Weary.

It was a strange feeling, this utter deadness in her body. The way it slunk into her mind and dizzied her perspectives was annoying and strange. The way it dulled the fire in her heart was frightening and taunting.

It made her not care.

How funny was that? She, Tris-Six-Fears, not caring.

Absolutely ludicrous.

Tris could only remember very few times in her life when she could with all honest say she didn't care about something. Like when she'd run down the streets in Abnegation instead of walked or when she was flying down that zip line when she'd just been an initiate.

All of which had been a very long time ago.

But now, as she sat here at her large, glass and steel desk that sat facing the tinted windows of her office staring down at the fax she just received, which clearly stated that Erudite wished to just now start peace talks with the other factions, she couldn't help but want to put a giant "FUCK YOU" stamp right over the neat little place the secretary who had typed this up had left for leaders to put their best time for a meeting.

Tris slumped back in her black leather chair. Seriously? The war had last five years in total and now, two months after the end, Erudite wanted to admit defeat? They couldn't have done a couple years earlier? Saved that many more lives and time and recourses? What kind of shit was that?

Tris stared at the pristine letter with something between disbelief and hatred. How was it that a letter could look so damn cocky? Fuck, maybe she was just loosing it.

With a resigned sigh Tris shifted herself forward, snapped up a black ink pen and filled in the blank with her best time, two weeks from now on Friday November 6th before filling in her squiggly signature on the designated line and slipping the whole thing into a white envelope.

Then she printed the return address written on the envelope it had arrived in and putting that into a manila folder with the official Dauntless seal on the front and her signature. That way no one would be inclined to sneak a peek before it arrived at the Erudite Headquarters.

Then, Tris called up her secretary, a fellow veteran of the war, and got the twenty-something year old former sniper to send it off A.S.A.P.

Tris watched the door to her office snap shut with detached interest before sliding down in her chair and shutting her black eye-shadow coloured eyes closed.

There it was done. The ball was in Erudite's court now.

On some level Tris knew she should be worried right now, tense. Maybe questioning her judgement or calling Tobias so he could keep her at ease. But this, Tris found, was the beautiful thing about her current mindset.

When you were as weary as Tris was, things stopped making you care.

Yo! Say hello to chapter 23, just three more chapters to go! Isn't great? I'm so stoked! This my longest (chapter-wise) story yet! It's great!

But anyway, thanks too: WordsAsStrongAsSwords, Awesomet88, Erin, Lostinawonderlandofdreams and HannahEmilyNicole!

Sincerely,

BlackRoseGirl666