Year of the Boar, Ninth Month, Day 8.

I slept badly and what little sleep I had was fitful; disturbed by strange, fragmented dreams. I saw my mother floating across the floor of the Banquet Hall at Dying Crane; she spoke to me but I could not understand her. Later, I dreamt of Kenta and he too, seemed to be trying to tell me something; his mouth moved silently but I heard nothing. I woke trembling and bathed in sweat. I felt uneasy; as if I had missed something important and I found that I could not rise from my bed. I lay there a while trying to bring back my dreams as if I would somehow be able to interpret them but of course, I could not; I could barely even remember my mother's face and I realised, with regret, that I had not given my mother even the slightest thought in a considerable while. I could hardly say she was ever proud of me, precisely, but the woman I have become would surely shame her beyond her wildest imagination.