Year of the Boar, Thirteenth Month, Day 7.

Riko came to tell me that Airi was weeping and would not stop. She and Atsuko had been talking for a while before Atsuko went to oversee the preparations for the evening meal. Once she was alone, Airi had started to cry and would not be comforted. I still did not want to talk to her; the anger I felt still coursed through my veins but I knew I could not avoid her indefinitely and I knew Riko would irritate me by continuing to nag if i did not... 

I forced myself to the door of the room we are sleeping in, where I stopped and pressed my forehead against the cool wooden frame. I could not go in. I stood outside listening to Airi sobbing quietly and I felt my rage ebb away, replaced by an ache in my heart at the sound of her in pain. I went to her then; I knelt by her and took her hands in mine. She leaned against me, pressing her face into my shoulder but said nothing for a long while. When her tears finally stopped, she told me that she was sorry and that if she had known she would be putting me in danger, she would not have come. I tried to wrap my arms around her but she winced and cried out. 

I had been right when I thought she may have fallen from a horse. Apparently, she had lost her way once the snow storms started and at some point, the horse she rode had taken fright and reared. She had fallen and when she tried to calm the horse and mount him again, he had bucked and clipped her shoulder with his hoof. The force of the blow sent her barrelling into a tree and she had lost consciousness. She does not know how long she lay in the snow and she has no idea how she managed to get up and walk here. When the soldiers found her, she had fallen several times more and felt disorientated and exhausted. She was about to lie down in the snow and give up.

She started to cry again when she told me that she had failed to keep a promise to deliver letters to me. They were in her pack which was gone with the horse along with her Solstice gift for me.  

Since holding her was out of the question without causing her pain, I made her lie down and put a soft cushion underneath her shoulder and then I held her hand until she slept again.

I have told Atsuko that the soldiers must find that horse. I do not know yet who has sent me letters but I am sure that I do not want them falling into the wrong hands. Anyone could find the horse and go through Airi's things. Anyone...