That next morning, Ally does not make mention what she saw that night. Maybe she thinks it was best not to ask what was going on. I don't feel like explaining how Eric is signaling me out of all the other transfers – out of the two Abnegation transfers especially – for one-on-one training. Even if I tell them the story that Eric would want me to tell, they feel it was unfair.

I never wanted this in the first place anyway. I don't like it that a part of me finds these training sessions advantageous to my odds of passing initiation.

When the night comes, I fall into my mattress. My aching muscles seeming to think me for the rest. My body feels sore – both from sparring with Eric at the morning and for sparring with Molly this afternoon. At first, I was nervous of my odds given how easily she beaten Christina, even if Vi beat her. On the platform, though, she proved to be all strength but no strategy the way she fights, just like Drew. She managed to get a good punch to my eye and face before I was able to bring her to the ground just by punching her in the stomach and sweep-kick her legs out from under her. Four had to get me off the platform when I kept kicking her after she was down.

My parents wouldn't like to hear that I kicked someone that was down either.

After I get up, I see Molly hobble across the dormitory, her nose purple between strips of medical tape. I don't waver as she glares at me, as if it was my fault she lost yesterday.

I guess I wound her Candor pride by being the first Stiff that beat her in a match yesterday.

Everyone else dresses in silence. Not even Christina smiles. Nomi seems to be on the verge of throwing up, though. Today's Visiting Day. We all know that we might go to the Pit floor and search every face and never find one that belongs to us.

I make my bed with the tight corners like my father taught me. As I pinch a stray hair from my pillow, Eric walks in.

"Attention!" he announces. "I want to give you some advice about today. If by some miracle your families do come to visit you…" He scans our faces and smirks. "…which I doubt, it is best not to seem too attached. That will make it easier for you, and easier for them. We also take the phrase 'faction before blood' very seriously here. Attachment to your family suggests you aren't entirely pleased with your faction, which would be shameful. Understand?"

I understand. I hear the threat in Eric's sharp voice. The only part of that speech that Eric meant was the last part: We are Dauntless, and we need to act accordingly.

As we all file past him, Eric looks at me as if he wants to say something but then shakes his head. I didn't know what that was about, and I try to not dwell on it when halfway towards the Pit, I see Nomi following Eric. Both of them looking grim.

I have this feeling that this could be about Nomi's father. If it is the reason why she's grim, the odds of the Erudite report being true have seemed to increase.

Clusters of families stand on the Pit floor, most of them Dauntless families with Dauntless initiates. They still look strange to me—a mother with a pierced eyebrow, a father with a tattooed arm, an initiate with purple hair, a wholesome family unit. I am able to spot Uriah, Lynn, and Marlene with their families. Uriah seeming to laugh to a joke to whatever the older boy who could be his brother told him, and Marlene waves at me before resuming conversation with her tattooed and pierced parents.

I spot Drew standing alone at one end of the room and suppress a smile. At least his family didn't come.

But Peter's and Molly's did. Molly is speaking with a formidable, curly haired woman in black and white. Peter stands next to a tall man with bushy eyebrows and a short, meek-looking woman with red hair. Neither of his parents look like him. Both of them wearing the black and white of the Candor, and his father speaks so loudly I can almost hear him from where I stand. Do Molly's and Peter's parents know what kind of people their daughter and son are?

Then again…what kind of person am I?

Across the room, Will stands with a woman in a blue dress and suit jacket. She doesn't look old enough to be his mother, but she has the same crease between her eyebrows as he does. He talked about having a sister once; maybe that's her.

Next to him, Christina hugs a dark-skinned woman in Candor black and white. Standing behind Christina is a young girl, also a Candor. Her younger sister.

A few yards away, Ally is with her Erudite parents. Her mother has the bronze-brown complexion as she does, except her black hair does not have the red streaks that Ally put in her own hair.

It's when I spot Vi with her family when I feel the blood drain from my skin. It's hard not to miss Jeanine Matthews no matter how often or less you see her. Fortunately, she's not scanning the room as her eyes are on her daughter as she talks to her. Though the man standing with her scans the room a little bit before joining to whatever conversation they are having. I notice a boy and a girl Vi's age standing with them. Probably her siblings, and the girl is her twin. Only her hair is Vi's original flaxen blonde.

