Good News and Bad News

J'Zaki stood at the side while he waited for each of his members to wake up with Linoh by his side. The young man's eyes didn't leave Shuri or Ororo.

Seeing his worried gaze, Linoh laughed at her student's behavior.

"I am glad to see that this side of you hasn't changed. No matter how large your wings become, you are still the little bird that I taught to fly." Linoh rubbed her former student's head.

J'Zaki swiped her hand away and grunted.

"Enough of that, Teacher. I need your honest opinion."

"On whether you can trust N'Jadaka or if your chances of victory in this upcoming match are secure?" The woman asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Both."

"Same answer. Speak with your brother. Do not bark commands at him like you usually do but actually sit down and talk with him. When was the last time you both actually talked with one another?"

J'Zaki had to think about it for a moment. Ever since he returned from the mountains, he and his brother had never seen eye to eye like before. Whenever they spoke, it was always about official matters or reprimanding the other. J'Zaki was pretty sure that they hadn't even comforted one another when their father died.

"Before I went up the mountains."

"And you don't think that anything is wrong with that?"

J'Zaki nodded before shaking his head.

"It's not like there is nothing wrong with it. It's just..." 'It just means that one of us will have to put away our pride and make that first stop.'

"I taught you for years, little bird. I know that your pride would make even gods amazed. But with the changes that Wakanda is about to go through, is now a time to let your pride get in the way?"

Before he could answer, J'Zaki heard the moaning and grunting of the people on the table. He walked over to stand between Ororo and Shuri while Linoh checked on the others. The first to start sitting up was Shuri.

"How was it?" J'Zaki asked with a smile

"I saw Baba." Shuri smiled, thinking about how good it would be if she truly saw her father. "He said that I was his favorite."

"I already knew that. You blew up your lab at least 5 times before I went up the mountains but I don't remember him yelling at you once." J'Zaki laughed to himself remembering the time when Shuri was making a new chocolate-flavored soda and ended up covering herself and her entire in some weird foam. It took Shuri 4 baths to finally get the smell off of her while she couldn't enter her lab for a week until the cleaning crew got the mess cleaned out.

J'Zaki was going to ask her more about her meeting with their father when he felt Ororo tugging on her arm. He turned to see his fiancee sitting up with one hand while her other hand gripped her stomach.

"Are you ok? Did the heart-shaped fruit cause you any pain?"

"Uh-uh. It was just... I saw Lady Gaea when I went to the Ancestral Plane. She answered all of my questions before I could even ask them and then gave me more than I was expecting to know." Ororo then went on to explain how she felt conflicted about the upcoming battle but was unsure how she could have brought it up to J'Zaki.

Thinking about how he had never stopped to ask Ororo's opinion and just assumed that she would join him for the battle made J'Zaki feel guilty. He pulled Ororo into his arms and hugged her as he sincerely apologized.

"My apologies. I should have asked you about it sooner."

"Do not feel guilty, my love. You know me well enough to know that I will never turn down a good fight." Ororo smiled. "This is just the one fight that I cannot join."

"Did Lady Gaea say that she will renounce you if you do?"

"No! Nothing like that!" Ororo hurried to deny that. "She was actually very supportive of someone putting her naughty children in their place. It's just that..." Ororo didn't continue but she looked down and continued to rub her stomach.

J'Zaki caught onto this and was confused at first before putting the pieces together.

"Are you..."

"I am."

"Since when?"

"Not sure. She just sensed life in me and said that by the time the battle comes around, it would be too dangerous for the life."

J'Zaki couldn't agree more. Just knowing that Ororo was pregnant made him want to keep her safe in the castle until she gave birth to their child.

"Well, Mother shall be happy. She has been bugging T'Challa about giving her a grandchild for years now."

"And what about you?" Ororo asked expectantly. Her eyes bore into J'Zaki's eyes.

"Of course, I am happy as well. But we made need to move up the date of our wedding so that you will not have to get a new dress."

Ororo giggled when she heard his answer. It was just like him. To be happy but also focus on fixing any new problems.

"How about next week then?" Ororo figured that she was still early enough in her pregnancy that if she had the wedding within the next week, it wouldn't affect the upcoming contest of champions.

"Sounds good to me. Let's go inform Mother and your parents. We can hold a small ceremony at the manor."

Shuri watched them from the side before sighing to herself.

'These two are in a world of their own.' And Shuri knew how to bring them out.

"Since Ororo can't join, that means we only have 5 people for the Contest of Champions. We need at least one person that can act as a substitute in case anything comes. Which means..."

J'Zaki rolled his eyes at his sister.

"I'll talk to T'Challa after we inform Mother."