I am meeting Lauren half an hour before the planned arrival of the initiates.

"The Ceremony should be over by now, I expect they'll be boarding the train soon." She tells me while we make our way to the net. "I don't think I'll get much surprises with my group, but I 'm really curious to see yours!"

"Hopefully if we get surprises with you group it will be because they decided to transfer —"

"Hopefully transfer?" She interrupts me.

"I mean that I hope any missing kid will be missing because they chose to leave Dauntless, and not because they had some kind of problem along the way." I reply sharply.

"Oh," she blurts. "Yeah, you're right, I hope we don't lose any kids this year. Why do you always have do burst my bubble, Four? We should be excited right now, not brooding."

She's right of course, but I can't help but worrying about the kids. Especially the tranfers. They are usually the most at risk, since they have never dealt with moving trains before. With luck, the worst that will happen is some minor bruises and some people ending up Factionless, which, in my opinion, might not be so bad at all. The real worry comes from the fact that some of them could die as a result of this first part of initiation.

"You're right, of course." I tell her.

It's easy at times like these to feel alien within Dauntless. I was raised to be compassionate in Abnegation. People from Dauntless, though they can be at times, are not that familiar with that notion. It is foreign to them. The same can be said about Erudite and Candor. Which leaves Abnegation and Amity for some compassion, but neither faction is exactly known to produce Dauntless members. So there is no one who could really understand how I feel.

"The sky is getting darker," I remark as we arrive near the platform where the net is located. "I think Max should be up there by now."

As soon as the sun is setting the place where the net is located is completely dark. The building surrounding us is U-shaped, and the last rays of sun are in the opposite direction. Which means it is impossible to see what lies at the bottom of the seven flours if no lights are open.

"Everyone," I call at the small crowd at the foot of the platform. "Make sure that any kind of device emitting light is turned off by now. We don't want the initiates to know what they are jumping into! We should have a few more minutes, but we do not want to be caught off guard!"

I watch the crowd as I few a few people fidgeting with gadgets, and I glance a movement coming our way. Zeke and Shauna are running and waving a few feet away.

"Lauren, Four! We've made it! We've had to run like hell both at the Hub and here but—" Shauna tries to shout, breathless.

"Stay away from the initiates!" Snaps Lauren. "Move inside the crowd, I don't want Lynn or Uriah to see you guys!"

She is right. If they are both here, it is impossible for the initiates to be but a few seconds away from jumping off the roof.

"Fine," they reply grumpily, "After all this trouble we've had to get here on time…" Shauna says.

"I don't care, go!"

They listen to Lauren and go. I glance at the top of the building, and sure enough there's Max silhouette. It looks like he's talking, his arms are moving up and down the way they do when he is explaining something.

"Silence! Now!" I shout not so loudly, be firmly enough for everyone to listen. "At any time now we'll have our first jumper."

The crowd fall silent quickly. Everyone is excited to see who is going to be first. At least I don't have to fight to make them listen to me. Max's silhouette clears the way to the net, and a small one replaces it. Definitely not Uriah. Could be Lynn, but it looks smaller than her. The silhouette does not jump immediately. It fumbles a few seconds, turns around, and the I hear some noise coming down from upstairs. What's happening? Just when I start to wonder if the person on the edge is having seconds thoughts and being booed, it jumps.

There is no yelling and no strange sounds, just the sound of the wind and them a muted sound as she hits the net. She, because it's definitely a girl.

She fumble to get herself straight and regain come kind of notion of her surroundings, and I stretch my hand to help her out. Lauren and few others who came on the platform while I was not paying attention do the same. She grabs mine, and I pull her to her feet while she laughs. I frown. I guess this one is really a Dauntless if she can laugh after a seven stories high fall into the unknown.

She nearly falls out while getting out of the net, but I am quick enough to catch her before she does. She is so small.

"Thank you," she tells me in a voice that surprises me. Considering her size I was expecting a very small and girlish voice. Hers is a bit deeper than most girls.

And then I see it though I did not at first in the darkness. She is wearing grey clothes. She is a transfer from Abnegation. For what seems like a few seconds, I stand there, looking at her. Seeing someone from Abnegation should not have this effect on me, but I can't help but wondering what her story is. She confuses me. She does not look sixteen, she looks younger than that. She is wearing Abnegation colors and her hair is in the right fashion, but somehow, I know she did want to quit Abnegation. Her story is not like mine. I am thinking I might have this feeling because of the scratches on her cheeks, but no I have already seen Abnegation sporting bruises, and yet they never look like that. Even though she looks like a child, something is wrong in the way she looks for Abnegation.

And then I see it. She is wearing a t-shirt hugging close to her body. It is simply a t-shirt, nothing anyone from any other faction would think inappropriate. But when you have lived in Abnegation, it's impossible not to notice how brave you would have to be to be wearing it. And I am the only one in the crowd able to notice. Suddenly, I have no problem believing she was the first to jump.

Lauren snorts behind me. "Can't believe it. A Stiff, the first to jump? Un heard of."

"There's a reason why she left them, Lauren," I was so deep into my thoughts my reply what almost a groan. I look at the girl.

"What's your name?"

"Um…" she starts. There is something in the way she frowns telling me I might now have been the only one looking for a fresh new start when I came here. Well, she most certainly will have something new. I try to force myself to smile a little bit, pushing the dark thoughts away.

"Think about it. You don't get to pick again."

She replies instantly without any kind of hesitation.

"Tris."

Tris. The way she said it, I would have thought it was her real name. I would have thought it if I didn't knew perfectly well Tris is not the kind of names kids get in Abnegation.

"Tris," says Lauren, trying to take the name in. She looks at me, clearly having too much fun with an Abnegation transfer being the first jumper. "Make the announcement, Four."

I turn to look at the crowd below, and I think I can see Shauna and Zeke looking at me, grinning.

"First jumper — Tris!"

While everyone starts to cheer, I hear another sound behind me. Another initiate is jumping, and this one is definitely louder. More people cheer for this second girl.

I look back at the girl. She is looking around, trying to take everything in. I know that feeling. I put a hand on her back, knowing perfectly well she is not used to casual physical contact. I grin.

"Welcome to Dauntless." I say.

I am sorry for the small delay in the update. I found myself having more trouble than I would have thought making Lauren speak. I will try to have the next one online sooner than with that one! Promised!