Chapter 5: Nakia's Dreams

T'Challa and Nakia sat at their favorite table in their usual spot. The bustling city life of Birnin Zana swept through the street two floors below them like a clamorous river of polychromatic chaos. Brightly clad Wakandans milled around street corners, bustled between shops, and chatted happily with companions at sidewalk cafes. Vendors weighted down with baskets of food and trinkets shouted advertisements of their wares. Automobiles and bicycles skittered between tethered cows, free range chickens, and the occasional Vervet monkey. The oil sizzled as it fried samosas and the smoky, salty aroma of grilled goat filled the air.

Nakia sipped on her spicy ginger chai and threw another piece of popcorn at T'Challa after a particularly lame joke. She laughed as he struggled to remove the kernel from his head. Nakia's freshly braided hair hung down to her waist, neatly twisted into patterns of dark brown, deep blue, and royal purple, perfectly coordinated with the delicate flowers covering her kitenge dress. She glowed with mirth as she threw another kernel of popcorn when T'Challa's head was turned.

"As I was saying," T'Challa continued, brushing the kernel off his shoulder to meet its companions on the floor. "Shuri has managed to find a buyer for her latest project. You remember what I told you of it?"

"I think so. She has too many projects for me to remember all. You mean the one where she combines the technology for a computer with a mobile phone all in one device?"

"Yes. She found some American company who would like her designs. Since it was her pet project and not technology that will compromise our security, Baba said she may sell her designs and use the proceeds to refurbish her lab with all the new toys she has been asking for."

"Has she been negotiating the contract herself?"

"No. Baba does not trust her that far. He was concerned she would do something that would reveal the company is dealing with a seven year old Wakandan child and not the international technology company she is pretending to be. Secretary Norris has been assisting her and reviewing all the contracts to ensure all the legal necessaries are attended to. If the deal goes through, Mama has agreed to let Shuri complete more of her studies in the lab to develop her skills further. She's already bursting with new ideas she wants to investigate."

"Aye! That girl! She will be a true asset to Wakanda with her brain."

"If she can survive to adulthood…she is not making friends with her mischief. She managed to break into the palace communication system last week and changed all the clocks on all connected technology to three hours ahead. It caused chaos for the household for two days until we discovered who the guilty party was and forced her to change it back."

Nakia covered her mouth with her hand as she laughed. "My absence came at an unfortunate time," she said. "I would have enjoyed seeing Shuri hold the entire palace hostage."

"Well, Mama held her hostage afterwards. She received a thorough caning before her exile at Mama W'Kabi's shamba. She had to spend three days digging up cassava, weeding potatoes, and herding goats before Mama let her back into the palace," T'Chaka answered with a grin. "She came back so humble and well-behaved that Mama thinks we should send her there at least once a week and maybe twice during holidays."

"If I remember properly, you spent some very grueling days with Mama W'Kabi after you tried to sneak a snake into Aunty Josephine's handbag during one of the palace dinners."

"Eeeee! Don't remind me! I think my blisters grew blisters from all the time I spent in her shamba. I do not think there is a woman in Wakanda that I fear as much as Mama W'Kabi!"

"Yet, I believe I have caught you there sitting in the jackfruit trees even when you were not being punished," Nakia said.

"And how do you know I was there willingly and not under duress?" T'Chaka responded, his eyes glinting mischievously in the dim light of their favorite corner.

"Wewe! Mama W'Kabi would not have let you leave with me to go hunting for mangos if you were still under her supervision. You were there because you wished to be there," Nakia said, poking his shoulder and straightening the green wrap around her head.

"Ni kweli. I admit. I may have gotten into mischief a few times on purpose simply because I enjoyed spending my days there. Listening to Mama W'Kabi tell the old legends by firelight is one of my favorite boyhood memories. And now, Shuri will create her own. She may need to become a permanent member of the household until she learns some discipline.

"You know, I've caught Shuri three times trying to sneak out to go visit Bella, the zimwi. Mama has caught her twice, and Okoye has caught her more times than she can count. She is too curious for her own good and the more we discourage her, the more she sees her goal as a worthy challenge. It is almost a game for her now."

