Year of the Boar, Eleventh Month, Day 31.

 I am recording this entry as if it is day 31, but truth be told. I base this on an approximation and cannot say with certainty how much time has passed since last I wrote in these pages. I write only so that the events of the past few days are recorded and not forgotten but I write with haste ...

We mistook our direction... I say "we"... it was my fault entirely. I did not pay enough attention to the map and as a result, we wandered off course. Perhaps one day I shall come back to these pages and write a full and frank account of what occurred but for now, it shall suffice for me to say that we had the misfortune to find ourselves close to where the borders of three Houses meet; an area known to attract bandits and other miscreants who prey on travellers who are vulnerable due to the sparsity of populated areas in that region. This is where Kenta was killed as he tried to defend White Lake's people from such attacks. 

In the first instance, we managed to evade them but we were not fast enough nor prepared enough for a fight with hungry, angry men whose sole purpose in life is to fight and to steal. It was perhaps a day or two of trying to escape their attention when we were caught in a trap. With the benefit of hindsight, I must admire their tactics for they were indeed impressive in how they chased us right into the hands of a second cohort and there was no way out. Haru of course, carried no coin and on the advice of Aoki, I had spent some time stitching the majority of my coin into the hems of my clothing just in case any thieves saw us as an easy mark. 

Haru did most of the talking in the hope that we could convince them we were merely sisters returning to work at the House after visiting family in the north. We could not convince them to let us go with the small amount of coin I had in my pouch; it seemed instead that we were to be their prizes and so we found ourselves surrounded and driven to their current hideout. There was no point in even attempting to use the knives I still have secreted about my person because there were just too many of the bandits; I could perhaps have done some damage to one or two of them but that would likely have seen an end to my own life at the hands of the rest... so I chose instead, to surrender quietly.

We were not harmed physically which I found quite surprising but it was made quite clear that there would be consequences should we not take care of the camp in the way they expected. Had the situation not been so dire, I would actually have laughed out loud - the very idea that any of them expected me to cook... or do laundry... ! After a few sticks, I came up with a half-baked plan which was essentially that Haru would be more distressed about the wrath of her Mistress than she was afraid of them so I had her start to fret and when she could not cry on command, I am afraid that when no one was paying too much attention, I made sure she cried. 

I hoped that this would annoy them so much, they would decide that we needed to be sent packing. That did not work but in a moment of really quite staggering stupidity, the head man agreed to send word to Silent Thunder that Haru would not be returning as she now resided with them... Naturally Silent Thunder's response to that was to send a contingent to reclaim their "property"... In the fight which ensued, I made my escape and dragged Haru with me. 

We only have one horse now and I shall have to find a way to get Haru back to Silent Thunder before I can continue with my plans but for now, we have finished the smallest meal of fruit we managed to pick and as I am not convinced we are not being followed, we must get back on the horse and try to get as far away from bandit country as fast as we can...