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?
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