Should I even bother scanning the crowd for my parents? I could turn around and go back to the dormitory. Maybe go to the training room and practice some punches for tomorrow's fight.

Then I see her. My mother stands alone near the railing with her hands clasped in front of her. She has never looked more out of place, with her gray dress and gray jacket buttoned at the throat, her hair in its simple twist and her face placid. I start toward her, tears jumping into my eyes. She came. She came for me.

I walk faster. She sees me, and for a second her expression is blank, like she doesn't know who I am. Then her eyes light up, and she opens her arms. She smells like soap and laundry detergent.

"Beatrice," she whispers. She runs her hand over my hair.

Don't cry, I tell myself. I hold her until I can blink the moisture from my eyes, and then pull back to look at her again. I smile with closed lips, just like she does. She touches my cheek.

She puts her arm across my shoulders. "Tell me how you are."

"You first." The old habits are back. I should let her speak first. I shouldn't let the conversation stay focused on me for too long. I should make sure she doesn't need anything.

"Today is a special occasion," she says. "I came to see you, so let's talk mostly about you. It is my gift to you."

My selfless mother. She should not be giving me gifts, not after I left her and my father. I walk with her toward the railing that overlooks the chasm, glad to be close to her. The last week and a half has been more affectionless than I realized. At home we did not touch each other often, and the most I ever saw my parents do was hold hands at the dinner table, but it was more than this, more than here.

"Just one question." I feel my pulse in my throat. "Where's Dad? Is he visiting Caleb?"

"Ah." She shakes her head. "Your father had to be at work."

I look down. "You can tell me if he didn't want to come."

Her eyes travel over my face. "Your father has been selfish lately. That doesn't mean he doesn't love you, I promise."

I stare at her, stunned. My father—selfish? More startling than the label is the fact that she assigned it to him. I can't tell by looking at her if she's angry. I don't expect to be able to. But she must be; if she calls him selfish, she must be angry.

"What about Caleb?" I say. "Will you visit him later?"

She nods. "I reached out to one of the Erudite councilmembers yesterday. Tricia offered to take me to Erudite personally. That there should be no problems."

"Why would you need a Erudite to take you there?" I ask with a frown, even if I knew better why.

"With tensions between our factions, I was uncertain whether they'd allow me to cross into their faction," she answered. "Tricia was my only option to reach out about it."

I frown as I narrow it all down. Among the Erudite councilmembers, there is only one woman, and Eric's mother was elected for a Erudite seat four years ago. Maybe she approached her because she somehow knew that Eric's mother would be coming to visit her son here. Though she says her name as if they knew each other for a long time.

Don't think about that now, Tris. It will only make your head hurt.

Standing alone at the railing is Four.

Four, I shake my head. Stop calling him that if you know his real name. It's Tobias Eaton.

Perhaps it's because I still have a hard time picturing him as a former Abnegation. For he seems comfortable in the training rooms. I even have a hard time picturing him in Abnegation gray.

Though he's not an initiate anymore, most of the Dauntless use this day to come together with their families. His father is probably here, maybe seeing Nomi up in the Pire. I don't see them at the Pit. Then I frown. Shouldn't he be with her?

"There's one of my instructors." I lean closer to her and say, "He's kind of intimidating."

"He's handsome," she says.

I find myself nodding without thinking. She laughs and lifts her arm from my shoulders. I want to steer her away from him, but just as I'm about to suggest that we go somewhere else, he looks over his shoulder.

I watch as he and mother talk, and I feel myself harden when he says, "I don't make a habit of associating with the Abnegation," in response to his mother's question whether she knew him from somewhere. I think about what Eric said about Tobias shedding his past when he got here, though I would have liked it if Tobias wasn't cold about it.

It was possible to keep his distance without being rude.

"Is he always like that?" she says, after he walks away.

"Worse."

Eric is worser, and you haven't met him yet, I think. He has been signaling me out for the past week. Except the same could be said for Tobias.

"Have you made friends?" she asks.

"A few," I say. I look over my shoulder at Will, Ally and Christina and their families.

