Year of the Boar, Seventh Month, Day 15.

A bird from Nanami finally arrived today. It appears that she has not had time to keep me properly updated. I must admit that I did feel slightly irritated at that confession since keeping me properly updated is what I pay her to do but I suppose that this situation could never have been foreseen. I shall have to find a way to contact Shikiko and ensure that my network are in fact, still being paid. It took a considerable amount of time and stealth to set up fake payrolls for all of them and it will be very difficult to ensure that I am not discovered in my absence. Nanami's missive has made me even more anxious about remaining here. I cannot rid myself of this feeling that I am wasting time. Physically, I have never felt so well-rested or as healthy. My skin has responded to the sun and I am actually tanned. Even were Mother's soldiers to come across the camp, I cannot believe that they would recognise me at all but none of that changes the fact that while I sit here, Lady Yuika has no ally.
Nanami writes that the Lady appeared to rally for a short time but that she has taken a turn for the worse. The mysterious Broken Rampart has  gone on his way and Lady Yuika seems devastated. Nanami continues that she has been at her wits' end these past weeks and could no longer contain herself in the face of Yuika's tantrums. She says that she broke down in tears and that as a result, she has been sent away for a holiday. This is less than ideal from my perspective but I suppose that I cannot even imagine the strain she has been under.  She does not say whether she received my last missive and she does not mention the letters which my agent in Fallen Sakura spoke about. I can only suppose that in this case, no news is not bad news.
I have spent some time replying to her letter so that she knows I am on the way and from which direction I will arrive. I have also asked her to contact Shikiko on my behalf and make sure that my network's payroll remains undiscovered. It would be wonderful if I had an income of my own so that I could pay them myself but with things the way they are, I am certain that Father would not have begrudged me the money. In any case, it does afford me some small pleasure to know that my spies are paid for by Mother and Taiji. My real regret is that I will never see her face if she ever finds out... I also asked Nanami to contact Ryuji in Fallen Sakura and ascertain whether or not he has found out who is writing those letters to Yuika and to find out everything she can from the rest of my network.
I remembered just before I put my stamp (manufactured for a fictional person, of course) to it, that I had not asked Nanami to train more birds. I do not know when she will return from her holiday but at least by the time I arrive at Dying Crane, she will have had a chance to begin training some new ones. If she can read my scrawl at the very bottom of the page, that is... She will have little time for much of this, if half of what she tells me about the situation in the North is true, but even if she only manages one or two of these jobs, my position will be better than it is now. If only there were a way to speed up the ship repair...