Aven walked in, nervously looking around. It seemed no one else was here as of yet, though it did look like other people were living here. Picking an empty bunk by a wall, Aven dropped his bag and took a seat to survey his surroundings. It wasn't much, but.. Aven's gaze fell on the desks, and he hurried to the one nearest to him, also unnoccupied. Throwing open a drawer, he felt like laughing. They supplied their soldiers their own paper and ink. He took a seat and began to sketch. First a picture of his sister, painstakingly scratching the lines of ink into her image. The he began indiscriminately doodling on another sheet, the bunks, what he thought his fellow Soldiers might look like, the intimidating Master of Soldiers, and the Ash'aman who brought him here. That picture, er, caricature was a little unkind. Aven really did not want to be here. His heart sank in his chest, thinking sorrowfully of his dead master. And his sister Sei would be all alone. What if he came back and she had already settled down? What if her husband was a lout? Surely she'd write him if she were getting married. They would have to let him go for that, surely. Aven frowned, unsure of how this strange place worked. Grimacing, he drew an angry looking man, venting his frustration through his pen. Suddenly, he heard the door behind him open. Spinning around in his seat, he took a look at his new room mate.

"Hi." He smiled.

It took him a little while to sort out the many corridors and hallways, but eventually Beldor found the Soldier's dorms, and the room he had been assigned to. Not bothering to knock, he pushed open the door and walked in. He was momentarily taken aback at finding another already in the room. Bloody ashes, he cursed silently, he should have remembered that he was going to have a room mate.

"Hi" the man greeted him with a smile. " 'ello" Beldor replied in kind. He wondered what sort of a person his room mate would turn out to be. After all, if they were going to be sharing these tiny quarters for who knew how long, they'd better start out on the right foot.

Setting his stuff down on one of the unoccupied beds, he looked over at his room mate. "I'm Beldor" he said, by way of introduction. "And you are...?"

Glancing behind the man, he saw a bunch of what looked like drawings behind the man. "Did you draw those?" he asked, nodding towards them. Beldor was impressed at their quality.

" 'ello," the man said. He was pretty tall, likely over six feet. Setting his stuff on another of the empty-looking beds, he turned back to Aven. "I'm Beldor. And you are..?"

Aven stood, extending his hand to the other man. "The name's Avendesei Soravron, but please, call me Aven." He noticed as Beldor glanced behind him, then seemed to fixate on the papers on the desk. "Did you draw those?"

Aven rubbed his neck with the other hand. "Ah, yes I did. I'm a-" Aven blinked. "I was a painter's apprentice, before I came here. I'm afraid I'm completely new here." Beldor looked new, too, not yet wearing the uniform that all Black Tower members wore. Aven picked up one of the papers on his desk and held it our for Beldor. "My sister Sei. I'm from Saldaea. How about you, you're.... maybe Andor?"

He looked like he might be. Light, Aven hoped they got along well. Far as he could tell he might be spending years in this very room, with both Beldor and Creator knew who else. So far he seemed fairly nice.

Beldor nodded, shaking the hand the man proffered heartily. "Well then, my pleasure to meet you, Aven." Avendesei? he wondered silently for a moment. He could have sworn he had heard that name, or something similar to it, before...some sort of leaf or tree or something? But he couldn't quite remember, so he pushed that thought away.

He looked again at the drawings, listening to Aven's answer to his question. "I'm a...I was a painter's apprentice, before I came here. I'm afraid I'm completely new here." Beldor laughed-"Good-maybe I won't feel completely ashamed of my lack of knowledge about this place."

So... a painter's apprentice. Well, the man did seem a bit young to be a master painter, but his work certainly looked good. Not that Beldor really knew much abou the arts, but from what he could tell, Aven had talent. He looked at the picture Aven held out to him. It was a drawing of a beautiful woman with tilted eyes. "My sister, Sei." he said, "I'm from Saldaea. How about you, you're....maybe Andor?"

"You got it. Andor it is. Sad to say I haven't left the borders until recently, so I'm not the best at recognizing nationalities. I guess being here will take care of that-seems there's someone from everywhere but Shayol Ghul."

He studied the woman's face a moment before handing it back to Aven. "If this portrait looks anything like your sister, she's a beautiful woman. Maybe if we ever get some time off or something, I should take the time to...drop by." He winked jokingly at the other man.

"So, what's it like here?" he asked after a moment. "You've been here longer than me at least." He frowned slightly, remembering the way the Asha'man had just whisked him away after learning he could channel, not really giving Beldor a choice as to whether he wanted to be there or not.

(ooc: Sorry about the delay, IRL's been kicking my arse of late.)

"Good-maybe I won't feel completely ashamed of my lack of knowledge about this place." He seemed a genial man; this was going well. As for his guess, Beldor confirmed he was indeed Andoran.

"You got it. Andor it is. Sad to say I haven't left the borders until recently, so I'm not the best at recognizing nationalities. I guess being here will take care of that-seems there's someone from everywhere but Shayol Ghul."

Aven laughed. "Light, that does seem to be true. I heard there's even an Aiel man training here. And don't worry, I'd never left Saldaea before here either, there was just a lot of out-of-town traffic where I'm from. Merchants and the like."

He smiled and settled onto his bed. Beldor looked for another minute at the picture Aven had drawn before handing it back to him.

"If this portrait looks anything like your sister, she's a beautiful woman. Maybe if we ever get some time off or something, I should take the time to...drop by."

Aven gave a smile at that. Light, his sister might even approve... something which made him a touch uneasy. But he could tell the man was joking, and he'd meant his sister no disrespect. Aven had thrashed (or sometimes merely tried to) more than one man for insulting her. Besides; she was a very safe several thousand miles away. So Aven just kept on smiling as Beldor began putting his things on an unused bed.

"So, what's it like here? You've been here longer than me at least."

"Well... it's tough. You jump when they say toad, pretty much. We learn how to fight with our hands and with swords as much as we learn channeling, which seems odd but it's apparently how they've always done it... and the Ash'aman seem hard. Very hard." He thought for a minute. "Except maybe the al'Dieb Chas. They're the odd ones out, they're more scholars, I think." It had been a Dieb Cha who had brought him here. "We don't get a lot of free time, either, and apparently we might be in this room for years." Aven grimaced at that. "Plus we can't even go into the city, which annoys me no end. I didn't have time to bring any paints with me, Light knows how out of practice I'll be by the time I can go and buy supplies."