Chapter Text
The Veela and Wakanda have never gotten along.
Pietro was first made aware of this when it was announced that the Wakandan Royal Family would be visiting the Compound whilst they were in New York. It was an open secret in the Compound that all the Avengers knew the Rogues were living in Wankanda - in the palace no less - whilst the rest of the world was clueless . Add on the fact that T'Challa had been present in Siberia before the...videos were leaked made the Stark family more than a little hostile to the idea of them visiting. Honey had disliked the idea even more - and she told Pietro why in bed that same night.
"They found Adytum," She had a far away look on her face, "over a hundred or so years ago. The Veela Matriarchs had always supposed that they had some form of magic that let them see through wards...they were made welcome - they had a Prince with them - and things seems peaceful."
Pietro watched her silently. There were times that his wife always seemed less than human, though he never knew if that was because of her Veela blood or because she was the Master of Death.
"But according to the tales, the night they left their prince stole the then Matriarch's daughter. I don't know how true that is but the fact remains that she disappeared the very same night they left." She sighs heavily, "And it might have happened again not twenty years ago. The Matriarch's sister disappeared visiting a colony in Ethiopia...there's definitely no proof with that one but it didn't stop people from accusing them."
Shuri didn't like America. Not only was it the place where her father had killed his own brother, but everyone she had met so far irritated her.
She wasn't surprised that people were surprised by her intelligence because she was a girl (these were the same people who looked at the Dora with shock and suspicion) but what did stun her was everyone treating her like a child. At least those outside of the science community did (those inside of it were very used to the likes of Tony Stark and Helen Cho). One thing that she did approve of, however, was how everyone respected her mother.
The Dowager Queen of Wakanda had been different since the death of King T'Chaka. Shuri could not explain it, but there seemed to be a glow to her that had never existed before now. At least, not in Shuri's lifetime. And she had travelled to America with them - Shuri had never known her mother to leave the capital.
It all came to a head when they visited the Avengers Compound. The whole of T'Challa's entourage knew that the king was nervous about visiting the Compound and the Stark family. After all, The Winter Solider was their guest. So were the Rogues. T'Challa had, on the jet over, voiced his hope that they were unaware of both facts. Westerners they may be, but the Iron Man and War Machine armours had proven to have an incredible amount of power and Honey Stark was rumoured to be more intelligent than she seemed, though Shuri didn't hold out much hope.
There was a lot of photographers (Nakia had called them 'paparazzi') outside the Compound. The entirety of the Avengers were waiting for them, headed by the War Machine who had the Quicksilver (Wanda Maximoff's twin brother, who had accused her of causing Ultron for the whole world to hear) by his side. The Stark and Bishop families were also present, Tony in a suit that was matched by both Pepper Potts and Laura Bishop but Honey Stark was wearing a floral day dress that matched the two younger girls (whose names Shuri admittedly blanked on at that precise moment).
It was all going well - and then T'Challa introduced Ramonda to the Avengers. And if Shuri hadn't been looking at the 'Princess of Stark Industries' so intently, she wouldn't have seen the brief slip of her mask, the shock in her eyes.