The White Wolf

XXVII

She nodded her head a little too quickly before she rushed forward, throwing her arms around his shoulders to hug him tightly. T'Challa initially flinched before he chuckled a little, returning her hug with a small pat on her back. "Thank you." She spoke softly before she pulled away, the two friends smiling at each other. "This means a lot to me. And to Bucky."

He waved his hand at her with a light-hearted laugh. "Go give him the news, I'll start working with Okoye to contact Ross. He said, pushing his hands onto the armrests of the throne to stand up. Ava grinned a little, pivoting around to trot out of the room. 

Walking over the rise in the land along the trail home, Ava squinted against the sunlight to see Bucky busying himself with tending to the goats, using his one arm to toss hay out to them and reach down to scratch behind their ears every so often as they pranced around him, happy at the thought of fresh food. Some of the local children sat in the tree outside their home, watching him as they swung their thin legs off of the winding branches. 

"Are you children being good to the White Wolf today?" Ava asked in their language as she approached, gaining their attention as well as Bucky's.

"Yes, Pale Mother." One of them smiled down at her from the treetop. 

She placed her hands on her hips, squinting as she looked up at him from the rays of sunlight beaming from in between the leaves. "Run on home now, all of you. I need a moment alone with the White Wolf."

Bucky glanced between her and the kids, trying to pick up on a few of the words Ava had taught him, such as the words 'children' and 'home'. After she spoke, the three kids that were playing in the leaves and branches scurried down the trunk in a chorus of giggles, taking off in long strides along the grass as if they themselves were gazelles. Ava let her arms fall to her sides as she watched them run, disappearing over the hilltop, before she turned to look at Bucky. 

His long hair stuck to his face that glistened with beads of sweat from hard work under the roasting African sunlight. His steel eyes were dulled, his features still drooping from the loss of his dear sister. She was actually surprised to see him outside working, as the news had only come to them that morning. But, it was better than finding him alone in bed, sobbing out his broken heart. He scanned his eyes over her, waiting to hear what she had to say.

"I found a way that we might be able to go to her funeral." Ava said slowly, trying to be gentle with her words. "So you can say goodbye, get some closure maybe." Her shoulders raised in a slight shrug. 

His stubbled cheeks puffed out with a sharp exhale and he shook his head, squinting into the sunlight as he looked out over the hill. "I don't know if I should go." He muttered and turned his head again to look at her, sorrow deep in his eyes. 

"What do you mean?"

His lips pressed firmly together as he swallowed down the lump in his throat. "She had kids. They will be there." He said, pausing as he tried to articulate his thoughts better. "I don't want to meet them." Bucky shook his head. "I'm their uncle, but they're all grown up and I-"

"You haven't met them before and you're afraid of what they will think of you." Ava nodded her head. "I get it."

"Meeting them will only bring up more complications. I can't get attached to more people that I can't form relationships with. I can't live in the States because of the Accords and the United Nations deal after the bomb." The skin between his brows crinkled with a frown, his eyes shifting downward to the grass in front of his sandal-clad feet. "It's safer if I stay away from them. For everybody."

She felt herself frown deeper as she stepped closer, pushing a strand of sweat-dampened hair out of his face. "Will you get the closure you need if you don't go?"