AN: Happy New Year!
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Azoru smiled; it wasn't a phrase that was normally uttered by a princess, after all, and it was fun for him to see the normally dignified princess was so relaxed. The phrase wasn't one that Peter used often, either, so it was clear she'd spent enough time with Ned for him to rub off on her.
"I thought we were meeting your uncle, tomorrow," Peter said, looking at the guides – who weren't looking too surprised to see the Jabari – and then looking back at his friend.
"He was called to the capitol." Azoru called Natasha back to his side before she could start getting underfoot. "He told me that he felt he could trust me to be a proper host to our esteemed guests."
That made Peter smile, too.
"Are we still going to visit Jad's village?"
"I have been charged with taking you there, personally."
"And your cousins?" Peter asked, pointedly, looking at the two young men who were with him.
He recognized both of them from the tribe gathering and didn't even need Alec to tell him their names.
"We are here to supervise," the one on the left – who was a year older than Azoru – said. He stepped up and offered Peter his hand. "It is good to see you, again, Peter of the Avenger tribe."
"And you, Bartel."
They didn't need to be ultra formal, luckily, or the greetings could go on until the sun went down.
Azoru turned to greet the others, while Peter finished greeting Bartel and Mavik.
"Why did M'Baku have to go to the capitol?" Ned asked. "Or is it secret Jabari stuff?"
Ned knew that as an official member of the Avenger tribe he was able to be let in on secrets of Wakanda, but that didn't necessarily, mean that he was privy to all of the secrets of each individual tribe. And he knew from Peter that the Jabari were some of the most secretive in a nation of secretive people.
Azoru shrugged.
"I was not told," he admitted. "So I do not know if it is, or is not. He merely said that he would meet us there when we are finished in the village and return to the palace."
"Is that normal?" Ned asked, curiously. "Being called to the capitol?" He looked at Shuri. "Is something going on that we didn't hear about?"
"Not that I know of." She also shrugged as well, even as she moved to greet Azoru's cousins. They were going to be the Jabari's guests the next day when they journeyed to the Jabari lands as their safari ended, but since they were the newcomers to the campsite, that meant that it was Shuri who was the highest ranking 'host', just then. "It could be something innocuous."
"The Jabari are hosting the next gathering, right?" Peter reminded them, sitting down on the table and watching as Bartel and Juran were introduced to MJ and Ned. "Maybe it's something about that."
"We're invited, right?" Ned asked, looking excited at the idea.
"Of course," Shuri said, before Azoru could confirm the same. She was now sitting beside Peter and rubbing Natasha's nose, cheerfully. "It would not be the same without you, now that you are eligible to attend."
"We are looking forward to hosting," Bartell said. He seated himself beside MJ and graced her with a cheerful smile. "It will be our honor to host even more members of your tribe."
She nodded.
"I'm looking forward to it, too."
"Are you a fighter?" Mavik asked, curiously, looking at her, as well.
Peter felt a soft mental snort of amusement from the ancient sorcerer in his mind, but no comment.
MJ shook her head.
"Not really…"
"MJ doesn't need to be a fighter," Ned said, also sitting down and now it was he who was rubbing Natasha's furry ears. "Everyone knows that she's Peter's friend – and that she knows the Avengers. If someone messed with her Peter would kick their ass. Her new boyfriend was pretty much grilled by Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff, and he knows if he does anything dumb, he's pretty much a dead man walking."
"She has other skills, though," Peter added. "The Avenger tribe has plenty of fighters. She's a champion swimmer, though."
"And she took home ec," Ned said, even though none of the Jabari nobles knew what that was – and Shuri only knew because she'd . "So she can sew better than any of us, probably."
"It will be interesting to see what skills you bring to the gathering," Bartel said, agreeably.
MJ smiled, uncertainly – although she was pretty sure she had no intention of sewing anything for the gathering. She was looking forward to attending, though, once she'd heard how much fun Peter had had during the last one. It was something she was looking forward to experiencing, in person.
"I'm looking forward to it."
"Have you been enjoying the safari?" Azoru asked the four of them. "What have you been doing?"
"Tons of things," Ned told him. "We'd have done more but there's a crazy bull elephant that's been hanging around and causing a bit of a stir."
"There is much to tell you," Shuri said, speaking up before they could all start telling the many stories that they had. "But first, let us offer you something to drink and assistance getting your tent set up."
It was what a host would do, but she knew that Peter's friends weren't that good at the host thing, and besides, she was a princess and knew what was expected from those at the camp.
Azoru wasn't the only one to smile, and all three bowed, politely.
"Thank you."
OOOOOOOOOO
"What are you doing?"
Nick scowled up over his shoulder at Tony – and Pepper, who was looking around Tony to see what was going on. The SHIELD director had been looking under one of the tables in the control room. Two SHIELD agents were watching him, and one was holding a keyboard and part of a coffee cup. The other part was on the floor, broken.
"What are you two doing home so early?"
He knew their schedule and knew that Pepper, at least, had had a meeting scheduled, and that Tony had planned to drive her home that afternoon. He was the one who assigned the shadow cars when she was driving to and from the tower, after all.
"Meeting got cancelled and the last one was something that could be rescheduled without inconveniencing the other person," Tony replied before Pepper could. "So we decided to come home and see what was going on, here."
"You mean you decided to come home and check in on Peter and maybe the people in Columbia…"
Tony didn't even deny it. He shrugged.
"Maybe. Have you heard anything?"
"From Wakanda? Or from Columbia?"
"Either."
"No."
"What are you doing on the floor?" Pepper asked. It didn't take a genius, though, and she was fairly intelligent. "What did Nutmeg do?"
"Broke Rick's coffee cup and stole the mouse for this control panel."
Stark looked at the SHIELD agent on the left. The one holding the remains of the cup.
"Is it a sentimental one?" he asked.
The man shook his head, ruefully.
"I know better than to use anything I care about in here. I got it at the dollar store."
"I'll buy you a new one."
A shrug.
"No worries."
"He stole a mouse?" Pepper asked, frowning. "You guys still use a mouse? Mice?"
"We do," Nick said, picking himself up off the floor, and dusting himself off, casually. "Some of us don't need all the fancy stuff that comes with being Tony Stark…"
Tony smirked.
"Some of us don't have to worry about someone's klepto cat stealing a mouse that we don't use, either…"
"Maybe you misplaced it?" Pepper suggested, knowing that was unlikely.
"Friday? Where did it go?"
A new display came on in response to Tony's question; this one a clear display that was mounted to the closest wall. A video came up, immediately, and it showed Peter's kitten hop easily up onto the desk, rub against the SHIELD agent's elbow as if in greeting before walking across the desk and swatting the cup of coffee. Coffee spilled – harmlessly since they'd all long learned not to leave any papers or fragile items on the desk – and then the cup rolling off the desk and breaking with a muffled thud. Even as that was happening and the agent leaned down to try and catch it, the young Flerkin snatched up the mouse he'd been using and hopped back to the floor and sauntered out the door and into the corridor without a backwards glance.
"He left it in one of the spaces behind the bar in the lounge," the AI told them, helpfully.
"Where is he, now?" Tony asked.
"Still in the lounge – with Ironpig."
Pepper snorted and slapped Tony lightly on the shoulder.
"Go find it," she told him. "I'm going to go change and then I'll meet you in the lounge and we can see if Peter's doing anything that can be interrupted by a call from mom and dad."
"Sounds good."