Year of the Boar, Eighth Month, Day 18.

It is with a detached sort of sadness that I must record the reason for the absence of almost all of the Nobility and most of the House staff. Lord Kenta of White Lake has been killed and Dying Crane has travelled to Silent Thunder for his funeral. I say of White Lake, perhaps his proper epithet should be "of Silent Thunder".
His loss was officially recorded on Day 9 of this month and the funeral rites were to begin on Day 16. Lady Yuika has been gone since Day 10.
Although I was never completely fond of him, I feel sorrow for Kaede who loved him dearly. I have had no news from any of my network but I do not doubt that they have been far too busy to send missives. Even White Lake's enemies would not refuse to attend the funeral of another Ruler's child; wars have been halted in order to honour fallen Rulers or their offspring. The entire Kingdom and their servants will be at Silent Thunder.
I was not interrupted as I wrote last evening and I decided that I could take the risk of looking around the House. I did not manage to find anything of interest, nor could I locate Nanami's quarters or Yuika's chambers. It seemed as though nothing was as I remembered it but I suppose that should not have come as a great surprise; it was a great many years ago that the Talks were last held at Dying Crane. Eventually, I did come across the bath house and so, on finding that the water was still warm, I took advantage of it and when I was clean and dry, I went back to the kitchens. It is just as well that none of Yuika's staff are familiar with the dialect of the south. If they had been, they would have known within seconds that I was no peasant but luck was with me for a short while and once I got the attention of one of the cooks, I pleaded with her for a job. She told me that she could not give anyone a job without the permission of the Chief of Staff and that I should come back when the Lady of the House returned. I must have succeeded in my attempt to look devastated because she agreed to let me stay for the night at least and give me a hot meal since I had been travelling for so long. I did not disabuse her of the notion that I had come all the way from Pale Twilight on foot. I slept well in a small room used by visiting servants after a solid meal of some sort of meat and vegetables with rice and I awoke with the sun, feeling refreshed. I am in the room now under the pretext of gathering my effects and getting ready to leave until the House returns but I cannot see that doing so would be the most sensible idea I have ever had. I also cannot see a way to avoid it so I may yet sleep under more bushes until my mission is finally complete.

Year of the Boar, Eighth Month, Day 17. Postscript.

I scarcely know where to begin this entry into my records. By the time I had finished writing this morning, the rain had stopped completely and the surrounding countryside was bathed in the most glorious sunlight that even Pale Twilight would struggle to rival; I could see no sense in sitting around in the inn when the weather was so clement. It did not take nearly as long to get to the House as I had thought it would; perhaps I was buoyed by the appearance of the sun or the thought that my journey was finally at an end and I walked faster than I anticipated I would or perhaps it simply was not the distance I had thought... Either way, I arrived at the edge of the House Lands in the middle of the afternoon and tarried a while thinking about what I ought to do. I decided that I really only had two options. One was to change into my Court Silks and simply demand an audience with the Lady of the House; the other, to continue on as I was dressed, continue the pretense that I was a servant looking for a job and find my way into the House through the stables or the kitchens. I sat under a tree and ate some fruit I had bought from the innkeeper while I considered both of these and it was a thoroughly pleasant half a stick but it did not take long for me to conclude that sneaking in through the servants' entrance was the most sensible thing to do under the circumstances. I had still heard nothing from Nanami and I had no idea whether Pale Twilight had sent an emissary up here. Perhaps given the length of time I had been gone, Mother might even have sent soldiers to the rest of the Houses and I could be walking right into a trap if I walked through the front door in my Silks.
I remembered how we had sneaked out of the House to run riot in the nearby countryside when we were children and had visited for the Talks and although it took the rest of the afternoon, I took my time and kept close to the walls of the House Grounds until I found the small wooden door at the back. I smiled to myself at the memory of evading the beady eyes of various servants and sentries so we could all go and climb trees one morning and seeing no alternative, I knocked on the door. The wood creaked as the door opened out towards me and a sentry of some sort looked out. I half expected an argument and half expected that I would be given my marching orders so when I was told to get to the kitchens in response to my mumbling about needing a job, I was very surprised.
What sort of sentry lets a complete stranger into the House without so much questioning their identity...? I suppose though that walking a considerable way in the heat had not done much for my appearance. I probably looked like a typical village urchin... Things only got stranger when I finally found the kitchens; instead of finding the blistering heat of the ovens and the chaotic bustle of staff running here, there and everywhere, the kitchens were almost silent. A few servants were preparing some sort of salad and one was washing dishes and none of them so much as looked at me as I wandered in.
Since they did not seem to be bothered by my presence, I thought I would snoop a little and see if I could find Nanami. I had only the vaguest memory of the House from attending the Talks when I was small and so my search was fairly fruitless. Eventually I found myself in the library and decided that on balance, staying in here for a while might be a good idea. Once I have finished writing this, I will find a place to wash and change into my Court Silks and then I will announce myself.