Rue catches up with Zeke walking upstairs. She tries to get his attention and says,

“Did you hear me? My name is Rue R-U-E, not Red!” Zeke continues to walk and ignores her.

“Ok, this is B-12, your ‘new home,’” he says sarcastically. Zeke unlocks the door and walks in. He places her key on the nightstand. She looks around to see a single twin bed, a nightstand, a desk with a chair, a private bathroom, and a window looking towards the beautiful city of Ovidinia.

“Wow- this is nice,” she says with sparkles in her eyes.

“By the way, ‘emo boy,’ what is an ass-o-cia-tion? I keep hearing that word from you guys.”

Emo boy? Can’t she come up with something better? He laughs at her nickname for him.

“What’s so funny?” she feels flustered.

“First of all, my name is Zeke Z-E-K-E,” he says, mocking her. “Second of all, associations were created by the council because they couldn't handle all the incoming job requests.

We’re a Dauntless association named Lost Haven.”

She looks at him, confused, and doesn’t understand a word he’s saying.

“Sigh. There are multiple Dauntless associations. At least one per city. We take in the job request from the townspeople. We even take in requests from those outside our city limits. Sometimes the council itself requests jobs. Just like our recent one at the prison you were at.”

“So the council created associations, and there are multiple ones around the country. Ok, got it?” Rue is still lost but is keeping up with Zeke’s fast-talking.

“They’re also lawless associations not created by the council. These are labeled as Daunt associations. They do illegal stuff such as experiments, assassinations, kidnapping, etc. That’s where you were.” Rue sits on the bed, remembering some of the horrible things that were done to her.

“So that’s what they’re called. Okay, and these job requests you get, is a reward involved? You don’t do them for free, right?” Zeke sits beside her, explaining how rewards/money work with requests.

“Yes, depending on the job, you can get rewarded from 10,000 Gems for small jobs to 10,000,000 Gems for bigger jobs. But it depends on your rank in the association you’re in.” Rue looks at Zeke, even more confused.

“Your rank depends on the types of missions you’re capable of. We have five different ranks. Rookie, 2 stars, 3 stars, 4 stars, and 5 stars. When looking at a request flyer, you’ll see how many stars are in the corner. For example, you’ll look for jobs with no stars since you're a rookie. Instead, it’s a little smiley face. From there, you can rank up by looking at requests with an in-between rank. Another example would be a smiley face with 2 stars next to it. Are you getting any of this?”

Rue lays back and spaces out from all the incoming information. Zeke gets annoyed and leans over her on the bed.

“HEY, RED!”

Rue snaps out of it and headbutts Zeke.

“AH! I’m here!” She yells back.

“Ouch!” Zeke covers his nose. “This is a waste of time,” he says, standing up from the bed and walking out.

“Wait! I’m sorry I promise I was listening.”

“Whatever, let's go to town. I gotta show you where the good shops are,” he says, walking into room B-13 beside Rues.

“Is this your room?” Rue tries to walk in.

“Yeah,” he closes the door on her. She waits patiently outside for Zeke. He drops off his herbs and grabs some extra Gems to go shopping. He walks back out and asks,

“You got the Gems Owen gave you?”

“I have them right here,” she says, holding up the bag full of the 10,000 Gems.

“Good, let’s go,” he begins to walk downstairs.

“Wait up,” she catches up to him. “Emo boy,” Rue teases Zeke, “why do you call Mr. Owen just Owen?” Zeke stops and turns to Rue. He hunches down close to her face.

“Call me ‘emo’ one more time, and I’ll make sure your hair isn't the only thing red on your body! Got it!”

Rue backs up and responds,

“Y-yes, Sir.”

Scary. She thinks to herself.

“That still doesn’t answer my question.” Rue is determined now to know why Zeke doesn’t call Owen the appropriate title.

“Why does it matter? He’s just Owen to me,” Zeke responds nonchalantly. Rue lets out a sigh and accepts Zeke's answer.

The two continue walking outside the Lost Haven building. Rue looks at the building in amazement. She spaces out, not seeing Zeke leaving her behind. This is her first time going to a city without being in chains. Rue is nervous yet excited. She catches up with Zeke at a clothing store. Before entering, there’s a sign that reads: Welcome to Ovidinia. Rue tries to read the sign.

“O-vie-dea-nea?” she pronounces wrongly.

“It says Welcome to ‘Ovidinia.’ That's the city’s name.”

