I'm finally free from summer school...for about two weeks but still.

Also, we've reached 100,000 words!

Year Two: Almost Unnoticed

A Little Over a Year Ago - Wakanda's Council Room

Iqadi's always had the final say in her choice for a suitor, but that didn't mean anybody else had an opinion. Aside from not understanding the idea of romantic love, she knew everyone's thoughts. Not knowing whose to prioritize made her selection process more difficult than it should be. At the end of the day, she chose her opinion which is the foundation of all the others. Everyone else had their reactions, some confused and others thrilled.

One of the critiques she tried to ignore was from Wakanda's Council. As the elder representatives from each tribe, they were the speakers for their people. (Supposedly.) But, as in politics elsewhere, self-serving biases are inevitable. Out of all her options, why pick Imanu? They wondered. After her engagement, Iqadi feared that Imanu would have a hard time adjusting like her mother. Everyone went tough on her mother because she was an outsider mutant who won young King T'Challa's heart on a whim.

She doesn't want the same treatment for Imanu, even if might have it easier being a normal human Wakandan.

Iqadi smiles courtesy as she stands before the Council. She's already had a lengthy chat about her decision.

"I say this in the most respectful way I can," Iqadi says, keeping her composure. "Get over it. It's been over three decades since my parents wed. My father married outside his selection but my mother fully assimilated into his life and culture because she saved it. Do you know why she did that? Because she saw someone who needed help, someone who lost everything and needed someone to believe in him. She was loyal to my father and to Wakanda, which is a lot more than I can say about you."

After endless years of critiquing the Panther regime, the Council is left speechless, which works since Iqadi isn't done.

"You'd better treat your queen, my mother, with the respect she deserves because if it wasn't for her being from elsewhere, you wouldn't have your king or your country. You claim to thrive on Wakanda's progressiveness but then you eat your words whenever you mention my mother. With that in mind, if I notice you giving my fiancé a hard time, I'll be back."

-o-

Present Day - Academy Courtyard - 10:39 AM

It's still the first week of second year so classes were still warming up. Nobody was on the verge of a breakdown yet. Everything was calm and collected as everyone was readjusting back to the school routine. There was a new schedule to follow and classes and professors to get used to before the school year really hits them.

"What were you up to this summer?" Daniel asks his friends around him. Currently, Angela, James, and Xavier sit nearby.

It was a bit of a surprise for them to be spending the summer apart. Before the Academy, they spent nearly every day together. They went from being a part of each other's daily routines to seeing each other a few times a week and only hearing from them. One of the biggest changes was going from Emily driving up to their houses for a day of fun to wondering when she was flying back into town. As for the others, the only time they were really in town together was for the anniversary of The Battle of New York and for a bit nearing the end of summer.

"You know what we were doing all summer," Xavier responds.

Daniel shrugs. "It seems like a reasonable question to ask."

"Did you notice Apollo and Britney never came back?" Angela asks.

"I was honestly waiting for someone to bring that up," James says.

"I wasn't," Xavier grumbles. Angela looks at her twin with sympathy.

"But four months went by fast and none of us were really in town together," Daniel reasons for Xavier's sake. "Maybe they haven't completed their plan of rewriting fate and won't come back until they have something more substantial to work with."

Xavier shrugs, not exactly believing that but going with it. "I guess…"

Angela sighs. "Don't worry. We'll be so busy that another year will fly by and we won't notice. We're already oddly adjusting to never really seeing each other that often."

"That's morbid," James says.

"It's true."

"Doesn't make it less morbid."

Merida walks up to her friends and puts her bag down on the ground before taking a seat with them. She gets the hint that this was a conversation she didn't want to be in, but she'll stay.

Daniel looks up from his phone, perked up with an idea. "Norse mythology says that Asgardian communication between realms can be done by ravens. We just have to send one."

"And where would we find a raven?" Angela asks, sort of sarcastically. As if they were going to get a raven and somehow send it to Asgard. They're good and resourceful kids, but not at that level.

Merida shrugs. "We're in New Jersey. We'll find someone."

"Oh, look, there's a raven," James points out.

They turn to see a bird swimming in the courtyard's pond. It takes them a moment to think about the bird before giving James a strange face. That bird wasn't a raven or even a duck. What's more alarming is how confident James was in his observation.

" … that's a goose," Daniel says.

"Close enough," James states.

"I'm not touching it."

"Me neither," Merida says.

"Wait, we're serious about the goose?" Angela questions. She should've known better.

"I'll handle the goose," Xavier states.

Everyone watches him as he gets up. Nobody questions him as he grabs his bag before heading inside the building. They wouldn't have been surprised if Xavier went after that goose in the pond. Maybe he will think of a strategy and execute it later. Or maybe he got tired of this conversation but they'd be lying if they said they didn't want to watch Xavier try and catch a goose.

"Oh, Angela," Merida says, "I just got my transcript for my work study. You should give that to the academic office before the end of the day or else you will be stuck with freshies in the office who want to switch their classes or cry for their mommies."

