[Arai Shimako]

Even at this time of year, the deserts of Kaze no Kuni were unbearably hot. The hurried winds sweeping over the dunes of sand could do little to provide wind chill. There was no water for the sun to evaporate and so all the heat went into the earth. This was the reason the desert was so deadly. Someone lost within could walk for days without finding water while the heat sapped all the moisture from the bodies. Dehydrated, they would perish, mummified by sand. That was only one of the many ways to die out in the wilderness. Bandits, animals...

These were the fates Arai Shimako and Hayashi Matsu had been assigned to help a group of travelling traders avoid. The call for their aid had come not long ago, their home village concerned. They had set out on a trip with their caravan and had yet to return or, they learned, arrive at their intended destination. A sandstorm had swept the desert along their path, most probably making navigation difficult, and making tracking them even more difficult than that. Unable to help on their own, they'd called in the shinobi forces. 

The two stood outside the village now, ready to follow whatever tracks they could. If they started at the beginning and retracted footsteps, it gave them the best bet. 

"We'll be getting our exercise in today," Shimako joked, stretching her arms out over her head before using a hand to shield her eyes, squinting out towards the desert for any sign of the merchants' passing. "They said that they were heading north from Nimaiya to Akuram. That's right through the Demon Desert. Let's hope we find more than just their skeletons... Unless you can treat that, Doctor," she joked. The sandstorms there were particularly bad, enough to sand flesh from bone. How high were the chances their little team would meet one? 

[Hayashi Matsu]

The Doctor is In

There are always lives that can be saved...

It was rare for the Head Medic of Sunagakure to embark on a mission outside of the walls of the village, but there were some situations that were practically tailor made for the doctor. Accompanying him on this journey was the village's very own sage, making the duo a rather strange team but one that was very suited for the mission. As he approached his colleague the doctor gave his equipment a cursory inspection, smiling at the light-hearted joke.

"I can always appreciate some fresh air. And you know maybe one day I'll be able to bring someone back from just bones. I have been known to work a miracle or two in my time."

He shared the same joking tone that she had employed but there was a kernel of truth in his words, not that he liked to brag. After digesting what information they did know about their targets, Matsu pointed off in the direction of Nimaiya.

"Well, we could start by heading to Nimaiya itself and see what kind of route they wished to take to Akuram, though I'll defer to your leadership for the first leg of our mission."

Matsu's skills would become much more useful once they entered the Demon Desert itself, his sensory capabilities being limited by range. However Shimako wished to proceed, Matsu would readily follow behind, bounding off in the harsh sunlight to begin finding the lost merchants.

...even among our enemies.

[Arai Shimako]

The good doctor had quite a reputation, so that much wasn't surprising. Suna already had some interesting technology around immortality and death, what with the Shippai among their ranks, so him finding his own method to return and preserve the dead wasn't entirely out of the question. 

"Oh, I've heard stories about your miracles," she said, smiling brightly at him. "Isn't it that some people still call you the Angel of the Sand?" He certainly looked like one, all polite and kindly. Though as a shinobi, he probably had his deadly side, too. 

She turned her attention back towards the open desert and nodded. 

"Heading towards Nimaiya first seems like the best method. Any tracks they would have left will be long gone." 

The small village was not a far walk from Nimaiya and the duo would be able to make decent time. The garrison outside Nimaiya was strong, armed to the teeth with a cast of shinobi ready to defend the village as necessary. They weren't strict enough on entry to require a gate guard before the two could enter, but there were certainly a lot of eyes on them. 

The gate guards were not especially helpful ("we can't remember where a certain trading group went days ago, we see them every hour"), so Shimako turned her attention to the local trader's guild. 

"We're looking for a group that went north towards Akuram and went missing on the way. We were hoping you could tell us what direction they might have gone." 

The record-keeper checked her books and after a moment of searching, supplied the duo with - 

"They were taking the eastern route towards the plateau in the hopes that the pass between the plateaus and the mountains would keep them safe from the sandstorms... I hope that it did. It's hard to find traders willing to go that far north." 

[Hayashi Matsu]

The Doctor is In

There are always lives that can be saved...

