Inanna had ruined it again.

It was the duty of a Dreamer to manipulate dreams and a sin to fall asleep. High on opium and numb to the bones, Inanna failed to keep her eyes open. Instead of travelling to her partner's subconscious through the astral world, she rejoiced in an afternoon slumber. When an hour passed with no activity, Master Hor-Aha smacked her to consciousness. Red-faced and dizzy, Inanna woke up with drool falling down her lips. "I slept again?"

"Yes."

Ishtar, her friend whose dream she was supposed to explore, had awoken long back. She splashed her face with water and drank lime juice, frowning at Inanna. "Master, you should really think if she is capable of doing this."

Hor-Aha helped a wobbly Inanna to go and sit near the fountain. She drizzled the fresh drops on her sun-baked face. Eyes still swollen, she tried to recall seeing any dream. But none, as expected. Dreamers weren't supposed to see dreams themselves.

"Till now, you have not been able to read the dream of any human. Are you sure you want to be a Dreamer?"

Inanna twiddled with her jade pendant. She had it since her birth. And since her earliest memories, she remembered seeing no dream. Sleep came to her rarely, and whenever it did she always awoke with a blank mind. Such a fate could only be given to a Dreamer. "I want to. I will practice more."

"Well, I dreamt of Bergin and his bride," Ishtar joked. "I don't know if he will ever get one with that stony smile."

Bergin, who had been watching silently, knitted his brows. "This could be a prophetic dream. You never know."

"So you mean that the beautiful girl I saw is really to be your bride?"

"Are you jealous that I am going to win better in the game of marriage than you?"

Ishtar spat. "Nonsense. I don't have any plan of marrying. And you," she wiggled a finger at him, "are the most proud-headed man I know. With this puffed up chest you can never get any good girl."

Their bantering was a quiet whisper in Inanna's mind. Blobs of light whizzed in her periphery. After she turned eighteen and was formally initiated in the path of Dreamers, she never could read a single dream. Many of her missions backfired, due to which her guild had to pay a fine to the client. As days went by she only succumbed more to the pleasure of sleep, growing lazy over opium. If she didn't escape the clutches of its intoxication, she would lose her right to be a Dreamer. The drug was said to induce crazy thoughts too. God forbid, but if one day she suddenly saw a dream, all would be doomed.

"Inanna, I need to talk to you in private. Let us go and have a walk in the garden. Are you feeling better now?" Hor-Aha cast a pitiful glance. "Otherwise we can speak later."

There was a mild headache, but Inanna shoved the pain aside. "I can."

Stepping into the garden, Inanna's heavy eyelids were relieved from the burden of sleep. Enclosed by high sun-drenched walls, she was greeted by the soft, melodic trickling of water from the central pond. Blue lotuses were in full bloom. Below them swum golden fish, painting colours on the crystal clear surface of the water. The feathery fronds of date palms gently swayed with the breeze, throwing shadows on Inanna's face under the dappling sunlight. Her spirit was warmed by the mellow dusk.

"Take these buds and crush them." Hor-Aha pointed to an array of meticulously tended herbs and green shoots. "Mix with cold water and drink after dinner. It will dampen the effects of the opium."

Inanna ran her hands over the lush jasmine vines, lost in the scent of the majestic flora. Healing was a thing she knew well. Pressing a berry in her fingers, she tasted its juice. It was ripe and tangy, banishing the exhaustion of her tense muscles.

"You can become a simpler healer, Inanna. You know how to work with medicines."

A flashback of all her sleepless nights and disturbed afternoons came rushing. She had worked hard to come till here, even though progress was meagre. A throbbing sensation erupted between her brows. "I will be a Dreamer. I have decided so." A hollow gaped in her heart, wide and abysmal, but she manoeuvred past it.

"You are failing at it, Inanna." Hor-Aha's ebony eyes glimmered with rage. Inanna heaved a sigh, continuing to admire the plants. "Magic isn't something you create by beating and tiring yourself. It comes to you naturally. You are born with it."

"I haven't had dreams ever. I always found it difficult to sleep. These are all signs that it's in my blood."

"Perhaps you should let fate decide what is for you ultimately." Hor-Aha scoffed. "I will not stop you if you want to be a Dreamer, but heed to my warning– you are growing addicted to opium. Instead of allowing your soul to travel to the subconscious of another, you just do the ordinary– sleep."

"I try–"

"And it won't be long before you start hallucinating." He raised a hand to pause her. "If that happens, you will be shunned from being a Dreamer and might even lose your chance at becoming a skilled healer."

Unlike Ishtar and Bergin, Inanna was a mage of average rank. She knew her worth was less than theirs, and maybe it was good too, for it ensured her a safe life. But ambitions fed her heart. She wanted to be something brighter, like a pole star. She wanted to be the best Dreamer known.

"Think about it, Inanna. There are plenty of other ways to be famous. A healer who knows how to handle herbs and sew wounds will also be respected in society. And it is a more respectable position. You will not have to hide your profession from anyone."

But she had convinced herself that she was a Dreamer. Yes, she was. She was failing at it yes, but she would succeed one day.

"You know your friends Ishtar and Bergin won't be able to live a normal life," Hor-Aha said. "They have been gifted with a power that is cursed in this era."

"Suites them. They boast about it and bully me." Inanna clenched her jaws. "They think they have been chosen by the gods. For what? To lead a life of secrecy and possibly die a horrendous death."

