Castle Caladan

Castle Caladan has housed the Atreides family for twenty-six generations, and the place takes on a cooled-sweat feeling ahead of a change in the weather. In the last week before the family leaves for Arrakis, the household is in a near-unbearable frenzy of final preparations.

On a warm night that week, an old woman visiting Jessica is let in through the side door and along the passage by Paul's room. Jessica's morning room has south windows that look out across meadow and river, with a soundproofed Meditation Chamber next to it. The training room is big and lit through skylights, and Paul studies there at an ell table spread with papers and charts. At the castle there is no play for Paul and no companions his own age.