On the day after capture the flag, the initiates are allowed to sleep in for the first time since arriving at Dauntless. Coming from Abnegation, Tris has never been allowed the lazy, self-indulgent privilege, so she wakes at her usual time, but stays quietly on her bunk to avoid disturbing the others.
Eric enters the dorm while everyone else is asleep. Normally he would relish waking the initiates, but when he sees that Tris is the only one awake, he decides to get to know her a little bit.
"Good morning," the leader says quietly. His deep voice makes Tris shiver, and she instinctively pulls the thin covers higher.
"Are you cold?" Eric asks, his voice quiet and surprisingly genuine in its concern.
"I'm fine," Tris says, her voice still weak and sleepy.
"May I sit?" Eric asks, pointing to the edge of her bunk.
Tris realizes that she can't very well say no to her trainer and faction leader, so she nods as she scoots to the far edge of the mattress.
"How are you feeling?" Eric asks, willing himself not to reach for Tris' hand as he sits on the edge of her bed. He had no idea that the magnetic pull of his soulmate would be this strong, and he wonders if she can feel it too.
"I'm fine," Tris says in answer to his question.
"Don't be a stiff," Eric chides gently. "You had a concussion and a cracked rib after your fight with Peter, and the next day you were jumping on and off of trains. Are you sore? Dizzy?"
"I really am fine," Tris insists, wiggling her fingers that itch to reach out and trace the young leader's tattoos. What is wrong with me? she wonders. I have never wanted to touch a man before, but it's like my fingers have a mind of their own!
"Erudite's new healing serum works wonders, doesn't it?" Eric asks, trying to prolong the conversation, even if it is awkward.
Tris nods. "Can I touch your tattoos?" she blurts out, then slaps her hands over her mouth as if it had spoken without her permission.
Eric chuckles. Yup, he thinks. She feels it too. Rather than answer, the young leader reaches for Tris' hand. His fingers tingle as they brush across her knuckles, enveloping her hand in his and pulling it away from her mouth. He gently places her palm on his forearm, and she strokes the black ink.
"I… I thought I'd be able to feel your tattoo," she says, growing bolder as she traces the black lines.
"You can when they're new," he says. "But once it heals it's just part of your skin." ...like a soulmark, he wants to add, but stifles the impulse. "I take it you don't have any tattoos?"
"Not yet," Tris replies. "I want to, but I'm afraid a new tattoo or piercing would be a liability as long as we're fighting. I heard they're tender for a while."
"That's very smart," Eric says. More than anything he wants to stroke Tris' cheek, kiss her soft-looking lips, and pull her into his arms. But that would undoubtedly freak her out, and the other initiates will be waking up soon.
"I'll tell you what," Eric says conspiratorially, "today is Visiting Day. Tomorrow is a field trip to the fence and Amity. The day after that are the final exams with guns, knives, and physical fitness. You have three whole days before you're fighting again. I wouldn't recommend a piercing yet, but that's enough time for a tattoo to heal - provided it's not too big."
"Why are you telling me this?" Tris asks, biting nervously on her bottom lip in a way that makes Eric want to groan.
He reaches over and gently frees her lip with his thumb, then doesn't let go of her chin. "You surprise me," he says. "I like watching you become more and more Dauntless."
"Now," he says, standing up, "if you'll excuse me, I have to go back to being a hard-ass initiate trainer."
Tris smiles as Eric winks at her before he bangs on an exposed pipe to wake the transfers and warn them about appearing too attached to their families on Visiting Day.
.
xxxx
.
After watching Christina and Will introduce their families to their soulmate, and spending a little time with her mother, Tris is riding high. She decides to trust Eric and go ahead with a tattoo.
At the tattoo parlor, she reunites with Tori, the Dauntless woman who administered her aptitude test.
"How is initiation going?" Tori asks.
"Good!" says Tris, as she looks through the books of tattoo designs. "Is this Eric's tattoo?" she asks, pointing at an image.
"Yup," says Tori, proudly. "Its an original design I did just for him. But you're looking in the wrong book. Those are my custom jobs, not things you can choose from."
Tris switches to looking through the indicated book, and selects an image of three ravens in flight. She asks Tori to put them on her collarbone as a reminder of the family she left behind. While the older woman works, Tris allows herself to relax.
"Have you met any cute boys?" Tori asks. "Maybe your soulmate? I heard there was a match made on the first day."
Tris shakes her head. "That's Christina and Will," she says.
