I have just returned to our family farm not far from Babylon, and today Asish went into the city to buy some cloth for me; he returns saying that Great Alexander is sick in the palace, sick even to death.

I feel jittery, as if I can't sit down to work. Alexander has towered over us all since I was only a child. In the years since Darius was overthrown, and my brother, Kleon, retired from the Macedonian army with this farm, we have always lived under Alexander's rule. Even when he and the army disappeared for so long to the east, there were always administrators and others close to the King; justice was fair, trade flourished. We had a sense that one mind was controlling what happened here in Babylon, and indeed - throughout the Empire. We Greeks and Macedonians felt safe to plan for our futures.

If only Alexander had an heir! although I realize, even thinking that, that he is so young himself - he is only 32! - that any heir would be a child, vulnerable and powerless. If he should die - oh, gods.

Kleon says that, if the King dies, there will be Civil War. And we are at the epicenter of what will happen! Where can we find safety? There is no heir, there are only the generals around Alexander. And none of them come even close to being the man he is; Kleon says they will tear the Empire apart, between them.

I try to spin wool, but my hands are shaking. I will sacrifice to the gods today. If Alexander dies - chaos will come again.