"I'M CERTAIN MY FATHER IS HIDING SOMETHING FROM ME."

Zarina frowned as she stared across the room at where her father was talking with a member of another tribe, seated in T'Challa's lap as the young prince read from a book he had gotten, often pausing to shower her with kisses or nudge the back of her neck, trying to coax her into doing something except idly sitting.

After their night at the cliff, their relationship shifted ever so slightly. To the general populace, nothing changed, the two still as close as ever, and while the statement is true, the two had become more physical, Zarina once again spending more time with T'Challa, the two talking and intertwining their interests and lives rather than separating like both had feared. It was a small, but nice change if you asked either of them.

"What do you think he is hiding?" T'Challa hummed, looking up from his book, pressing a few kisses to the back of her neck.

"I don't know," she said carefully, still looking at her father before shifting, moving so she was turned sideways in his lap, hiding her face in the crook of his neck, breathing deeply.

T'Challa held her leg to keep her from sliding away, tilting his head at his tutor who looked tired, running his hand over his hair. He watched as Shuri came racing down the hall, the man bending down easily and lifting her in his arms, resting her on his hip as he continued to talk, his sister beating at his shoulder to let her go, but without any force behind it, already getting settled in his arms.

"He always talks about how he wishes I had a sister," Zarina said, peering out to see what her boyfriend was seeing, "He said he always wanted to name his daughter after an animal. Ibhasi. A gazelle."

"Why are you not Ibhasi?" T'Challa asked, glancing down to smile at her, laughing at the very prospect of her being called Ibhasi, not Zarina.

"Because mother refused to have a child unless they chose a better name," she laughed, glancing over to her father who raised an eyebrow at them, Shuri making a face at the scene before turning away.

"Shuri is not happy I've stolen you from her," T'Challa explained, catching Zarina's sound of displeasure at the face the young girl made, "She feels betrayed."

Zarina only hummed, reminding herself to spend time with the little girl without T'Challa. Their age difference so great, Shuri often found herself surrounded with people much older than herself. Of course, she could easily outwit all of them, but it led to a lonely life for the child, if Zarina had any say in it.

"How are the studies?" T'Challa asked, growing bored of where they sat, standing and leading her back to his room.

"Fine," she replied, rolling her shoulders as she thought of the countless textbooks she still had to pour over, "How are yours? Baba said he is teaching you again. Why?"

"Diplomacy," he explained with a sour look on his face, "Father still needs to maintain a presence in the world, keep our cover and protect our borders. He needs me to be prepared if I need to take over."

"You never did pay attention in your studies before," she pointed out, laughing as he scoffed, lifting her over his shoulder and entering his room, the cats immediately padding over towards them as he dropped her onto his bed.

Zarina said as she reached for one of the cats, petting it idly as T'Challa settled beside her, an arm thrown over her waist, his chest flush against her back. This typically meant he wanted to sleep, so she stayed still, letting him close his eyes and nose at the back of her neck, making a small rumbling sound that was almost similar to a purr.

"Are you sure you are not a cat?" she scoffed, unable to help herself as she turned to face him.

He simply chuckled, eyes still closed as he tugged her close, now facing him with her head tucked right under his chin. This was what the two normally did, same as always; they simply existed together.

"What do you think your father is hiding?" T'Challa murmured, almost asleep but still somewhat conscious, his lips barely moving.

"Something," she sighed, fisting her hand in the front of his shirt, "We have been talking about my studies, and when I found a book on simple mutations, like heterochromia, he stopped the entire conversation."

"Maybe he is uncomfortable with the topic," T'Challa suggested, but Zarina simply snorted, shaking her head.

"He is a teacher, he can't withhold information because it makes him uncomfortable," she reasoned, shaking her head, "He is hiding something. Because he took away all my books on mutations and he refuses to acknowledge me when I bring them up."

"Well, why do you think he is hiding something? Because he doesn't want to talk about mutations?" T'Challa asked, struggling to stay awake in order to continue to keep the conversation going.

"I want to know why," she huffed, pouting as she closed her eyes, burying her face in the front of his shirt, "He never hides things from me."

T'Challa simply hummed, mumbling unintelligible words of comfort as he drifted off to sleep, holding Zarina close as the cats all settled around them, their purring a gentle lullaby.

º º º

"What are you doing?"

T'Challa frowned down at where Zarina and W'Kabi were crouched behind a few bushes set to decorate the interior of the palace, looking out towards Elewa who was conversing lowly with a few elder members of the Border Tribe.

"Spying," W'Kabi said, grinning up at him brightly, "Zarina mentioned that her father might be hiding something, and I see him visiting the border at times, so I offered my assistance."

"How would Okoye feel about you sneaking around and spying on a trusted official?" T'Challa teased, nevertheless bending down and joining them behind the bushes.

"She does not control me, as I do not control her, it is a relationship not an ownership," W'Kabi scoffed, and Zarina smiled, motioning towards T'Challa with a stern look, the young man making a face, as if appalled she was trying to say something about his character at all.

"I do not act like I own you," he whispered to her, and she shushed him, focused on her father.

"—not like the spies, that is something else—not a risk to the border safety, it is the safest—"

"Spies?" Zarina parroted, staring at her father as he walked off in the opposite direction with the members, "We have spies?"

