Epilogue:

"Shuri, what are all these things?"

"I don't know, Big Brother. They were here waiting for me when I returned from America. I was told the trunk over appeared overnight on the third staging area to the North, pushed up against the forcefield. Here, this was on the trunk."

Princess Shuri passed King T'Challa a metal tag. He read the engraving aloud, becoming more bemused as he did: "To the Princess Shuri of Wakanda, Daughter of Panthers, Glorious Mistress of Metallurgy, Artifice, Experiment and Design, Greetings from the House of Naibur... Admirers, dear Sister? What is the House of Naibur?"

Shuri let out a cackle. She had just opened an envelope from the trunk and was reading the letter inside. She picked up a slim book and thrust it at her brother. He became more confused, staring at the first page, an elaborate family tree. He turned the page, to see a portrait of one Althak Ulricson, a rather squat man with elaborate braids framing his strong-featured face, pointed ears, and strangely spidery fingers. The caption included his height-four feet seven inches?, weight, age- two hundred?, titles, and special skills, which included metallurgy, analytical chemistry, dancing, and mastery of a musical instrument called a bombulum. The next page was a portrait of Pepi Ulricson- four feet five inches, age one hundred seventy- then Aud Ulricsdettir- four feet two inches, age two hundred sixty-two... He flipped through the pages. Ten portraits in all. He looked up at his sister, one eyebrow raised.

"The letter is from Althair Ulricson. He says and I quote, 'the genius of your design is admired by all of the House of Naibur, but by none so much as me. I send you these gifts, Dearest Inspiration, in hopes that you will consider a meeting of our minds, and perhaps a union of our hearts.' I think they might have picked him to write the letter because he's the tallest, if you know what I mean. Look at those portraits. They're all so shrimpy." She chuckled again and set the letter aside. "This stuff is really cool, though, T'Challa! Look at this! And this! I mean, wow!"

"Who are they, though?"

Shuri didn't answer right away, as she was reading another, longer letter from the same envelope. Her eyes widened. "Oh," she said, turning the page over. "Ohh..."

"What is it?"

"Master Ulric of the House of Naibur is the dwarf who made that leg and lung for Prince Loki of Asgard. Also new hands, it says here. I guess we did hear about that, didn't we? He was very impressed with the vibranium addition I made for Loki and wanted to get in touch sooner, but obviously couldn't since we made the Avengers and Asgardians swear to secrecy." She grinned. "But he says Althak has been tracking 'Midgardian media' ever since and caught your UN address. At least they're consistent with their story." She kept reading, then searched the envelope again. "It says he's enclosed a note from Loki as well... Aha!" She pulled out a plain white card and stared at it briefly. She looked vaguely disappointed and handed it to T'Challa.

The king laughed out loud as he read the simple words printed in ornate script on the card: A token of my esteem. That was it.

He passed it back to Shuri. As soon as she touched it again, Loki's voice drifted out of the air. If I were you, I'd give them a chance, Shuri. Althak is in fact quite good on the bombulum, and he is a fantastic dancer, as is his sister Pepi. As soon as the message ended, the blank white of the card changed, with incomprehensible math racing over the paper in rapid-fire sequence. Shuri's eyes widened, and she shrieked, "Computer, record! Record!" Seconds later, the equations stopped. Shuri jumped up and raced over to a work-desk, plunking the card down under bright light, directly under a camera lens. Anxiously, she poked at the paper. "Come on, do it again," she muttered. "T'Challa, get over here!" She grabbed his hand and pressed one finger onto the card, whooping in delight as the message and math started up again under their combined touch. "Awesome. I'll figure out what that stuff means later." She switched off the light and carefully set the card on a shelf before turning back to the rest of her trove.

"So, do you want to have a coffee date with Althak?" T'Challa drawled.

"Maybe," Shuri replied with a grin.

Author's Note: abadee-abadee-abadee that's all, folks!