White Wolf and Arctic Fox

3

I've been in Wakanda for a month. Shuri and I have become close, though I am still afraid most of the time. I've gained a little weight, and Shuri says I almost look healthy again. My voice is still quiet, but my stutter and shakiness has improved. My hair is just peach fuzz covering my scalp, now, though I wear a rose gold headband around my forehead. Shuri gave it to me when she learned how upset I was at the loss of my hair at the prison. The headband also has small pads against my temples that help reduce excess noise, so as not to overwhelm me.

I've told her nearly everything that happened at the prison. She refused to hear the story from T'Challa, stating I would tell her when I was ready.

I have taken to reading poetry to Bucky when Shuri works in her lab, since I can't understand what she's doing, no matter how many times she tries to explain. But she says that my reading to him appears to help regulate his heartbeat, which is apparently a very good thing.

When Shuri is completely consumed in her work, I sometimes venture to the palace library, where I started by reading over T'Challa's shoulder. He never minded, and soon began attempting to teach me Xosha. I'm not very good at it, but at least I'm improving. It's easier to read the language, than to speak it.

What he doesn't tell me, but I learn on my own, is that the elders of the other four tribes are anxious to get rid of me. I'm an outsider. To them, a danger. T'Challa has basically all but told them to suck it. More formally, of course.

And every afternoon, Queen Mother Ramonda has deemed it necessary to have tea with me. She uses this time to teach me Wakandan etiquette and traditions. Some of these meetings have become less formal, however, as she learned more about my childhood, with semi-probing questions. Today, she learned I had been raised without a mother figure in my life.

"I mean, I had Ms. Sarah, Steve's mom, but I wasn't over there very much," I admit.

"But who helped you do your hair, and dress properly for school?" Queen Mother asks after a long sip of her tea.

"Bucky did, mostly," I answer. "He learned every kind of braid I asked him about."

Then, the queen is holding a hand to her chest, her face suddenly ashen.

"Queen Mother?" I ask, rushing to her side.

She grips my hoodie tightly, and her face is covered in a cold sweat. Her veins are becoming more prominent even as I watch.

Terrified, I yell, "T'Challa! T'Challa, come quick!"

He rushes in, as does Shuri, who gasps in horror. T'Challa takes the brunt of his mother's weight with ease, holding her up.

"I don't know what happened, she was drinking her tea, and-" I cut off. "The tea! She's the only one to drink it yet! I bet it's poisoned."

Shuri takes the pot and dumps it into a potted plant, which wilts immediately.

T'Challa calls for a medic, rushing Queen Mother Ramonda to her rooms. Not knowing what else I can do, I wrap Shuri into a hug as she cries.

"I'm sorry," I whisper.

She shakes her head, drying her tears. "It's not your fault. You didn't drink any?"

"No, I didn't." I answer.

She nods and takes my still-full cup. For a half-second, I expect her to try and force it down my throat. Instead, she walks off.

"Come on, Ree, we have work to do."

I follow her quickly to her lab, where she begins testing the liquid. All I understand of her work, is that it was definitely poison. A local, deadly poison with an extremely difficult cure. Shuri sighs and sinks to the floor, just as T'Challa joins us.

"You can't cure her, can you?" he asks.

Her shoulders shaking, Shuri shakes her head. "If she was younger, in better health, I probably could. But she's been sick so much this past year, her immune system isn't strong enough to handle the cure."

T'Challa closes his eyes, letting her words sink in for a moment, before he kneels down and pulls her to him.

As I watch them, my heart breaks. They've been so good to me. I can't let them lose their mother.

Okoye walks in, then. "We have identified and apprehended the traitor. A son of the Mining Tribe. He claims the poison was meant only for Ms. Barnes."

My head jerks up. So the people have gone from civil unrest about my stay in Wakanda, to assassination attempts. An attempt that is currently killing their queen.

That night, after a silent dinner, I wait until I am sure T'Challa and Shuri are at least in their rooms, if not asleep. Silently, I creep through the halls, avoiding the Dora Milaje, until I reach the door to Queen Mother Ramonda's room. I let myself in, and walk over to her bed, where she looks worse than ever, semi-conscious.

"I'm sorry, Queen Mother," I say quietly. "That poison was meant for me. And I can't let your children lose you."

I take her hand, and immediately I feel the poison transferring to me. It feels like fire, and tears begin rolling down my face. I fall to my knees, suddenly weak with the pain, but I don't let go of her hand until I'm sure all the poison is in me, not her. She sits up with a start, only confused for a moment before she sees my huddled form. She let's out a scream, kneeling beside me, cradling me to her.

T'Challa runs in. "Mother, what is it?" he asks, before seeing us, falling to his knees beside us.

"Take her to Shuri," Queen Mother orders.

T'Challa nods, grabbing me up as though I weigh nothing. I weakly wrap my arms around his neck, and he runs off down the halls, banging on Shuri's door until she opens it, gasping in horror, then leading the way to her lab.

I'm shaking violently and barely able to hold my head up by the time T'Challa sets me on the lab table.

"I knew she could take other's pain, but not poison," T'Challa explains to Shuri. Looking at me, he asks, "Did you know?"

I nod weakly. "Hydra," I manage for an explanation, though my throat is dry and sore.

Shuri approaches with a glass of red liquid. "This will taste awful, and it will make you hurt, but it should cure you. Hopefully you sleep through most of it."

She helps me to drink it, and I gag at the taste. Then, the pain hits, and it feels as though every molecule of my body is being ripped apart. I scream and clutch at T'Challa's robes. Shuri plunges a needle into my arm, injecting me with an anesthetic of some sort. Soon enough, I'm unconscious and in a world of pain.