It was nice to have an amiable start to a mission, circumstances aside. People's lives were on the line but there was no need to be dour about it. While Matsu had responded to Shimako's energy in a similar way, he was caught off guard by the sudden use of his lesser known alias, a sheepish grin on his face as he awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

"Oh, haha! Some people have been known to call me that on occasion... heh... but that was a long time ago."

Fortunately, Shimako also seemed to agree with his suggested course of action and it wasn't long before they arrived in the small village. While Matsu was still an experienced shinobi, years of being the Head Medic left him a bit rusty when it came to his skills in the field. There was visible relief on his face as Sunagakure's famed sage took the initiative in questioning a few of the local, though the answers they got were a bit unexpected.

"East? That's a bit troubling. It certainly widens the scope of our search by quite a bit... I'm not sure if it would be wiser to follow their tracks directly or if we could risk it by just heading towards the Demon Desert... In either case, if they're isolated I should be able to sense them with my sensory capabilities, it's just a matter of how soon we can enter their general vicinity."

...even among our enemies.

[Arai Shimako]

The answers the duo received were in fact a bit concerning. The eastern path was certainly longer, both narrowing and broadening their area of search at once. It was no more or less deadly than the path directly through the desert, though at least the mountain range might provide some amount of shade during certain hours of the day, which made it a more enticing destination.

Shimako considered both options, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.

"If we cut directly through the desert, we could risk missing the fringes," she considered. "Plus, if it began to storm significantly, they probably would have taken shelter along the mountain ranges and cliffs to try to avoid the winds. That means if they pressed off course, it'd be more likely they pathed further east, right? I think we should follow their tracks as closely as we can."

If he agreed, Shimako would make sure to stock up on supplies with the local merchants before hitting the road. Though she never moved without water, it was not a bad idea to get more if you were to be going out into the Demon Desert.

Then the trek into the broiling wilderness would begin again.

"Do you think we might be able to get a better vantage point for your senses if we could gain some altitude?" She asked.

[Hayashi Matsu]

The Doctor is In

There are always lives that can be saved...

The doctor was especially attentive as Shimako gave her opinion, nodding enthusiastically as he processed her mindset and rationale.

"That makes sense... yes east. Following directly in their footsteps will get us the closest to them."

When he noted Shimako stocking up on supplies, Matsu hastily began doing the same, mostly checking that all of his medical was in good condition and picking up a few key fruits and carefully storing them away as well. As the two set off Shimako posed an interesting question, though Matsu didn't need to think on it too hard before giving a decisive answer.

"It doesn't quite work like sight. Sensory abilities tend to be much more spherical in their area of effect so remaining as level as possible to our targets would yield the best results. But if your theories hold true then we really don't know what altitude those merchants are at..."

The medic paused for a few moments to actively send out a pulse of chakra, immediately registering the numerous people in the village they had just left, but nothing quite yet in the area up ahead.

"Nothing so far... what about you? It's been relatively quite some time since the merchants would've become lost, I don't suppose you have a way of using your puppeteering or sage capabilities to track their er... tracks?"

...even among our enemies.

[Arai Shimako]

That was interesting, the idea that a sensory ability wasn't necessarily affected by a height vantage-point. Though, when she thought about it, it made sense. It was something like a chakra barrier, just extended out over a larger radius, wasn't it? So it didn't benefit from angles the way that eyesight would. Eyesight worked like that because adjusting the angle helped one see light from a new perspective. Sensory abilities were more like the extra-perceptive abilities employed by her... hawks. Now there was an idea!

"I don't have an easy way to accomplish it with my puppets," she admitted. She could summon one and give them an easy ride across the desert, but outside of that, she wouldn't really be able to help. But her hawks certainly could. "But I can summon a few of my favorite ladies to help out." Shimako didn't actually have favorites, but the Seer trio were like sisters to her growing up.

"I can share my sight with them temporarily, so they can scout ahead and let us know if they see anything. However, while I'm looking through their eyes... Well, if I tell you this secret, you can't share with anyone, alright?" She joked, giving him a wink. "I can't see myself when I'm looking through them, so I'll be completely blind. I'd need you to keep leading me forward while we searched. Is that alright?"

If he was open to that possibility, she would begin the process of summoning. Draw a kunai across her thumb for a spot of blood and then the formation of the hand seals.