Shuri stood in front of the grand entrance of the Palace of Arendelle. Surrounding her were beautifully carved ice sculptures that refracted thousands of rainbows around the walls and the floors of the courtyard. She wondered what was keeping it in from melting, especially that time of year.
"Must be some permanent freezing agent," she muttered as she walked towards a sculpture of a ballet dancer, "or maybe it is internally frozen with a consistent flow of cool air..."
"Magic, actually." A cool voice said from behind her. Shuri gave a little squeal in surprise as she turned around.
In front of her was a woman with her hair plated into a fishtail. She held her head up regally; making her strong and confident. She had icy blue eyes that matched her flowing gown and silken cape. Beside her was a girl about her age with burnt orange hair and a purple cloak. She recognised them both instantly.
"Elsa and Anna!" She forced a huge smile "it is amazing to meet you both in person."
"Princess Shuri," Elsa said with a warm smile playing at her lips, "welcome. And welcome to your handmaids." She nodded towards five guards behind her who were holding some of her bags in their hand instead of spears.
"We are not her servants!" One of them said with disbelief as she strode up to the queen. Shuri had to quickly hold out her hand to stop her.
"It is alright, Okoye" Shuri whispered. Then in a clear voice she said, "Elsa, these women are the Dora Milaje, the best warriors of Wakanda and currently my protectors on the journey to here."
Elsa froze for a second. "I do apologise, I didn't realise…it is just that most of the members have their own personal help and it is just that they are carrying your cases…"
Shuri snorted and crossed her arms. Why in Bast's name could she even have a need of a servant? She could not even start to think about how interfering they would be; always touching her equipment, getting in the way in her lab, probably using her secret experiments against her. Could you just imagine Shuri being taken care of someone a bit older than her? No, she thought not.
"Of course they are carrying my things! There is some delicate lab equipment in those cases and since you do not have any hover-boards, I will trust only my protectors to take them.."
Elsa was silent. Never in her life had she seen a child of her age with the same fiery sprit as one of her captains. Maybe Mulan, but nowadays she had seen less of battle than she has used to. Her daughter, Li Ming, took too much of her attention
"Excuse me." The guard called Okoye said. "We would like to get moving of this idle chatter out in the cold."
"I..." Else broke out of her train of thought and back into reality. She gave a gracious smile. "Of course."
She turned around and walked towards the entrance, but she was intercepted by one of the palace guards. He whispered in Elsa's ear; his face had an urgent expression to it. Elsa nodded and dismissed the man. She turned to Shuri.
"I am afraid that something important has been brought to my attention. I will have to leave you, but my sister will show you around. I will continue this discussion when the council convenes this afternoon." She bowed and hurried towards the entrance.
Anna looked like she was about to prance about the courtyard like a baby antelope. Shuri thought that this girl was one of those who fell in love at a drop of a hat and pretended that punch was actually alcoholic.
"Oh, my goodness gosh!" She squealed with delight; grabbing Shuri's arm. "I am so excited that you are here already! You see, we do not get many new members and it is always a joy when someone different comes along. Anyway I will take you to your room."
"Sure is I suppose," Shuri said as she tried to pry Anna's hand off her arm, but that girl had a tight grip.
They walked into the giant hall. Just like Wakanda, there was a mixture of tradition and the modern style. The walls were covered with portraits of previous kings and queens; landscapes of various areas, ranging from desolate frozen wasteland of Siberia to rolling green fields of an English countryside, filled in the spaces between. The floors were a polished marble, so shiny that she could see her own reflection in it. Silken drapes graced the walls; they were so long that three maids, all dressed in coarse brown dresses and white aprons, had to help pull it back.
But instead of the heavy mahogany doors that she was expecting, there were automatic ones at every entrance. Shuri noted that there were TV screens showing the news of about twenty different countries resided through one of the rooms with two men with earpieces were typing away at a keyboard.
They bobbed and weaved through many chattering people, servants and aristocracy alike. Anna pulled Shuri here and there; chatting about how some ball for one of the princesses went oh-so-wonderfully and how she should have seen the dancing mermaids, whatever that meant.
"…so what do you think?" Anna said loudly as they finally got to the elevator.
Shuri blinked. She had completely blanked out when Anna mentioned the word "ballroom".
"Sorry, what?" She asked as they waited for some of the richly dressed women to disembark it. They gave Shuri and her guards a disdainful look over. Okoye clenched the handle of the bag tightly, trying to not to say anything to jeopardise the mission T'Challa set her out to do.
Anna, who was completely obvious to the glares, giggled slightly. She squeezed Shuri's arm a bit tighter than was necessary.
"I was asking if, when they are done, they could go down and meet Mulan before they could go." She leaned into Shuri's ear and said in a confidential whisper. "You see, she has been so preoccupied with her daughter, Ming, that she doesn't have the energy to practice any fighting. This week Ming is at her grandparents, and I just know that she would love to get back into action. Could they join her after I show you to your room?"
Okoye's face betrayed no reaction to this request, but Shuri knew better. She knew how much Okoye and the others wanted to get back to Wakanda, but, on the other hand it was also a good opportunity to strengthen relations with China. And who knows? Mulan could learn a thing or two from them.
"Okoye!" Shuri said.
Okoye straightened up and hit her chest with her crossed arms, a sign of respect in Wakanda.
"After you placed my bags in my room, you will follow Anna to meet Mulan, understood?"
"Understood." Okoye said through gritted teeth.
The elevator went ping then. They got out and walked down a long hallway with about thirteen doors, six on either side, and one right at the end.
"This is where all of the princesses and/or their husbands stay when they are here. That door," she pointed to the thirteenth room, "is currently a nursery, while a floor dedicated to one will be built soon. There are guestrooms two floors below and another hallway for those who are in our club but they are not royal members. My sister and any other visiting kings and queens sleep at the very top floor."
Anna brought up an old manual key once they got to the twelfth room. Shuri let out an internal groan. In a world with automatic doors, why did they still have these types of ones?
"Here is your room." She swung the door open.
It wasn't extremely large, rather cosy in fact. It had a writing desk facing the window on the furthest wall and a king-sized posted bed that was too pink adjacent to it. Opposite the bed were an en suite bathroom and a walk-in wardrobe (the latter she believed to be completely unnecessary).
"How do you like it?" Anna asked as the guards walked in and gentle placed the bags by the writing desk.
It looked comfortable enough but there was still something that bothered her: There was nowhere where she could continue her research.
"Is there anywhere I can work, like a lab?" Shuri asked abruptly.
"Uh…" Anna said, a bit caught off guard, "I suppose there is Belle's workshop in the basement? But she is quite protective of it and will only allow a few people into it."
Shuri was quite surprised at the answer. She had read up of Belle, Princess of a region in the north of France. She had read that she was a bookworm, but Shuri never thought that she actually was an inventor.
"Well I suppose that will have to do. When can I meet Belle?"
"Uh…she should be in the library now. She is teaching the some of the orphaned girls to read and write. It is on the fourth floor. You can't miss it. Anywho, I need to introduce your guards to Mulan." Anna gave her a big grin. "I am so glad you are here already!"
With that she walked out of the room with Okoye and her guards in tow.
XXX
Sorry for taking forever to get this out.
Please tell me what you think.