One of the most terrible moments in a boy's life ... is when he discovers his father and mother are human beings who share a love that he can never quite taste. It's a loss, an awakening to the fact that the world is there and here and we are in it alone. The moment carries its own truth; you can't evade it.

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Drashiel could barely open his eyes, he felt so tired and so weak.  The rain outside was gentle, sweet and soothed him and with his darling children resting next to him he could not bring himself to move.  Yet there was still something that felt off.  It was not the same tiredness that he was used to feeling…. it was something deeper…. and he knew it was his time.  The young male sighed softly, wincing a bit in pain but he would not move…. no, he could not bring himself to wake them, his sweet children.  He wanted them to rest safely in dreams, hidden from the horrors of waking to reality. Drashiel pulled them close, gently, carefully nuzzling them and with his last breath whispered the only words that ever really mattered. "I love you."

"Speech"

Asleep, and unaware of his father's fading, Atreides dreamed. Dreamed of playing with his mother, and all his sisters, and his Dad, back home beneath the towering redwood trees. Comforting. Familiar. The way it was meant to be. It was warm, and golden, and his parents laughed as they frisked through the trees with them. Bellona collided with him, sending him rolling in a giggling ball through the ferny underbrush. I love you. The words drew him nearly out of sleep, but the boy just turned in his sleep to snuggle more closely with his dad. Unaware, blissfully unaware, that his dad was fading away. "I love you too dad," he mumbled into his father's fur before sinking back into the golden bliss of his dream. For now, this one last moment with his dad, everything was still ok. ""