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DAVINA had sparred before. She had split her knuckles and bruised her own skin dealing blows, she had let sweat and blood combine together and had the wind knocked from her as she hit the mat. In fact, she had found quite a lot of joy in it growing up, and her times spent sparring and training with Edward were some of her fondest memories from her home Faction. But the first day of matches in Dauntless brought her no excitement or joy: only apprehension.
She had never fought for anything less than glory, but she was a long way away from the school gym or the backyard in the summer. Winning did not simply mean bragging rights and a way to escape the shadow for a few hours, it now meant whether she would be Factionless or not.
Edward thought she was being ridiculous at breakfast, he had calculated the percentages and chances of her losing based off one match, and then estimated her odds based off experience versus an average of the other transfers. By the time she had made her way through her fruit and cereal, Davina's head was sore and all she could think about was the lectures before school back in Erudite.
She also didn't have the heart to tell him that realistically, facing him in initiation was her greatest fear. From her observations, he and Peter would give her the greatest challenge, especially if the latter caught her off guard. At least she knew Edward's moves, to a degree, Peter was an anomaly. Edward hardly seemed bothered by the idea, which unnerved Davina even more.
As they entered the training room with time to spare, Four was already at the board, scribbling away when the old Erudite trio walked in. Their presence was barely noticed as they slipped in, Davina's shoulders slumped slightly from apprehension.
The ink on her arm had started to peel and scab over the few years, and was approaching what Tori had explained to be the itching phase. Davina supposed she'd have to be careful which arm she used to block.
"It's okay," she heard Edward reassure his girlfriend from beside her. Davina rolled her eyes.
"Since there are an odd number of you, one of you won't be fighting today," Four finally spoke, and stepped away from the chalkboard. Davina's eyes travelled down the board, finding that Tris was the one being given a reprieve for that day, her name at the top with nobody next to it.
But the reprieve did not apply to her, as the worst case scenario unfolded in front of her: Edward's name scribbled next to hers.
He had not realised yet, standing beside her still attached at the hip to Myra as Davina agonised. Suddenly she was going over every time they had ever sparred together, trying to find chinks in his defence and a way she could guarantee a win for once. They were evenly matched – too evenly – and it was not the way she had wanted to start initiation where it mattered.
"Well, that's awkward," came a voice. The three of them turned to see Christina and Tris. The former only shrugged, as Edward finally seemed to realise.
