"Thank God, you're safe," Evelyn exclaims, striding across the room to fold me into her arms. My own arms stay stiffly at my sides, but she shows no sign that she notices. She sees Tris around my shoulder and her eyebrows shoot up.
"We heard you were dead."
Tris returns her look levelly and says "Apparently not."
Evelyn inclines her head, in what could be interpreted either as an accepting or indifferent gesture, and then turns around, putting her arm around my shoulders and pulling me toward a long table across the room. It looks just like the table Jeanine's body was displayed on, and for a moment, I imagine I see her empty staring eyes. I shrug Evelyn's arm off but continue to walk with her.
I can hear Tris murmuring to Leo and Christina, so I'm sure they're getting the backstory. They know that Tris suspects I cut a deal with Evelyn from watching the simulation, but the personal tie was not obvious.
Tori is sitting at the table, which has a large map spread across it. "Four!" Tori calls out, jumping up and putting her hands on my shoulder. "It's good to see you – I somehow knew you'd make it." She stops and gasps when she sees Tris.
"Oh my God," she shouts, running to Tris and throwing her arms around her. I look away. The sight of Tori in tears seems somehow obscene.
"When Four told me where you'd gone... What you'd done... I was so mad at you at first," I look back and see her give Tris a little shake. "I never thought I'd see you again!"
Tori frowns. Tris is rigid in her arms and won't look at her.
"What's wrong?" Tori asks.
"Oh!" Christina says suddenly. She taps Tris's forearm. "Look, Tris. No bite mark. It didn't happen in real life."
Tris looks at her arm and then up at Tori, startled. " You... you're not mad at me?"
"Of course not! I never really was. What you did was incredibly brave - I just wish you had talked it over with us first. But you," she says, narrowing her eyes and turning on Christina. "What the hell do you think you were doing? You took sides with Erudite - and that traitor?" she all but shouts, flicking a hand towards Leo.
"No, you don't understand," Christina protests, backing away. "Cara knew him – he found us in the lobby and took us to Tris. I swear, we were just trying to save her! But you wouldn't listen to us."
Tori continues to stare her down.
"Tori," I say firmly. "Christina is telling the truth. We needed information Jeanine had - we were lucky Tris's brother was able to help us instead, or we would have lost her." I have to clear my throat. "And this is Leo..."
"Yeah, I know who he is." she says, voice hard as iron.
"We go way back," Leo says quietly.
"Well," Evelyn breaks in cheerfully, "I hate to break up this happy reunion, but the other faction leaders should be here soon, and we have much to talk about." She gestures to me and Tori.
"Leo, too," I say.
"Absolutely not," Tori snaps.
"He's the leader of the other half of our Faction," I say stubbornly. "Like it or not, they chose him."
"It's alright, Four."
"No," I say looking at Leo, "it's not. You said it was time to bring the faction back together. Time to remember who we are. Did you think that would be easy?"
Tori snorts. "Right. He only said that to save himself when he realized he was on the losing side."
"Tori," Tris says, "Four and I would both be dead and Jeanine would still be in charge without Leo."
Tori looks at her in surprise. "It's true," I add. "I know he has a lot of lives to answer for and we'll have to find a way to work through that. But he also saved many lives by preventing Jeanine from activating another attack simulation."
Tori glares at all of us and then whirls around and returns to the table. Leo walks next to me, gripping my shoulder.
"Ex-girlfriend, maybe?" I whisper. He smiles wryly at me and moves to the far side of the table when I sit next to Tori.
"I heard that!" Tori growls at me when I sit next to her. "That has nothing to do with it. He's a mass murderer and a traitor. Don't let yourself forget that."
"I won't," I promise. "But he saved Tris, and I can't forget that, either. And we need unity - please try to keep an open mind, for the sake of the faction."
I can still practically see steam pouring out of her ears, but she does nod grimly, so at least there's hope. I glance back over my shoulder and see that Inez's patrol is nowhere to be seen, but Inez herself has taken Christina and Tris over to the far side of the room where there's food and drinks. They appear to be talking peaceably, so I turn my attention to the table in front of me.
There's a huge map spread across the table showing the city in great detail, the walls around its perimeter, and the farms beyond. There are also access points of some kind at the outer edge of the map.
"Where did you get this?" I ask Evelyn.
"Abnegation," she responds. "They had some interesting records."
She looks at me, arching an eyebrow. "We thought Erudite might have even more, but we don't seem to be able to find anything at all on their system." I ignore the question in her eyes. Cara's program must have run its course, and though Evelyn is my mother and supposedly my ally, I'm very relieved.
