"Cam? Hey, Cam, get up."
I awake, sweating, to someone gently shaking my shoulders. I open my eyes and see the concerned eyes of my older brother looking down at me.
"You were having a nightmare, Cam. I thought I should wake you up."
I shudder, remembering. "Thank you, Toby."
He makes a face at me. I stick my tongue out at him. He hates it when I call him that. That's part of the reason why I do it.
I sit up and look around Tobias' room. It hasn't changed much throughout my whole life. It looks almost identical to my room. I sometimes come in here and curl up with him when my nightmares are especially bad. I know it's silly, considering how old I am, but he always calms me down. I don't know if I would have survived fifteen years in this god-forsaken house if it wasn't for him.
I glance over at his alarm clock. Plain, like everything else in this faction. It reads 6 AM.
"Aptitude test today, huh?" I ask him. He nods. "What do you think you're going to get?" He shrugs.
I frown. He must be nervous. He never talks much when he's anxious. "What do you want to choose tomorrow, Tobias?"
He hesitates for a moment, then answers, "Abnegation."
"I asked what you want to choose, not what you feel forced to choose." I know that his life here has been living hell, just like mine. I don't want him to feel obliged to stay because of me. At least one of us should escape.
"Cam, I don't want to leave you with him."
"I can handle myself, Tobias. You should go where you want to go, not where I am. I'm leaving next year anyway."
"But-"
"No buts. Where do you want to go?" I know for a fact that he doesn't want to stay in Abnegation, with our monster of a father. I think I have an idea of where he does want to be, but I want to hear him admit it.
He hesitates again, then whispers, "If I didn't have you, Cam, then I would choose Dauntless. But I-"
"Tobias! What did I say about buts!"
We look at each other. For a second we stare at each other, then burst out laughing. It's been a while since I've laughed this hard. It feels good. Only my brother could make me laugh like that. He used to draw these laughs from me all the time, before my mother died, before Marcus began beating him, then me.
When we finally calm down, I continue talking. "If you want to choose Dauntless, choose Dauntless. Don't stick around for me. I'll tell you what." I smile at him. "I love Dauntless too. If you pick it this year, I'll pick it next year. Sounds good?"
He hesitates again, this time for a good half minute. "Alright." He says, slowly. I smile and hug him. He returns the hug with only a second of hesitation, wrapping his long arms around me and holding tight. "You want to walk to school today?" He whispers in my ear. "We have time."
I nod eagerly. "Alright then. Go get ready, Cam." He ruffles my hair and gets up, striding towards the bathroom, picking up his loose abnegation shirt and slacks from the dresser on the way in.
I sit in bed for a few minutes, listening as I hear the shower come on. Then, I finally get up and walk into my room. From the closet, I take out a gray dress and pull it on. Me and my brother have an agreement; he showers every morning, I shower every night. It works well, since we don't have to wait for each other to finish. I make my way to my dresser and comb my dark hair. I've just started putting it into a bun when my brother's deep voice interrupts me.
"Might want to hold off on that. It's mirror day, remember?"
My eyes widen. How could I forget?
I grab my brother's arm and race down the hall as fast as I dare. After all, I wouldn't want to wake up the great, selfless Marcus Eaton. I finally reach the sliding panel that hides the mirror, and jab my thumb onto the button.
I stare at myself. I know I shouldn't, but I can't help it. I have olive skin, straight dark brown hair that's almost black, a hooked nose that looks awkward on my face, and green eyes. I would be a spitting image of my mother if it wasn't for my softer features, straighter hair, and, of course, my eyes. I really don't know who my green eyes come from. Marcus and my brother both have ocean blue eyes, and my mother's eyes were a brown so dark that they looked black. I would ask, but that would be a question only to sate curiosity. Abnegation aren't supposed to be curious. It's selfish.
In these past three months, my hair has grown even longer, cascading down past my shoulders all the way down to the small of my back. I don't know how, but it makes me look a bit older. I like that. I always feel like I'm an ugly little girl, even though I'm slightly taller than average.
"Cam, you look beautiful." I blush. For the first time, I look at my brother in the mirror. He's very tall, taller than both me and Marcus, even though he's only sixteen. His hair, buzzed short, is the same shade as mine. His blue eyes, that have comforted me so many times, are thoughtful. He's handsome. If he weren't Abnegation, he would probably have girls surrounding him at all times.
