A/N: Still don't own a thing :p

Chapter Two

Beatrice found life in Erudite fascinating. While she still missed her family, she no longer had doubts that she had made the right choice. Jeanine Matthews had come on the first day to make a speech about the importance of knowledge and had also read the faction's manifesto, but since then, Beatrice had only caught sight of her a few times at a distance. During the two weeks of initiation, she went to classes in the morning, where she discovered many fields of study which were entirely new to her. Classes were usually taught by the researchers who had made the discoveries, with a different lecturer in every class giving them different perspectives on each subject.

Some classes were taken by all initiates, but they also had a large choice of advanced classes to discover new disciplines and start to orient themselves towards what they would specialize in after initiation. In the afternoon, she could be found in the library, where she picked a book on a subject of her choosing. By the end of the day, she had to hand in an essay on that book, summarizing but also critically analyzing its main arguments and contrasting it with her own knowledge and other texts she had come across.

All in all, it was far from what her father had condescendingly said about Erudite, that they were swallowing useless knowledge which had no use for the community. What she learned was sometimes very theoretical but it always had concrete applications. As of late, she had chosen to work with medical texts, fascinated by the way the body worked, not out of egocentricity but because she could see how it could save lives.

Of course, she had quickly realized that she herself needed to go see a doctor soon. During her first days in Erudite, she had planned to go as soon as possible, but her Abnegation background was deeply anchored in her and she felt shy at the idea of going to see someone important in the faction just to talk about herself and improve her own physical well-being.

However, in those first weeks, she was feeling more and more often tired and dizzy. It happened at random times; when she was sitting in class or studying in the library. Other symptoms had worsened too; she had tremors in her hands which would sometimes make it difficult to keep the her handwriting as elegant as required. While she was walking up stairs, a sharp pain in her right thigh would suddenly force her to clutch the banister until it became bearable again. Despite this, Tris worked hard and was ranked first at the end of initiation.

The day following the results, Jeanine summoned Beatrice to her office. Beatrice intrigued her, it was very rare to have a transfer from Abnegation, and Beatrice seemed to have kept some traits of her old faction while seemingly embracing her new one. She didn't seem to be shy, but she was modest and rather distant with the other initiates. Yet, the girl's eyes spoke of intellect and curiosity, and Jeanine had no doubt that she would find her place in Erudite.

"Ms Matthews", Beatrice said formally upon entering the faction leader's office.

Jeanine looked up from her desk and smiled at her promising recruit. "Ms Prior, sit down please." She paused as Beatrice nervously sat on the leather chair facing her, her long hair in a simple ponytail and her blue suit complimenting the color of her eyes. "I wanted to congratulate you on your performance during the last two weeks," Jeanine continued. "You have shown not only an ability to understand and memorize information, but more importantly to analyze it and criticize its weak spots. These are rare qualities in someone so young."

Beatrice smiled proudly, surprised at the praise from such an important and brilliant academic. "Thank you Ms Matthews."

"You have a few more weeks before officially starting on your first research project, but you should use that time to choose a topic and discuss it with potential labs and supervisors. Do you already know what you would like to specialize in?"

"Um, I'm really interested in medicine, but I haven't singled out one area of interest yet. I like all the medical subjects we are studying, and I like helping people." She shrugged. "But I also like interdisciplinarity, it seems to me that studying one domain while ignoring its interconnections with others can lead to avoidable mistakes."

Jeanine smirked inwardly. There she was, the intelligent and curious girl who had topped the list of initiates. Yes indeed, she was one of the most promising young additions Erudite had had in many years. "You still have some time to decide. However, you should start by lining out your ideas precisely and looking up the list of academics specialized in that field. An initiate with your results can request supervision from the very best."

A/N: This is going to be a medical fic, mainly because I find illness narratives very interesting to read and analyse, and writing one makes me more conscious of some of their features.

Also, it's AU but not too much, so the war is still going to happen, but since Jeanine is different, her role is different, and therefore it turns out differently. Anyway, I hope you like it, feedback is always greatly appreciated!