"Yes," T'Challa replied, "What do you think the War Dogs are? Some are stationed to keep the peace and for reconnaissance, but others do have more specific missions. "

"Do we know any spies?" Zarina asked, looking over to W'Kabi who shrugged.

"Okoye knows someone from the Water Tribe. Nakia, she says the two of you would get along," he replied, glancing over to T'Challa, "What do you think he means by spies?"

"He said it is not like the spies, so we have nothing to worry about," the young prince said, glancing over to Zarina, "As you do not want to be a spy. Border safety, that is what he is going to talk to my father about."

"Is there a threat to our borders?" the woman asked, looking over to W'Kabi who shrugged again, looking more somber now.

"Do you think it is Klaue?" he asked, looking up to T'Challa, "He has evaded your father for years now. If it is him, I would like to help take him."

"Like you have any power within you tribe, focus on contributing," Zarina hissed, but looked up at T'Challa nonetheless, "Has my father ever had anything to do with Klaue? He is an advisor, but not for war."

"No, he is not," T'Challa agreed, "But he is one for peace. I doubt this is Klaue, though, my father would have said. We should ask Shuri, she is good at eavesdropping."

"What are you three doing?"

The trio shouted as they whirled around to find Okoye staring at them with an unamused expression, her arms crossed, trapping her spear in one elbow. She raised her eyebrow to W'Kabi who cleared his throat, trying to give her a charming smile.

"What are you doing?" she repeated, and T'Challa spoke first, like a good leader, sacrificing himself for the good of his girlfriend and best friend.

"Spying," he admitted, glancing to the side, "On Elewa. Zarina feels he is hiding something, and we heard him mention doing something unlike the spies and something that involves the border."

"The border?" the Dora Milaje exclaimed, lowering her voice, "And spies? We have very few War Dogs stationed in Wakanda and all the others have been deployed, Nakia left just last week, what is happening with the border?"

"He said it was not a risk to the border, which means he must be doing something with the border," W'Kabi explained, the other three nodding in understanding, turning to look down the hallway where the man had long since disappeared.

"What are you doing here?" Zarina asked, glancing around for any other Dora Milaje.

She motioned towards T'Challa. "I've been placed to watch over him. Now it seems like there will be more trouble than we anticipated. Should we follow your father?" She directed this to Zarina who nodded earnestly, looking towards the boys for their responses.

"He is going to see my father," T'Challa said, he and W'Kabi nodding in agreement, "Okoye, do you know how to get to the ledge where the Dora Milaje stand in the throne room?"

She sighed, glancing around. "If asked, I was simply following you. And you requested the other two to be with you."

The four rushed down corridors and up a flight of stairs that had always been kept in the dark to T'Challa, the three scampering up the steps and reaching the closed door, pressed together as they all struggled to hear.

Sighing, Okoye carefully pushed open the door, allowing the three to listen in, though the conversation was already starting to finish, as there was now a back and forth rather than an appeal.

"Elewa, you know I trust you," T'Chaka sighed, "But I do not know if this is the best course of action. I mean...does she even know you exist?"

"I don't know!" Elewa cried, and Zarina surged forward towards the railing, unable to help herself; she had never heard her father so distressed, it was second only to his condition after her mother's death.

"That is why I need to go," he continued, "She was abandoned. She needs to know that I always cared. Please, you don't understand what it is like to leave a child without a father, the guilt is all-consuming."

Zarina stared, brushing off the Dora Milaje who reached out to push her back, some scolding Okoye who was being defended by T'Challa and an intimidated W'Kabi. She paid no mind to any of them, her eyes trained on her father.

T'Chaka was silent for a few moments. Zarina tried to see his expression, unsure as to why he had gone so silent, forcing her father to stand there, trying to maintain his composure and control himself as he waited, tension thick, permeating through the air.

"Zarina," T'Challa whispered, barely heard as he leaned right by her ear, "We have to go."

"No," she hissed, just as quiet, "I need to hear."

T'Challa pursed his lips but nodded, glancing back to their friends and the rest of the Dora Milaje who gave them disapproving looks, but said nothing, allowing their king to continue mulling over Elewa's words.

'You don't understand what it is like to leave a child without a father.'

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Zarina struggling to stay silent, barely breathing as she gripped T'Challa's arm, Okoye coming to stand behind her with W'Kabi close by, a hand on her shoulder.

"You have three days," T'Chaka relented with a sigh, shaking his head, Elewa nearly collapsing with relief and joy. "Elewa."

Zarina's father instantly stiffed at his name, coming back to stand rigid and respectful. "Yes, my king?"

"Why do you want to go?" the king asked, surprisingly gentle, "Why now? After all this time?"

Elewa glanced towards Shuri who was sitting on her mother's lap, the woman seated to her husband's left, giving the advisor a small smile. Shuri waved at him, not smiling as her father wasn't, immediately clasping her hands together when seeing that she was caught by everyone else.

Elewa sighed, a sad, fond smile playing on his lips, his eyes fogged over with a past Zarina did not know.

"Because I want to see my other daughter."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

( 06.29.18 )

Dun, dun, dun...if ya'll read Sleeping Beauty, you know what goes down, but don't spoil it for the others, because this is supposed to be the surprise, so that's how that's gonna go down, so yeah!

I wasn't sure how this chapter was gonna go down at all, but I really do like how it went, though I'm gonna need to make T'Challa and Zarina's relationship more interesting, but I know how to do that, because I had all these plans way back when.

Anyways! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!