SHADOW OF DEATH
Chapter 16: Wageni
It was not until the dimming sun cast golden shadows of the many columns across the floor of the council chamber that the King of Wakanda convened with his wageni. T'Chaka sat in his intricately carved chair in the center of a circle of other fine wooden seats used by his elders. The General, the Priest, the Prince, and the Princess rose in greeting as T'Chaka entered the room. A few quiet whispers of greetings accompanied their salutes as T'Chaka motioned for them to be seated. Two chairs remained empty across from T'Chaka and all eyes turned towards the sound of the heavy doors into the council chamber opening.
Two Dora Milaje held the doors open for the four King's Guards to enter. In between the uniformed, armed guards, the two wageni followed. The American woman trailed after the Asgardian. Her face showed red traces of a lengthy time of tears, though she still walked with her shoulders erect and her head high. She intentionally failed to keep in step with her companion and her brown eyes sought any object other than the dark-haired, alien Prince.
The Asgardian paid no heed to his companion's presence or distress. Now dressed in formal Asgardian attire, he projected confident authority and a haughty determination through his bearing and his expression. He swept up to his full height when he caught the eyes of the room's inhabitants and he met their eyes with a glower in his own.
T'Chaka stood and addressed the gathering, calling all eyes to himself."Prince Loki of Asgard, Dr. Jane Foster of the U.S.A., you are welcome to Wakanda," he began in his rough, solemn voice. In the silence of the echoing chamber, he had no need to raise his voice. Before he could continue, T'Chaka found himself interrupted by Shuri's muffled giggle followed by a resounding purr.
"Wacha! Usicheki, dada. Stop laughing, sister," T'Challa whispered in his sister's ear.
"Look! Paka," she said and pointed to where an orange cat delicately pranced in the steps of the Asgardian prince. The cat, upon reaching its intended destination, wrapped itself around the prince's ankles and released another loud purr. Loki's grim, proud expression flickered as he hissed and attempted to shoo his furry companion away with his foot. The cat only batted a paw at him in play and rolled onto its back. Not only did it remain on the prince's leather boots, but it continued to purr at him with such a self-satisfied smirk on its feline features that Shuri could not maintain her composure and fell into a fit of giggles.
General Okoye arched one eyebrow. "Prince, you have brought a pet cat to our council meeting?"
Loki gave an overly dramatic sigh of resignation and his attempts at projecting a façade of controlled arrogance slightly slipped into a more genuine expression of exasperation.
"Certainly not," he said. He gave another push of his boot against the orange belly of the cat and was rewarded with a claw penetrating the thick sole and a set of teeth clamping onto the toe of his boot. "This irritating beast is not a cat," Loki said through gritted teeth. "It has given me precious little peace since it discovered my presence in the SHIELD headquarters some months back. I wish for its presence no more than you."
"You failed to rid yourself of a cat?" Okoye said with marked condescension in her voice.
"As I said, it is not a cat. This is a Flerkin, a dangerous beast not of Midgard. If it chose to attack, none present here, myself included, could hope to save us from its wrath."
"You are afraid of a cat?"
"For the love of Valhalla! Have you heard nothing I have just said?" Loki said, running both his hands through his dark hair and glaring at the orange cat again.
T'Chaka decided it was time to interject. He cleared his throat.
"We are not here to discuss your…creature…. however you wish to explain it. We are here to discuss your presence in Wakanda. I trust you have rested and are ready to proceed?"
Jane met the King's eyes and nodded her head but remained silent. Loki simply crossed his arms against his chest and glowered.
"Be seated," T'Chaka said and motioned towards the two empty chairs. Jane's eyes grew momentarily wide and T'Chaka feared for a moment that she would protest sitting in such close proximity to the Asgardian, but she remained silent and sat, her eyes transfixed on the cream tiles of the floor at her feet.
Loki's attempt at seating himself with a dignified flourish was interrupted by the cat who daintily weaved itself between his feet, slightly tripping the prince, and causing him to sit in an unbalanced heap in the chair. The cat then lay itself on the floor at his feet, tail twitching, and began to lick its paws.
