***this is a very rough beginning, bound to change, of course open to REmix and feedback.  I'm mostly posting this to spur myself on.  So here we go.......

Benedict Burlap looked out over the swath of dust before him bristling with ill-concealed contempt.  Fingering worn crewel on the band of his trousers, he could think only he was assuredly better than this sandy square, and them, the Dunespeople.  He turned a withering gaze on the crowd of youth around him, then leveled a kick at his nearest sycophant.  "Lay off him," a stern voice piped up.  "Come closer, Anna", Bene answered turning on his heel in recognition, "come closer and I'll kick you instead," he sneered.  The dissident, Anna, moved to answer and the Dull youth gathered as usual around the liveliest of their bundle.  A tangle seemed certain.  "Trouble amongst the young?" The Dull youth shifted, stances a little straighter as that grated charm in a sentence wafted toward them.  Tall, stiff in bearing, and creased with cracked textures stood Elder Burlap.  "Let's not speak so tautly Anna Canvas.  One might think you meant ill for my son," and with that Elder Burlap sauntered between the young Dulls, undaunted by Anna's angry glare.  He ruffled Bene's coarsely woven locks, clapped him on the shoulders and sauntered on.  Bene smirked to see the mixture of cowering glances and tired gazes around him.  A new wind was blowing and he had more than a notion how to steer it.  

An audible sigh of relief eased from all the crowd except Anna whose shoulders slumped.  She sank onto a stack of bolts, dust curling around her boots.