Chapter 14: A women's work

It seemed as If Wakanda was holding its breath as their unknown invaders were marched into the throne room. Tension, fear and a thousand questions rang in their heads.

However, Shuri only had one thought at the moment.

Her husband was dropped dead sexy and if she could, she'd attack him right now.

He strode into the throne room as if he owned the place. His confidence overthrew the room. He wore an elegant and yet huge serpent headdress. In his hand was a golden spear. On his shoulders were gold shoulder pads. He wore a thick gold necklace around his neck and on his arms were thick armbands. Behind him a maroon and turquoise cape. He wore a gold and turquoise belt that lay between his oh-so-strong thighs. Thighs that could crack a walnut Or heads.

Shuri took in a deep breath instead of moaning in sexual frustration. This was a formal, political meeting. It was not time for her to ogle her husband.

Behind him stood Attuma, Namora, and Eleuia. That was it.

Her brother stood to speak but her husband beat him to it.

"Wakanda, I have many names. My people call me Ajaw K'uk'ulkan. But my enemies call me Namor. I ask you today what shall we be? Allies or enemies?"

"I am king T'challa of Wakanda. What is your purpose and we may find out." her brother demanded.

"My only purpose is to protect my people of Talokan. That is it. however, I find that hard when the surface world is sticking its nose where it doesn't belong as it always does. However, someone made it worse by letting the entire world know of their existence. Your kingdom is amazing. A protected land where no one ever has to leave. My mother would tell me stories of your people. What reason do you have to reveal your secret to the world? Because of your actions, you have compromised my people."

"how could we compromise someone we didn't know existed? For a long time, we thought we were the only ones with access to vibranium and yet here you are."

Her husband's lips twitched as if he wanted to laugh but he held himself back.

"you are correct. How could you have known about my people, when we kept ourselves hidden? But we kept ourselves hidden for good reason. The surface world has nothing good. Their greed leads them. Their greed got one of my people killed. I do not care what you as a kingdom do. But I want my people's existence to stay quiet. If the surface world keeps searching for vibranium near talokan, I will have to take defensive measures."

" like you did with the C.I. A.?" T'challa questioned.

"yes." Her husband admitted without shame.

A chair was offered to him and his entourage, and they sat. Her husband handed his spear to Namora.

"and do you know why I killed them King T'challa? I killed them because they had a vibranium detector. It allowed them to find vibranium under my domain. I could not allow that to happen."

The news of a vibranium detector made the council shift uneasily.

"a vibranium detector…" T'challa asked, "Do you have any information about it?"

" I do. It was created by an American scientist. I do not know who or where they are. But they created it. we brought it with us if you want to see it?"

" Yes but before that we would like to know more about you and your people. You say you want to protect your people but what does that have to do with Wakanda?"

" it has everything to do with it." Her husband said angrily.

" you King Tchalla decided to expose vibranium! Vibranium! To the outside world! And what did it cost you? And not only you but the environment around you?! Have you not noticed the strange disappearance of certain sea creatures? Or the loss of certain resources?"

Everyone was silent as the throne shook with his questions.

Wakanda never had to worry about food shortages or lack of resources however recently they had noticed a few losses around their outreach centers. Certain fishes the river tribe normally caught regularly were now less common. Certain minerals they pulled from the sea were in short supply as well. But Wakanda in all its wealth and glory did not want to admit when it had a problem on its hands.

To their surprise, M'Baku spoke up.

" The Jabari tribe uses a special plant that is harvested from the sea. we have had a shortage of it recently. The shortage didn't start until we revealed our existence.."

"do you see what you have done?" Namor questioned.

"you are blaming us? how dare you." the merchant tribe accused.

Her husband clicked his tongue and said " I am not blaming Wakanda. I am, however, asking you to look a the cause and effect of what revealing vibranium to the world has done. have you not had people try to take it? attacking your outreach centers. They pollute the sea with their machines. Nothing good can come from it."

"And what about the millions of people suffering? Vibranium can help bring hope. Along with our other resources." T'challa argued.

Her husband shook his head.

"and that thinking right there will cause your downfall. because the world now knows you exist and has knowledge of your power, they will forever seek you out. They may play nice now but I assure you they will turn on you eventually."

