Disclaimer: I do not own Thor, nor the Avengers.
Chapter 4 – On Asgard
The next few weeks proved a test on Jane's already waning patience. Although it was obvious that Shuri was trying to tamper her enthusiasm, she was still a hyper ball of energy and went exploring from dawn until dusk. After the first few days, in which both Jane and Thor made sure that all of Asgard knew that Shuri, Ayo and Teela were their honoured guests, Thor returned to his daily routine leaving Jane to handle Shuri alone. Her patience already thin thanks to her pregnancy, Jane quickly relegated the task of showing Shuri around to other people, namely Asgard's top scholars and metalsmiths who would know the most about the metal found on Asgard and how it worked. She figured that once Shuri had seen everything a few times she would calm down and begin to analyze the metal, beginning experiments and prompting discussion before she began trying to build anything, all of which Jane was only too happy to assist with. Until then, though, she too would go about her usual daily routine, which included playing hostess to emissaries from the other realms.
"Your Majesty should surly visit us once the child is born." A pompous, stout little man continued as Jane tried yet again to politely excuse herself. "Only the falls of Norndu at sunset can do your beauty justice. I shall show you them myself. No, I insist!" He said when she made to interrupt. "It would be the greatest honour of my life to host the Queen of Asgard in my home."
"Thor and I would be delighted to take you up on your offer, Your Excellency." She said, trying not to sound uncomfortable. His smile froze in place at her words.
"Of course the Allfather would be more than welcome as well."
"Excellent. Oh, Shuri!" Jane called, having spotted the younger woman and latching on to her as an excuse. "Ambassador Nezrith I don't believe you have met Princess Shuri of Wakanda. Her country is one of the most advanced and prosperous nations on Midgard." A fact which had only recently been revealed to the rest of Earth. Shuri held out her hand but instead of shaking it as expected, the Ambassador made a show of bowing and kissing the back of it. Shuri's eyebrows shot up and her guards' – who never left her side while she wandered Asgard – own hands tightened on their spears. Jane subtly shook her head at them and their grip loosened, understanding that while bordering inappropriate with the length of his kiss, this man posed no threat.
"Princess. It is my honour to make your acquaintance." He said when he finally stood back up.
"Thank you. I am very pleased to meet you as well." This seemed the right thing to say for the man visibly swelled with pride.
"Ambassador, I'm afraid I will have to leave you." Jane then said. "Princess Shuri is one of Midgard's finest scholars and is here conducting research. I promised to assist her this afternoon. Please do conduct our thanks to Queen Tilanyi. We are most appreciative of her assistance in the coming battle. I shall have Fandral visit her shortly to sort out any further details."
"Of course! It has been a pleasure speaking with you today, my Queen, as always." He bent over Jane's hand, and if it was possible his kiss lingered even longer then it had with Shuri, Finally Jane was able to extract her hand and bid the Ambassador farewell, watching as he left.
"What was that?" Shuri all but demanded once he was out of sight.
"That was Ambassador Nezrith of Nornheim. He is a slimeball, for lack of a better word, and holds a person's station and title above all else; you could ask him to cut off his arm for you and he would simply because you're a princess." She explained. "He also believes he's god's gift to women." Shuri looked at her for a moment before they both burst out laughing. "But he's harmless, really." She continued when they'd calmed down a bit. "He was visiting on behalf of Queen Tilanyi, Nornheim's ruler, to discuss Nornheim's involvement in the coming battle with Thanos. Tilanyi is a fair and kind ruler, and she's certainly no idiot. She knows that if Thanos defeats Asgard's forces there's no hope for them, so she's agreed to send troops to help."
"And where is Nornheim? It's not one of the Nine Realms, right?"
"Yes and no. Nornheim is outside of Yggdrasil, but it is connected to one of the Nine Realms."
"Explain this again." Shuri was understandably confused.
"Yggdrasil, the Worlds Tree, is a cosmic nimbus that connects nine realms together, but that doesn't mean that there are only nine realms in the entire universe. The Nine Realms are the most important though. For one reason or another, everything centres on the Nine Realms and every other realm in the universe is in some way connected to one of the Nine Realms of Yggdrasil." Shuri wasn't quite grasping the concept. "Think of it this way: the Milky Way galaxy is home to several planets, to several realms. Now those realms are connected to each other by way of revolving around the same sun, but are otherwise isolated from the rest of the universe, they have no connection to a realm outside of their galaxy. Now imagine if one of those planets did have a connection to a realm outside the Milky Way."
