Joy and Sustenance

It had always amazed Haruna how such a large community could thrive in a land with such limited access to water. She wiped the sweat from her brow as she observed the villagers going about their daily business in the marketplace. It looked very much like a market in the other lands, like the Fire or Lightning countries, with the only difference being the way that people dressed. Many gave her looks as they went about their business, since she did not dress like one of them.

Although dressed in robes like an elder, Haruna also had a rakasu draped over it, colored in a blue and yellow design, signifying that she was a nun of stature. She also wore a white boshi to cover her head from the blazing sun and held a monk's spade at her side. Although a tool she used as both a shovel and a walking stick, it could also double as a weapon, though it looked far less intimidating than a sword or other more traditional weapons used by the ninja villages.

For the past few days Haruna only observed the village activity, feeling that it was inappropriate to suddenly question the villagers about their lifestyle. She loitered around the tea house, where many would gather to take a break from the day's work. She eavesdropped on their conversations, which were mostly harmless ones about difficulties that they were experiencing that day, what they plan to do later on, and so forth. Although Haruna picked out a thing or two from their conversations, such as the stockpiling of water supplies, very little was concrete information that would be helpful. She hoped that she could find someone to strike up a conversation with, in order to gather more information on how people managed to live in this desert.