Contents
Chapter 21: Tris
Overview
Tris attends factionless self-defense but is told by Gretchen her size makes fighting futile, prompting Tris to leave in anger and despair. In the dorm, Christina recounts losing an eye to Peter’s attack and her fears about her future. Tris reframes Christina’s injury as “grit,” and Christina offers to teach Tris basic defense, restoring Tris’s resolve.
Summary
Tris begins her first optional factionless self-defense class after proving she can board trains. During warm-ups and a choke-break demonstration, she realizes her size will make the technique difficult against larger partners like Colin and Rory.
Instructor Gretchen pulls Tris aside and bluntly advises her to prioritize speed, evasion, and escape over fighting, saying instruction would be a poor use of time due to Tris’s size. Stung and near tears, Tris leaves rather than continue under that judgment.
Back in the dormitory, Tris breaks down over the mismatch between her ambitions and physical limits. Christina, newly returned from the hospital with a head bandage, wakes and shares how Peter attacked her at night with a sharpened butter knife, blinding one eye. Christina admits she fears being “the one-eyed girl” more than practical losses, mourning the person she expected to be.
Tris reframes Christina’s injury as a story of grit rather than ugliness, recognizing her own lost expectations since the Choosing and her father’s memory tampering. When Tris explains Gretchen’s dismissal, Christina counters that Four trained small initiates and offers to teach Tris what she knows. The prospect of practical guidance and the element of surprise rekindles Tris’s hope.
Who Appears
- Tris (Beatrice Prior)Attends first factionless self-defense class; dismissed for size by Gretchen; breaks down; supports Christina; accepts Christina’s offer to train.
- ChristinaRecovering from losing an eye to Peter’s attack; fears her changed future; finds resolve and offers to teach Tris self-defense.
- GretchenFactionless self-defense instructor; tells Tris to prioritize evasion and not waste time fighting larger opponents.
- ColinTraining partner during warm-up; previously endured groin-kick drills; observes Tris leaving practice.
- RoryTall training partner; checks on Tris as she departs the session.
- MaeSeen jump-roping in the stairwell while Tris leaves practice.
- MilesAbsent roommate; noted to be learning beekeeping at the apiary.