"Who carries that kind of cash on them?" Carol asked, amazed, as all the adults watched as Peter, Ned and Shuri vanished down the hall – with a member of the royal guard following unobtrusively.

Tony smirked, but it was Pepper who answered – also looking smug, despite the fact that Peter's big brown eyes had just neatly divested her of a large stack of bills that she'd just so happened to have brought along with them.

"T'Challa told me this morning of the arrangement he'd decided on. I told Tony so he could make sure we had some cash to spend, if we found something we might like."

"You didn't tell Peter?" T'Challa asked, curiously.

"He could have asked Shuri," Tony pointed out. "It'll teach him to use his resources, better, next time."

"Yeah," Natasha said, amused. "Mom and dad… the natural cash resource of all kids who need gas money and fast food funds."

Stark shrugged, looking pleased – although he'd given over a lot more than he'd planned to. Peter had Ned to think about, too, after all.

"Stark ATM, at his service."

"You're just going to turn him loose in this place?" Carol asked. "You're not worried he'll find some trouble to get himself into?"

"T'Challa has a detail on his sister," Stark replied, understanding the concern behind the question. "Peter will almost certainly stay with Shuri – to make sure she doesn't get into any trouble – and Ned will stay by Peter, for the same reason. If anything happens, they'll be fine. I don't see them getting into too much trouble, though."

"And it'll be good for him to spend time with people his own age, exclusively," Pepper added.

"How much money did he get from you?" Natasha asked, curiously.

If he hadn't gotten enough, she could always have Stephen portal her back home – or to someplace with an ATM and slip him a few hundred dollars. She was thinking that she might have to, anyway, if she found something she really wanted.

"I gave him a thousand," Pepper replied.

"He got about eight-hundred from me," Tony added.

"Then he's set," Steve said, shaking his head. It was a good thing Peter was so good-natured, because it would be very easy for the boy to become spoiled with Tony for father and Pepper for mother. He looked at Carol. "Shall we go see what they have to look at?"

Danvers nodded, looking at the others.

"Coming?"

"I promised myself in Budapest a long time ago that I'd never go to another market with Steve…" Natasha said, smirking. "And I'm not going to try to keep up with Tony's fervent pace when he tries to find something new and different – and then does and spends an hour trying to figure out what it does and how he can make it more efficient." She took Strange's hand in her own. "Call when you get ready to eat and we'll meet you guys for lunch. Or dinner."

"Sounds like a plan."

They all walked off, leaving Tony and Pepper standing with T'Challa and Okoye.

"Well?" Tony asked.

"It is almost ready. We will see what Peter thinks of it – after the festival and celebration is completed."

Pepper smiled, hooking her arm through Tony's.

"Are you going to go look through the displays?" she asked the young king.

"I have a few things I must see to, first, he said. "But then I will come accompany you, if you are willing to deal with the crowds that will follow us."

She rolled her eyes, amused.

"Look who I married," Pepper pointed out. "I'm used to crowds of gawkers."

Tony looked smug.

"True." He kissed her cheek, though. "I love you."

T'Challa smiled at the display.

"I will come find you, in a few hours. Go, enjoy yourselves."

"Thank you."

OOOOOOOO

They stopped at the entrance to the palace, both boys looking around with interest.

"Do we do the city?" Peter asked his friends. "Or see what's going on out on the plains?"

"The plains," Shuri said, hopefully. "I have been watching the shopkeepers and merchants set up in the city for the last week. There will be more entertainment out on the plains."

Ned shrugged.

"Either is fine with me."

"Let's go to the plain, then."

The princess smiled, gratefully, to her companions.

"We have conveyances arranged for any who are moving from one venue to the other – or do not want to make the long walk to the plain for one reason or another."

"Lead on," Peter told her. He pulled the wad of bills that he'd gotten from Pepper and handed Ned a few hundreds. "If you find something your mom would like, you can tell her that you had me commission it when I was here, last. That way she doesn't know."

"Yeah, I will." Ned pocketed the money, knowing that Peter would roll his eyes if he offered to pay him back – but that he'd try to, anyway. "Maybe we'll find something for MJ, too."

She would probably figure out that it wasn't a past commission – she knew about Wakanda and Stephen's portals, after all – but it would make up for her not getting to come with them. Even if she didn't know she was being excluded.

"There will be plenty to look through," Shuri assured them. "Come."

She led the way to the left side of the palace compound and then down to the first street. Behind her were a few guards, but the three teens were able to ignore them as they got into a small cart at was designed to look like it was drawn by a team of oxen, but really was an electric vehicle with a hologram surrounding it.

A very good one, in fact.

They were joined by a young woman with a small girl in her arms, and Shuri smiled, cheerfully, as she moved to allow her a place to sit. The little girl turned on her mother's lap as they started moving, watching the two boys with interest. Peter was sure she'd never seen someone as pale as he was, before, after all, and he wasn't at all shy with children. He struck up a conversation with the woman, asking about what she was most looking forward to seeing in the festival, and what kind of markets they should go look through, first.

The woman shyly responded. She didn't know Peter and Ned, of course, but there was no doubt that she recognized Shuri – and the two royal guards who had joined them discretely in the cart, as well. She mentioned that her husband and his parents were hosting some members of their tribe and that they had a stall set up with ceremonial clothing from her people, made of silk and leathers. Shuri asked what kind, trying to draw her out of her nervousness (she was a princess and very much used to that reaction, of course) and with Ned's cheerful countenance to add to Shuri's polite conversation, it was no real surprise that by the time they reached the edge of the markets on the plain, the little girl was asleep in Peter's arms, and the three had been invited to come to her family's stall for their afternoon meal.

As ranking member of their group, it was Shuri who thanked her for the invitation as they all got out of the cart and Peter handed the still sleeping child over to her mother. They had many places to visit, the princess told her, but they would at least come by, later, to look at their wares – even if they didn't have time to take her up on the offer.

"Your people are amazing, Shuri," Ned said, as the young woman went one direction, and they headed another. Peter had seen some woolen shirts that reminded him of the Jabari tribe that he'd visited, and he wanted to see if he'd get lucky and actually find someone he knew. "Back home you don't invite strangers you meet on the subway to dinner. It's a good way to find yourself in the evening news."

"Or on 60 Minutes, or something," Peter added.

Since she didn't have a clue what that was, Shuri smiled.

"Do not be surprised if we get many such invitations, today," she told the two boys as they walked. "If we were of a mind to, we could eat our way through this entire festival."

Considering how good everything smelled? Peter smirked, nudging Ned with his elbow.

"We could try…" he said, slyly.

"And someone would have to load us into a wheelbarrow and haul us back to the palace from wherever we dropped."

True.