[oom] see right through my walls

[nerves_of_ice]

As T'Challa stares at the hologram in the palm of his hand, he can already feel the headache forming. "She what? No. Never mind. Bring her to me in the throne room, when she arrives. I will deal with her myself."

He clears the image, then taps the Kimoyo Bead again. "Nakia. I need you."

* * * * * * * * *

"You cannot be serious."

"I don't see why this is a problem. You brought Everett Ross here--"

"Ross was dying! And he was never allowed to know that the man he was seeking was here! Nakia, I have made a promise to protect him."

"She is not a threat. Not to him."

"I will be the judge of that."

Nakia throws up her hands. "Fine. You will see. I hope it does not bother you that I stay and watch?"

T'Challa smiles. "Of course not."

Comments

[nerves_of_ice]

Not very far, as it turns out.

"White Wolf! White Wolf!" The children have returned to play with the goats, and have just as clearly been lying in wait for him to emerge from the hut.

(After a difficult discussion with Shuri, she'd agreed to draw that line firmly rather than risk something happening if he was startled awake.)

"White Wolf! Who is that woman? Where did she come from?" They dash over to surround him, patting at his arm with gentle hands, their questions tumbling over each other. "How did she get here?"

Bucky turns, with a little difficulty, and meets Sharon's eyes.

"Her name is Sharon. She's a friend of mine." A tiny smirk touches the corner of his mouth. "I don't know how she got here, but you can ask her yourself, if you want."

[from_the_outside]

Almost instantly, she is surrounded by a throng of waist-high children all clamoring at once, and she shoots an amused look back at Bucky. "We're not done with this, White Wolf," she promises, but she's already laughing, cheerfully acquiescing to the tugs on her sleeve and listening carefully to an endless stream of questions.

"Hi," she smiles, and sinks down to her knees to address the children on their own level. A few small hands reach out to touch her hair, others keep tapping her on the shoulder to get her attention.

"Yes, I did just get here," she confirms to one. "I walked," she reports to another, and leans in like she's imparting a secret. "And I was on a boat for a long time."

"Um, it means 'a plain,'" she says to a third, and points out towards the sweeping green fields around them. "Like those. Big wide fields."

"Yes, they are very cute," seriously, to a girl no taller than her thigh.

"Well, I wanted to see my friend," she answers, and looks at Bucky with laughing eyes. "Even though he can be kind of mean to me sometimes."

[nerves_of_ice]

The children gasp. "White Wolf! No!" Three of them run back to surround him. "You're not mean! Don't be mean!"

"I'll try not to be," he promises them, solemnly, and looks up at Sharon. He can admit to himself that she's beautiful, laughing and lively and teasing like this in the middle of the gaggle of children. "I don't want to be mean."

[from_the_outside]

She arches an eyebrow at him, grinning: two can play at this game, Bucky.

"Better not be," she says, archly, then turns at an insistent tap on her shoulder to gasp and coo over a beaded bracelet on one chubby dark brown wrist. "That is beautiful," she says, with absolute sincerity, and the little girl flushes right up to her hairline with pleasure.

A couple of boys start showing off by proving how quickly they can run from the hut to a nearby tree and back, and after she applauds them, she listens closely as the little girl with the bracelet tells her very seriously and in total confidence all about her favorite goat.

"You guys like to play with the goats?" she asks, and is rewarded with a happy cacophony of shouts that makes her laugh. "What kind of games do you play?"

[nerves_of_ice]

He smiles, a little ruefully, but says nothing.

"Ampé!" shouts one girl, before frowning. "But the goats aren't good at it."

"The White Wolf plays tag. And hide-and-go-seek," a boy informs her. "Do you play games?"

[from_the_outside]

"I love playing games," she tells him. "And I'm very good at hide-and-go-seek. And...hopscotch, do you know that one? Or Simon Says? Or red light, green light?"

There aren't any stoplights out here, so she's not sure that one will be familiar.

[nerves_of_ice]

"She sure is," he mutters, and several of the children cheer. "Hide and go seek! Let's play hide and go--"

"I see you are getting on well," comes a voice from behind them. T'Challa stands there at a small remove, this time without the usual escort of Dora, watching them. The children scramble to face him, and he smiles at them as they beam back at him. "Go for now, children. I must speak with our guests."

He crosses his arms over his chest, formally, and they do the same back, then dash off laughing. A few wave goodbye to Sharon as they go.

Bucky meets T'Challa's eyes, and nods.

"We are," he says. "Thank you."

[from_the_outside]

Her mouth quirks at Bucky's muttering, and she waves cheerily back at the retreating children as she gets to her feet, dusting off her knees as she does.

"Your Highness," she says, and then glances in the direction of the fleeing children with a small smile. "So far, so good."

Well. Mostly.

[nerves_of_ice]

He nods back to Bucky, and turns to Sharon.

"Nakia would like you to stay and visit for a while." He says this without any sign of disagreement. "And to join us for dinner tonight."

T'Challa's glance flicks to Bucky as he adds, "It would only be the four of us, and Shuri."