"Do you have a soulmark?" Tori asks.
"Um, yeah," Tris says, hesitating.
"What's the matter?" Tori asks.
"Can you keep something to yourself?" Tris asks, desperate to talk to someone about her situation.
"Sure," Tori says.
"I, um, I kind of have two marks," Tris says. "But I don't think I'll ever meet either of them. I find myself crushing on guys that aren't my match, and I just, I don't know. I don't think I'm... I don't think I'm meant to be happy."
Tori sets down her tattoo gun and hugs Tris, handing the younger woman a tissue for her tears.
"Even with a soulmark, love has a way of surprising you," Tori says gently.
"It would take a pretty big surprise," Tris says cynically. "One of them is grey, so I'm pretty sure that ship has sailed. The other says 'welcome to Dauntless,' and though I heard that several times when I got here, the words are blue, and neither of the Erudite boys in my class said it."
Tori chuckles. "Maybe your Erudite-born wears black now. There are quite a few of us in Dauntless."
"You were Erudite?" Tris asks.
"Yup," Tori says. "I've been here five years now. I transferred with my brother, George. He was divergent, like you. Back then Erudite was actively hunting the divergent, so we fled to Dauntless. Unfortunately, they were already watching George, so when he got too good in the second phase of training, they… they killed him."
Tris gasps.
"They said it was suicide, but I knew better. George was happy. Back then people would disappear or suddenly turn up dead, and we knew it was because they were divergent. Five years ago it was Georgie. Two years ago my friend Amar died suspiciously. He was the initiate trainer then. In fact, that was the year your trainers went through initiation."
"And that changed last year?" Tris asks. "When Erudite leadership changed?"
"Right," Tori says, "but I would still keep your divergence to yourself. Prejudices take a long time to change."
Tris nods. "For a former stiff, it seems I have a lot of secrets."
Tori agrees and switches to a lighter topic as she finishes Tris' tattoo.
When she's finished, Tris meets her friends in the pit for some shopping, and lets Christina talk her into some more fitted clothing items, as well as a little makeup.
When they're walking back to the dorm in their new attire, Tris' tattoo on display in her new v-neck top, they run into Four and some of his friends drinking in the pit.
"Instructor alert," Christina giggles, pointing them out.
Tris tries to sneak by, but she can't take her eyes off Four. Apparently he can't look away from her, either, and her clear grey-blues lock on to his bleary ocean blues as they walk past.
When they get past him, he calls out. "Tris!"
She stops, but encourages Christina to go on without her. Four weaves drunkenly toward her.
"You're not supposed to see me like this," he slurs, wagging a finger at his student.
"What?" she asks. "Drunk?"
"Yeah," he says. "No. I mean, like, you know… real."
"Well, I won't tell if you don't," Tris says.
"It's a deal," Four slurs, leaning in for an awkward hug.
Tris returns the trainer's hug. It feels warm and safe in spite of the fact that he's sloppy drunk.
Pulling back, Four pats Tris' cheek. "I have two, too," he says.
That makes no sense to Tris. "You have a tutu?" she questions, "like a ballet dress?"
"No, no," Four giggles - actually giggles. "I have two, too." He holds up two fingers as if that explains everything.
"Okay…" Tris says. "Like two plus two is four?"
"Not this time!" he laughs again. "This time two plus two plus two equals three, and that sucks! I didn't even want one, and I got two! But you're still an initiate, so I can't tell you about that yet."
Tris sees Eric across the room and desperately waves him over. When he approaches, Four looks at him with a warning on his face. "She's an initiate," Four slurs. "She doesn't know about the secret."
"What is he talking about?" Eric asks.
"I have no idea," Tris says. "Something about tutus and bad math where two plus two equals three."
"No!" Four interjects. "Two plus two plus two equals three. One, two, three," he says pointing at himself, Eric, and Tris as he counts. "And it sucks!"
"Yes, bad math sucks," Tris says patronizingly.
"You look good, Tris," Four slurs.
"I think you've had enough," Eric interjects.
"I don't want you," Four whines as Eric puts an arm around him to guide him away from their initiate.
"I don't want you either," says Eric, "yet here we are. Let's get you to bed."
"Keep him away from the chasm!" Tris calls to Eric as he leads Four away.
"No promises!" Eric calls back, grinning at Tris over his shoulder.
She waves, and Four waves back. As silly as it is, Tris can't help but wish she was going with the two men for more drinks, bad math, and laughs.