Into the Ring

Chapter Twenty-One~T'Chaka

My eyes snap open and I sit up to find myself somewhere completely different. I'm in the soft, wildly green grass in front of the facility. The Hudson flows slowly like it always does and a gentle breeze causes the pines behind me to wave, but it seems empty. It's just me here. Suddenly, the place flickers and I hop to my feet as it changes to the one of the cliffs in Wakanda, the waterfalls roaring at my side. It evens out and my right foot is in the grass at the facility and my left is in the red clay of Wakanda. My eyes lift when a man approaches me from the left side and I turn to face him.

"What is this?" I ask, the purple and dark yellow sky dancing around us like the northern lights.

"This," he raises his hands and gestures everywhere, "is you." He tells me in a deep, accented voice before coming to a stop in front of me. "I didn't know if I would ever get to meet you." Slowly, it dawns on me.

"T'Chaka." My biological father. My breath leaves me in a long exhale. Suddenly, I feel far more vulnerable than I want to in front of a stranger. "I didn't know if I wanted to meet you," I respond honestly and cross my arms over my chest defensively. "You found my mom to bring her in and decided, 'hey, it'll probably be okay if I just hit that and leave her here.' Are you kidding me?" More emotion leaks into my voice than I thought I had connected with this. His head shakes.

"You aren't aware of everything. Allow me to explain." He holds his hand out and I stare at it for a moment. I sidestep it but walk with him when he starts moving. "Your mother, Lahleka-"

"Was that her name?" I interrupt him and he looks over at me, then nods. "She was Alice, to me," I tell him and a beat passes before he continues.

"She was my first love," T'Chaka reveals and his voice is tinged with melancholy nostalgia. At least he seems to genuinely regret this. "We'd met when we were younger than you and fell in love. She was wild, passionate, and head-strong. And beautiful, of course. Breathtaking. But she wanted to be a War Dog and I was destined to be a King. We knew that it would never work, so instead of continuing to grow more attached to one another, we split. I found another love that was better for me and for my country." He sighs as we reach a tree dripping with Black Panthers and sits us down on a root that juts out of the ground and forms a bench. I do a double take and recognize this as the tree T'Challa and Shuri took me to today.

"And then she defected. Why didn't you bring her in?" I ask, not sure if I have a right to be angry that he didn't. After all, if he did, I might not exist. His head shakes and he leans forward, clasping his hands together.

"Weakness. It was the first time that I had seen her since our parting and I had missed her." I can hear the apology in his voice as he speaks. "And afterward, I was so ashamed of what I'd done that I left her there. I allowed my sin to fade into the back of my mind, along with your mother."

"So, you never even knew about me? You never even knew she was pregnant?" I question frankly, but with a certain level of softness. He made a mistake, but if he didn't know about me he didn't intentionally leave me there. His hand lifts to secure the cloth over his shoulder before he shakes his head.

"Not until I came here and my eyes were opened, no. And I am sorry for it. Your life has been dictated by unfairness because of my failure of morality." He apologizes and I'll admit I'm a bit surprised by it.

"Now I'm the bastard daughter of a king instead of the spoiled girl experimented on by her parents." I scoff and nearly smile at the expression on his face. "I was born and raised in America. I'm not a polished princess." I excuse my words and attitude which he half-smiles at.

"That may be to Wakanda's advantage. Besides," he chuckles, "none would describe my children as polished." I hum with quiet laughter before settling again. I'm surprised he actually got a laugh out of me. Our eyes meet again and he rests a hand on mine. "I know this is not what you desired when you came to Wakanda-"