24. Reverence

"Queen Shuri!" was their ebullient cry. The children swam around her in a circle. Their eyes were bright with wide smiles.

Shuri blinked in surprise but returned their greetings. Some of their little hands touched the shoulder of her water suit or held her hand for a few minutes before another child fought for their turn. The scene was so jovial.

"We know all about the great Shuri. The only equal to our K'uk'ulkan. Smart and beautiful! Long live Queen Shuri!" was the watery chant her beads translated.

What was more surprising? That they knew of her or that they thought highly of her? They couldn't have been aware of the handmaiden killed in her retrieval. As far as they seemed to be concerned, she was a goddess among them.

M'Baku smiled. Her inventors had trouble creating a water suit that could carry his sheer weight and brawn comfortably. Only Herself, M'Baku, and two Dora Milaje were able to make the Talokan trip. Namor had only acquiesced with requiring Shuri to attend as well. Otherwise, she wouldn't have come. Beautiful underwater kingdom be damned. She couldn't stand their ruler. But she could stomach him for the greater good. And his people carried none of that burden in her eyes.

"Calm yourself, children," Namor said, exasperatedly but with no anger in his gaze or voice.

The children formed the Talokanil salute, and one was bold enough to kiss Namor's cheek before they swam away, giggling.

Precious children, Shuri thought. It was easy to see the mutual love between the citizens and Namor. The ruthless killer. Man who had altered her life significantly.

People weren't black and white. They had as much complexity as quantum physics. But it was hard to wrap her head around a man filled with so much wrath and love.

"You told them of me?" she asked Namor.

"And forgot me! King M'Baku ... lord of Jabariland. Ruler of Wakanda!" M'Baku screamed from behind them, laughing. He didn't move as nimbly as Shuri or Namor, but he was keeping up with them well enough.

Namor only sped up, not giving him the dignity of ignoring him fully.

"Princess, I only told the truth. That you were magnificent. My true equal." He turned his head, swimming ahead. "Come, our council room isn't much further."

Shuri shook her head. A small smile fought through her resolve, and she quickly followed behind him.

25. Connection

"If Things Had Been Different."

They were drawn to each other. However, Queen Ramonda had made it very clear she was repulsed and bothered by Namor, but it didn't stop Shuri from seeking him out.

There was just something fascinating about him. She had deciphered that just from attending one of the Wakandan meetings. Namor had made his displeasure known about vibraninum and Wakanda compromising his kingdom. Shuri had only been there to give a progress report on manufacturing her kimoyo beads. Every Wakandan should have access to healing energy was her pitch. It would lessen the strain on their hospitals.

But Shuri had started attending even after her presentation was successfully funded (because hello, her mama had the final say; of course, everyone knew it was a sound investment).

Namor himself had been intrigued as well just from hearing Shuri speak in the meetings. He had seen her smile. Wondered how she'd look draped in jade jewelry.

It was only a few weeks before he began making random visits to the Wakandan shoreline. He had learned, not sent Attuma or Namora to scope her out, that she liked long walks on the beach at night. It made her logical brain creative and peaceful she had later told him.

When he would emerge from the water, they'd simply talk. Sometimes, he walked beside her, not caring about the sand that dusted his robe.

Every time she smiled, he returned it.

Sometime after, he had taken her underwater to Talokan. And she laughed and gawked with glee.

Dancing underwater was very easy. There was always a current or wave to help the process.

When Namor took her hand and twirled her, Shuri felt light as air.

On one of his routine visits to the surface world, Shuri promptly grabbed his hand and sneaked him to her room. Well, she had told the Dora not to bother her when they saw her shuffle him upstairs.

"You need to wear civilian clothes. Cover those wings. Wear this hat!" she ordered him, pulling out items from her backpack.

"Why?" Namor had asked while putting on the clothes. The pants were baggy joggers, but they still felt constricting. Anything that covered his wings did.

"For a Wakandan dance party, of course."

Later, he and Shuri, in a streetwear disguise with a wig, danced to afro beats all night.

"I've learned how to slip away," she told him with a wide smile, drawing close to his ear. Then, she broke into dance again.

The bead of sweat down her face was delicious. Salty, when Namor licked it.

It was night when he emerged from the shoreline. His eyes were tired he knew.

She saw him from a distance and sprinted to him. A smile on her face. In her hands some gadget she had been fiddling with.

"Namor! I haven't seen you in a while." She sat on the sand and crossed her legs.

"I know, princess. But my people need me," Namor said, sitting with her. But his mind was elsewhere. "The spawn of those colonizers keep encroaching upon us. Every time, a new invention or plan to bend us to their will. Every day, a new kisin* rears his head." He cursed.

"Oh ... Of course, I understand." Shuri stumbled over her words. "I just wondered if you were hurt or had gone to war or something."

His voice had a sharp tone. "Talokan doesn't go to war. We only protect what is already ours."

Shuri winced. She felt like she had misspoken.

But Namor's annoyance had disappeared quickly. "Still, princess, I've missed you."

It had been almost four months before he reappeared almost angrily. So urgent that it was only evening and not nighttime on the beach.

He held a shell phone in his hand.

"Princess, I've brought an upgraded model of our shell."

She had blinked.

"What why? What was wrong with the other one?"

"I didn't receive your calls," he told her.

Shuri had to think for a moment.

"Because I didn't make any..." she let her voice drift off.

There was a heavy silence the type to crush someone's lungs.

Namor's brow furrowed. "Have I offended you? Do you tire of me so easily?" The words were bitter, but she detected the hurt underneath it, anyway.

"I, I know you're busy with ruling." She gestured with her hands. "Your people. Politics."

"For you, I would've dropped everything."

Shuri's mouth opened and then it closed. Then, she felt deliriously giddy like when she read shoujo manga or watched Nigerian soap operas. Lighthearted glee pumped into her veins.

"I promise I'll call you more. Princess' swear." She made the Wakandan salute.

"Tonight," he said.

"Tonight I'm busy. Tomorrow ... Join me." For what she didn't supply. Maybe breakfast?

"I say this truthfully. Princess, I enjoy your company. Living as long as I've, you don't waste time with anyone you don't want to be around."

It was much longer before they ventured passed brushes of the hand and heated gazes. On the beach, they fondled each other. She gripped his back. He pulled her closer.

"Princess, he murmured against her mouth. For a moment his finger traced her jawline lovingly. Her brown eyes were beautiful. He wanted to gently kiss those too.

It was with shock that she pushed him away in horror. Already muttering to herself something about propriety and Queen Ramonda's disapproval. But it was as if it went from one of Namor's pointed ears to the other.

"Namor," she gasped. "I... I'm a princess!" She realized her rumpled form. Dress wrinkled and out of its ironed pristine form. Her own lipstick faded from her lips colored the corner of his mouth. Thankfully, he had avoided her twistout, but knowing him he would want to pull her hair at some point.

His smile rivaled a shark's. "Oh yes, but you could be a queen! Mine to be exact."

He pulled her back and she relented. And he kissed her again. And again. And again under the night sky.

kisin* - devil (searched the mayan word for devil; cannot vouch for accuracy)

there is a line in a poem i read "deseo besar suavemente tus ojos - florentine ll. (i want to gently kiss your eyes)" that i love.