[from_the_outside]

She wipes off her hands slowly, glancing from T'Challa to Bucky and back again.

"That's very kind," she says. "Both offers. I'd like to accept."

There's something apologetic in her eyes when she looks at Bucky. "Only if it's okay with you."

She doesn't regret being honest. But she would regret pushing him so far he doesn't want her around at all anymore.

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky nods to T'Challa again, the unspoken understanding passing between them. He's not ready to be in a crowd of people yet, not for long. They both know it.

"It is," he says, as he looks back at Sharon. "More than okay. Stay. Please."

T'Challa's gaze narrows very slightly at the look of apology in Sharon's glance. Bucky, still looking at Sharon, doesn't see it.

[from_the_outside]

Sharon, usually so observant, doesn't see it either; she's too busy looking back at Bucky.

A tiny smile pulls at the corner of her lips. "Okay."

She takes a breath and blinks like she's coming awake, and turns a brighter smile on T'Challa. "Then yes, I accept. Thank you for the invitation."

She glances around, taking in the greenery, the wide open sky, the lake, the rolling fields. "I can honestly say this is the first time in weeks that I felt like I could relax. It's beautiful here."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Thank you. We Wakandans are proud of our country." T'Challa turns sideways, back toward the way he came, gesturing that they should join him.

"With good reason," agrees Bucky. "And just a second. I need to grab something first."

He ducks into the hut and out of sight. As he does, T'Challa levels a long look at Sharon.

[from_the_outside]

She levels one right back at him. Her mouth twists, wry.

"It would probably be more trouble than it's worth to have the Dora murder me," she points out, after a second.

"If that's what you're thinking about."

At the very least, Nakia would be annoyed about it.

[nerves_of_ice]

"If I believed that were necessary, I would do it myself," T'Challa informs her.

"Do you understand what Shuri meant, now?"

[from_the_outside]

"Yes."

A little of her obstinacy fades. "I would never hurt him," she says, a little lower.

It doesn't matter if Bucky hears; he knows this already. But she wants T'Challa to understand. "Not purposefully. Not ever. But if I do by accident, I would do anything at all to try and fix it. Including leaving, if that's what he needed."

She's watching him closely. "Do you believe me?"

[nerves_of_ice]

He studies her closely in turn, then nods.

"I do." T'Challa smiles again, a little wryly, as Bucky ducks back out of the hut with the backpack on his shoulder. "Welcome to Wakanda, Sharon Carter. This time in truth."

[from_the_outside]

Her answering smile is just as wry, but full of sincere warmth. "Thank you, your Highness. I'm very, very happy to be here."

She turns to Bucky and any trace of wryness melts away like mist under the morning sun. "All set?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"All set," he confirms, with a curious glance back and forth between them.

He doesn't ask. He suspects it's better not to.

"Good," T'Challa says, and starts walking back. Bucky glances at Sharon, and falls in beside him as he asks,

"How did you and Nakia meet, anyway?"

[from_the_outside]

She comes to walk next to Bucky, amused at how the two long-legged men have to shorten their strides a little to let her keep up. "In the field, a few years back."

She's starting to wish she'd brought a change of clothes for herself; she'll be a sweaty mess by the time they get where they're going. Maybe Nakia will loan her something. "SHIELD was investigating an arms deal in Madripoor. So was she."

Some inner thought strikes her, and her mouth goes pressed for a long moment like she's trying not to laugh. "Things got a little crazy. And then there was a trafficking bust in Bogota that we worked together for a bit."

Her grin is real and brilliant. "She's the best. I haven't seen her for a while before now; I've mostly been in Europe and last I heard she was back here in Africa."

[nerves_of_ice]

"She is," T'Challa agrees. "She has always been committed to doing good in the rest of the world as well as here in Wakanda."

"Somehow I'm not surprised the two of you ended up friends," Bucky observes - to Sharon.

[from_the_outside]

"It turned out we have a lot in common," she agrees, and smiles again.

(If Nakia hasn't told any details, she's not going to, either.)

"But I'm sure she's happy to be back in Wakanda. She always seemed just a little homesick."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Oh, really?" T'Challa slants a look at Sharon, then shifts it to Bucky, who shrugs his right shoulder and gives him a wry look in response.

"I see. Yes, she is. And I am - we all are - glad to have her back."

As they draw closer to the palace the Dora on guard, waiting, come to attention and move to flank them.

[from_the_outside]

"Mm," she says, noncommittally, then looks with interest up at the palace.

"The architecture here is really something else. This place is a designer's dream."

[nerves_of_ice]

"The dreams of several designers," T'Challa agrees, "brought to reality. We plan to offer this training in the institutes of learning we will soon be establishing in America, and later elsewhere."

"Better to build than to destroy," Bucky notes, and T'Challa nods at him. "Exactly."

"Nakia will meet you in the garden chamber," he continues, as a light flickers on his bracelet as they enter the building and move through the halls. "It appears I have some things I must attend to. I will not be long."

"Don't worry about it," Bucky says. "Really."