Year of the Boar, Tenth Month, Day 5.

At last, news from the north west. Not a great deal of news, it is true, but a bird at least which means I can send out for news from elsewhere. Thankfully, I picked well when I chose the members of my network. Aoki writes that he has managed to send word to my contacts in the south and had them send him news as they can; he has collated what news there is and assures me that he will see to it that any directives I care to send will reach their intended agent as soon as it is possible.
What news there is, is scant but I feel relieved that I am not cut off completely. I still have yet to conceive a way to train more birds but it feels like less of an urgency now that I know Aoki can be relied upon. Shimmering Dawn remains quiet; there has been some gossip about the nature of Yuika's relationship with Shigeru but that is absolutely nothing new. Kenji has yet to discover who has been sending the letters out of Fallen Sakura but that news may be old now and there may have been developments. Other than that, much seems to continue as usual; the one snippet of news which is a great relief to me is that mother appears to have finally stopped sending soldiers out after me and seems to have reached the conclusion that I am dead; eaten by wild dogs, killed by bandits or dead of disease, there seem to be a plethora of rumours. I am not convinced that she is not cunning enough to have put these rumours about in order to bring me out of hiding but for now, I have an imminent invasion by Fallen Sakura with which to concern myself so I will have to take the news at face value.
I have returned the bird, thanking Aoki for his continued good work, apprising him of the possible outbreak of war and impressed upon him the great need for more birds. I am hopeful that he will be successful where I have failed miserably but there is little else I can do but hope for now.