"Wait here," he said. "I'll go get you some charcoal and parchment paper."

He soon returned with a stick of charcoal and a few pieces of parchment paper. It had been a while since Tali had used charcoal--she preferred pencil for sketches--but at this point, she welcomed having any drawing utensil between her fingers.

She drew the Chief first, sketching in the shape of his bald head, then adding his narrow eyes and defined cheekbones before finally shading it in. She drew Honar next, wanting to get it over with as quickly as possible. She then drew Toran and Kareb, since they were the ones she remembered the best. She did a group picture of the rest of the faces that she remembered, including Gayalo, Nimi, and the old man.

Finally, she was done with her drawings. She sat up and wiped at her forehead with the back of her hand so she wouldn't smear charcoal all over her face. She started, realizing that Yamal had been watching over her shoulder the whole time. It was the first time she hadn't felt self-conscious about someone watching her draw.

"That's amazing," Yamal said, sifting through the drawings carefully to avoid smudging them. "They're so life-like. I've never seen anybody draw faces so realistically."

"Really?" Tali asked. "I would think drawing faces is one of the basic skills."

He flipped back and forth between the five drawings. "I wouldn't know," he said. "There aren't very many artists here in Karagan. Most of them are in Southern Bristalia."

"Huh." Tali handed him the charcoal pencil. "You'll have to label them with their names. I can't read or write Karagan."

"Right, the potion doesn't help with that," he said. He labeled them carefully in a swooping, loopy script that reminded Tali of English shorthand. When he had finished, he set them aside, placing an extra piece of paper in between each drawing to prevent smudging. Then he handed the charcoal pencil back to Tali. "Why don't you sketch your cousin for me so that I can keep an eye out for him as well?"

Tali nodded. She took the piece of paper and charcoal and drew Ethan with his bright, wide smile and playful, teasing eyes.  She took her time with his drawing; she did her best to accurately represent his defined forehead, Roman nose, and square chin. As she drew, her eyes filled up with tears and she ended up with charcoal streaks on her cheeks as she absently wiped them away. They had only been separated for a day and a half and yet, she felt like she had been torn in half. 

It took her a lot longer to do Ethan's sketch due to her desire to make it perfect. This was, after all, a missing person poster. Finally, after over twenty minutes of sketching, she deemed it finished and handed it to Yamal.

He took the charcoal pencil so he could label it. "What is your cousin's name again?"

"Ethan."

"Ethan," he said as he wrote it down. "Huh. Very unusual name."

"Really?"

He shrugged. "I don't think I've heard that 'th' sound in a name before."

"Oh," Tali said. "It's really common where I'm from."

"Are you not from Karagan?" Yamal asked.

She shook her head. "My Pabi grew up here, but I've never been here before."

"Oh," Yamal said. "I wondered why you couldn't speak Karagan when you have a Karagi name."

"I do?"

He looked surprised. "You didn't know?"

She frowned. "Well, no. My full name is actually Natalie. Tali is just my nickname."

Yamal fingered his lip. "Na-ta-li?" he said, drawing it out.

"Tali is a Karagi name?" Tali asked, intrigued.

"Yes," he said. "Although it is still fairly unique. It means 'rope.'"

"Rope?" Tali raised an eyebrow. "Who would want a name like that?"

He shook his head gently. "Here it's considered noble to have a name inspired by bridges." He appeared thoughtful, rubbing the back of his neck. "How did you get the nickname?"

"I'm told my Pabi started calling me that when he heard what my parents named me and the name stuck." She smiled, shaking her head. "Which actually makes a lot of sense, now that I think about it."

"Because your Pabi grew up here?" Yamal asked, rubbing at his beard.

She nodded. "I didn't know that until recently, though."

"Interesting." Yamal looked down at the sketches he was holding. "I better take these to the University. Would you like to come with me?"

"Actually, can I bathe first?" Tali asked. "I smell like river water."

He chuckled, his dark eyes twinkling. "Of course."