Year of the Boar, Ninth Month, Day 12. Postscript.

Our departure has been delayed. Atsuko assured me that we would be ready to leave the inn within the stick but while I was giving one of the messengers instructions to go before us and apprise the House of my imminent return, Nanami burst in and burbled something about speaking to a woman who had just arrived at the inn. She made to leave but I insisted that she stay and repeat what she had said and when she did, it appeared that someone claiming to be Seira of Pale Twilight had demanded to speak with me.
Naturally I told Nanami not to be so ridiculous; that I certainly would not be delaying my departure to have a conversation with someone who was clearly an impostor but Nanami had such a tantrum that in the end, I agreed that I would speak to this woman. I sent the messenger on his way with instructions that he need not kill himself in getting to Dying Crane but that I would prefer he not dally and then I settled, ready to receive the visitor.
I do not remember Seira very well at all. This woman certainly has a slightly regal air about her and she speaks with the accents of the south but so too, do any number of women. In my memories, Seira is a mousy child who refused to play with the rest of us at Talks, preferring instead, to sit in the libraries buried up to her nose in parchment. She was plain and somewhat scrawny looking; overshadowed by her twin, Taiji and her little sister who was pretty and bright. Yes... Aki... but now that I think on it, only Taiji and The Lady Pale Twilight were at the funeral.
The woman who sat before me this morning was tanned and confident. Her hair shone as mine used to and she exuded an inner calm despite the circumstances. She told me that she had left home after her mother had punished her for forging a letter on Pale Twilight's behalf which voted for Shigeru's deposition. She had travelled by sea with some traders and had gone to Dying Crane to stand with me.
It all sounds far too ridiculous to be true but what possible motive could she have for lying to me? She knows too much ... is too well-versed in our customs to have not come from a Ruling family of some sort; despite my misgivings, I have decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and have agreed that she may travel back to Dying Crane with us.
Nanami seems much more relaxed since the woman arrived and I am grateful for that. I have asked Atsuko to ensure that we have another horse and that extra supplies are bought as soon as possible. I intend to depart today whether that means we shall travel in the dark or not.