We are stopped by Al's parents for a moment, and after I direct them to the Pire, I introduce my mother to Will, Ally, and Christina. Christina introduces me to her mother and her sister. If Ally's Erudite parents have any dislike to my mother for her Abnegation gray, they don't show it very well, as they smile and shake her hand. But when Will introduces me to Cara, his older sister, she gives me the kind of look that would wither a plant and does not extend her hand for me to shake. She glares at my mother, and I thought I hear Ally's mother mutter, "Oh, dear."

"I can't believe –"

"Hello, Natalie. How is Andrew these days?"

I jump. That voice is familiar, but as if in a dream. I turn to see that the Matthews' seemed to have the same idea as my mother.

"He's good, thank you, Jeanine," I watch as mother shakes hands with Jeanine. From beside us, it's like Cara is trying to contain her expression of shock. Mother is polite, though her smile seems cordial. Vi and her fellow triplet siblings look around nervously. Almost as if they weren't sure themselves how this conversation could go.

"I take it he's at work," she answers. Her voice was the one I heard in the aptitude test. "I would have liked to have seen him." Jeanine turns to me, "and I assume this is Beatrice. I met your brother, but I don't believe that I met you."

She offers her hand and I wonder if I should shake her hand at all before I do so anyway. "It's Tris," I say.

"I could hardly understand why the Dauntless insist on using diminutives of their names," Jeanine says. "I understand you met my daughter Violet, though I like to introduce you to Victoria and Vincent." She gestures to her two other children before putting a hand to the shoulder of the man next to her. "I'm certain this is the first time you met my husband, Philip."

He smiles as he shakes our hands, but it doesn't seem to reach his eyes. Which are such a piercing blue that he probably could see my soul if he wanted to. I drop my eyes as I did when I met Eric the first night. I don't want him to look at me like I don't want to look at him.

In the background, I notice that Nomi is climbing down from the Pire to the Pit. Then she scurries out of here.

"How is Marcus holding up?" Jeanine later asks mother. "Philip and I caught a glimpse of him when we arrived, but we didn't get a chance to speak."

"He's worried," mother answers. "The report was not too long ago, and he fears that Naomi and Nathan's departure would be further ammunition."

"Ramona Schwartz loves to write what she believes catches the reader's attention, whether it's true or not," Philip maintains. "It would be preferable if she chose not to denigrate the faction that has done nothing but put others before themselves time and time again, however it would be overreach if our reporters are not allowed to express their opinion. It was wise for Marcus to come here when I heard he was absent for his son's Visiting Day two years ago. It's good for the optics."

Of course, they are not going to admit that they were behind the reports. Jeanine's a Erudite leader, and her husband holds a council seat. It wouldn't be smart to admit involvement in something as divisive as those reports, even if the one about Marcus is true.

Even if they are by one person, a single opinion can still be powerful to sway thousands. That's what father would say.

"Well, then, I believe there is a lot for you and your mother to talk about," says Jeanine. "We should see each other again, soon, I hope."

I rather not, I think as she walks away with Vi and the rest of her family. Who have seemed to spot Edward with his Erudite parents.

Cara still doesn't appear friendly, though she shakes my hand. Maybe because she can't afford to be hostile after seeing Jeanine interact with my mother in a amiable fashion.

As mother and I leave Will and his sister, I thought I see Nomi ask one of the Dauntless a question. His answer seems to frustrate her, as she slams her face to her palm. Then throwing her arms in frustration before heading to the direction back to the Pire.

Walking past her is Eric. At this point, I don't look long. For mother steers me from the Pit and down hallways I've never seen before.

She stops next to a locked door and stands on her tiptoes, peering at the base of the blue lamp hanging from the ceiling. A few seconds later she nods and turns to me again.

"I said no questions about me. And I meant it. How are you really doing, Beatrice? How have the fights been? How are you ranked?"

"Ranked?" I say. "You know that I've been fighting? You know that I'm ranked?"

"It isn't top-secret information, how the Dauntless initiation process works."

I don't know how easy it is to find out what another faction does during initiation, but I suspect it's not that easy. Slowly, I say, "Well, my name is three slots above the red line."

I don't tell her why. Though I want to, and something is telling me that maybe it's best to not give her that information.

"Now, this is very important, Beatrice: What were your aptitude test results?"

