"Shuri…?"
Someone was shaking her and whispering her name, loudly. Shuri opened her eyes, confused, and saw Peter was crouched down in front of her, kneeling on the bed watching her.
"What?"
"It's time for dinner," the boy told her, still shaking her. "I'm supposed to see if you're awake."
She sat up, looking around. The sunlight that had been coming through the curtains on the single window in the room was at a different angle than it had been, making her think that it was more than just a few minutes.
"I fell asleep?"
Peter let his hand fall, and he rocked backward, sitting on his rear, now.
"Yeah. Tony said you might be jet-legged, and that we should let you sleep, but you don't want to miss dinner, do you?"
The princess stretched.
"What is jet-legged?"
The boy shrugged.
"I'm not sure. It makes you sleepy, I guess. Are you?"
"No. I am hungry, though." And still a bit tired, maybe. "What are we having?"
"Meatloaf." He grinned, looking excited, again. "I helped make it."
Peter hopped off the bed so Shuri could climb down, as well.
"Do you do much cooking?" she asked, interested, as they headed for the door.
"Sometimes. Not by myself, though. Except pop tarts and toast. You?"
Shuri shook her head, noticing that the house smelled good. The smell of something cooking – although nothing familiar.
"I have never."
She'd never even considered cooking. Meals at the palace were just delivered to the table by servants – and most meals had some kind of formality, even when it was just her parents and her brother and her eating.
"I could cook, before," Peter told her, taking her hand and guiding her into the living room where Tony and Pepper were sitting at the dining table chatting, softly. Both looked their direction when they noticed the motion. "When I lived with May she did most of the cooking, but I helped, sometimes."
Shuri already knew who May was; she'd been told by Peter during one of their late night computer conversations. She also knew about his parents, but that information was public and easily accessible when she went looking for more information on Peter's adoption by Tony Stark – and the marriage between the billionaire and his CEO.
"Sounds fun."
"Maybe you can help, sometime," Peter told her, letting her hand go when they reached the table.
"Help with what?" Tony asked, curiously.
"Cook."
The billionaire shrugged, not shooting the idea down, immediately.
"Maybe. Are you a good cook?"
The girl shook her head, taking the chair that Pepper offered her.
"I have never tried," she admitted.
"Because they don't let their princesses cook in Wakanda?" Pepper asked.
Shuri shook her head, again.
"I am a princess," she said. "There is very little I am not allowed to do."
"Well," Tony said, not at all annoyed by something that sounded pompous but he recognized wasn't intended to be. "The first thing you're going to do is try to get in touch with someone back home," he told her. "Then we'll have dinner."
She had anticipated that demand and had her personal communicator in her pocket – along with her invisibility cloak, simply because she hadn't had anywhere else to put it, conveniently, and it wasn't so large that it was uncomfortable. She nodded and pulled both devices from the pocket of her new blue jeans.
"I have never tried to reach such a distance," Shuri told him, although they were all watching. "It is more for me to contact my governess if I am out of the palace without her for some reason – or to talk to my brother."
"JARVIS can boost it," Tony said, holding his hand out, curiously. "Can I see it?"
"Of course."
She handed it over to him, her eyes excited at the thought of showing him her own creations – even if it wasn't anything more exciting than a communication device.
"What's that one?" Peter asked while Tony turned the communicator in his hands, his expression showing his interest. "Another caller?"
"It is my invisibility cloak," she said. "I use it when I do not wish to be seen."
"That's how you snuck onto the plane without being spotted?" Pepper asked.
"Yes."
"It's not big enough to be a cloak," Peter said. "Not like Harry Potter's."
"It is not really a cloak," Shuri explained. "It is just what I call it to simplify it."
"How does it work?" Peter asked, curiously.
"Wait." Tony held his hand up to keep Shuri from answering. "One thing at a time, son." He handed the device back to the little girl. "Try getting in touch with someone," he told her. "Then we can check out the other tech."
Shuri smiled at that – and the fact that really looked interested.
"All right."
OOOOOOOOO
"Wait. She is where?"
The governess wrung her hands, whether from fearful nervousness at being the bearer of such crazy news, or because she was picturing herself throttling her young charge, it didn't show.
"She is in the United States, my king. With Tony Stark."
T'Chaka frowned.
"How did she-?" he cut his own question off. How wasn't as important as where – and with his brilliant daughter, he knew whatever that particular response was, it would undoubtedly be convoluted and complicated. "You spoke with Stark?"
He didn't need to be told who Tony Stark was. Wakanda was isolated, yes, but when a man in a metal suit gets together with his friends and saves the world from an invading horde of aliens, everyone was going to hear about it. Besides, Shuri often spoke of the man – and the machine that he commanded.
"I did, majesty," she replied. "He assured me that no harm has come to her – and that he would keep her with him until we send someone to retrieve her."
"Did you speak with Shuri?"
"Yes. She is uninjured and is being fed."
T'Chaka looked at his wife, who looked as stunned as he knew he did. They had been woken by the emergency call from Shuri's governess, and while a few concerns had passed through his mind as he answered, the reality of the call was even worse than he could have imagine. True, his daughter was safe and the palace hadn't burned down, but it was insane to even consider that she had somehow managed to steal herself to someplace so far away.
"I am going to kill her."
Ramonda smiled.
"You will have to stand in a line." She shook her head. "You wanted a reason to open relations with other countries. The United States may be a good starting point."
"I was thinking the state department," he replied. "Not Tony Stark."
"The opportunity should not be ignored."
"Ture." He turned his attention back to the display where the governess was still waiting. "Inform Mr. Stark that we will be there as soon as possible. Contact my council and make the preparations that will be needed for travel for myself, my wife, and T'Challa."
"You want to bring T'Challa?" Ramonda asked once the governess had nodded and ended the call.
"If we are to end the isolation it is a good idea for him to be part of it."
"True."
She didn't disagree. She started to get up, to go wake their son and tell him what had happened, but T'Chaka shook his head, taking her arm to stop her.
"It will wait until morning," he said. "They will need to make the travel plans and can do it easier if I am not there watching."
"You are just going to go back to sleep?"
"She is with Tony Stark," T'Chaka reminded her, trying to reassure himself as well as her. "If Ironman cannot keep a ten-year-old out of trouble we might as well put her in a small room and lock her up until she is twenty."
Ramonda sighed but didn't argue. Not because he was king, of course (mother definitely overruled king in this instance) but because she knew he was right. She lay back, but she didn't go back to sleep.