Chapter Text
It is not Namor who greets the Queen on the beach that day.
Instead, the person that rises from the water is her own daughter, the lost Princess. For twenty-seven days, six hundred and forty-eight hours, she fretted over her daughter’s well-being. But here she is, before her, rising from the sea and smiling at her mother as if nothing had happened.
“Mother,” Shuri greets, bowing her head slightly.
“My child,” Ramonda breathes out in relief, walking forward to wrap her daughter in her arms. The hem of her white dress gets drenched by the waves as does the front of it where she hugs her wet daughter. “Are you alright? Let me see your face,” she says, holding her daughter’s face in her hands.
“I am well, mother,” Shuri smiles softly, reaching up to cover her mother’s hand with her own. “There is no need to worry.”
“How can I not? My only daughter, disappeared, kidnapped for nearly a month,” she yells, voice almost breaking.
“I wasn’t kidnapped, mother,” Shuri sighs. “I asked to go. I… Look, there is no reason to be upset. I should have contacted you; I know. I just… I wanted some time away and K’uk’ulkan, he… he offered me a place to stay. I have so much to tell you, mother. I’ve learned so much.”
Her mother’s expression hardens.
“He threatened Wakanda, Shuri. His people almost killed that girl and you,” she bites out. “On his orders. And now you tell me you willingly stayed with this man?”
Shuri’s expression changes slightly for a split second at the mention of Riri Williams but Ramonda caught it. She was a perceptive queen.
“Shuri… What of the scientist?” she asks though she has a feeling she already knows. When Shuri doesn’t answer, she asks again. “The scientist, Shuri. Where is she?”
“I am sorry mother,” Shuri sighs. “It had to be done. She was too much of a threat to the people. The CIA would have-“
“Stop. Stop talking,” Ramonda says, holding her hand up. She turns around, holding her forehead with her eyes closed. She paces back and forth in the shallow waters for a few moments before turning back to her daughter. She grips her arm tightly and begins dragging her from the water.
Ramonda notices immediately that two blue warriors emerge from the water behind her daughter, spears at the ready.
“Ta ts'aataj!” Shuri commands in a foreign language before they could act. “I am alright. Don’t worry.”
Ramonda doesn’t pretend to not be confused by the exchange but says nothing as she pulls her daughter to the sands.
“Sit,” she says.
Shuri sighs and sits down on the sand, watching as her mother does the same. The queen's intricately beaded white dress will probably be ruined after this.
“Explain it all to me,” Ramonda demands. “Explain how you allowed that, that winged wretch to kill that child and have the audacity to tell me it had to be done. Did they hurt you, Shuri? Threaten you? Tell me now so I can act. Wakanda will not stand for any aggressive acts towards her princess.”
“It is nothing like that, mother,” Shuri says, reaching froward to hold her mother’s hands between them. “No one threatened me or hurt me. I was treated like a guest in his home. Truly.”
“Then how? How can you…”
“Mother, you don’t understand. The people, the children… There’s an abundance of life and culture in Talokan. If the US got hold of Riri and had her make another device, they could jeopardize everything K’uk’ulkan built. Everything.”
“His name is Namor,” Ramonda frowns.
“He is not my enemy, mother,” Shuri whispers. “And he should not be yours. In fact, I’ve come to broker peace. An alliance, between the two most powerful nations in the world. Think of the possibilities.”
“Possibilities? You would have me form an alliance with a murderer? A man who declared war on your own people not too long ago? He killed that girl, Shuri. She was innocent.”
Shuri looks down at their hands, running her thumbs over her mother’s hands before releasing them.
“He didn’t kill her,” Shuri confessed.
“Then where is she? Is she imprisoned?”
“No. She is dead.”
“You just said he didn’t kill her. Explain clearly what happened.”
“He didn’t kill her, mother. I know this because... because it was me. It was me who did it.”
Shuri watched her mother’s expression change from anger to pain to anger again then to anguish.
“Ntombi yam, kutheni? Ngoba?” her mother asks, pain evident in her voice.
“It wasn’t an easy decision. I only did what I was taught. I had to make a decision to protect our people. Both of our people. It was either one life or the millions in Talokan and later, the millions in Wakanda. I chose our people and I do not regret it.”
“What good will this do, Wakanda?”
“The US desires vibranium, mother. You know this. They will keep trying different ways to get their hands on it. Riri would not have stayed in Wakanda and who knows what they would have done to her to get their hands on another machine. Now that Talokan’s vibranium is on their radar, we need to stick together to help each other protect what is rightfully ours. The alliance would help with that. We can share knowledge, resources, weaponry, anything, everything.
Shuri can see her mother struggling to reconcile with what had to happen and she knows the older woman is disappointed and hurt. But there is nothing to be done. She would get over it. She has to if their people intend to move forward.
“And I suppose this alliance will see us join Namor in burning the world?” Queen Ramonda asked, eyebrows raised.
Shuri shook her head.
“No. K’uk’ulkan will only attack when provoked. I managed to convince him to hold off his attack on the surface world. But if it comes to it, Wakanda must stand with Talokan. We will not have it any other way.”
“You will have us fight a war that has nothing to do with us?”
“It has everything to do with us, mother!” Shuri yells. The waves kissing the shoreline pull in just a little farther, splashing them at Shuri’s outburst. “If the US manages to plunder Talokan and their vibranium, where do you think they will turn to next? When they run out of Talokanil vibranium? We are a powerful nation and we can protect ourselves, yes, but you know as well as I do that prevention is better than cure. We cannot let it escalate further. We cannot wait for them to destroy and steal from Talokan then arm themselves with vibranium weaponry. If we strike when they strike first, we can mitigate the threat before it has time to grow more powerful.”
Ramonda rubs her temples, closing her eyes as her headache sets in. There are truths to her daughter’s words but there are still so many layers to their predicament. No matter how she thinks about it, a war is inevitable. Oh how she wished T’Chaka and T’Challa were there. They would know exactly what to do.
“I understand where you are coming from, my child,” Ramonda says, holding Shuri’s hands again. “But I do not know how to process this. My daughter, the child I grew in my womb and nurtured at my breast has come to me confessing to have killed an innocent child and now wants our people to start a war. Forgive me if it is difficult to process.”
Ramonda looks down at their connected hands and takes note of the jade bracelet resting on her daughter’s slim wrist. She had never seen it before and she knew it must have come from Talokan. Even though the night Namor first appeared was dark, she could still see his jade adornments reflecting the moon’s light.
“I cannot say I am sorry, mother,” Shuri sighs. “I know she was innocent but the people of Talokan are too. It was one life versus millions. I made my choice and I am sticking to it. I do not wish to continue speaking about this. It is the past. I want to discuss the future. Our joint future. The alliance.”
Ramonda scoffs.
“An alliance, you say. You want us to broker an alliance with a nation whose king can’t even bother to speak for himself? He sends you, his captive, to broker peace? Some king he is.”
Shuri chuckles and Ramonda has no idea what is funny.
“You are wrong, mother,” Shuri grins. “He didn’t send his captive to broker peace. He intended on answering your summons himself but I stopped him. I figured I was the best person to do it.”
“As my daughter.”
“As one queen to a next.”