Year of the Boar, Ninth Month, Day 12.

I am pleased to report that my feet are feeling much better. I intend to be on my way this afternoon. I have it on good authority from the innkeeper that there is another inn about a half day's walk from here so if I leave just after the midday meal, I should arrive there by nightfall. The innkeeper there is a friend, he says, although the glint in his eye when he talked about her tells me that she is somewhat more. In any case, I will be in good hands, I am told.
I feel more confident about continuing now that I have not had any difficulty communicating and that I have found people friendly and willing to help. The innkeeper thinks that it should be no more than a month before I reach Purple Lightning's Lands although he is none too sure how far the House is from the border. I do not think it matters how far it is since I am in no hurry and I am pleased that I may actually enjoy the rest of the journey.

Year of the Boar, Ninth Month, Day 11.

My feet are still not in good enough shape to be on my way and so I have spent some more time sitting outside. The innkeeper was good enough to find me a novel to read and although it was the sort of cliched romantic nonsense I cannot stand usually, it was very pleasant to be taken away to a land of magic and mythical creatures for a few sticks while I enjoyed the sunshine.
There are distractions of another sort here, too; I have not been short of offers of company since I sat outside yesterday but I have not felt inclined to accept any of them. I did consider bedding one of the merchants, a rough-looking man with a shock of unruly, dark curls and brooding obsidian eyes but when I thought about myself in his arms, I felt very little and so I declined his invitation to dinner. He bore no grudge and despite my refusal, we enjoyed an interesting conversation about his travels about the Seventh and Eighth Kingdoms.
It seems there are many sights to behold in other lands such as giant creatures with long noses with which they suck up water and trees which look as though they are growing upside down. Bashir told me of exotic dances which require the dancer to bend their fingers almost backwards on themselves and music which sounds as though the gods themselves have sent it. He talked of fabrics which shimmer as though they are made of precious jewels and precious jewels the size of his fist. I am certain that much of it was rhetoric intended to impress me but I am also certain that there is a great deal to be gained by travelling outside the Ninth Kingdom and discovering what the rest of the world has to offer me. Once I have been to Purple Lightning, I will consider how I might facilitate a journey further than the border of the Seventh.