"Do you think she would be in danger?"

"No. I do not think Shuri would be in danger, but I cannot say the same for the zimwi. Knowing Shuri, she would probably want to conduct experiments on her and end up setting her on fire or blowing her up just to see if she could."

"Mmmmmm," Nakia said, raising both eyebrows before chucking another piece of popcorn at T'Challa's forehead.

"Nakia, you would have me traverse the city with popcorn in my hair," T'Challa responded and threw the kernel back at her. It bounced easily off her shoulder and onto the floor. "And you will have us refused as customers here in future."

"I do not think this tiny place will refuse their future king from taking chai here, even if he spills a bit of popcorn. You could even pour the whole teapot and they would still welcome you back."

"True-but they may not allow you back, especially if I tell them not to."

"This would no longer be a very good meeting place if I am not allowed to meet you here," she replied.

"Maybe I come for the chai and not the company," he said, his full smile reflecting his insincerity.

"Aye, bwana, ninaenda saa hii. You take your chai in peace without my company," Nakia said as she rose to leave him. T'Challa caught Nakia's hand and pulled her back to her chair. He failed to release her hand when she sat. He carefully analyzed the crevices and lines of her hand as if she carried a map to a treasure within. He placed a kiss on one finger before raising his eyes to meet hers.

"Now, Nakia, tell me. You are laughing but your laughter does not reach your eyes. What is making your heart heavy?" T'Challa said, growing serious.

She sighed and lost herself in the city-scape for a moment before she replied.

"Words are insufficient. There is nothing that is amiss in my waking life."

"Are your dreams heavy?"

"Yes. My sleeping hours do not permit me to rest. I feel as though my soul within me travels around half the world until I wake. Something is happening or is going to happen. I do not know what, but I know that we are in danger."

"Tell me your dreams, or at least what you can," T'Challa said, still clasping her hand.

"Aye, it is too hard to explain all. Last night but one I dreamed of a wooden box dug out of the ground. Inside, it was full of green and yellow circles. I do not know if they were bracelets or rings or something else entirely. They shone with a light too bright to be natural and they reeked of strong magic.

"The second day of the week before, I dreamed of an acacia tree frozen in ice. It thawed in the sun and we planted it by a lake where it bloomed.

"Then, last night I dreamed of ice again but this time it was a woman, paler even than mazimwi, and it was not that she was frozen, it was that she was made entirely of ice and she froze all she touched. It was so cold…My sister woke me then because she could not bear my screams. I have been troubled since morning," Nakia said, pulling her hand from his and rubbing her temples with her fingertips.

"Your third eye is both a blessing and a burden for you. You help us all to see truths that we cannot see with our two eyes, but you suffer from it, I fear. Come, take some more chai," T'Challa said as he poured another steaming cupful for her. "Then, we will go out of the city and walk along the mountain road. You will feel the sun and forget the ice till you must sleep again."

Nakia smiled and took the cup, holding it closely in both hands as it warmed her. "Asante. I would like that."

Ooooooooooo

Bella returned to her home after a long night of hunting. She ran as far and as fast as she could, making her way across the border to Lake Nyanza and back again before dawn broke and forced her home. She inhaled and exhaled, filling her senses with the rich, dense, fragrant morning air. The dawn hummed with the early explosion of bird songs, welcoming the warmth of the early sun.

She pulled off her dirty shoes before she heard a rustling sound in the bushes behind the homestead. She swung around and caught a whiff of an unknown human scent.

"Is someone there?" she asked, but no answer came.

Her normal visitors waited for her inside or nearby her hut, not in the bushes. They also came long after dawn. She had a feeling this was not a normal visitor. She heard a heart race faster but still no voice spoke. She noiselessly crept towards the direction of the heartbeat. There, her perfect eyes picked out a small figure buried in black cloth and huddled in the bushes.