"They were inconclusive," I say softly.

"I thought as much." She sighs. "Many children who are raised Abnegation receive that kind of result. We don't know why. But you have to be very careful during the next stage of initiation, Beatrice. Stay in the middle of the pack, no matter what you do. Don't draw attention to yourself. Do you understand?"

"Mom, what's going on?"

"I don't care what faction you chose," she says, touching her hands to my cheeks. "I am your mother and I want to keep you safe."

"Is this because I'm a—" I start to say, but she presses her hand to my mouth.

"Don't say that word," she hisses. "Ever."

So Tori was right. Divergent is a dangerous thing to be. I just don't know why, or even what it really means, still.

"Why?"

She shakes her head. "I can't say."

She looks over her shoulder, where the light from the Pit floor is barely visible. I hear shouts and conversations, laughter and shuffling footsteps. The smell from the dining hall floats over my nose, sweet and yeasty: baking bread. Then she turns to me.

"We'll go back or someone might notice that we're gone," she says.

Mother seems to have no trouble finding her way back to the Pit. As if she's been here before. Something that would not be possible.

Unless she was Dauntless before transferring to Abnegation.

No one seems to look at us as we come back. As if they did not notice our absence. Then I see Eric making a beeline for us. One part of me wants to steer my mother away. To avoid a similar conversation like the one she had with Tobias earlier. The other half considers the latter idiotic, that nothing wrong is going to happen.

"That's one of the Dauntless leaders," I point out to her. "He's been overseeing my initiation."

And he's been giving me personal training, I mentally add.

I expect to see some caution or at least some wariness. It would make sense due to what I revealed to her. Mother displays none of that for some reason.

"Is everything going okay for you, ladies?" he asks, lacing his fingers together. Right now, he's not wearing his usual smug smirk. Only smiling politely instead.

"Everything is fine. Thank you." She doesn't look as if he's intimidating her. Something tells me that she's familiar seeing Dauntless as intimidating as Eric. And he's more intimidating than Tobias.

If he notices that she doesn't appear intimidated, he doesn't let that bother him. He offers his hand. "I'm Eric Coulter, one of the five Dauntless leaders."

As with Tobias, she fits her hand into his and shakes his hand twice. Only he seems more comfortable with it than Tobias was. "I'm Natalie. I'm Beatrice's mother." She looks at me. "We met one of her instructors not a few minutes ago. He says she's doing well."

"She is," Eric answers. "She had a bit of a rough start but, is managing to exceed expectations, mine included. I see no reason why she wouldn't make it past combat training."

The way he says it, it's like I am improving without any help. Without his help, if one should see it as such. I notice how Eric didn't sugar coat it like Tobias did when he spoke to my mother.

"I hear the bar of expectations has risen and lowered every few years," mother says. "I heard that initiation was quite competitive in my day."

"It did lose that competitive spirit for a few years until last year," Eric says. "Dauntless initiation is rather difficult to those who don't know what they're going to deal with. Learn to adapt, and it will be less painful. Though there will be those who are idiotic to understand that people have the ability to adapt to their environment."

He's not going to give names. Of course he wouldn't.

Mother sighs. "A few people don't want to associate or be on friendly terms with the Abnegation now days."

"It's been a week since initiation started, so these kids still have faction differences ingrained in their heads," he says. "It might take some time to realize that there are no faction differences between them even after initiation. Now, if you excuse me, I have important things to do. Pleasure speaking with you."

My mother and I watch him leave. I watch as he weaves around the clusters of people before going up the stairwell to the Pire. If it weren't for the fact that he is a Dauntless leader, I would have found his politeness to my mother ironic. This is all political, so he has to be polite to the wife of one of Abnegation's councilmen.

However, one would think that the former Abnegation be polite and the former Erudite would be curt and rude.

"What's he like?" she asks.

"He's intimidating," I answer. "I've only known him for a week, but I wouldn't want to get on his bad side."

"All Dauntless seem that way until you get to know one," she said. She checks her wristwatch. "Tricia is probably waiting for me."

We touch each other's shoulders, and as mother turns to leave, she tells me over her shoulder, "Have a piece of cake for me, all right? The chocolate. It's delicious."