"No I'm not." I continue staring at myself in the mirror. Even though Tobias should be scolding me for doing it, I know he won't. He knows as well as I do that I don't quite fit into Abnegation. I'm selfless enough, but I always seem to draw attention to myself in some way or another.
"Cam, have some faith in yourself. You're gorgeous." I blush again. Nobody compliments me, except for my brother. I'm not used to it.
I'll admit, I love the feeling of my hair loose, falling around my face, but it would be rebellious and unacceptable to leave it loose. I swiftly pull my hair into a bun and turn to my brother. "Let's go make breakfast."
He nods and closes the sliding panel. We walk down the stairs and into the kitchen, where we work together to make a plain breakfast of oatmeal. I add a dash of brown sugar to each of our bowls, and Tobias smiles at me. We save our limited supply of sugar for special occasions, and I would definitely count the aptitude testing day as one.
After we eat, we start the trek to school. We could have waited for the bus, but the bus comes after Marcus wakes up. Both me and Tobias would rather avoid facing our father in the morning.
The day is beautiful, with the sun just peeking over the horizon. The air is cool, and there isn't a cloud in the sky. As we walk through the factionless sector, I spot a young girl, no older than six, hiding behind a building. All the buildings in this sector are crumbling, and the pavement severely cracked.
I don't know if I could live factionless, in broken down buildings, scouring for whatever I could find and basically living off of the food handed out by the Abnegation. Most of all, I don't know if I could live alone, without someone by my side. For my entire life, that person has been my brother. But he's leaving. Maybe when I join Dauntless, I'll make some friends. It's hard to make friends in Abnegation, with all their careful polite talk.
I smile at the girl, who's staring at me like I'm an alien. I can't see much of her, but her face is smudged with dirt and her hair is tangled. I swing my backpack to my front and start rummaging through it. Tobias stops and waits patiently, not questioning what I'm doing. That's one of the things I love about him.
I finally find what I'm looking for; a bag of dried apples. We carry extra food around for scenarios like these. I hesitate a second, then grab my spare comb that I stashed in my bag years ago. I kept it in case I ever fell into a puddle or something like that, where I might need to recomb my hair and put it back into a bun. I never had to use it, fortunately. I hold both of them out to the girl, who hangs back for a few seconds before dashing forward, taking both, and running back to her hiding spot. She then turns around and waves at me, slowly, cautiously. I grin and wave back.
It's moments like these where I want to stay in Abnegation; I love helping those in need. But when I think about the nightly beatings me and Tobias get, and the numerous ways I always manage to draw attention to myself, I want to leave. The urge is so bad that I want to just skip aptitude testing and the Choosing Ceremony and just walk to a faction of my choice.
Tobias and I continue walking, in a peaceful silence. Finally, after a minute or two, Tobias says, "That was nice of you."
I shrug. "The girl needed the comb more than I did."
Tobias smiles at me. "You're a really good Abnegation. If it wasn't for Marcus, I would encourage you to stay." At the mention of my father, his expression immediately darkens.
"You're very selfless too." I point out.
It's Tobias' turn to shrug. "If you say so."
By this time, we've exited the factionless sector. We're in the middle of a large field, that's dotted with red and yellow and purple flowers. I can see the school in the distance, maybe a quarter mile away.
We walk the rest of the distance in a comfortable silence.
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Once we enter the school, Tobias places his hands on my shoulders and turns me so I face him. "I'll see you tonight, alright?" I nod, and he opens his arms. I go into them without hesitation. In Abnegation, physical contact is mostly frowned upon, even between family members or those who are courting, but Tobias and I have always been closer than normal siblings, bonding over our shared experiences of abuse. Plus, we both have a general distaste and disregard for Abnegation rules, to a certain extent. After a minute, he finally lets me go. He plants a kiss on top of my head and says, "Bye, Cam."
"Bye, Tobias."
He walks down the hall to his first class, Advanced Chemistry. I walk down the opposite hall, to Faction History. I've been walking for a bit, my head down to not draw attention to myself, when I feel myself bump into someone. I crash onto the floor, my backpack sliding across the floor, stopping a few feet away. I look up, and notice that everyone in the hall has stopped, and they are staring at me and the person I ran into. I blush. The person I ran into is a boy from Erudite. He has blond hair, hazel eyes, a small nose, and bushy eyebrows. He would be handsome if it weren't for the arrogant smirk on his face. "Oops." he says.
