Louise

  Annoyed, she looked out of the window into the small courtyard of the temple residences. These were located a little away from the magnificent buildings but belonged to the rge building complexes that were collectively referred to as temples. The wise men resided in a particurly fine and magnificent building.

  Louise liked her current life. Mostly. She was expected to be able to talk to the gods. Visions were sacred. Every vision was considered a message from the gods. Gifted seers received many messages. The gods of the sand rarely spoke to Louise. Therefore, her chamber was one of the smaller ones. It didn't bother her. It was more than she could have wished for.

  Everyday life in the temple was retively monotonous. Each day was like the other unless there was something special coming up. A party, or something like that. The seers of the temple got up before dawn to meditate together. They called for visions. Most of the time, Louise only saw scraps.

  Nothing of value.

  Some ridiculed her weak talent. Others believed it was her brother's fault. They said Louise was already affected by his curse. No matter how many beautiful things Louise now owned, such things never let her fully enjoy her new life.

  Nevertheless, every vision had to be written down. All visions were kept in the sacred library of the temple. Every morning, therefore, Louise brought a new scroll into the magnificent halls of one of the rgest buildings. Just like all seers. Countless visions have been kept here. Employees sorted them by information and value and then cataloged the scrolls. Nothing was lost here.

  Afterward, they had breakfast together. After breakfast, all the buildings of the complex were swept, as new sand accumuted every day. Especially in the actual temple. The cleaning usually sted until lunch. After that, they often had nothing more to do. Some citizens called the seers of the temple zy because they hardly worked. But life in the temple was strenuous. At noon, the sun burned down mercilessly on the temple, so that it often became unbearably warm until the evening. Warmer than outside the temple buildings. Most of the seers therefore retired to their rooms. They drank tea, shared their visions, or visited retives.

  Because of the heat, a lot of water was channeled into the building complex through many gutters so that shady palm trees and other pnts could grow, and so that the seers could cool down. Because despite the heat, the entire complex was green. The water was also channeled into the houses. The evaporating water kept the rooms reasonably cool. Nevertheless, under the prevailing conditions, it was impossible to work after lunch.

  On top of that, the long call for magic in the early morning drained them. By noon at the test, they were all exhausted. Every wizard and witch had a magical limit that they could not exceed without endangering their lives. And every day everyone reached their limit. And even though they were already tired, they still had to write down their visions, take them to the library, sweep...

  No. The seers were anything but zy.

  There was a knock at the wooden door to Louise’s room. "Yes?", she replied wearily. She yawned.

  "Can I come in?" That was the voice of her best friend. Nanette. Just like Louise, she was a seer. However, her magic was much stronger. She had received it right after her twelfth birthday and was considered particurly gifted in the temple.

  Nanette was a small, round girl with dark skin and dark curls. She, too, was sixteen. The oldest seer was now over a thousand years old. He could still remember the founding of the city. At that time, however, there were only a few huts of immigrants who had left their homend and walked along the river to the desert. According to legend, it was here that they received their magic from the gods after they took a liking to the newcomers. But the old seer could not remember such an incident. He had been very young.

  "Come in", Louise replied, yawning.

  The door was opened and Nanette came in. She grinned broadly as if she was pnning mischief. But then her eyes darkened. "How are you?" Nanette looked at Louise worriedly. "Better?"

  Louise had fainted during the sweeping and had been taken to Kay, the temple healer. She had pushed her magic a little too much, so she had finally toppled over. "Better. And you?" Louise had grown tired of the others' gossip and wanted to show them that she, too, could receive valuable visions. She wanted to show them that it wasn't her brother's fault. To do so, she had exceeded her own magical limit.

  She didn't see a valuable vision.

  "Oh! I'm doing great! Who doesn't love it? The heat of the desert?" Nanette sat down on Louise's bed and moaned. "Why is it always so hot?"

  “The heat cleanses our thoughts of all evil. In this way, we can do justice to our task as messengers of the gods!", Louise repeated the words that her teachers had told them every day. As students, they had to study in the heat. Louise had hated it. Although the temple school building was outside the rge complex, even though it belonged to the temple, it was also getting hot in it. But not as unbearable as in the temple. At the time, she didn't understand what it meant to become a priestess of the temple.

  She would spend her entire life here. The seers of the temple were not allowed to marry. They had to dedicate their lives to the temple. No family of their own, no children... When Louise received her magic, her fate was sealed. Their own dreams meant nothing anymore. She learned to read, to gather knowledge, but soon afterward she realized her bitter fate.

