We Can Be Mended – Veronica Roth (2017)

We Can Be Mended by Veronica Roth, published in 2017, is a companion epilogue to the Divergent series, offering readers a glimpse into the life of Tobias Eaton (Four) five years after the end of Allegiant. It’s a quiet, introspective novella about grief, healing, and the difficult process of moving on after profound loss.

Plot Summary

The five-year reunion of former faction members stirs a quiet unease in Tobias Eaton as he stands beside Christina on a train platform overlooking a city that has been shattered and rebuilt too many times to count. The streets of Chicago, once divided by factions and scarred by war, now pulse with a fragile new life. Yet, for Tobias, the past still clings like a shadow, heavy and unrelenting. Beneath his composed exterior, grief coils, restless and unresolved, centered on the memory of Tris, the girl he loved and lost.

Christina, lively and sharp as ever, teases him about his visits to the Dauntless compound, about his repeated confrontations with the fear landscape that once defined him. Tobias, reluctant to expose his vulnerabilities, deflects at first. But the truth emerges – the simulations are his tether to the past, the only place where he can face the moment of Tris’s death over and over again. He longs for the day when she will no longer haunt his fears, when he can finally say he has moved on. Christina reminds him, gently but firmly, that healing does not happen by waiting – it happens by moving.

As the reunion draws closer, Tobias walks the streets of the city alone, shunning the convenience of the train. The roads beneath his feet are cracked, the buildings worn, but these imperfections comfort him more than the polished spaces that now stand where Dauntless once ruled. At the gathering, familiar faces emerge – Zeke’s infectious laughter, Shauna’s determination, Caleb’s tentative presence. Caleb nods at Tobias, and for once, Tobias no longer aches with the old question of why Tris is gone and her brother remains.

Cara returns from Philadelphia with Matthew, both radiant with news of their engagement. Around them, the chatter is warm, threaded with old jokes and quiet triumphs. Yet Tobias feels a persistent disquiet. The Dauntless compound has been restored, turned into a museum of sorts, a monument to what was. It gleams too brightly, erasing the memories he once buried in its shadows. Evelyn, his mother, approaches with cautious affection, her eyes lined by time but softened by the years spent repairing what was broken between them. Their conversation wavers between tenderness and tension, each step forward weighed against old wounds.

Later, Christina pulls Tobias away from the noise, leading him to a place steeped in memories. They climb to the platform above the net, where initiates once leapt to prove themselves. Tobias remembers the small hand of a girl he once pulled from the net, remembers her bright eyes, her fierce spirit. Christina lies beside him on the net, the sky stretching wide above, the city lights softening the edges of the night. They speak of the past and of the future, of the lives around them shifting into new shapes. Christina speaks the words Tobias has not yet dared to believe – that eighteen was too young to believe life was over, too young to think love could only come once.

Their friendship deepens, inching toward something neither quite names, but both feel. In the quiet of the night, their fingers brush, a question asked without words. Tobias closes his eyes, the memory of Tris flickering behind his eyelids, the ache familiar and sharp. But in the brush of Christina’s hand against his, there is something new – the first stirring of possibility, of life beyond grief.

Tobias returns to the training room, to the rhythm of movement and sweat and breath. Christina leads the security recruits with confident ease, her laughter ringing out as she jabs at Tobias with playful mockery. They fall into an old rhythm, teacher and soldier, friends stepping into the easy banter of shared history. When the trainees leave, it is just the two of them, stretching on the mats, their conversation slipping between humor and tenderness. Tobias touches Christina’s cheek, hesitant, unsure if he is ready to cross the threshold between grief and something new. But Christina, steady and sure, leans in, her fingers curling around his wrist, her smile softening the air between them. They meet in a kiss that is as much question as answer, tentative and real.

Days fold into each other, the sharp edges of loss worn smooth by time and companionship. They laugh together, often over nothing at all – a look, a word, the ridiculous antics of the people around them. They fight, too, over dishes and schedules, over names for the children Zeke and Shauna will soon welcome. There are nights when Tobias wakes gasping from dreams of Tris, of pain, of the moment everything shattered. There are nights when Christina wakes crying, her own losses spilling out from the dark. But they hold each other through it, not as a cure, but as a salve.