Apparently, I didn't run into him, he ran into me. On purpose.
He offers me his hand, and I stare at it warily before extending an arm. He snatches his hand away when I do that, but I don't falter. That wasn't what I was aiming for. I reach up and smack his other arm, hard. I would have aimed for his face if that wouldn't get me in major trouble.
He stops laughing and glares at me, his face slowly turning red. I calmly push myself up and lean over to pick up my bookbag. As I straighten, he seizes my arm and squeezes, hard. "What did you just do to me?" The other students in the hall are just watching us. The Abnegation and Amity look concerned. The Candor look confused. The Erudite are smirking. And the Dauntless are watching in anticipation.
I look him straight in the eye. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about. I need to get to class, may I carry your books for you?" I'm careful to keep my face neutral and my tone the exceedingly polite tone that Abnegation uses most of the time. It gets annoying after a while. Internally, I'm grinning.
"No, I don't need you to carry my books for me. I mean, why did a self-righteous person like you just smack me? Gosh, you're dumb, aren't you?"
It takes all my willpower not to smack him again, this time across the face. Instead, I face him calmly. "I didn't do anything you didn't deserve. Unless you would like me to help with your books, please let me get to class. I would hate to make you late." With that, I push his hand off my arm and brush past him. Thankfully, he doesn't follow me.
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My first few classes fly by quickly. Before I know it, it's time for lunch. I grab my lunchbox and make my way to the cafeteria. When I get there, it's loud, as usual. The Dauntless are shouting and laughing and being rowdy, as always. The Candor are arguing about something. I expect to see the Amity playing games, and the Abnegation sitting quietly, and the Erudite talking over books, but instead, I see that at least half the Amity, most of Erudite, and most of Abnegation are quietly watching three people standing in the middle of the room.
I get closer, and see that the shortest person is a girl with dirty blond hair dressed in gray. There is a boy towering over her, dressed in blue. He's the same boy who knocked me over in the hallway this morning. A little to the side stands an Amity, who's talking to them and making rapid gestures with his hands.
Not this again. I sigh. The tensions between Abnegation and Erudite are rising, and it's seeping into school life as well. I take a few more steps and can hear their conversation.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Your lunch!" The Erudite boy exclaims.
"No. I need to eat too. You guys just throw it away." The Abnegation girl says. I have to admire her. According to faction standards, she should have given up her lunch as soon as the boy asked for it. But she's sticking up for herself.
She turns her head slightly, and I can now make out her face. It's Beatrice Prior, the daughter of one of my father's coworkers. She's a year younger than me, and a lot like me in many ways. Except that she seems to actually belong in Abnegation. Most of the time. Her father, Andrew Prior, and Marcus are both on the council together.
"Oooh, a defiant stiff." The Erudite boy wiggles his eyebrows at her.
"You two, just, uh, calm down. Sebastian, can't you just buy some lunch?" The Amity says, trying to deescalate the situation. The Erudite boy, Sebastian, ignores him, continuing to taunt Beatrice.
I scan the Abnegation crowd until I see my brother. He's watching the scene, his eyebrows furrowed. He doesn't like this, I can tell. Somehow, he knows I'm watching him, and he turns, looking me in the eyes. He shakes his head, just slightly. He's telling me not to interfere, not to draw attention to myself. I mouth at him, She needs my help, and march over to them.
"Hey!" I snap, letting my anger leak into my voice. "Leave her alone and go buy your own lunch, you bully."
Sebastian turns, and when he sees me, he smirks. "Well, well, well, if it isn't you again." He sticks out his hand, in the pretense of being nice. "What's your name? Wasn't it Karen, Carmen, or what...?"
I grab his hand, shake it once, then twist it. Sebastian yelps in pain and lets go, glaring at me as he shakes his hand out. I learned that move from my father, if he deserves to be called that.
"The name's Camilla." I snicker at him. "Nice to meet you."
He glares for another second before marching up to me, right in my face. He's taller than me, so he looks down at me as if I were a piece of garbage.
"Why're you sticking up for her anyways? Is she your Stiff friend? I thought Stiffs didn't have friends." He tries to taunt me.
