North's POV
I took a deep breath and entered the room. There was a long desk from one end of the room from the left that extended all the way to the right, and left little space between the wall and the desk. More like those fancy tables. Most of the seats were empty and I proceeded to take one near Jeanine and waited anxiously for the time to pass by. Meanwhile, I chatted a little with Joel, whom I haven't seen a week ago, and Jack and Nathan. I saw Vicky from across the table, at the other end, conversing with the leaders and administrators about… well… about something.
"How was it?" Jack asked me, looking me intently in the eyes.
"I.. uhh. It's going better than I expected. It's smooth and organized, and different from Erudite.." I wasn't sure what else to say and was getting nervous because I remembered Joel's comment about my parent's urge to marry soon. I look to Jack's right, across the table from me, to Nathan. I can't believe how much they changed. I wrinkled my brows, ready to ask how he was doing when suddenly the door slammed closed and the last seat was taken. It was too far for me to see, but I felt Jeanine, who sat beside me, stand up and called everyone's already undivided attention.
Jack Kang, the leader of Candor along with two representatives and his medic, Vicky. I smiled at her, and she returned with an equally bright smile. I knew that she was having a pleasant time at Candor and was glad that at least, someone was happy.
Next to the candor group was amity's leader, Johanna. I looked at her scar, and even with the scar, I could tell she was a beautiful woman, and she still is. With her, she only brought Jack, who sat in front of me. On the other side of Candor, were Abnegation, and their leader as well as the leader of our factions, Marcus Eaton. Alongside him he brought two representatives whom I didn't recognize and Nathan, who sat next to Jack. Between the groups, along the walls, including Max and his representatives as Dauntless, I could hardly register how many were there.
"Gentlemen, ladies. I won't waste anymore of your time and will cute straight to it. The factionless have caught word of our project of medics in our factions. They demanded that they, too are part of our society and that we lend them a few, as well as include them into our project." I heard a few murmurs around, and I was stunned.
The factionless act as if they're a faction.
"Thanks to our researchers and our medic at Erudite," she caught everyone's attention again and looked briefly at Joel, who sat on the other side of me, "we've come up with a proposition." She gestured once more toward Joel and he stood up, nervously and cleared his throat.
"My name is Joel, and for the past months, I have been training new medics along with Jeanine and our fellow companions at Erudite. Our first option is to send the medics along with a soldier or Dauntless and leave the newly trained medics to the factions. We have two to spare for each, to make up for the lack of experience and support of the years of training we, as medics, had."
Immediately, the leaders started talking and chatting about the idea of two new medics and sending their own away, or worrying about their safety. I made eye contact with Vicky across the room, Jack and Nathan in front of me and next to me, Joel. We all nodded and smiled as a confirmation and gave Joel or approval or support or as he would call it, encouragement.
From the corner of my eye, I see the last person to arrive, stand up. He cleared his throat and I realized who he was immediately.
"And how, would you suggest we give lend our soldiers? They're valuable assets and many wouldn't agree." The group died down from their excitement and I stood up, on instinct, and replied, "Given the amount of Factionless, which make up one third of this society, they are divided into groups which each are close to a faction. As we all know, the majority of them reside near amity and Abnegation. I was thinking since we just finished initiation a few months ago, we could afford w few soldiers. Just four." I looked at everyone and could see approval in many of the pairs of eyes.
I could feel myself getting hot. "Predicting the amount of time it will take, which is about 1-3 months, depending on each faction, and rotation and support, we could change shifts from soldiers every few weeks. I presume that during this occurrence, we will be building medical centers near these locations, accessible for all factions."
And he replied, "And how will this benefit us in any way?"
"Well…" I wasn't sure how to answer and took a moment, while everyone was watching me.
Eric's POV
I watched her small figure across the room, thinking hard. After a moment she smiled and replied to me and looked around, "We all know the factionless have been rioting and they are planning something. This is just a bait to let them integrate into our society or weaken it, but in reality, we will discover and delve deeper into their networks. We will find the locations of which they are staying."
Again, there was murmuring and nods and shouts. "But this will take much more than three months, assuming that all goes smoothly." I answered.
Before either of us could add, Jeanine stood up and I realized how short she was in comparison to Jeanine. "Gentlemen, ladies, if we could come to a conclusion that it would benefit us all, and we are all willing to… give assistance to the factionless, it would take at most… 5 months. We would like you r cooperation and answer soon." She nodded and I could see a few leaders standing up and giving their opinions. All the leaders were allowing their doctors into this project, with all the doctors' consent, except Amity and Abnegation.
