Year of the Boar, Twelfth Month, Day 6.

 After another night which was as comfortable as it could be, we have enjoyed a solid breakfast of rice porridge and trimmings; it has never been my favourite but has certainly set us up well for what is likely to be a hard day's travel. The weather is cool but certainly not cold by any means so I do not anticipate it being unpleasant and have decided that while it may be a little slower, where possible, we will take it in turns to ride while the other walks. This we will do until the horse tires and needs to rest at which point, we will make camp. 

Of course thanks to our encounter with the bandits, we do not have everything we need for travelling; managing to escape with only what we could carry in our arms while fumbling around to get the horse. It is annoying but arguably, we could have faced far worse so we must make the most of what we have and hope that we do not meet with further misfortune before we reach the House. I am loathe to ask the small-holders to extend us more favour since I cannot give them anything in return. I could, I suppose offer them some of the coin I have concealed in my clothing but I really do not want to draw attention to that unless I absolutely have to. It may lead to more questions than I wish to answer; added to which, it must last until I reach Purple Lightning and at the rate this journey is going, who knows when that will be...?

Haru has been rather quiet this past day or two; small wonder when this was not at all what she agreed to. When we are back on the road and as far away from anyone who would listen as we can be, I will ask her if she wishes to disengage herself from my employ. I would not blame her; of course none of this was ever the plan. We will also have to explain how it is that we managed to send word of her capture to Silent Thunder while not being at the bandits' camp when help arrived. I think we will simply say that we did not know whether the soldiers were friend or foe since we could not see their banners when the fighting began and made an opportunist escape attempt which by good fortune rather than design, happened to work...

It is not a good story; will Haru's superiors at the House believe it... I do not know... I also do not yet know whether I should be honest about my own identity... Is anyone likely to believe that either...? I do not look like the heir to the throne of Pale Twilight and I have no way to prove that I am who I say I am... this is a conundrum which I will not solve by scribbling in these pages this morning. Haru may have some thoughts about the matter and when it is safe to do so, we will have a long conversation. In the meantime, I must gather my things, and we must be on our way.