“Ovidinia!” she says excitedly. She runs to a shop opposite Zeke's position.

“What’s this?”

Zeke runs after her.

“Ok, Red,” he grabs her by the arm. “You’re gonna need to stay by me, got it? I can’t have thugs or any lawless kidnap you,” he brings her inside the clothing store.

“Normally, I wouldn’t clothes shop first, but,” he looks at her up and down, wearing a small nurse-like outfit. “You need new clothes.”

Rue looks at her clothes and feels embarrassed.

“This is the best clothing shop. These heka threads form a specific outfit based on your own heka.” Zeke says, admiring the threads.

“Really? That's amazing!”

“Welcome in! How can I help you folks today?” the store clerk welcomes them in. Zeke immediately takes a seat.

“She needs new clothes,” he points at Rue. Rue stares at the clerk, not knowing what to say.

She shyly waves and says nervously,

“Hi?”

“Oh my! This is an emergency. I’ll be right back,” the store clerk gathers materials. He returns and takes Rue to a mirror.

“Now, sweetie, stand still,” he makes a heka circle around her. Rue stands as still as she possibly can.

“ATTIRE REMODEL,” Poof!

A fresh new outfit appears on Rue fitting her perfectly and comfortably.

“There you go, sweetie. I’ve also created some alternative outfits for you as well.” he hands her a bag of items.

“Woah! This is awesome! Thank you so much,” she smiles brightly. She turns to Zeke, “How do I look?”

He ignores her and goes to the counter to discuss a price with the clerk.

“How much?” Zeke gets straight to the point. Rue is embarrassed but happy she got her own clothes for once. She walks over to Zeke and the store clerk.

“Since this is her first time, I’ll give you a discount. 5,000 Gems,” he says, smirking.

“You call that a discount! Make it 2,000!”

“4,500 Gems!” the clerk responds.

“2,100 Gems!” Zeke snaps back at the clerk

“Hmm. This one time Zeke, 2,500!” he says, giving in. Zeke smirks and responds,

“2,450 Gems?”

The clerk agrees, and now Rue has $7,550 Gems left. The two thank and say goodbye to the store clerk. Now they’re off to find a weapon for Rue. Inside the weapons shop are Cora and Dori.

“This is a weapons shop. Since you’re joining our association, you’ll need some sort of weapon,” Zeke says.

“Alright,” she runs over to the large selection of weapons. Cora and Dori see Zeke and walk over to him.

“Hey there, Zeke!” Cora yells. “How’ve you been, bud?”

“Who’s the girl? Is she your girlfriend?” Dori says, teasing Zeke.

“No, she's not. Owen told me to watch over her. She just joined our association today.”

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

“NO WAY!” Cora and Dori shout.

“We have to celebrate!” Cora says with a big smile. Dori walks over to Rue.

“I heard you’re our new rookie! What’s your name?”

“Um- My name is Rue. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“She has good manners. I’m Dori, and this is Cora. The pleasure is all ours. Can I see your hand?” She takes Rue's hand. Dori holds her hand and closes her eyes. Then, she opens her eyes quickly and says, “You should use a staff. It’ll suit you perfectly.”

“What kind of heka do you use?” Cora asks curiously.

“I-i use memory heka.”

“Ok, you guys, stop crowding her. She's a little reserved,” Zeke tells Cora and Dori. The two back off a little, and Cora apologizes,

“My bad, I get overly excited sometimes.” He laughs. “I hope you can forgive us.”

Memory heka, huh? That makes sense now. Zeke looks around and finds the perfect weapon for her. He takes her by the arm and drags her off.

“Hey!” Rue yells.

“And there he goes,” Dori says to Cora.

“I think they’re a perfect match,” Cora says, picturing the two as a couple. Slap! Dori hits him on the arm.

“Don’t start any rumors. We don’t need a repeat of last year.”

“You’re not supposed to hit your big brother,” Cora says, whining. Zeke takes Rue to the staff weapon section.

“A staff?”

“The Ice Witch was right. A staff suits you,” Zeke says with an idea in mind. “How does this one feel?” he hands her a staff half her size.

“I don’t know, am I supposed to feel something?”

Does he have nicknames for everyone? she thinks to herself.

Zeke picks up another staff. This staff is an older model and has an ominous aura around it.

“What about this one?” he hands her the staff. Rue’s heka reacts and forms around the staff like a gust of wind.