One of the council began to point out why did it matter to namor at all.

Two hours later., Shuri stood and walked out of the throne room with Ayo following her.

"Princess?" Ayo called.

Shuri turned to her.

"I am fine Ayo. I just need to gather some things. I fear we may be in the throne room for a few more hours. Please go back to the king. I will be back in about 20 minutes."

….

Twenty minutes later, Shuri returned to find everyone in a heated argument. Her brother and her husband were going back and forth yet again. it was to the point that he had stood from his throne. This, of course, had the Dora ready to attack, their spears drawn. Attuma and Namora stood ready to defend their king.

Shuri sighed and ignored the oncoming conflict. Instead, she walked past the Dora and stood by her husband's side.

He turned and looked at her with curiosity. His eyes spoke multiple emotions. Anger, frustration, and most of all longing. Longing for her.

Shuri stood to her full height, ignoring all the spears pointed in her husband's direction.

"Kukulkan…" she addressed him with a feminine softness in her voice. It was pleading and yet hopeful. " I apologize for our rudeness, would you and your people like something to drink?"

She then allowed the floating tray, to hover towards her husband. On it were four glasses. A pitcher of clean and clear water sat on it.

With steady hands, Shuri began to pour water for them. She was quick to give her husband his, their fingertips brushing against each other. She then dispersed the water to the others.

"And for your guard. I have a prototype invention I would like to offer. If it pleases you?"

Her husband motioned his people to put down their spears. He then drank the glass of water she offered without breaking eye contact.

Once the water was gone, he sat down motioning for Atuma and namora to do the same.

"A prototype you say? what does it do?"

"instead of the mask on their face to breathe, I have somewhat of a necklace that goes around their gills."

"show me" he demanded.

By now, the arguing had stopped and everyone looked on as Shuri pulled out three thick golden necklaces.

All three talokanians looked to their king before they moved.

He nodded with approval.

Shuri placed the necklaces on them and then asked them to take off their mask.

They did so and gasped.

They could breathe.

Atuma said something in their native tongue, bowing in appreciation towards Shuri.

"amazing…" Her husband exclaimed. " you young lady are talented. What is your name?"

Shuri smiled.

"My name is Princess Shuri of Wakanda. And now that we have all calmed down, can we move on?" she asked in a stern voice as she gave her brother a placating look. "Kukulkan, please tell us what you desire. We obviously cannot agree on how we should handle the outside world but one thing we can agree on is that we both want to protect our people correct?"

Shuri then looked back to her brother to take over. And instead of going to sit next to her mother, she chose to stand between Talokan and Wakanda.

Her brother looked at her with surprise and pride before he turned his attention to her husband.

"my sister is right. Because we both are strong kingdoms with access to vibranium, we have to protect it at all costs. At the end of the day, we just want to protect our people. I believe we can agree with that. Kukulkan, will Talokan be interested in becoming allies?"

"I think we can agree to that."

"very well." T'challa nodded. " let us meet again in two days. We can confer with our elders and create a treaty."

"very well. I look forward to it. I will have my guards leave the vibranium detector and we will also discuss what to do with the one who created it at a later time." her husband responded.

With that said, the Dora Milaje escorted him out.

Shuri wanted to cry.

As soon as he was gone, the merchant tribe elder spoke.

"I must say, Princess Shuri, that was a commendable way to us back on track. But I must ask how and when did you create this invention and can you trust our tentative ally with this?"

Shuri stood to her full height once again. Tapping into all her training.

"Today we just found out that another nation exists. A nation that depends on vibranium just as much as we do. Isn't it in our best interest to come together? One thing Kukulkan got right was that the outside world will continue to come after us. they have already tried to rob one of our outreach centers. i think It would give both nations peace of mind to know an ally just as strong as themselves are in their corner."

"that is a very wise approach princess." Another elder complimented.

Shuri nodded and looked toward her brother.

"Are we all done?"

"yes. I will have the Dora bring the detector to your lab."

"very well brother. Thank you. I am going to go rest. Goodnight everyone."

Shuri's dreams were filled with the ocean but this time. it was red with blood.