Angela nods, glancing at the time on her phone. "I have class soon, so I'll just handle that now. Was it emailed?"

"Yup. The file is locked but the password is your student number."

"Thank you." Angela gets up, kissing James quickly before waving goodbye to the others.

"Did I waste four months?" James questions, watching his girlfriend disappear into one of the Academy buildings.

"Probably," Merida says, scrolling through her phone. "What did you do once you left the godawful sanctuary that is this campus?"

James sits back and thinks. The fact that he's thinking should be an answer enough. He visited Angela for a bit in Washington and then came home. He followed his parents around like a mindless child (that he is). He was tethered to their hips for so long that every occasion spent with them all blurred together. There was a time that he and Emily went to a few rich glitzy parties and got blackout drunk after. Ironic enough, that was probably the highlight of his summer and he doesn't remember much of it.

-o-

Operations' Lecture Room - 11:15 AM

Angela stands outside of her classroom, waiting for the previous class to end. She looks up from her phone and sees Orchid and Brody heading her way. Angela smiles at them once they notice her and she slips her phone in her pocket. Angela can't help but think that they're getting close. She knows that they've hooked up during first year and now it seems like the summer a whole world apart did nothing to them. She'd have to ask Xavier about it but knowing him, she's better off asking Orchid. Bless that girl's bluntness.

"Angela!" Orchid exclaims before hugging her, rocking her back and forth. She missed hearing that perky accent. "Look at how beautiful you are. Where's Xavier?"

"He went to go get a goose," Angela responds. Wow, that sounds dumb.

"Alright," Orchid states. It's probably the most normal thing she's ever heard. Must be an everyday thing for her on the farm.

"Nice," Brody adds before looking at Orchid. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Orchid puts her hands on her hips, turning around to smirk at Brody. "Depends … are you wondering how City Boy's going to catch a goose?"

"Actually, I wanted to watch you catch a goose."

"You're so sweet." Orchid playfully punches his bicep.

"But watching Xavier would be entertaining."

"Let's go!"

Angela shrugs to herself as she watches them run off.

-o-

Just Outside the Academy - 11:22 AM

Sitting on a bench outside the Academy's gates, Xavier is hunched forwards. His hands are covered his mouth as he looks forwards. Along the marshy grass wet from the rain were a gaggle of geese, that he just learned was the proper term from looking up how to capture one (and getting no useful results). What is he even doing here? He should be in class but he's looking at a gaggle of geese hoping that one can somehow get to Asgard and tell his best friend and high school sweetheart that he misses them. What is he without them? He's not exactly sure, as of now, but the answer seems to be someone lurking over a gaggle of geese.

Would his friends do this for him? Probably not. Was sitting here and looking like a psycho worth getting attacked by a goose that won't get to Asgard? Maybe. He's still thinking over the numbers. If the odds are in his favour, maybe he'll give it a shot.

"Hi, bestie."

Xavier turns around and sees Orchid smiling wildly at him, rocking on her feet and Brody beside him. He isn't sure what to say because there are no proper words to describe what he's doing. I'm trying to contact my friends in Asgard and we don't want to contact some sketchy man for a raven so we decided on a goose. And by we, I mean me because nobody was willing to get a goose and I'm not even that determined. I was about to bail. Those were too many words to use to explain a growing mental breakdown.

"What happened during your summer that led you to this point?" Brody asks, taking a seat next to him on the bench as Orchid remains standing behind them. The three of them look at the gaggle of geese, pondering.

"Good question," Xavier responds. "I don't remember coming here."

"Your sister said you were going to get a goose."

Thanks, Angela, thanks. "Oh, well I can explain -"

"No need."

"Really?" Bless Australia's weird animal collection.

Brody laughs a little. "I'm kidding, please explain."

Xavier hoped this would never happen. "Uh, Daniel said that maybe we can use a goose to try and call our friends."

At that moment, Xavier realized how stupid that sounded. In front of the others, it barely sounded normal. For Brody, he didn't look fazed.

"Cool," he states. "So what are you going to get this goose to say? Or are you going to tie a note around it's neck with a ribbon?"

Xavier sighs. "I didn't get that far with planning."

To their surprise, Orchid hasn't said anything. They both turn around and notice that she isn't standing there anymore. When did she move? When they turn back around, they see Orchid standing right in front of them with a calm goose in her arms. She smiles at the two boys who look confused and horrified. How did that go unnoticed? But now they're disappointed they missed it.

"So, where do you want this?" Orchid asks, rocking the bird in her arms.

As a Canadian whose university is collectively scared of geese, I was entertained by this chapter.

I'm not joking, geese live at my university. They cause traffic jams and all that good stuff. The campus store has shirts that say something like, 'stay away from the geese.' There was one year where our equivalent of the Academy courtyard was blocked off because there were signs that said, 'beware of angry geese' and nobody wanted to deal with that. There's even a news article of a student being attacked by a goose. When a goose flew into a building, they called campus security to deal with it.