"Earth – Midgard." Shuri said. "Earth has a connection to realms outside our galaxy, but Mars or Saturn, for example, do not. But they are connected to Earth."
"Exactly. Asgardian astronomy operates on the basis that there are nine prime realms, if you will, that are connected by Yggdrasil. All other realms in the universe are connected to one of the nine prime realms and one only, they are in no way connected to any of the other prime realms."
"But we know that there are thousands upon thousands of galaxies in the universe, if not more. If there were only nine galaxies I could understand, but how does this make sense?" Shuri asked.
"Based on my Earth education it doesn't." Jane agreed with her, her eyes shining as they delved into a topic that continued to fascinate her. "This is the simplest way I can explain it." Jane pulled out her notebook and four coloured pen, which she continued to carry with her, and filled a page with circles, drawing tiny red dots inside nine of them. "All of these circles represent different galaxies, and the red dots are the Nine Realms inside their galaxies. Now, the Nine Realms are connected by Yggdrasil," Like Thor had done all those years ago, Jane drew Yggdrasil around each of the red dots, visualizing the connection they shared. "And all the other realms are connected to one of the Nine Realms. The other planets in our galaxy are connected to Earth," She changed the colour of her pen and drew several lines from within one of the circles to the red dot. "All the planets in the surrounding galaxies are also connected to Earth." She drew more lines, this time connecting a few of the circles to the red dot representing Earth. "Then it's the same with Asgard. The surrounding realms in the nearby galaxies are connected to Asgard. The same with Alfheim and Vanaheim, etc., etc." She drew more lines connecting the various circles to one of the red dots. "But they are never connected to each other in any other way. It is a reciprocal relationship," She turned one of the lines into a double ended arrow to demonstrate. "Between one of the Nine Realms and the planets connected to it, but these planets have no other connection within the universe."
"Like Wakanda." Ayo spoke up, she and Teela having naturally been listening. "Wakanda as a whole is the equivalent of the prime realm you speak of, with connections to other countries on Earth, but there are tribes within Wakanda. Tribes which connect to Wakanda, but individually do not connect to any other country on Earth."
"Yes." Said Jane. "That's a fairly good analogy."
"But what connects them?" Shuri asked. "And what stops the other realms from forming connections to anything but their prime realm?"
"That's the million dollar question. Even Asgard's scholars can't fully explain it. All we know for certain is that the Nine Realms are connected by the cosmic nimbus of Yggrasil, and that none of the other realms can form such connections. Everything else is TBD."
"But you hope to find the answer." Jane nodded.
"I do. One day I hope to understand the cosmos far better than I do now. It's my new obsession, now that I understand the Convergence."
"Well, I hope I'm alive to see the results of your discoveries." Said Shuri. It was no secret that Jane had eaten the Apple of Yggdrasil and would live far longer than her Earth friends and family.
"Me too." She replied, trying not to think about the short lives of those she cared about. "Anyways, you two must be bored stiff following Shuri around all the time." She turned to Ayo and Teela. "Come on." She led the three women outside to the training area, Sif calling a frantic halt the moment she stepped foot into the courtyard. The warrior swiftly approached as the soldiers she trained bowed to their Queen.
"What are you doing here?" Sif hissed angrily. She would never be so disrespectful were they in earshot of just anyone, but Shuri, Ayo and Teela were well aware of their friendship; it was very similar to Okoye and T'Challa's and the Wakandan general would not hesitate to reprimand her King in private or in the company of friends. "We have made it quite clear that while you carry Asgard's heir-"
"Peace, Sif." Jane held up her hand and though Sif clearly wanted to argue more she decided against it. "I'm only here for a moment. Given that Shuri has run them ragged these last two weeks I thought Ayo and Teela would enjoy the simplicity of training for awhile." The two Dora Milaje perked up hearing that, but Teela foresaw a problem.
"Thank you, Queen Jane, but we will not leave the Princess." Shuri rolled her eyes and Jane smiled softly.
"I know you won't. Which is why I thought we'd sit up there." She pointed to a balcony one level above them. "It's a protected viewing area. Shuri and I have a lot to discuss anyways and since we're not experimenting yet we can chat anywhere." Both women looked hopeful when Jane finished. The balcony was clearly visible from below and if there was trouble they'd easily be able to get up there. Though they clearly wanted to accept the offer, they turned to Shuri for permission, who again rolled her eyes.
"Why are you looking to me? Go train, we'll be up there." The usually serious Dora Milaje cracked a smile and nodded, turning to Sif.
