The White Wolf

XXV

Bucky nodded, glancing to the hut. "Most people have." He shrugged. "I especially have no room to judge." 

Ava shook her head. "You didn't have a decision to make. Hydra made it for you." She said, wiping her forehead again. W'Kabi stepped out with some boxes and loaded them, helping Ava and Bucky collect everything from inside. Ava handed him the bags of clothes and bedding along with a note explaining what the bags were for. "Take these to Princess Shuri. I'll send the rhino back to you when we are done." She handed them to W'Kabi.

He nodded and took them, beginning his walk. Ava went to the animal, climbing up onto the large saddle on it's back. "Hop up." She looked at Bucky with a smile. 

"You have got to be kidding me." He deadpanned. She shook her head. If he had been told even an hour earlier that he would be riding a rhinoceros, he would have laughed. A kid from Brooklyn, New York, who was a Sergeant in the Army, and a deadly Hydra assassin, was now about ride a freaking rhinoceros in Wakanda like it was just another day in the office. He sighed, chuckling to himself as those thoughts ran through his head and climbed on behind Ava. "This has got to be the craziest thing I have ever done."

"You fought in World War II against Nazis and Hydra." She laughed, taking the reins and directing the rhino where to go. Bucky laughed, nodding as the animal walked forward, carrying them and hauling the boxes with them. "I told T'Challa I was moving. He bought my hut from me so Shuri can use it for local children in need of shelter." She smiled. "It would please Baba to know his house is being used for good. She's naming it after him. I think she is calling it Zuri's Memorial Child Center." She said the name in the native language.

Bucky smiled, having no idea what she had said. He only knew that it made her smile, so it made him smile too. "I know how to speak in many different languages. English, Russian, German, Romanian... But I don't know the language here." He said, leaning forward to look at the side of her face since he was sat behind her. "Will you teach it to me?"

Ava's lips twitched happily, and she glanced back at him. "You must be good at learning languages."

"Comes with my job." He shrugged with a small smirk.

She laughed and looked ahead again. "Sure. I'll teach you."

Bucky hummed and smiled again, and soon enough they had made it back to his hut. One of the goats bleated, and hopped around the corral. He seemed much more energetic than the others. Ava laughed softly as she got down from the rhino. Bucky followed, smiling a little bit at the goat. "I like him the most." He pointed to the bounding, black goat. He was the only black one of the group. The others were white, brown, or a mix of white and brown.

"Me too." She smiled and picked up a few boxes. Bucky picked one up, walking into the hut with her. Once everything was brought in after a few trips to and from the cart, Ava smacked the rump of the rhino and it wandered away.

"I thought we were taking it back to W'Kabi." Bucky said, watching it go.

"It knows it's way home." She smiled, grabbing his hand. "We have some unpacking to do."

Bucky glanced at her, gently giving her hand a squeeze. 

**********

It only took a few hours to get everything unpacked and settled into place. By then, it was late evening and both of them were fairly sweaty. "That's it. We are living together." Ava grinned up at him. Bucky smiled and stepped closer to kiss her, but was stopped short by a knock at the door. He frowned slightly, walking through the sitting room to answer it. 

"Barnes." Okoye greeted when he opened the door to her. "The king sent me to give this to you." She said, holding out a large, tan envelope. "It comes from Captain Rogers."