Year of the Boar, Eighth Month, Day 20.

I feel that I must keep recording my thoughts for those who come after me. I have the strangest feeling that I shall not survive much longer. It is quite silly of me I am sure, given all that I have endured in this past year so far. I have never set much store in superstition or in the gods but I wonder if they would come to my aid were I to ask. The night was much colder up there than those I spent in the open back in Pale Twilight and sleep did not want to come. I did manage to light a fire but the vast expanse of night seemed to swallow the tiny flame I had created and I could not get warm. The night seemed much clearer from where I lay than those I had observed even from the ship and the stars were gimlets in the blackness. I could not help but feel that they were taunting me from their cosy places in the firmament; dozing calmly while I waited in vain for sleep that evaded me.

I wondered whether the Chief had given me any thought at all since we had parted. I have thought of him but briefly; my feelings about him are still confused and I have been too pre-occupied to miss his touch. My mind wandered further back to Pale Twilight and my father. I chastised myself for not having gone to Purple Lighting before I came to Dying Crane. Lord Tsuyoshi and Lady Ichiko had never had much time for my mother; perhaps they would have helped me find the truths I sought and then sent me on to Dying Crane under their protection… I must not think like this. There is an equal chance that they would have wanted to return me safely to my home and I would never have escaped mother’s clutches after that. I just wish I had some idea of when the House would return. I have no way of knowing whether Kenta’s funeral rites began on time or even whether Kaede would observe the traditional five day ceremony.  Dying Crane could return within the next sevenday or it might take them another month and I cannot sleep in the open for many more nights. I have had a long think about what to do for the best and I think I must find another inn. I will take the opportunity to have something done about my hair and I will have my Silks cleaned and pressed after which, I will return to the House of Dying Crane and present myself whether the House has returned or not. I doubt the servants will recognise me but if they do, I shall simply apologise and tell them the truth; that I did not wish my parents to be alerted to my whereabouts. I have no detailed maps of Dying Crane, only the overview of the Lands that Shikiko gave me so I have no way of knowing where I can find another inn and I am reluctant to go back to the one I stayed at on my way to the House.