Year of the Boar, Ninth Month, Day 2.

We have arrived in the Seventh Kingdom at last. It took two solid days of riding across Purple Lightning before we crossed the border. We took it in turns to sleep leaning against our horses' necks while the others led the horses at a walk in order to make it across Tsuyoshi's Lands faster. It was Nanami's idea and although it served a purpose and got us out of Purple Lightning faster than we could ever have hoped to travel if we had stopped to rest as we needed to, I cannot say it is an experience I would ever  care to repeat; I ache in places that I had forgotten existed. We have found an inn which seems pleasant enough. I cannot think that we will have been pursued here nor that anyone would think to look for us here so I am content to rest here before we continue on to Dying Crane. I suppose protocol would demand that I sent a messenger to the ruler of the Seventh, to apprise her of the fact that I am on her Lands and would seek safe passage but I am reluctant to alert anyone to my whereabouts just now. In any case, I have few messengers to send now since most of my staff went with the main convoy. I must keep those I have close to my side; anything could happen between here and Dying Crane and I must protect my resources in order to stay safe. I will send a gift and thank her for her hospitality in retrospect once I return home.

The landscape here is similar to that in Dying Crane; rugged, untamed and possessed of a wild beauty that is the compete opposite of the prisitne, glacial beauty of the middle Houses or the lazy, tropical scenery of the south of the Kingdom. I can see the mountains from my room and I feel strangely comforted by them as if they were my sentinels. Surely nothing can harm me while they stand watch? The man in charge of this inn appears to speak our language with the accent of the west; I cannot tell whether he is of the Ninth Kingdom or if he simply learnt our language so that he could trade with travellers from the Ninth. I do not intend to ask; it would simply attract too much attention so I have been content to let my staff deal with him and stay in the background pretending to be a servant myself. Atsuko has told him little except that we are travelling and thought it would be pleasant to see some of the Seventh Kingdom on our way.  He does not seem interested in much except our money and that is a relief. The less we tell people, the less they will be in a position to tell others.

I attempted again to speak to Nanami this afternoon but she would not be drawn in. Part of me thinks I should simply drop the subject and wait to see if it resolves itself but I must know... I must... and I will not find out if I do let it go... Perhaps I am better off never knowing; if it had been Nanami in my bed, what then...? I cannot have a relationship with her and to summon her to my bed whenever I wished to feel that pleasure again would make me no better than Shigeru. There is no solution to this issue that is not dreadful... but if it was Nanami, I must find out if only to let her know that I am not angry and that I did feel such great pleasure...