The fear landscape serum sits untouched, its power over Tobias fading, no longer his only measure of self. He gives it away, a small surrender, a quiet act of letting go. Together, Tobias and Christina speak of the past – of Will, of Tris, of the weight they carried and the mistakes they made. They speak, too, of the ordinary days that stretch ahead – of rebuilding streets and homes, of teaching, of finding joy in the mundane.

There is no dramatic transformation, no sudden epiphany. There is only the slow, steady work of mending – of learning to love again, of learning to live. Tobias begins to understand that moving on is not a betrayal, but a continuation, that love does not erase grief, but grows alongside it. He learns that healing is not an end, but a practice, a daily act of choosing to stay, to laugh, to fight, to forgive.

And in that fragile, imperfect world, Tobias Eaton moves forward, carrying both the weight of memory and the lightness of new beginnings. Side by side with Christina, he discovers that life after loss is not about forgetting, but about weaving the threads of past and present into something whole. Together, they fight, they laugh, they love. Together, they mend.

Main Characters

• Tobias Eaton (Four): The protagonist, still haunted by the death of Tris five years earlier. Tobias is introspective, grappling with guilt, grief, and identity. His journey in this novella is one of learning to embrace life again, to step into the future without feeling he’s betraying the past.

• Christina: Tobias’s close friend and eventual love interest. Christina is resilient, pragmatic, and compassionate, helping Tobias confront his pain. Her own losses make her a mirror and a steadying force for Tobias as they slowly edge toward intimacy and healing.

• Evelyn Eaton: Tobias’s estranged mother, now working in city transportation. Their relationship is cautious but healing, shaped by past betrayals and current efforts to mend.

• Zeke and Shauna: Former Dauntless members and Tobias’s old friends, providing a sense of continuity and community. They represent resilience and the possibility of happiness after trauma.

• Caleb Prior: Tris’s brother, still burdened by guilt. His presence evokes the past, but both he and Tobias navigate a wary truce.

• Cara and Matthew: Scientists working on genetic research, now engaged. They represent progress and rebuilding in a world recovering from faction collapse.

Theme

• Grief and Healing: The central theme is Tobias’s long, painful journey through grief. The story shows how grief lingers, shapes identity, and requires active, often painful, work to overcome.

• Identity and Reinvention: Tobias struggles with who he is outside the factions, outside his role as Tris’s partner, and outside his old fears. The novella explores how people rebuild themselves when the identities they clung to are stripped away.

• Memory and Moving On: The novella balances honoring memory with the need to live. Tobias clings to fear landscapes as a way to hold on to Tris, but gradually he understands that memories cannot—and should not—freeze life.

• Community and Belonging: Despite the factionless world, connections between people—friendships, romances, reconciliations—are portrayed as the real source of strength and meaning.

• Hope and Renewal: From the city’s rebuilding to Tobias’s budding relationship with Christina, the novella threads a quiet, hard-earned hope that life can mend, even after breaking.

Writing Style and Tone

Veronica Roth’s writing in We Can Be Mended is stripped down, introspective, and somber. Unlike the high-stakes action of the Divergent series, this novella adopts a reflective, sometimes meditative pace. Roth relies heavily on interior monologue, memory, and subtle interactions to chart Tobias’s emotional evolution.

The tone is bittersweet, laced with nostalgia, regret, and the tentative stirrings of hope. Roth’s language leans into vulnerability, showing Tobias’s rawness and hesitation. Quiet moments—walking through the city, small gestures with friends, or lying on a training mat—carry the emotional weight. The prose is gentle and restrained, mirroring Tobias’s cautious steps toward healing, and the dialogue carries a wry humor that lightens the heaviness without trivializing it.

In essence, Roth shifts from the explosive dystopian drama of her earlier books to a softer, character-driven exploration of grief, love, and resilience. The tone is tender, at times aching, but ultimately infused with warmth and the promise of renewal.