Year of the Boar, Eleventh Month, Day 4.

 I arrived at the inn as planned two sticks or so ago and I have enjoyed a long bath and a surprisingly excellent meal of poached octopus with rice and vegetables. The journey was completely uneventful for which I am incredibly grateful although I am so saddle sore, I do not relish the idea of riding again in the morning... The weather remained pleasant; in fact it was so mild I did not even need to wear the wrap I have brought with me and if it remains so tomorrow, I may even enjoy walking part of the way. I shall see how I feel when I wake. I am no great hurry in any case, so if I leave early or late, as long as I reach the inn on the other side of the border by nightfall, it matters not. I barely met a soul on my way here and certainly no one would who would recognise me and have time to get the House and tell Shirgeru of my presence in his Land before I have left in any case so I feel perfectly safe...

I feel a lightness about me for the first time in a long while; I have written many times about how difficult I found things at Dying Crane and how disappointed I was to discover the reality of the situation but I had not realised until I left just how dark some of my thoughts had become... my face is healed except for the slightest tenderness around the jaw and I feel a positivity I have not felt since Nanami left the House. Perhaps it is simply that life on the open road actually suits me far more than a life closeted inside castle walls... I do not know... I will have to give that some considerable thought though but I shall not, until I have completed my mission to Purple Lightning...