Hor-Aha caressed her head. "Do you wish them to die?"

Inanna pursed her lips. "No, Master. I do not... It's just that I feel sad about not being special. I know, it comes at a cost. But I always thought I could be a Dreamer!"

"Maybe you misjudged."

"The signs can't lie."

"Your mind will catch signs it wants to see, and remove the rest. Maybe you didn't listen to nature properly."

Inanna was losing hope. Being the youngest of all the initiated mages meant she was seen as someone with less prowess. There were Dreamers in her guild, pretty good ones who earned a lump sum every month. Of course, they had to hide their identity. During the day they worked as traders and wig-makers, while at night they chased dreams.

It was in infancy that Inanna learnt the hard life of Dreamers and Necromancers. Magic was forbidden in Kemet; only the upper class of priests and their legacy could practice it. But to get their service, one had to pay a huge amount, and even bribing didn't cure diseases miraculously. It was why Inanna and people like her, the dwellers of Ta-Seti, practised magic to cater to the needs of the common folk. Master Hor-Aha told they were chosen by the gods, for only the blessed could wield stardust.

"Bergin may be my own son, but you are no less to me, Inanna." Hor-Aha placed a hand on hers. "I found you at the brink of death. Of my own hopes, and yours too. You were an innocent little life. And I dare say, I might love you more than Bergin."

Inanna leaned on him. She had called him Baba as a kid, and when the rules of the guild snatched that right from her lips, she was truly heartbroken. But still, she knew Hor-Aha was her Baba. "Does it hurt you to know that Bergin's life is endangered because of his magic?"

"It does. But I can't do anything."

She weighed her words in her mind, and then spoke in a cautious whisper, "Is it why you desire for me to be a healer?"

Hor-Aha rubbed his folded fists over thighs. The creases on his forehead worried Inanna if she had asked a little too much.

"Perhaps," he murmured. "But I am a mage myself, a Necromancer. I could live this long. Magic is something that the gods decide whom to give and whom not to. If I try to lead you astray, they will punish me. So, I won't ever stop you from your pursuit. My only concern is– are you following the false stars?"

"I don't know..."

She deflated. The sun dipped down in the horizon, spreading its last shade of orange before an ultramarine deluge. Hor-Aha gestured her to get up, and they returned to their mansion.

"Have those herbs before going to sleep tonight. And pray that you find a way out of this mayhem."

"I will give my best to be a Dreamer-"

"Open your heart, Inanna. Give your best in what will give fruits."

Hor-Aha strode off to his chambers, but Inanna ran after him. "Master!" she shouted. "Please give me a chance. I need to prove myself. One mission, only one. If I fail this, I will quit being a Dreamer and move to being a healer. I promise."

He turned back. "You say so?"

"Yes."

Her light brown eyes glinted under the moonbeams. Hor-Aha smiled. "Very well. I will wait for a client's request. If I find any job for a Dreamer, I will send you. But this time, if you fail it, the guild will not pay the compensation. You will be giving it from your saved money."

She gave a self-conceited smirk. "Agreed–"

Their conversation halted when a messenger came running. His kilt was dripping in sweat and his hair stood at the end. The master and student exchanged a glance– what made this man appear so frenzied?

"Easy," Hor-Aha said.

The man coughed and panted, hands on his knees. Wiping the sweat, he struggled to deliver the news, "Plague."

That was all he could utter.

Inanna's pupils enlarged. "What?"

Hor-Aha gulped. His jittery fingers drummed over the baluster. "Inanna, go to your room. This isn't something you need to hear."

"Oh, but everybody will know it now, Master!" the man cried. "It is eating away Luxor, and if not stopped will erode the whole of Kemet."

Inanna pleaded with her gaze, but Hor-Aha refused to speak a word in her presence. "Go back to your room, Inanna," he ordered sternly. "I will talk to you all tomorrow morning."

"But–"

He clutched his hair. "Please, go. I must tell the mages everything tomorrow."

The man waited for Inanna to leave, knowing that the Master would be upset if he vomitted anything more in front of his student.

But that one word was enough to deprive Inanna of peace.

Plague.

The twists and turns of the corridor led Innana wherever her chaotic thoughts pointed. Plague, a plague. Skinny men, skin clinging to bones, blistered red skin and the stench of dead bodies– gory images whizzed in her mind. Inanna gasped for air. Bracing herself to a pillar, she repeated the words of the messenger: Plague. Eating away Luxor. Erode the whole of Kemet.

Had somebody enraged the gods for them to throw such an ordeal at the face of humanity? Everything was going fine, at least in Ta-Seti. But their nome was always infamous for its magical atmosphere and nobody from the capital desired to contact them. They were, quite literally, cut from the main kingdom despite being a part of the same land.

"Oh, I won't be able to sleep. As usual. I can't. I can't!" What if she began dreaming of dying children and half-dead hungry men?

Passing by the hall, she heard the other mages chattering. They were in a gala mood, drinking wine and feasting on roasted fish. Inanna couldn't break in and spoil it with this grave news. "And Master did say he will talk to us tomorrow morning.  What will he tell us?"

That a plague has arrived?

Suddenly all thoughts of being a Dreamer, or even a healer, seemed unimportant. She would become one if she lived to see a thousand more suns.

Inanna shut the door to her room and flopped on the bed, counting her shallow breaths all night.