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When it was time for the banquet, Lilith found herself vibrating with antecipation. After the fear landscape, she'd found Nate, Christina, Siobhan, and all of her other friends awaiting outside, watching everyone else as they went through their respective evaluations. Rita had given her a one sided hug as Nate told her that she'd taken a little less than ten minutes, and that the Dauntless had cheered for her whenever she moved forward. For the first time in her life, Lilith had felt like she was a real member of Dauntless, and not just an initiate.
Eventually, when even Tris was finished with her test, and after they'd noticed that she'd disappeared, yet again, they retreated back to the dorm, where they kept discussing their evaluations. Unsurprisingly, Uriah seemed to have been the Dauntless born who had taken less time in his. His timing was dangerously close to Lilith's and, even if she was happy that he'd done well, it still made her fear that he would get a higher ranking than her. Rankings weren't everything, and Lilith was aware of it, but it would still be nice to see her name in the first spot.
"You look like a ticking time bomb," Siobhan giggled, a few minutes after they'd sat down at a table in the dining hall, "Are you gonna explode if you stop fidgeting?"
Lilith simply rose her eyebrows at her, "I just might. What about it?"
"At least warn us, so we can take cover," Lynn smirked, from her place in front of the brunette.
"A true Dauntless would throw themselves on top of me to absorb the blast," Lilith retorted, pulling at one of her braids. Lynn seemed caught off guard by her reply, and she laughed, "I'm just pulling your leg. I'd probably hide, too."
"Would you, though?" Nate narrowed his blue eyes at her.
Lilith nodded, "Yeah, who do you take me for? I'm not completely insane."
"Could have fooled me."
"Shut the hell up, Amity."
A loud screech interrupted their banter, and Lilith gritted her teeth as she looked around the room, her eyes soon landing on Eric as he climbed to the top of an empty table, a microphone gripped tightly in his hand. Her heart immediately started accelerating, not only because she was looking at the person who'd been invading her thoughts as of late, but also because it was finally time. The moment she had been waiting for was here. She'd finally find out just how well she'd done through Initiation, and how much her efforts had payed off. Chewing on her lower lip, Lilith crossed her fingers under the table, as the rest of the people in the dining hall quieted down.
"We aren't big on speeches here. Eloquence is for Erudite," Eric began, after clearing his throat. Though the crowd laughed, Lilith could only roll her eyes at the slight jab he's thrown at his previous faction. Eric had never told her where he'd come from, but she'd heard it from Granger, and it made complete sense. As Dauntless as he was, Erudite had surely left its traces. Once the laughter died down, Eric switched the microphone to his other hand and continued, "So I'm going to keep this short. It's a new year, and we have a new pack of initiates. And a slightly smaller pack of new members. We offer them our congratulations," he was forced to pause when everyone in the room began banging their fists against the tables, and Lilith released a breathless chuckle, exchanging a glance with Christina, who seemed ecstatic.