  "I feel so pure! See! I'm sweating it all out!", announced Nanette. Louise giggled.

  "You're sweating all evil into my bed right now!"

  "Then you probably deserve it!", her friend replied. "I stink! Do you want to go swimming? The baths are still open!"

  The Baths of the Temple. Two small pools, which were fed by the river and where the seers could cool off. One for women and one for men. "Absolutely," Louise agreed. "I, too, will drench everything in evil!" She looked at her bright tunic. The fabric was wet with sweat. I don't want to know what I smell like right now! Although all the priests and priestesses wrapped themselves in fragrant oils and perfumes, the heat made it difficult for them to smell pleasant all the time.

  Giggling, the two girls set off. The two teenagers chatted quietly as they walked through the hot courtyard, and down a flight of stairs to the women's pool, which was hidden from view. They quickly slipped out of their clothes and stepped into the lukewarm water.

  "Gorgeous!" Nanette almost grunted with happiness. "That's the advantage of living here. We have a pool!"

  "They decide how we live, but the water is glorious!" Louise nodded in agreement. "And we can buy beautiful things!"

  "And pining for some particurly handsome priests!" Nanette winked at her. "A few are a feast for the eyes!"

  Louise rolled her eyes. "Do you have something else on your mind?" In fact, the attractive specimens were one of her friend's favorite subjects.

  "No!" Nanette giggled. "Of course not. Do you think we can sneak to the men's bathroom ter? And take a look?"

  "You're impossible!" Laughing, Louise spshed water at her friend. She found the idea very tempting. But if they were caught, it meant three days of penance in the midday heat. "Terrible!"

  It didn't take long for the two to start a water fight. Such behavior was forbidden, but there was no one to remind them of it. So they enjoyed being teenagers and breaking the rules. Squeaking, ughing, being silly... They had fun.

  After about an hour of watery happiness, however, they heard other seers coming. So they stopped the foolishness, dried themselves with a clean cloth waiting for them, and got dressed. The temple had a retively rge number of staff, all sons and daughters of the rich or upper middle css, who were concerned about the well-being of the temple's residents. This work was considered an honor. Only young adults between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five were allowed to do it. The parents bought the right to let their children work here.

  And even among the employed sons, Nanette always found someone to marvel at. Sometimes she even dared to flirt with a young man. Louise admired her friend's courage.

  After they had climbed the stairs Nanette said goodbye to Louise. She still wanted to visit her family. So Louise went on alone. On the way, she spotted Remy with one of his dragons. Louise was afraid of the powerful creatures with glowing eyes. Everything about them, even in human form, reminded her of predators. The way they looked at people, moved... Lurking. Dangerous. Remy, on the other hand, seemed dismayed.

  When he noticed Louise, however, he smiled and stopped under a very crooked palm tree. "Louise! I saw your brother earlier."

  "Lou? Is he okay?", she asked hurriedly and came to him. However, she kept some distance from Basil. The dragon paid no attention to her.

  Remy sighed and shook his head. "He's injured. It was my fault. We got caught."

  Louise immediately grimaced. "I told you to be careful!"

  "I was. It wasn't enough!" Remy tore at his hair. "Now Lou doesn't want me to see me anymore."

  "That's his right!", announced Louise. "How bad is it?"

  "Someone took care of the wounds", the dragon answered. "The boy is doing well under the circumstances."

  Louise blinked. "Someone?"

  Remy just nodded. "I'm afraid he's going to get lonely."

  Louise understood this too well. No matter how stupid it was, she was always grateful to Remy for sneaking out to meet Lou. "So Lou has made a new friend?", she asked hopefully.

  "I'm not sure", the wizard mumbled.

  His dragon growled softly. It sounded worried. Still, Louise was frightened. "Excuse me!", murmured Basil immediately. "Your brother. He doesn't smell cursed. You should know that!"

  "What?" Louise turned pale. "He's..." Not cursed? And all the suffering he had to endure? That my family had to endure? Heaven, that I had to endure? For NOTHING?

  "Keep that to yourself for now!", hissed Remy, looking reproachfully at his dragon. "The wise wouldn't believe it. You might be punished for lying, or something. I don't want them to make you kneel in the heat for hours until you pass out. Lou would be devastated if something happened to you. I'll take care of it. I promise! See you soon!" And he and the dragon left Louise standing in the courtyard under the crooked palm tree, confused. "What?", she breathed. He takes care of it? How?

  Lou isn't cursed?

  A small, shimmering tear rolled down Louise's cheek.