"Who are you and what are you doing hiding in the bushes?" Bella asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

Slowly, the figure rose, shaking slightly as it did. A T'Challa's mask hung over the face and the figure seemed to almost be swimming in the corresponding habit. The legs and arms of the armor were bunched fruitlessly around the much shorter limbs and the mask hung loosely and wobbly on the tiny head.

"Why, Prince T'Challa, to what do I owe the honor of this early morning visit?" Bella asked with a smile and a mock bow.

The figure cleared their throat twice before attempting to speak in a low, deep voice, "I have come to request your presence in our capital city today."

"I suppose the King has sent for me?"

"Ummm, yes. Yes! Baba…I mean…the King has sent for you to come…today…with me…now," the figure said, failing to maintain the deep voice and slipping into the high pitched voice of a young girl.

"I see. Before we go, Prince T'Challa, you never told me you were a shape-shifter. How did you manage to turn yourself into a child?" Bella said and with invisibly fast speed, she removed the loose mask from the face of her visitor. A little brown, dimpled face covered in a head of short braids appeared.

"Are you Princess Shuri?" Bella asked.

"You've heard of me?"

"Yes. The General warned me you might visit and she gave me strict instructions on what to do."

The girl began to pull off the Panther habit, or rather, step out of the Panther habit. She looked at Bella with a wrinkled nose.

"What did she tell you to do? Tell on me? Call my brother? Make Okoye come fetch me?"

"No. She told me to eat you," Bella said, laughing as Shuri's face momentarily exchanged stubborn defiance for awe.

"She wouldn't! You wouldn't!"

"Well, she did tell me that, but no, I would not. You do not look very delicious," Bella said, wrinkling her nose. "You, however, are not supposed to be here, are you? How did you get here?"

Shuri flung herself onto the ground, leaning on her elbows to support herself, obviously intending to stay for awhile. Bella sat on the damp grass a few feet away and turned towards her tiny visitor.

"This is my twelfth try," she said, pursing her eyebrows together. "I finally managed it. I disabled the palace and the city security systems so no one could tell I left. Then, I took one of my brother's spare Panthers that I'm trying to upgrade. It makes me undetectable to our security system, in case they discover the shields are down and turn them back on. I had to walk most of the night to get here and then you weren't even here. Why not? Where did you go?"

"Hunting."

"Ooooo! What did you hunt? Did you eat somebody?" Shuri asked, lighting up with her excitement.

"Yes!" Bella said, feigning enthusiasm to match her new friend's. "I drank two antelope and a small gazelle."

Shuri rolled her eyes. "That's not exciting. Anyone can catch an antelope. I'll bet even Baba could and he moves as fast as a tortoise."

"Well, sorry to disappoint you," Bella responded with a laugh.

"Iko sawa. How did you know I was here?"

"I can hear you and smell you," Bella said.

Shuri sniffed herself. "I can't smell anything," she said. "Besides, I had a bath yesterday."

"I can smell that too. You still smell like soap and Vaseline."

Shuri thought about this for a moment, then jumped to her feet again. "Uko tayari?"

"Excuse me?"

"You are coming home with me."

"I am?"

"Yes. I told Baba that I wanted a pet. You are much more interesting than a cat or a monkey. I can keep you in my room and catch you food and make sure you have baths and have your hair brushed and I'll make clothes for you and…"

"Shuri, I am not a pet."

"You could be! And I'd be the only mtoto in the Kingdom with a pet zimwi! Safi kabisa!"

"I think I prefer to bathe and dress myself, thank you."

"But you can help me in my lab. I am coming up with a new kind of flame-thrower and we could see if it works on you and then we could test out my new vibranium armor design to see if you can penetrate it with your teeth and…and…then…."

Bella's eyes grew wide and she shook her head quickly. Before she could reply, a beeping sound came out of the Panther mask on the ground. Shuri stuck out her tongue at it.

"Is that someone trying to find you?" Bella asked.

"Yes."

"You should answer it."

"Fine," she said and picked it up off the ground and pushed a button. Bella could hear T'Challa's voice through a speaker within, slightly panicked.

"Shuri, where are you? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine."

