I tend to lean more towards the latter, but with the area being this large, I'm not sure how effective she would be as a comms unit (her range is ~30 miles or so, but past 15 miles or so, I imagine it becomes a bit difficult to discern who's talking unless they say their name).

Thaaat being said, comms work is mostly handwaved and boring so! She can probably work with Masaomi's group on one of the days when she runs into them? Does that work?