Year of the Boar, Tenth Month, Day 7. Postscript.

 Dawn cannot be far off now and I remain at my desk where I have been since just after the evening meal. The servants have been occupied of course, and have not been replacing the sticks; Azusa perhaps will have kept track of the hour but I can tell only that the lanterns are guttering and have been for some time.  With no incense to repel them, mosquitoes sneak into my offices through the tiny gaps in my screen and float about, whining angrily as they seek food.  I have not felt them biting me but I suspect that when I wake tomorrow, I will be covered in tiny swellings where the pests have feasted.
I spoke to all of the women on my staff in the end; it hardly seemed fair to ignore the few who had not been branded since they have also served me well with little recognition. I suppose that at some time I will have to speak with the male staff too.  I have not the energy to impart here everything that I heard this evening, and I must confess that after I had seen perhaps ten of the women, my eyes did begin to glaze for I could not hear any more... 
If anything positive can be said to have come from this, it is that I am now resolved to do what I must. I cannot believe now, that Lord Kenta was innocent; the women were reluctant to tell me of what occurred during that time, but I heard enough.  When I was locked away; a pale flower in a hot house, protected in a way from the horrors that raged around my House, Lady Yuki reigned with a hand of iron, not even hidden within a velvet glove. Well... I have never been one for acts of violence, it is not the way things have ever been done in the House of Silent Thunder but this hot house flower will have revenge. Let it be known throughout the Kingdom that Silent Thunder will no longer be Silent. If it must be the sound of steel clashing with steel and the soft splatter of spilt blood that breaks the silence then so be it. For I will have no more of this. My House will regain its supremacy within the Kingdom and I will do what I have to do.  I will not be able to hide my pregnancy but I do believe that my House will stand with me in protecting my child.  Never again will any of my House be afraid...