"It's the selfless thing to do." I shrug, as if I couldn't care less. Inside, I'm fuming. How dare he pretend that he has any authority over me?
"Selfless. Right." He laughs before continuing. "If you're so selfless, why won't you guys let me have your lunch?" He fakes a sad expression. "I'm really hungry, you know."
"No wonder you're so fat." He gapes at me, as if he thought that I was incapable of insulting him. I snort. "Now, leave us alone, unless you want me to smack you again. You still have the mark from my first one, don't you?" I point at the red mark on his arm from my hand.
By now, a few of the Dauntless and Candor have turned to watch. Most of the Abnegation are watching me with their mouths open. I guess the admission that I hit him was inconceivable to them.
"You-" He balls his hands into fists and sends one flying toward my face. I'm about to duck when a hand catches his fist and stops it. I look up to see Tobias, who's glaring at Sebastian angrily. "You will not punch her." He states. He grabs my hand. "Come on, Cam."
I follow him without struggle. I can sense that he's angry, but not at me. I think.
"I could report this!" Sebastian calls, in a desperate attempt to win.
"No, you won't." I turn to see a new voice talking. It's Beatrice, who hadn't spoken since I stepped in. Behind her stands a boy, who's gripping her shoulders tightly. Her brother, I assume. "Our parents are both council members. If we tell them our version of the story, who do you think they'll believe? Us, when we say you tried to steal our lunch, or you?"
Sebastian doesn't answer, just sends the evil eye to Beatrice, who's already turned around and gone back to her table with her lunch. Tobias tugs on my hand slightly, and I start to follow him again, to our regular table. Once we're there, I sit down and open my lunch like nothing happened. I can feel Tobias' eyes on me as I open my food, one by one. Finally, I can't take it anymore. "What?" I ask, turning and meeting his gaze. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he's mad at me after all...
He laughs. "I'm just trying to figure out how you always get yourself in these situations. Did you really smack him earlier?"
I nod, smiling at the thought. "He deserved it. He ran into me in the hallway on purpose. He was mocking me, and I hit him on the arm. You have no idea how much I wanted to do it across his ugly face."
Tobias laughs again, then his expression sobers. "Just be careful, Cam. If Marcus finds out..." He trails off. I nod, knowing full well how bad of a punishment I would get if Marcus knew how I acted in school.
"Do you think that he'll find out about this?" I ask.
Tobias shakes his head. "You probably wouldn't have smacked him if there were teachers around, so only students know about it. And after Beatrice threatened him..." He shakes his head to hold in laughter. "I don't think Marcus will know you smacked another student anytime soon."
I grin. My brother has a way of making me feel better. Just then, a bell rings and all the students begin packing their lunches up. "Hey." I grab each of my brother's hands in my own. "You'll do great. And then, when we get home, we can talk about it, if you want to."
He nods. "See you later, Cam." I pick up my lunch and throw it in the trash before heading off to my next classes.
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After school, I scan the area outside for my brother. I don't see him anywhere. He must have walked home, but why would he leave without me?
I shrug it off and start walking back. Waiting for the buses would take far too much time, since Abnegation are supposed to let everyone on in front of them.
The walk home is too quiet without my brother beside me.
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When I get home, I see Tobias sitting on the front steps with his head in his hands. "What's wrong, Tobias?" I call as I approach. His head instantly shoots up, and he jumps up, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me into the alleyway between my house and the neighbor's.
"Tobias?" I question. I can hear the worry in my voice. He never acts like this. Ever. Something must have gone seriously wrong with his aptitude test for him to act like this.
"Cam, listen. You can't tell anyone I got home early. Anyone. You got that? As far as they know, you and I walked home together. This is a matter of life and death."
I nod. My brother's actions are scaring me. "Tobias, what's going on?"
He sighs. "Cam, I can't tell you. I'll put you in danger."
"Please, Tobias. You know I can keep a secret."
"I don't want you to get hurt because of me."
"Tobias!" I snap, suddenly angry, for some reason. He looks up in surprise. I never get angry at him. Mad, yes, pissed, maybe, but never truly angry. "I'll be fine. Please tell me what's bothering you. It's clearly something important, if it's driving you to be like this."
He stares at me for a few long moments, then sighs heavily. "Fine." He slides down to sit against the wall. He pats the space beside him. I sit.