Okoye watched, with eyebrow still raised, as both the wageni adamantly refused to make eye contact with the other and kept their hands and feet as far from the other as possible in the small space between them. Then the General gave T'Challa such a pointed expression that the Wakandan prince had to hide his amused smile behind the embroidered sleeve of his linen shirt. T'Chaka sighed.
"You restrained my magic," Loki said scornfully, failing to wait for the King to lead their discussion. "Then imprisoned me."
"Would your father have behaved otherwise, in a similar situation?" T'Chaka responded.
Loki pursed his lips to restrain the next venomous retort that sought to exit his mouth, but then thought the better of it. "I suppose I should be groveling at your feet and thanking you for your many kindnesses upon me," Loki said and rolled his eyes. Jane's face flushed in embarrassment as she glanced at him for the first time since she entered the meeting.
"If you dislike our hospitality, then find a new host. You have your choice of homes among the kingdoms of the Earth and still you wish to enter the one kingdom that remains untouched by the work of your hands," T'Chaka responded.
"Even the homeliest of maidens remains a worthy conquest until she is first bedded," Loki responded, arrogant smirk planted firmly on his face.
Okoye hissed. "He should remain a guest in our dungeons. This disrespect is intolerable."
"Send him to stay in the bush with the other jackals," Shuri said, her own tone more amused than affronted. "His paka and mzungu can stay here."
"You may be a Prince in Asgard, but you are a guest in Wakanda. It would benefit you to remember that," T'Chaka said. Then he rose his voice to that of a command. "I will speak to our wageni alone. I will summon this meeting to reconvene tomorrow morning."
T'Challa, Shuri, Okoye, and Zuri rose and shuffled their way out of the council chamber, each giving their sovereign a questioning expression as they left. He gave them each an assured nod. Once left alone with the wageni, he gave a long-suffering sigh.
"Prince Loki Odinson, if you wish to access your magic, you must leave the borders of Wakanda. You are free to continue your research within our borders, unless I determine it endangers Wakanda or Earth. Princess Shuri will assist you in your efforts. I recommend you show her more deference than you currently are. If you cross the princess, she will make your time in Wakanda...difficult."
"This is not to be borne," Loki said with a scoff. "I insist you release my magic."
T'Chaka stared at him for a long moment, meeting Loki's forceful gaze with his own. The old king could see that beneath the walls of pride and strength there lay an expanse of fragile cracks and fissures, each ready to crumble at a breath of wind. The Asgardian sought to protect his vulnerability with his sharp tongue, as a well-used weapon.
"It is yours," T'Chaka responded, "whenever you step away from Wakanda. As King, I am tasked to protect my Kingdom and when you are residing here, you are included in that solemn office as much as the rest of the citizenry of my kingdom. No harm will befall you here."
Loki gave a haughty scoff. "As comforting as such a promise is from a mortal, I would prefer use of my own defenses. Perhaps I will simply choose to bring my armies and take this kingdom as my own."
"With the rest of Earth behind you, you would easily succeed. We could not withstand such force or numbers. Still, with such resources at your disposal, I wonder why you have not attacked us already?" T'Chaka asked, one eyebrow raised in question.
Loki didn't answer. Instead, he changed the subject. "My brother never spoke to me of his visit here," he said, still with a note of accusation in his voice. "When did he travel here?"
"It was over 450 years ago," T'Chaka responded. He watched the prince's face as the prince fell silent, inwardly counting back through the years. He caught the moment of insight and a sudden flash of a strong emotion that the prince quickly buried with a mask of apathy.
"450 years? How old are you?" Jane asked, curiosity temporarily conquering her animosity.
"Much older than that," Loki responded, still failing to look at her red-rimmed eyes.
"Wakanda has a long memory," T'Chaka said. "Back in the days of your father, we were known as the Kingdom of Shenga. I believe your grandfather also came, but those stories are now lost to us. We seek to remember and so maintain the wisdom of our ancestors, but even our collective memories are not infinite."
