Year of the Boar, Fifth Month, Day 8.

I have been very careful over the last two days not to draw too much attention to myself with regards to Mother, answering only two or three of her questions anywhere close to her satisfaction, making sure that I ate sparingly but did not make a fuss about it, nor did I do any of the theatrical pressing of my hand to my forehead. Mother continues to look concerned and during the "sewing hours" yesterday afternoon and this, I noticed Aki keeping a very close eye on me, as I all but wilted over the tapestry; stitching very slowly and occasionally rubbing my eyes. I have something really rather theatrical in mind for tomorrow which I am sure will at least merit a visit from the physician; I hope that I can persuade him that all I need is a little fresh air at least.
I managed to send another missive to Dying Crane yesterday evening. Since Nanami has been the most responsive of my network of late, and seems to be settling into her position nicely, I felt that she might be in the best position to aid me. I advised her of my situation here, that I was setting a plan in motion to remove myself from it and informed her of my wish that she find a way to apprise the rest of my network of what is happening and that they should avoid contacting me directly but rather go through her. I hope this will minimise the risk to my network in the event that I do escape from Pale Twilight, as none will come looking to find me here and run into Mother instead. I have heard little news from the rest of the Kingdom, according to Nanami's last report, Lady Yuika ails badly, refusing still, to leave her rooms. And the news from Silent Thunder is that Kaede remains "under protection" whilst Lord Kenta seems to have disappeared. Well, no doubt my network will discover his whereabouts soon enough, but I do, so wish I were in a position to do something for Yuika... Nanami has mentioned that Itsuki's grip seems to be tightening and Lady Yuika is either unwilling or incapable of doing anything much about her; Nanami does not seem to know which it is. I suppose only time will tell... But I must sleep, I will need my strength for tomorrow especially as I have yet to plough through several chapters of Mother's "literature".