"It's about my test. My test results were..." He glances around, as if to make sure nobody is listening. "Divergent."
The word is new and unfamiliar to my ears. "What does that mean?"
"It means someone who is suited for multiple factions. My aptitude test was inconclusive. Instead of getting one result on my aptitude test, I got two."
"So why is this so dangerous?"
"That's the thing. I don't know. My test administrator, Tori, wouldn't tell me. She just said that I shouldn't tell anyone, because it is very dangerous. She also said that she would manually input my result as Abnegation, and that I should go home early. If anyone asks, I should tell them that I got sick."
I close my eyes, my head spinning with all the new information.
"Cam, are you okay?" I open my eyes and stare into my brother's blue orbs. I nod.
"What two factions did you have aptitude for?"
"Abnegation and... Dauntless." My brother looks almost guilty. I wish I could make him believe that nothing that happened was his fault, but I don't know how.
"So, what are you going to pick tomorrow?"
He thinks. "Abne-"
I smack him in the arm. "You've always loved Dauntless. You said this morning that you wanted to pick Dauntless. You got an aptitude for Dauntless. Pick Dauntless."
"Cam..."
"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine, and I'll join you next year." I try to smile at him.
He puts his head back in his hands. "I just don't want to leave you." I've never heard his voice sound so small, or weak. This is not my brother.
"Hey." My voice is more gentle this time. "Don't let me determine your future. I promise, no matter what you pick, I'll always love you."
"I love you too, Camilla." Suddenly, he hugs me. I return the hug without hesitation.
"Although I will be a bit mad if you pick Abnegation because of me." I speak into his shirt.
He chuckles, and I can feel it rumble through him. "You're an amazing sister, you know that, Cam?"
I smirk at him, to lighten the mood. "You don't want my ego to get too big, do you, dear brother?"
He snorts at me. "Too late, it already is."
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"Tobias! Camilla! Get down here!"
The voice of Marcus rips through our house, and I shudder. I look at Tobias, and he stares back at me. Even though he hides it well, he's afraid. I can see the fear in his eyes. We both nod at one another, and make our way down the stairs.
Once we reach the bottom, we find Marcus, waiting on the first step, belt in hand. Just looking at that belt makes me want to vomit.
"Tobias." Marcus ignores me completely, instead focusing his attention on my older brother. It's almost worse to watch my older brother, who means the world to me, be beaten, than being beaten myself.
"Yes, sir?" Even with his head bowed, you can see the rebel in my brother. You can see it, yet he can't use it, because that will only result in a worse beating for him, or, if Marcus takes advantage of Tobias' pure selflessness, a beating for me.
"What were your aptitude test results, son?" Marcus asks, venom dripping from his words.
"Abnegation, sir."
Marcus' voice drops in volume. "You're lying." A quiet Marcus is even worse than a loud, angry one.
"I'm not, sir. You can see for yourself on the database." Tobias keeps his head bowed, even though I can tell he wants to punch Marcus. That won't end well for either of us.
Marcus raises his hand and slaps Tobias across the face. I cringe. "Well, son." Marcus sneers. "What I saw on the database was that your Abnegation result was entered manually."
"Sir, my test administrator explained the problem. I had some sort of reaction to the aptitude test. Because of that, the result wasn't recorded in the system. She had to do it manually. After I finished vomiting, she sent me back to my table, so as to not inconvenience the nursing staff."
I study my brother. His posture is still tense, and his head is still bowed. My brother couldn't possibly be Candor. He is too good of a liar. The only indication that he was lying was his jaw, which was slightly more tense than before. I'm probably the only one who noticed it.
Marcus stares at Tobias for a moment, then nods. "Very well. Shirt off." Tobias obeys without protest, taking off his shirt and sitting on his knees, facing the wall. His back is covered in scars and welts from being beaten for most of his life. Before he turns away, he meets my eyes. I can see the pleading look in them. He's begging me not to interfere.
I used to come in between them every time Marcus did this, but he begged for me to not. He said he hated watching me get hurt when he was supposed to be the hurt one. I try to listen to him, but sometimes, when it gets hard to watch, I come in between them anyway.
"What faction are you going to choose, Tobias?"
"Abnegation." He barely whispers.
"What was that, son?"
"Abnegation."
"You better."
