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Behind the mountains, the sun rose like a mountain of its own, spreading light over everyone in Wakanda. It made the sky peach and periwinkle, and put a song in every bird. It was Spring there, perfect. A breeze blew against T’Challa’s bedroom window like a whisper from his ancestors telling him to open his eyes.
She was still there, sometimes she wasn’t. Nakia would be called away early, before the sunrise, to go do something incredible. He understood, but he preferred waking beside her. The sun rose behind the mountains, and it also rose behind her curves, her body creating a skyline of its own.
It was silly, he almost didn’t want to touch her. He touched her so much, but not here, not while she slept and the peach from the sky made her appear cherubic. At the same time, he desperately wanted her to open her eyes, so that the sun could make the flecks of gold in them bright as it always did.
Thank Bast… he mused.
If she could have read his thoughts she’d call him melodramatic, and maybe he was, but she’d say it with that grin on her face that he couldn’t get over. He just couldn’t take her for granted. He’d worked too hard for this moment to just treat her like any other person.
He slipped out of bed and into the bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror and noticed how low his shoulders hung, as if a night with her could wash his worries away completely. When he returned, Nakia was awake, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
“Wakandans party like the apocalypse is near.” She gathered the sheets to her chest and smiled up at him. T’Challa rejoined his beloved in bed and kissed her cheek. “Not that I’m complaining.”
“If today is the last, you’ve given me enough paradise for two lifetimes.”
Nakia looked at him, so regal and gorgeous in his own right. Soft skin and broad shoulders, moving together as they reached out to embrace her. It was rare to find a man whose strength was not derived from his pride. T’Challa’s strength and beauty were reflections of his love, his love for her, his love for his people, and his love for the new world.
“I find it so curious that people think they would spend the days before the end of the world drinking to forget.” T’Challa said with a chuckle. “It is not like dying. There will be nothing left behind, nothing left to forget.”
Nakia laughed. It sounded like a song. “Very sexy morning after talk, T.”
“You raised the issue.”
“Did I?”
“You did!”
“Tell me you won’t be so pessimistic at the end of it all.” He made a doubtful expression and she rolled her eyes. “T’Challa, T’Challa… I think the galaxy holds enough life to remember us all when we’re gone. You sound like Okoye, like, exactly like Okoye.” Nakia slipped out of bed and into a robe, when she stood, the rising sun flashed in her eyes. “It must be early.”
T’Challa shook his head. “How on earth do I sound like Okoye, eh?”
“‘It’s not like dying. There will be nothing left’, is something Okoye would say. Or M’Baku.”
They looked at each other for a moment and agreed that it definitely sounded more like M’Baku than their favorite general.
Moving across the room, Nakia lifted the collar of the robe to her nose, it smelled just like him. Wakandan sunrises wish they had his warmth, if only she could bottle him and store him away in her luggage to take out and feel at home. She had to be on a plane in two hours, off to Morocco for a diplomatic visit. If it went well and smooth, it would probably only be a month or two, but these things rarely went smoothly. T’Challa was never sure if months without her passed slowly or quickly, he supposed it depended on how much of that time he spent thinking about her.
That was something to worry about later, the pressing topic at hand was a shower, taken together. Then it was breakfast, something sweet that they shared outside, looking out at the mountains. Originally, T’Challa wanted to walk with her through the marketplace, but she wanted quiet, something seemed to be on her mind.
Nakia wasn’t really eating, she was mostly picking at the fruit in her bota with the tip of her spoon. Her eyes followed the birds that flew over head, and she let out a soft sigh. “Promise you won’t do anything crazy while I’m gone.”
T’Challa laughed. “Like what?”
“Fighting with the Avengers in a car park.”
He dismissed the thought. “That was just a misunderstanding. You have nothing to fear.”
“That’s not what I mean, T’Challa.” She looked into his eyes. “Your kindness is rare, especially among men, and especially among kings. The people who need us should get what they need, and that is it. Otherwise, who knows what snares will tangle us up.”
“I’m being cautious, sthandwa sam.”
“I know you are, but so are they.”
He raised an eyebrow. “If they were cautious, they’d know not to cross us.” Nakia scoffed. “Now you sound like Okoye.”
“I don’t mean to sound like I have no faith in you, you know that I do. I’ve just seen so many people smile at each other, waiting for people like you to come along with open hearts. No matter how cautious, they will always try to find weak points.”
"Where is this coming from, Nakia?" he asked. "You were so open to this before."
"And I still am."
"Then what has happened?"
She took a deep breath. “I lost you. It was only once and only temporary, but I lost you, and Wakanda cannot bear another loss as it opens itself to the world.”
“You lost me to a fellow Wakandan.”
“Yes, but one who was cut off from his people and knew there was a loss already there.” Nakia reached up and caressed his face. “I know the risks in loving you. Don’t test those risks, and don’t let anyone else test them for you.”
T’Challa took her hand, kissing her palm and her wrist. He felt his eyes starting to well up with tears. “All risks we take for each other are well worth it. I will see your dream realized, Nakia.”
“I know, but be careful anyway.”
She leaned her head on his shoulder and scooped some bota into her mouth. Her plane was leaving in half an hour for Morocco, where she would be for more than two months, and at the end of the second month she would look around the bazaar as people turned to ash in the wind.
And she would know.