Symbiosis, page 16
I have to stop it— she begins, but her extraterrestrial friend cuts her off.
No, he says. Princess strong. Turn to maximum.
Completely without her permission, Shuri’s fingertips find the right Kimoyo bead and twist. Which makes it feel like thirty thousand sirens are going off inside her head at once. She squeezes her eyes shut and opens her mouth to scream.
Shuri has no idea how much time passes, but the next thing she knows, the symbiote’s voice is saying Goodbye, Princess and fading from her mind. The ache in her head begins to abate, though now she feels like she’s going to lose her lunch and fall asleep simultaneously.
“Shuri, the vacuum!” K’Marah’s voice says from somewhere far off.
The princess’s hand drifts back to her bracelet, and she taps a bead—praying to Bast that it’s the right one.
Then the world goes dark.
When the princess opens her eyes, she’s no longer on the plain. She props herself up on her elbows to look around … and finds herself in her bed.
Was that whole thing a dream?
Her bedroom door opens.
“Ah! You’re awake!” Nakia says, walking over to place a cup of water on the princess’s bedside table.
“Uhhh … what day is it?” Shuri says.
At this, Nakia laughs. “It’s only been a few hours, Your Majesty.”
“Oh. A few hours since … what precisely?”
“Ehh, nothing major,” the Msingi replies with a smirk. “Just you freeing one hundred and eighty-three Wakandans from their alien captors, and subsequently suctioning what looked like a giant oil spill up into the belly of your Panther aircraft.”
Shuri’s head whips left and she locks eyes with her favorite Dora. “You mean it was all real?”
Nakia laughs again. “As real as the black eye your brother acquired in the mass brawl.”
For the next who-knows-how-many-minutes, the beautiful warrior sits by Shuri’s side, recounting all that transpired after Shuri’s personal symbiote detached from her body and she fell unconscious. And she apparently wasn’t the only one: “It was the strangest thing I have ever seen,” Nakia says. “These black blobs vibrating like mad and then flying off their various hosts … who all looked around, very clearly confused, before collapsing the same way you did.”
Medical personnel were dispatched and Nakia assures Shuri that the other hosts—who came from all over the nation—are perfectly fine, if not disoriented and convinced they were dreaming.
“You saved countless lives today, Your Majesty,” Nakia continues. “You stepped out in courage and took a major risk, and it paid off. Again.”
Spider-Miles, as it turns out, was whisked away almost as soon as the fight was over. “The American spider hero received quite the royal transport treatment: T’Challa sent him home in the stealth jet.”
“Wow,” Shuri replies. T’Challa doesn’t even allow her onto the stealth jet, and she’s the one who invented it.
Nakia gives a brief recap of landing the Predator as instructed, using the remote that Shuri gave her.
But just before the princess can ask if a thermal scan was run on the cargo hold to make sure all (but one) of the symbiotes were gone, Nakia’s bracelet rings.
When she taps the bead to accept the call, a silhouette of the queen mother’s upper half appears in midair above her wrist. “Ah, the princess is awake, I see!” she says. Overenthusiastically. “Delightful! Nakia, please escort my daughter to the throne room as soon as possible. She has a visitor.”
Shuri barely has the energy to keep her feet moving, let alone ponder over who this visitor might be …
But when she steps into the throne room and sees who is sitting beside Mother, the princess’s mouth goes bone dry.
“We meet again!” M’Baku bellows. From the grin on his face, Shuri can tell he’s up to no good … for her at least.
“Uhhhhh …” is all she can muster to say.
“M’Baku was kind enough to return this.” Mother holds up one of the earrings that were gifted to the princess during her Tayari—the three-day rite of passage ceremony Wakandan girls go through at age twelve. Shuri’s hands go to her earlobes … the left one is woefully empty.
“I sure hope all the gadgets you snuck into my domain were helpful in your ‘conversation’ with our Henbane. He is feeling much better, by the way.” M’Baku glowers in Shuri’s direction.
“Now, while I can appreciate your work in ridding our nation of those bizarre extraterrestrial invaders, and I cannot reprimand your Msingi for permitting you to embark on such a dangerous quest behind my back—again,” Mother continues, “now that I know you visited the Jabari-Lands and violated their tech prohibition—”
“Let me guess,” Shuri says, completely unfazed about cutting her mother off. (It’s not as though the princess has anything to lose now, does she?) “I’m grounded.”
Queen Ramonda smiles. “I am so glad we understand each other, Shuri.”
I WOULD NEVER ALLOW MOTHER TO HEAR ME SAY THIS, BUT ONE GOOD THING ABOUT BEING “GROUNDED” IS THAT I HAVE ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD TO TWEAK AND INVENT AND WORK ON VARIOUS UNFINISHED PROJECTS.
Like our security dome.
After the whole Battle of the Alien Symbiote Horde thing, I checked the Kimoyo Capture programming and discovered that the hole in the dome above the Jabari-Lands was the result of there being absolutely nothing Kimoyo connected in the entire region.
It might be said that this problem was remedied through a series of beads that happened to be “dropped” in various mountain spots one night while I “dreamed” that I snuck out and was flying through the region on ropes of strange web-like material. (And I know this is a further violation of M’Baku’s no-tech rules, but the safety of the entire nation is VERY clearly at stake.)
Only once the dome was complete did I present our symbiote with the nebular gem. Or perhaps I should say Venbane. Once our alien friend came to realize that, even with said gem, they wouldn’t be able to return to their home planet—the hostility they were sure to face was quite the deterrent—he reconnected with Henbane, and the pair decided to just “pop” up wherever tickled their shared fancy.
K’Marah has clearly moved on: When I told her Henbane would be traveling the cosmos as the symbiote’s host, she barely responded. “Great for him! Hey, look at the photograph Miles just sent me. He snapped it while swinging through New York City on his webs. Isn’t he so talented?”
I simply rolled my eyes at that one.
Oddly enough, I do, in fact, miss the symbiote. Having a companion inside my head to bounce ideas off of was nice for a time. I would never admit it aloud, but I am hoping that he eventually comes back—though also hoping the others stay far, far away forever. My biggest hope is that I’ll be able to call to them like they said I could. Supposedly, hosting a symbiote creates a bond for as long as both entities are alive. I’d really like for them to come to one of the camps we’ll be hosting at the Hive some four months from now …
Because that’s the other thing. One day when Mother was out of the palace—shopping with Clothier Lwazi—T’Challa summoned me to the throne room.
My dear brother was so impressed by what we pulled off, he has decided to fully fund K’Marah’s and my Run-The-World Camp. The first round of invitations has already gone out.
So there you have it. Wakanda is safe (and alien-free … for now, at least), whole, and beginning to take part in the affairs of the rest of the world. I am still not quite sure how I feel about all of it, but camp will certainly be fun …
If I can manage to stay un-grounded, that is.
I have given my Msingi my word that I will be on my best(ish) behavior.
For now, at least.
Princess Shuri signing off.
Wakanda forever.
NIC STONE is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Dear Martin, Dear Justyce, and Odd One Out. She was born and raised in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, and the only thing she loves more than an adventure is a good story about one. After graduating from Spelman College, she worked extensively in teen mentoring and lived in Israel for a few years before returning to the United States to write full-time. Having grown up with a wide range of cultures, religions, and backgrounds, she strives to bring diverse voices and stories into her work. Learn more at nicstone.info.
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Nic Stone, Symbiosis
