Weeks had passed since Tobias made his choice. Tris had slowly gotten used to the idea of him being missing in her life. She no longer cried at night. She tried not to be overly distraught in front of her parents. She was right about what her father would think about the whole situation, he dismissed Tobias as a fling, which she was absolutely too young for anyway.
"I never trusted that boy and I seem to remember him getting you into some trouble." He had said.
Andrew Prior would never understand about Tobias. He had never gotten Tris in trouble, he had helped a young boy and Tris had gotten involved on her own! Although, it seemed easier for Tris to let her father think what he thought, and stop defending Tobias. It's not like he needed defending now anyway.
Natalie seemed to think it was all her fault. Tris' mother thought that even though she told Tobias to come to her if his father ever hurt him again; he hadn't come to her when he should have. In Natalie's mind, he might have been too proud to ask for her help and figured that changing factions was the only answer open to him. Natalie felt bad for Tris because she felt responsible for Tobias's choice. But she could see that Tris was as well as could be expected with the transition and all Natalie could do was be there for her, even though she never really wanted to talk about it. Tobias was gone, they did everything they could to help him. At least he would be safe from his father in Dauntless.
Marcus threw himself into his work and seemed to be blaming himself for Tobias's choice. As far as Tris was concerned, it was too little and too late. She would be happy if she never had to interact with Tobias's father again. Although Tris knew, based on Tobias's letter, that his choice didn't have anything to do with his father, she decided that Marcus never needed to know that. In Tris's view, with everything Marcus ever did to Tobias, he deserved to suffer now.
In a way, she was happy for Tobias. He had talked about Dauntless a lot during their time together. If he stayed in Abnegation, he would be stuck in the shadow of his father. At least now he would be able to make his own life there, even though Tris wouldn't be a part of it. Maybe he was right, they didn't know each other long enough and maybe they were too young.
She still thought about the day before Tobias's Choosing Ceremony and how strange Tobias had acted. She never was able to figure out why. His letter was very cryptic but, in the million times she had read it, she could not find a single clue as to why he did what he did, the way that he did it. Tris thought he probably felt he had to choose Dauntless, and he couldn't talk to her about it because she would probably be able to talk him out of it. She smiled at that, she knew that Tobias had felt something for her. Their goodbye kiss still burned in her mind. There was definitely something there, even though they only had it for a short time.
Maybe it was Tobias's test result that prompted his choice? He might have gotten a Dauntless result and felt that he needed to make the right choice for himself. Why didn't he tell her though? She would have supported him! Maybe he thought she would take the fact that he didn't choose to stay with her as rejection. But she was not some wilting flower, she would have been able to take it and she would have been happy for him in the end. Right? Tris thought about that for a long time. She finally came to the conclusion that although she would have probably been upset at the beginning, she would have come to terms with it if he had told her that's what he really wanted. He has to be his own person. That's what she loved about him. Who knows what might happen in the future for her? She might get Dauntless as a result as well when she took her test. Sometimes, she didn't truly feel like she belonged in Abnegation.
Please don't follow me here.
Why wouldn't Tobias want her to follow him if that was truly where she might belong? That part of the letter still puzzled her. Maybe he didn't want her to make that choice because of him.
Be yourself, Tris. Don't let anyone tell you who you are.
Then there was this part of the letter that basically said to forget what everyone else thinks she should do, and do what she wants to do. He was contradicting himself in a way. If she thought rightful place was in Dauntless, no one, not even Tobias, could tell her that it wasn't.