I know. I haven't updated in a while. I got writer's block, and rather than using midwinter break to write, I've been using it to play the Vivaldi double cello concerto. In my defense, It's a really pretty and fun piece.

But here's another chapter. This one doesn't have any of the Selected in it, because it's just the royal family.

Thanks to all my great reviewers!

Noah's POV

Noah paced around his room. The girls were arriving today, and as he wasn't supposed to meet them before tomorrow, he had to stay on the third floor for the entire day to make sure it didn't happen.

"Stop pacing." Emmaline finally said from the corner of the room where she was sitting with a stack of forms on her lap. She'd brought them up as a distraction for him, because although he'd seen the report, he didn't know anything else about the girls. Noah went to his desk and sat down. He was a wreck. One of the thirty-five girls arriving at the palace would become his wife. Not that that was, you know, a big deal or anything.

Finally, he stood up and walked over to where his sister was sitting. Seeming to understand, she wheeled herself over to his desk, where he cleared a large space to put the forms.

They sat for over an hour reading the forms. As well as a picture and information about their appearance, there was information about their interests. Some of them seemed to have nothing in common with him, which made him a little nervous. Then Emmaline reminded him that it didn't actually say anything about their personalities, which reassured him quite a bit.

Finally, he'd finished looking over all of their forms. He then started from the beginning, handing the ones he'd finished to Emmaline, who read them just as eagerly as Noah.

After a few hours, both of them had a vague idea of what caste and profession each girl had, as well as their interests, appearances, and names. It wasn't much, but it was a start.

Noah looked at the clock and sighed. He couldn't go down to do a lot of things he might have otherwise because they weren't on the third floor. Emmaline left to go do something else rather than sit in a room with her stressed brother-not that he could blame her. He went back to pacing.

He walked over to his dad's room. Maybe he would have some advice. After all, he'd gone through a Selection before too, so he had to understand the stress Noah was under right now.

Just as he was about to knock on the door, his dad walked out. He stopped abruptly, not wanting to knock into Noah.

"Hey dad." He said.

His dad broke out laughing at their almost but not quite collision. Noah started laughing too. It wasn't that funny, but he was stressed.

"Are you nervous?"

"Yeah." Noah replied. Maxon ran his fingers through his hair, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"Saying that I was nervous before my Selection was an understatement. I was freaking out when I was in your position." He said. He was still stressed, but it gave Noah some comfort to know he wasn't the only one.

"How am I supposed to know which girl is for me?"Noah asked. His dad looked around.

"If there's girls who you don't connect with or you just don't like when you first meet them, eliminate them. But keep the others." Maxon said. Noah nodded. He suppposed that it made sense.

"So just if I don't click eliminate them, but if they're a good friend keep them around while I try to find a wife?" He asked. Maxon looked around for a second, thinking about it, and then nodded.

"When you put it like that it sounds simple, but yes, effectively, that's what you'll want to do." Noah nodded.

Maxon looked at the clock on the wall and swore.

"Shit!" He said. He looked at Noah.

"We gotta go. Dinner is a little earlier today, and your mom is going to kill us because this is the last dinner we have without any of the girls for a while." He told him.

Noah was still nervous, but he was feeling a little more confident after talking with his dad. Maybe he could do this, and it wouldn't be as hard as he'd thought.

So there you go. Another chapter. I know it was short, but I'm still getting used to writing Noah and Emmaline.

Fangirling is Life-Yeah, I would probably agree with you. The animation was good at least though...

Lorelai Sofia Petrova-Thanks! You're definitely right, it was not charming.

Alia Sharma-Thanks!

RQOTD:Chocolate or vanilla?

Chocolate. All the way. Unless I'm having it with peaches.