“That’s the one,” He walks to the counter and asks,

“How much for the staff and no funny business, old man!”

“9,500 Gems for you, Zeke.” the older store clerk responds.

“Make it 6,000 Gems, and I’ll trade in some weapons of mine?”

“Deal!” The clerk says with a big smile. Zeke hands him some of his old weapons. He finishes up with the store clerk and walks to Rue.

“Do you like the staff?”

“Um, I’m not sure. I’ve never used one before.”

The two walk out of the store and head to town.

“Well, now you have 1,550 Gems left.”

“Is that good?” she asks hopefully.

“Nope, you’re broke.”

“Huh? No! What about food? How am I going to make it?” She regrets buying the clothes and the weapon.

“Slow down, would ya.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” she says mockingly as Zeke walks to a diner.

“Zeke! I don’t have money for this.” Zeke grabs her wrist and says,

“I’m not gonna let you starve,” he brings her inside and sits by a window. Outside shows off the beautiful night sky of the city.

“Sit and look over the menu,” Zeke tells her.

“But how are we going to pay?”

“Did you forget that I have Gems to use?”

She stares blankly because she did forget that he has money. Rue then looks over the menu seeing all kinds of food she has never seen before.

“What are you eating?”

“I normally get the Fire-Roasted River Tapir,” he responds, looking out the window. A server comes by and asks,

“Hello, are you ready to order?”

“Yeah, I’ll have the Fire-Roasted River Tapir. With water.”

“Ok, and for you, Miss?” she asks Rue.

“Um, I’ll have that too, please,” Rue responds, smiling.

“After we’re done eating, we’ll head back and look for a job you can start tomorrow.”

Rue doesn’t say anything. She’s completely silent. All she can think about is how Zeke has cared for her since the Daunt base.

“Red?” Zeke tries to get her attention. Rue clutches her fist. She wants to thank him, but the words won't come out.

“You gonna ignore me now?” He says, drinking his water.

“No, I-” Rue tries to explain, but the server interrupts her.

“Here you are. Can I get anything else for you?” she asks, setting down the food.

“No, that’s all.” Zeke starts eating his food. Rue doesn't say anything and goes in for the first bit.

“This is delicious!” she says, stuffing her face. Zeke looks at her and smiles for a second before eating again.

The time is 7:30 pm. The two finish eating and head back to the Lost Haven association. They walk down a path with glowing flowers and grass greener than any grass seen. Rue looks at Zeke and thinks of a way to say thank you. She remembers the Daunt base and how miserable it was. All the horrible experiments that were done on her. If it weren’t for Lost Haven, especially Zeke, she would still be locked up in that prison and tortured. Rue stops walking. Zeke notices and turns around.

“Hey, are you coming or not?”

Rue stays silent, and her eyes become teary.

“We’re almost there. You can rest when we get back. We’ll look for a job tomorrow if you’re that tired.” Zeke says, not knowing what's on her mind.

“No, it’s not that,” she says quietly. Zeke puts his hands in his pocket and saunters ahead of her.

“Wait, I have something to say.” She grabs Zeke's jacket to stop him.

“Ok, say it. We don’t have all night,” he says coldly.

Rue looks up with tears falling from her eyes.

“Thank you for saving my life, Zeke!”

Zeke is stunned and remembers his mom.

“IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT! IT SHOULD’VE BEEN YOU!” Zeke’s mom shouts.

Zeke snaps back and turns away from Rue.

“Don’t thank me. I just did what Owen wanted me to.” He pulls away from Rue and starts walking again. Rue feels embarrassed and thinks to herself,

That’s the best I could come up with. Why did I say it like that?!

Zeke walks into the main building of Lost Haven with Rue behind him. Everyone inside is drinking and celebrating the new rookies they gathered. Cora sees Rue and yells,

“Hey! There’s my favorite rookie!”

“Wow, do you guys always have parties like this?” she asked Zeke, but Zeke had already left for his room. Rue is afraid she made it awkward between Zeke and her. Zeke walks upstairs, conflicted. He opens his door to see Owen in his room.

“Sup, kid?”

“W-what? How the hell- sigh,” Zeke lays back on his bed.

“How’s the girl doing?”

“I tried to explain how things work. Don’t know if I got through to her, though.”

There’s a silent pause between the two.

“You know she uses memory heka?”

“Memory heka? That’s something I haven't heard in years.”