I turn away as Marcus raises the belt and brings it down on my brother's back. It sounds like a lightning bolt. "This is for your own good, Tobias." He snickers.
For the first few lashes, my brother doesn't make a sound. Somewhere around the tenth lash, he can't hold in his cries anymore. He groans and just the sound makes my stomach clench in fear and hatred. I hear a noise that sounds like him hitting the floor. It takes everything in me to not turn around and rush to his aid, but he wouldn't want me to. I can hear what he would say. "Tomorrow is my Choosing Ceremony anyway. I'll be gone. You're going to be here another year. Spare yourself the pain of defending me. He'll never do it to me again."
Finally, he stops, somewhere around thirty. Finally, I turn back to my brother. What I see makes me sick. He's lying on the floor, face contorted in pain. His back is bloody. I can see the faint marks of the belt and a few sharper marks that could only be the belt buckle. Marcus only uses the belt buckle on special occasions, so I guess today is one of them. The skin doesn't even look human. It's not like I haven't seen him like this before, but it never fails to make my stomach churn.
I rush over to him and kneel beside him. The first thing I check is his pulse. If Marcus kills him, then I swear that he will never see the light of day again.
Before I can do anything more, Marcus grabs my arm and pulls me away. "Your turn. Shirt off."
Reluctantly, I listen. I'm left in my bra and some pants. I hear the belt whistling as it comes down, then the sharp pain as it hits my back. I grit my teeth. Don't make a sound. The next time it comes down, I see a flash of white go across my vision. At this rate, I won't be conscious by the time this torture ends.
Three, four, five. I count, trying to distract myself. Six, se-
I don't feel the seventh one.
I turn around and see Tobias in front of me. He has somehow managed to get up and come between me and Marcus. I hate when he does this. He begs me not to, but he does it for me. It expands the feeling of guilt in my chest.
"Get out of the way, Tobias." Marcus spits at him.
"N-No." He says, through gritted teeth.
"Have it your way." The belt comes down on my brother's already deformed back. He yelps.
"Tobias." I grab his arm. "Please. You've already taken yours."
"Camilla." He says. His voice is hardly a whisper. "Let me. If I'm going to leave you with him, at least let me give you this one gift."
I stare at him, speechless. This is his gift to me, for leaving. Part of me wants to tell him no, it isn't necessary, but the other part of me says that I should let him, since he already feels guilty enough for wanting to leave, even though I insisted he do so.
I choose to listen to the second part of me. I nod, and stand up.
"Done talking?" Marcus smirks at us.
I nod.
"So you're going to let your brother take all the load?"
Anger bubbles inside of me at Marcus' comment, but I push it down. If I respond, he'll just take it out on Tobias. Without a word, I turn and go upstairs. Right before I close my door,I hear the belt come down again. Eight.
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I clean my own few wounds, and take a shower. Then, I just sit on my bed, fiddling with my hands and worrying about Tobias. After a long, agonizing time, I hear Marcus yell, "That's it. Get your shirt on and go to bed, you piece of trash. Remember what you are going to choose tomorrow."
Then, footsteps, and a door slamming. I wait for a few seconds, making sure the coast is clear, before rushing downstairs and to Tobias' side. If I thought he looked bad earlier, he looks like hell now. I grab a clean cloth and begin wiping his back, to clear it of blood. As I do that, he groans.
"Shhhhh, it'll be okay. Let's get you cleaned up." I whisper to him.
"Thank you." His voice is soft and full of pain. I feel my heart break a little more. I shouldn't have let him take it. I'm a selfish coward.
"You're welcome." I say, simply, trying not to let my emotions show.
"No, not just for cleaning my back." He replies. "Thank you for accepting my gift."
I lock eyes with him. He really means it, I can see. We sit like that for a minute, before he breaks eye contact, closing his eyes. I clean and bandage his back, before helping him up the stairs. I help him get into bed, and watch as he adjusts and pulls the covers over himself. He must be really tired. His eyelids are already drooping. "I love you, Cam." He says, right before he drifts off to sleep.
"Love you too, Toby." I whisper in his ear, before giving him a kiss on the forehead.
With that, I walk into my room, flop down on my bed, and fall into a restless sleep.
A/N: That's the first chapter! It's long, but I hope you like it! The next one will be Tobias' Choosing Ceremony. It should hopefully be shorter.
Byeee!