Year of the boar. Ninth month, Day 31.

I cannot sleep. I do not know what hour it is; the House is eerily quiet. I cannot hear a solitary soul so it must be the very dead of night. The hour of the bat perhaps. The moon is high and bright and the sky is inky but clear. I was asleep for a short while but I dreamt of ash and death. I woke up sweating and trembling and the thought of returning to such dreams was unbearable so I decided to sit and write for a while. Now that I have made the effort to get up and sit at my desk, it seems I have little to say. I have heard nothing from Broken Rampart and though I wish I could; I can hardly send a messenger to find him when I do not know if he even remains in the Kingdom. I believe that Seira has begun some sort of liaison with Yuuta Hayashi; I cannot say that I understand the appeal. I have never been fond of him and since I slapped him when he tried to kiss me once, we have not so much as spoken. It is hardly an enormous loss; the man is positively caprine - he wears a ridiculous beard that all but reaches his waist and for some reason, despite the current fashion for men to shave their heads, Yuuta does not even cut his hair. I should be interested to know what Seira finds so appealing about him but I do not imagine she would tell me; she was cagey when I asked her about the nature of their relationship and I suppose that so long as he comes no where near me, it is really none of my business...
As I sit here bundled up in a comforter to ward off the kind of dank cold that is peculiar to this time of night at this time of year, I wonder if perhaps I should ride out to the village where Nanami's grandmother lives and speak to Nanami myself. I know I have behaved badly towards her; I do not like admitting my mistakes but I am finding that I do not manage as well without Nanami as I have been with her here and I do so wish she would return.