..."
"That's right."
"I should cut your..
."
"Oh, shut up!"
Moneo's response did not have the training nuances of Bene Gesserit Voice control, but it had a lifetime of command behind it. Something in Idaho could only obey.
"I'm sorry," Moneo said. "But I'm distracted by the fact that my only daughter..." He broke off and shrugged.
Idaho inhaled two deep breaths. "You're crazy, all of you! You say your daughter may be dying and yet you..."
"You fool!" Moneo snapped. "Have you any idea how your petty concerns appear to me! Your stupid questions and your selfish..." He broke off, shaking his head.
"I make allowances because you have personal problems," Idaho said. "But if you..."
"Allowances? You make allowances?" Moneo took a trembling breath. It was too much!
Idaho spoke stiffly: "I can forgive you for..."
"You! You prattle about sex and forgiving and pain and... you think you and Hwi Noree..."
"Leave her out of this!"
"Oh, yes. Leave her out. Leave out that pain! You share sex with her and you never think about parting. Tell me, fool, how do you give of yourself in the face of that?"
Abashed, Idaho inhaled deeply. He had not suspected such passion smoldering in the quiet Moneo, but this attack, this could not be...
"You think I'm cruel?" Moneo demanded. "I make you think about things you'd rather avoid. Hah! Crueler things have been done to the Lord Leto for no better reason than the cruelty!"
"You defend him? You..."
"I know him best!"
"He uses you!"
"To what ends?"
"You tell me!"
"He's our best hope to perpetuate..."
"Perverts don't perpetuate!"
Moneo spoke in a soothing tone, but his words shook Idaho. "I will tell you this only once. Homosexuals have been among the best warriors in our history, the berserkers of last resort. They were among our best priests and priestesses. Celibacy was no accident in religions. It is also no accident that adolescents make the best soldiers."
"That's perversion!"
"Quite right. Military commanders have known about the perverted displacement of sex into pain for thousands upon thousands of centuries."
"Is that what the Great Lord Leto's doing?"
Still mild, Moneo said: "Violence requires that you inflict pain and suffer it. How much more manageable a military force driven to this by its deepest urgings."
"He's made a monster out of you, too!"
"You suggested that he uses me," Moneo said. "I permit this because I know that the price he pays is much greater than what he demands of me."
"Even your daughter?"
"He holds back nothing. Why should I? Ohhh, I think you understand this about the Atreides. The Duncans are always good at that."
"The Duncans! Damn you, I won't be..."
"You just haven't the guts to pay the price he's asking," Moneo said.
In one blurred motion, Idaho whipped his knife from its sheath and lunged at Moneo. As fast as he moved, Moneo moved faster-sidestepping, tripping Idaho and propelling him face-down onto the floor. Idaho scrambled forward, rolled and started to leap to his feet, then hesitated, realizing that he had actually tried to attack an Atreides. Moneo was Atreides. Shock held Idaho immobile.
Moneo stood unmoving, looking down at him. There was an odd look of sadness on the majordomo's face.
"If you're going to kill me, Duncan, you'd best do it in the back by stealth," Moneo said. "You might succeed that way."