"You didn't answer me. Where are you?"

Shuri rolled her eyes again and cut off the communication with a flip of a button. The mask immediately beeped again. Bella grabbed the mask from her Shuri let out a flurry of Swahili words under her breath that Bella was glad she could not interpret. Bella pushed buttons until she heard T'Challa speak again.

"Shuri?"

"Hi. This is Bella. Shuri's trying to kidnap me. Don't worry, I'm safe, but if you don't come soon, she may decide to hold me for ransom."

T'Challa's relieved laugh floated through the speaker. "Thanks. We'll be there as soon as we can."

"Traitor," Shuri said as soon as Bella returned the mask to her.

"Runaway," Bella retorted. Shuri crossed her arms over her chest and stared at Bella. She pursed her lips and attempted to look menacing. However, her thin, short frame, button nose, and three missing teeth all diminished her capacity to intimidate.

"You do know that if we are going to have a staring contest, that I will win, right? I don't actually need to blink," Bella said.

"Prove it," Shuri said, squinting her watering eyes and forcing them to open again with her fingers.

Bella sat as motionless as a statue until Shuri gave up and stomped her foot. The sun broke over the canopy of the trees, illuminating Bella's exposed skin and Shuri immediately forgot about the staring contest.

"Wow! That is so cool! I feel like it doesn't even follow any of the laws of science and that makes it even better!" she said and ran her fingers up the cold, hard skin of Bella's arm, delighting in the way the light refracted off of her. "Is the body suit working?"

"Yes. Thank you. That was a really great idea," Bella said.

Shuri suddenly pulled out a tiny magnifying glass and notebook from her pocket and began to scribble notes in it. She then proceeded to pull out some kind of scanning device and ran that over Bella's arm.

"What are you doing?" Bella asked.

"Testing the composition of your skin…I wonder if I could design some kind of sunscreen for you."

"You know I can't get sunburned. I mean, I can't even tan."

"Hapana, not that kind of sunscreen. I mean a sunscreen to keep you from reflecting light. Like an anti-sparkle spray…hah! That sounds funny! Maybe it could be a glitter inhibitor? Tee hee hee. Glisten prevention?" And here Shuri fell to the ground and began to roll on the grass in laughter. "A de-shimmerizer? I'll keep working on a name. Theoretically, it could work," she said, wiping away a tear and restoring her composure.

"Right," Bella replied. "I hear a car. I think my rescuers have come."

oooooooooooooooo

Translations and Notes

Shuri is two years older in this timeline than the movie timeline…which really won't be followed at all. Bella is 19.

Chai: centuries of exchange between the Arab peninsula, India, and East Africa has influenced cuisine. Chai is a hot tea spiced with ginger, cardamon, cinnamon, cloves, and pepper made with a high proportion of milk. I am making the assumption here that even though Wakanda has maintained their autonomy and cultural identity, they still engage in exchanges of goods, ideas, and information with surrounding regions. Thus, there are some traditions that will be shared with surrounding countries. This point can be argued, but since I didn't feel like creating an entirely different type of cuisine, I will simply borrow.

Mama W'Kabi: It's common in parts of East Africa to refer to adults by Mama or Baba and the first name of one of their children. In this case, it means, mother of W'Kabi.

Shamba: garden where food is grown

Wewe: You

Ni kweli: It's true

Zimwi/Mazimwi: for the purposes of this story, vampire. Singular should be Zimwi and plural Mazimwi. I'll correct it as I go forward and may go back and fix the previous chapters at some point. I apologize for my lousy Kiswahili. Ninasema kiswahili kibaya sana. Ninasema kama kizungu. Nisamehe.

bwana, ninaenda saa hii: Sir, I am leaving right now.

Asante: Thanks

Lake Nyanza: Local name for Lake Victoria. Yes, it had a name long before it was "discovered" by European explorers (led there by indigenous guides).

Iko sawa: It's ok.

Uko tayari?: Are you ready?

Mtoto: child

Safi kabisa!: that's cool.

Hapana: no