Year of the Boar. Tenth Month, Day 24.

To say that Rani is not at all what I expected would somewhat of an understatement. I had expected... well, I suppose... hoped for... would be a better way to phrase it... someone tall, slender, elegant, exotic... glamorous with an air of mystery about her... I had imagined someone poised and possessed of exquiste manners, a person who wore shimmering fabrics which floated around her as if they were spun from gossamer and whose tales of far off lands would entertain us until long after the moon had risen...
I had been extremely restless all morning and by the time the sentries announced the delegation's arrival, I was almost beside myself with the excitement of it all and I hid to watch Rani alight her palanquin so that when she appeared in the Hall, I would not embarrass myself by gaping because I would already have seen her. When a stout woman twice my age wrapped up in furs stepped out of the palanquin, fussing about the midday meal, I thought she must be Rani's maid rather than the princess herself. Thankfully, the truth became apparent before I humiliated myself and so when she was presented in the Hall, I managed a degree of poise which would not have been possible had I waited until then to see her for the first time...
Yuika refused to present herself in the Hall having decided that Rani did not actually exist and that the delegation was all some sort of plot... Something in me changed as I stood there listening to her nonsense and I believe that I have finally decided that I simply no longer care. I do care that Rani does not go about the Kingdom spreading gossip though so I greeted her myself.
While I did not openly say that I was Yuika, I did not suggest that I was anyone else, either so I was staggered when, in the middle of a second cup of tea, she used my name. Staggered does not actually come close to describing my reaction; I do not know how I mananged not to spit the mouthful of tea I had taken all over both of us. Rani seemed to find my efforts incredibly amusing and smirking slightly, she asked me if I had really thought her people would not have done their research...
An interesting point... one that leads me to believe that I am not the only one about Dying Crane with a network of spies and now I shall have to be incredibly careful that they are not discovered, if they have not been already... I shall probably have to find out who does not belong here too, if only to ensure that no information regarding my whereabouts has left the House in the direction of Pale Twilight...
I was somewhat disarmed by Rani's matter-of-fact manner and although I remained guarded, we had a reasonably frank conversation.
I was able to discover that her people have been feeding her a great deal of accurate information about Yuika's indisposition which means that her spies are clearly close... Dying Crane is not her only source of intelligence, either; Rani also knows about Kaede's situation and gave me news that I had not heard which is that Shigeru's marriage has officially been dissolved and that he has agreed to pay his former wife a considerable annuity. An extremely interesting piece of news; I would dearly love to know how she persuaded him to do that since she is a wealthy woman in her own right... her hold over him must be something that he really does not want the rest of the Kingdom to know... which of course, means that I must find out what it is..!
I sense that Rani knows a great deal that she has not let on and that concerns me somewhat because I do not like the idea that she has information she could hold over me one little bit... I will have to bide my time, I suppose and see how this particular land lies. In the meantime, Rani has insisted that she see Yuika tomorrow and says that she will attend Yuika in her chamber if she has to. This has the potential to be a complete disaster; I must find Atsuko and Ryouko and have them drag Yuika to the Hall if necessary...