Gear B6C3

"The wind is picking up," Blake warned. The Assassin had come to a halt, one hand over her face as loose sand was kicked up.

"Put on your veils," Weiss called, already pulling the thin cloth over her face. "This is why we bought them."

I echoed the motion along with the others. The villagers in Alair had been kind enough to teach us how to fold and tie what was essentially a large, square cloth, into such a fashion that it wrapped around our heads and faces, leaving our faces clear. The bottom half could be pulled up to balance on the nose, however, and we'd also been given a thinner, almost see-through cloth we could tie over that, covering our eyes. I'd wondered what it was for at first, since it wouldn't keep the sun out. Now, the application of that was obvious.

[...]

The early part of the sandstorm caught us before we could make it.

The clouds that had been kicked up before paled in comparison to what we faced now, where great gusts of wind would cause explosions on sand dunes, kicking up waves that crashed down on us, more than once driving me to the sand. It was like a cross between the ocean and the avalanches we'd faced in Atlas. To stay laid down for even a second was to invite being buried.

"Jaune!" Ren shouted.

"I-I'm fine," I gasped, pressing my hands down. I'd fallen for barely three seconds but already I had to drag myself out from under the sand, shaking my legs free. Another powerful blast of wind ruffled my clothes but did far worse to the sand, throwing it up like a solid wall in front of me. With one arm over my face, I trudged through, toward the sound of Ren's voice.

He caught my arm and tugged me back to the group. Everyone was hunched, most with their arms up to shield their faces. The wind came from behind, which at least meant we weren't fighting it with every step, but that only made it worse. Instead of sand being thrown at us, it struck us in the back without warning, and it was that which could unbalance a person. It also didn't stop the dust fluttering back into our faces, though to my relief the veils we'd been given held.