“Yeah, same here.” Zeke sits up on the bed. “Can I ask you something?”

“What’s on your mind?” Owen says, sitting in Zeke’s chair.

“Why did you want me to watch over her? I’m the last person I would pick. Mr. Freeze or even Dr. Olive would’ve been a better pick.” Zeke says, discouraging himself.

“It wasn’t my choice. She specifically asked for you.” Owen answers, recalling the conversation he had with the two councilmen.

“She said she wants to stay. That's her final decision,” Owen says to the men.

“You need to assign someone to her. Then we’ll have a deal. But I’ll personally inform the Great Council if anything happens to her,” Man one demands.

“I have someone in mind. His name is Cora. He’ll be perfect.”

“Can I choose the person?” Rue interrupts. Owen turns to Rue and asks,

“Who do you have in mind, kid?”

“I forgot his name, but the one with red eyes and uses crystal heka. I have to thank him for saving my life somehow.” Rue smiles.

Owen finishes telling Zeke how he was chosen to look after her.

“I didn’t save her life because I wanted to. I did because you told me to,” Zeke says, frustrated.

“You make your own choices in the end, Zeke. Whether you like it or not, you saved and protected her with your life. She feels indebted to you now.” Owen gets up to leave. “Even today, you could've refused to help her, but you didn’t. Face it, you’re a good kid,” he says, closing Zeke's door. Zeke goes over to his desk and begins working on a potion.

In the meantime, the party for rookies is still going on in the main hall:

Rue takes a seat at a table next to Kai.

“You wanna fight, newbie!” he yells to Rue.

“Huh? No, I don’t want any trouble,” she puts her hands up as if she were surrendering. Nora pops up and throws water heka at Kai, whipping him out. She sits next to Rue.

“Don’t mind him. He’s always like that,” Nora says, laughing. “My name is Nora. Nice to meet you, Rue.”

“Nice to meet you!” Rue responds, smiling and shaking Nora’s hand. Nora points to Kai and says,

“That over there is Kai. He’s our wild card.”

“Wild card?”

“You see, Kai has a very violent personality. And this psycho next to you is Amina.”

“I’m not a psycho!” Amina says.

“I’m Rue. Nice to meet you,” Rue smiles at Amina. Amina dismisses Rue. Behind them is Cora yelling at Kai.

“What did you say about my sister?” Cora charges at Kai.

“I SAID! Her ice ain’t nothin’ to worry about! SHE’S WEAK!” Kai yells, intentionally starting a fight.

“I hope we don’t scare you away, Rue. I’ll see you later,” Nora says while leaving to go and join the fight. Elliot walks over to Rue.

“Don’t mind them. How are you feeling?” He sits next to her.

“I’m feeling a lot better, thank you.” She spaces out a bit and thinks of how embarrassing her ‘thank you’ was to Zeke earlier. “Sigh.”

“Something on your mind?”

“Kind of. I’ve had a long day. I’m gonna head to bed.” She says, getting up from the seat.

“Of course, get plenty of rest Rue. We’ll see each other later.” Rue says goodnight to everyone and heads upstairs to her room. On her way, she forgets what room number she is in.

“It was a B-10, right? No B-13!” Rue says confidently. “Here we are. My new life awaits.” She says, opening the

door to find B-13 is not her room. Zeke is seen sitting at his desk shirtless, making a new potion. He turns and sees his door wide open.

“What are you doing?” Zeke gets up to block the doorway.

“I’m sorry, I thought this was my room!” She yells, panicking, and covers her eyes.

“Sigh,” Zeke leans against the door frame, “Your room is B-12. Right there.” he points to the room next door.

“Oh, haha? You thank’s.” Rue says, pushing Zeke back and slamming his door. She quickly runs to her room, flustered. Zeke stands in confusion.

“That girl.”

When Rue runs to her room, she's even more embarrassed.

“‘You thanks? What is wrong with me? I can even speak,” she vents at herself, lying on her bed.

Rue takes a deep breath and looks up at the ceiling. She focuses on the positive things coming to her.

“I can’t wait to see the world. This is where my adventure begins,” she screams with excitement.

Meanwhile, the walls are thin, and Zeke can hear Rue’s enthusiasm.

“I’ll finish the potion tomorrow.”

He lays down on his bed and recalls what Rue said.

Thank you for saving my life, Zeke!

Zeke clenches his sheets.

“I don’t deserve a thank you, Rue,” he says to himself before passing out.