"We would like to discuss this as a group and will reply by tonight," was Johanna's answer before she dismissed herself.
"We're unsure about this, and like Amity, we would like to discuss this and will reply soon," was Marcus' reply before he and two other associates left. I looked to Max, and I gave Jeanine my permission to lend my soldiers to her doctors for the project, on the condition that they were allowed to leave after a few weeks to change or were injured. After that, I stayed in the room, waiting for everyone to leave before I left to lock the door. I looked around and made eye contact with North, before she turned away for a moment and turned back to me.
"Eric! The documents!" I turned around and met with North's hands, giving me the papers, covering her face a little, "They're information for the doctors so you would know who's compatible with whom." I took the documents and smirked as I remembered out last encounter.
I looked to North and watched as she approached me awkwardly, "Hey… About the… fear… the last one." She stuttered. She mumbled, looking at her shoes, "I… Please don't take offense." She looked up at me and I stared down into her eyes, "I… I don't want to lose what we had, and maybe I AM scared of you, but that's' deep down. In my head we had a connection, and you might not think so, but I don't want to lose what we had, and now I'm rambling and I'll shut up and leave now." She turned quickly away and was about to leave when her friends from Erudite, the rest of the doctors caught up with her. I looked at them and left. I had a lot of work to do: find the right soldiers to send for each doctor.
"How was your visit to.. uhh… Erudite? Missed it?" She attempted at conversation. I nodded briefly and walked around the table to the seat in from of where she was standing a few moments ago. There were still a few members in the room, mainly Dauntless soldiers and Jeanine. She turned to Joel, whom I smiled and waved at before leaving.
North's POV
I stumbled and smiled on my way back to Joel to remind him that everything was okay. I heard the door close behind me and knew that Eric was gone.
"Guys, I'm fine. Really. " I assured them, seeing the concern in their eyes.
They nodded and before we had time to speak, they had to leave. I talked a little more with Joel, and told him to let my parents know that I wasn't going to marry soon, unless I had a really good reason to, like if I was threatened. If they wished that I was so that I could marry, then they were horrible. Joel laughed when I told him this and it made me smile, knowing that I had made someone happy.
"North." I turned around to meet face to face with Jeanine. "Jeanine." I addressed her respectfully. "What do you think about our new project? " She asked. I knew that my opinion was valued and I knew that whatever I said would have a big influence on the project itself.
"Well, it can be dangerous, but since we would have trained soldiers it might cause some tension. So I think we should send the doctors but advise us to be open with them. We are, after all, doctors. It can be dangerous if we get attached too, but as our duty, their health is a priority." I smiled and chose my words carefully.
She nodded her approval and we gave each other our partings and she left. I turned around and in the room were Max and two other leaders. I nodded towards them and as I was about to leave, I heard Max call out to me.
"Did something happen?" He asked, concerned. I hadn't talked to him since the day of my arrival here. "I'm fine, just a little overwhelmed. At least I'll have time to get over my fears for the test." I joked and smiled. He returned it and I heard the leaders laugh before I left the room. As I was on my way back to my room, I realized that maybe I would get over my fears, but that wouldn't mean I wouldn't have new ones.
A few hours later…
I sighed and removed my coat before leaving the room. I was about to shut off the lights when the door opened and I turned to see my two new apprentices arrive to greet me and I smiled back at them. I introduced them to everything, and was about to leave and let them divide their schedules for a 24/7 availability so that when I left in a few days to the factionless, when a leader from this morning came in. He looked scared and said to me, "He needs help with the soldiers. Eric's in the computer room waiting for you." He said before leaving, in a rush, almost as if he was avoiding me, avoiding trouble. Why would there be trouble?Unless… Was Eric mad?
A/N: Hi everyone! I'm so sorry for not posting, if you even read these! School and everything has been so stressing, and I'm going to start volunteering and tutoring soon, and OMG! But i promise i will update, and happy Thanksgiving (Canada)! It's my long weekend off, and if i can, ill post another chapter on Monday! What do you think? Too rushed? Is it too OOC? Too slow? Any thoughts? Criticism is MUCH appreciated! ONE MORE THING: My english student teacher's name is Eric, and it's weird because this year i'm more social with people and teachers and just people... which meant that I was social with Eric too, and my friends ship us. So weird, like a typical fanfiction story haha! But it won't happen because it's awkward and our relationship will never progress because I won't allow it :P Happy thanksgiving my Canadian friends!
PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I GOT NAMES OR ANYTHING WRONG!
~ tulip