"He's not my father," Loki said venomously, once again startling Jane in giving him her attention.
"Mmmmm," T'Chaka responded, granting more credence to Odin's reluctance to see his son in person. "The man you refuse to call your father, in Wakanda, our ancestors called him Gulu, because he came to us from the sky and 'Gulu' means sky. Our stories tell of a powerful being who came from the sky and not from Earth. He came different times, accompanied by some of his children. Our ancestors never worshipped them and they never sought to rule. They simply came and then they went back to the sky again the same way that they came.
"His first child, Walumbe, came and brought death and disease and much grief to Wakanda. His second child, Kiwanuka, came and brought thunder and lightning and wielded a mighty hammer. Not so long ago, Kiwanuka came and was drawn to the beauty of a daughter of Wakanda. He courted her affections for a full dry season. Then Gulu called him to return. He left his beloved with child and never returned to pay dowry or claim his son. His son grew to be a mighty warrior, a man of renown and great strength, and eventually joined the Balubaale until his death in a war against a neighboring kingdom. His stories are still told and remembered."
Loki scoffed. "It was around that time that the All-Father banned travels to Midgard. Hence the restricted interactions between Midgard and Asgard until Thor's banishment two years ago."
T'Chaka hid his surprise at the venom laced within the prince's tone. He was only beginning to see that the poison in this prince's heart drew from deep roots, indeed.
"We have no name for you or stories of your visits to our kingdom. Why did you not come, then?"
"My travels were limited on your realm. I prefer cooler lands. I visited a few of the northern peoples during my youth and before the final ban on travel to Midgard," Loki responded. "I did not stay often on Asgard during the times my brother must have come."
"Until now," T'Chaka said.
"Indeed. These days I find myself compelled to travel the width and breadth of your realm, whether I find your climate accommodating or no," Loki said.
"Wageni, our fates have crossed here in Wakanda," T'Chaka said, wearied by so many cares for one day and wishing for solitude again. "If you maintain our secrets and our well-being, I swear, we will uphold yours as well. Princess Shuri will give you assistance in the morning."
Jane nodded and gave the king a small smile of appreciation. Loki maintained his silence and his haughty gaze. He turned to leave, his cape fluttering behind him as he marched from the council chamber. The orange cat trailed after, playfully pouncing after his cape with its claws.
Author's Notes:
To my lovely reviewer-thanks so much for all your faithful reviews on every chapter! You really do help keep me going! In response to your last chapter's comment, I am undecided on if Killmonger will make an appearance. I am unsure how compelling a villain he would make in this particular story manifestation. However, I'm open to suggestions. :)
FYI, in the MCU timeline, Shuri should be like 10 years old or something close to that. However, I really like Shuri and want to use a non-ten year old version of her. Thus, we will say that in this timeline, she is 16 (her age in Black Panther) so we can enjoy the wonderfulness of Shuri-Jane-Loki interactions (cause, really, that's the main reason for them to go to Wakanda, right?)
Stories of Gulu (sometimes spelled Ggulu): Kiganda mythology taken from a variety of Google searches (and then expanded upon). A good one is the book Uganda by Philip Briggs and Andrew Roberts. The Balubaale are guardians-semi-deities somewhere between the spirit world and human world that can work for good or ill for humans. Granted, Walumbe (death) is male in the Kiganda myths, we will have to pretend otherwise for that
I'm also drawing quite a bit on mythology for my "Vagrant Odin" description from the past few chapters. Actually, I've been reading through Padraic Colum's Children of Odin lately (what can I say? I rather love mythology) and it's been giving me some inspiration for some plot points I hope to expound upon more in future.
Translations:
Mgeni/wageni: stranger or visitor (singular/plural).
Hodi: roughly translates to can I come in?
Karibuni: you are welcome
Baba: father
Usiwe wasi wasi: don't be troubled
Wacha! Usicheki dada: stop! Don't laugh, sister.
Kuna paka: there's a cat