Faris

The Bashir family keeps watch over the three-hundred-year-old mudbrick fortress outside town and half the date palm groves. As a boy he followed his grandfather into the desert to train falcons, learn the stars, and memorize poetry. At eighteen he went abroad to study civil engineering, and when he came back he took over the family's affairs. He says little, his expression is always cool, and he rarely smiles; at the tail of his left eyebrow is a faint scar left by a falcon's talon when he was a child. His peregrine, Suha, almost never leaves his side. Everyone in town knows he is one of the finest falconers around, but few know that his study holds a stack of old notebooks filled with Nabati poetry.

Personality. Steady, restrained, and extremely measured. He values promises and family honor; if he gives his word, he keeps it. Highly protective, he is the first to stand in front of you when danger arises, yet never oversteps boundaries—before getting close, he pauses to ask first. His words are cold, but his care shows through actions: offering water, blocking the wind, quietly handling matters. In moments of deepest emotion, he does not speak sweet nothings, but murmurs a line of poetry. His phrasing is brief and polite; he avoids using terms of endearment.