"If your skill is anywhere near your general's we will welcome the challenge." She said, then addressed Jane. "Go." It was Jane's turn to roll her eyes but she did as instructed, leading Shuri upstairs to the plush chairs that had been laid out for her. Jane often liked to watch Thor train and once she discovered she was pregnant he had deemed the hard stone benches no longer appropriate and had soft, overly comfortable chairs put there instead. The sounds of training started up again once the two were situated and both tuned it out.
"I'm sorry I all but abandoned you after the first couple days...weeks…" Said Jane. Shuri waved her apology off.
"I was too excited, I know this. But my time was not in vain, I did discover much." She wasted no time diving into the topic at hand. "Specifically that my analysis on Earth was right: the metal within Asgard is indeed Vibranium."
"Still on steroids?" Shuri nodded. "That's something at least. Now we just need to figure out how best to adapt your Earth-bound technology with Asgard's strength. If it's not done properly things could-"
"Way ahead of you." Shuri interrupted, raising her wrist and twisting one of her Kimoyo Beads. A holographic image appeared with several schematics. "I've run several scenarios already and I think I've adapted the formulas correctly. Theoretically I should be able to apply it to any of my technology to work with Asgard's Vibranium." Jane was impressed. She'd been keeping an eye on Shuri these last weeks and had thought that the Princess had been too in awe of Asgard to have done much more than sightsee; clearly she'd been wrong.
"We should test your new formulas on a relatively harmless piece of equipment first, not a weapon." She said looking the hologram over and quickly seeing that Shuri's calculations did appear correct.
"Exactly what I was thinking. Back home we developed a way to make regular clothes into armour with small amounts of Vibranium imbedded directly into the fabric. The capes of our Boarder Tribe become shields when activated. I thought given the coming battle that that would be a good place to start." For the next several hours the two women discussed their next steps, what they ultimately hoped to accomplish and how they could reach this goal. They were completely unaware of time, not noticing when training ended and Ayo and Teela re-joined them, and barely being aware that they had gained another audience member until he touched Jane's shoulder.
"I have been calling you for several moments now." Thor said, an indulgent expression on his face.
"I'm sorry, we got so caught up talking." She replied.
"I know. But that does not excuse missing the noontime meal." His tone turned scolding, though he kept it light.
"No, it's only-" Jane cut off as she looked up at the sun, seeing that it was beginning to set. "Sunset. It's only sunset…" Realizing they'd been talking for most of the day and that she hadn't eaten since breakfast, Jane's stomach growled and she blushed, causing everyone else to chuckle.
"Come. My child is hungry." Said Thor, grasping Jane's hand and excusing them. He led them to their chambers where a meal waited for them – Thor having clearly gone to the kitchens before coming to find her – and Jane dug in ravenously.
"I'm going to have to be careful." She said when she was finally full. "We both know how caught up in my work I can get and while my poor eating habits didn't matter so much before, they certainly do now." Her tone was light but serious. While she clearly didn't believe forgetting about one meal to be a problem, she was determined that it wouldn't become one.
"Indeed. I will have servants check in on you every few hours and ensure you are eating." Jane felt a spark of irritation as he was essentially setting her a watch dog, but stomped it down, knowing he was just trying to take care of her and quickly seeing that this way she could lose herself in her work and not worry as much.
"Thank you." Leaning up, Jane kissed Thor and happily reciprocated when he deepened it. They hadn't had much time alone together in recent weeks, hell in the last few months even, and both were thrilled they had time now. With the way they were kissing, it wasn't long before clothes were discarded and Jane was straddling her husband. As her pregnancy progressed she found that this was the best position for such activities, and Thor was only too happy to accommodate her. Afterwards they both fell back against the pillows breathing heavily though both very sated.
"We haven't done that in a while." Jane said and Thor chuckled.
"And who's fault is that?" His question was rhetorical as he rolled over and laid a hand on her belly. "Making your mother so uncomfortable all the time recently is not good for us laying together." Jane snorted.
"Well, that's one way to say our sex life has sucked recently." The baby chose that moment to kick her insides sharply and she scowled down at her belly, bringing her hand up to join Thor's. "No need for that." Even as their child continued to kick her liver, Jane's scowl disappeared the moment she looked at her husband. His expression had become one of awe as it always did when he felt their child moving; his love for the baby being only too evident.
"Papa loves you." He murmured, leaning over to kiss her belly and receiving another kick to his efforts.
"Mama loves you too. As she loves Papa." Thor turned to look up at his wife who hadn't taken her eyes off him even as she spoke to her child. His eyes filled with the love he also felt for her and instead of expressing his love in words, he simply leaned up to kiss her.
A/N - Review please!