The Wanderer - 254 (Patreon)

Chapter 254 – Champion

[2009 – October – Friday]

Seeing the elevator close its doors through John's eyes as he escorted her guests back down to the underground parking garage, Emma rose from her seat again and placed her phone into an empty drawer in the kitchen that was likewise fitted with copper mesh inlays before closing it and sighing.

The meeting had gone as well as she had hoped and after some rather elaborate negotiating, she had even managed to get a verbal agreement for some possible cooperation. Specifically about some import licenses so that she might be able to conduct business with the Wakandan government, mainly involving the import of raw materials and foreign products to Wakanda.

Naturally, Emma was aware that the actual process to arrive at something more substantial than a verbal agreement would not be an easy one with how secretive the Wakandans were about the real situation of their country but she likewise knew that this meeting had already gone far better than she had anticipated.

She also already had plans on how to accelerate the formulation of the specific business arrangements thanks to a piece of information that Selene had unexpectedly offered about an antique weapon currently on display in the Tokyo National Museum as part of the exhibition of rare African artifacts.

The exhibition was placed there for another half a year before it was going to move to the Royal Ontario Museum according to Emma's knowledge, though if everything went her way, they would be moving with one artifact less in their collection.

And since she couldn't quite imagine how to leave a better impression on Wakandan nationals than by returning an ancient Vibranium weapon back into their hands, she was almost certain that her future business relationship with them would turn out just fine.

Especially after their own investigations revealed that she was most likely not in possession of the quarter-ton of Vibranium, which they would since she was quite the expert in covering tracks, courtesy of her plentiful experience.

Additionally, while she wasn't sure why Selene had passed her this piece of information, she was pretty confident that it had something to do with Elijah, which made her wary since the Black Queen's schemes were very hard to figure out, even for her.

Turning towards her younger brother, Emma saw Elijah still standing near the window, his dark figure seeming somewhat solitary for a moment before he turned his head towards her, his unique eyes finding hers as he smiled ever so slightly.

She also saw a small black featherball with amber eyes on his shoulder, even though she couldn't tell since when Arya was present as Elijah had concealed the tiny avian's mental fluctuations flawlessly. Arya's bright eyes narrowed in joy as she hooted a happy greeting, causing Emma to smile all the same.

“Congratulations, your negotiations went well it seems.”, Elijah voiced out, his slight smile turning into a somewhat mischievous grin, “I am quite impressed actually how you had them dance on your palm. They were even eager enough to provide their own music and dance shoes.”

Laughing quietly at the image his words presented, Emma replied as she grabbed a bottle of orange juice for herself and Elijah from the fridge: “Well, I am quite the experienced choreographer.”

"Of that, I have no doubt.", he smiled in response and the quiet admiration in his tone made her feel as if her heart was suddenly beating more powerfully.

Despite growing up with Christian as if they had been twins and being able to share almost everything with him, it was Elijah that Emma felt most connected to amongst her remaining family, not including her daughter as she was still working on getting to know the girl.

She saw not the faintest hint of judgement in his eyes when he complimented her skills of manipulation and his admiration was sincerely genuine.

Smiling quietly, she passed him the small bottle of juice before asking: “And what did you sense, are they protected?”

Emma made sure not to mention the word 'god' or 'Ennead' while asking this since Elijah had told her that 'they' could sense it when 'they' were called, and she preferred not to take any risk with divine figures that might be able to smite her.

"Hmm.", her younger brother hummed, nodding in response, "T'Challa is an Ennead's champion, so don't try to manipulate him using your gifts as she might help him resist."

“You met this being just now?“, she asked with a hesitant and somewhat worried frown.

“We had a short talk for the purposes of exchanging information. It was quite enlightening.”, Elijah nodded, “Though you can rest assured that Bastet will not target you as long as you don't undermine her faith or outright kill her champion.”

"Everything else though is pretty much fair game and she would not dare to harm you for using your skills to benefit yourself in your dealings with Wakanda. Especially not when that might cause her to worry about possible retribution, send her way by yours truly.", he added.

Quietly thinking about his words for a moment, Emma voiced out: "Still, there must be a limit to how much she would tolerate my actions."

Elijah though shook his head and replied: "She is someone who walked the path of faith and as such, the most important thing for her is the source of said faith. Also, there exists somewhat of a common understanding amongst 'gods' and their interference in mortal matters."

“Choosing a champion and entrusting him or her the task of protecting the faith of their patron is generally the full extent of their actions on Earth. Any further or direct involvement presents a breach of said pact and the consequences for such are comparatively dire.”

“So, as long as you don't try to directly destroy her religion, the Wakandans will have to rely on themselves when dealing with any other threats themselves. The survival of the faith is the only thing that matters to Bastet.”

"Even killing T'Challa should not cause a negative reaction since there have been countless champions since the founding of Wakanda and Bastet's following. But I would refrain from doing so nonetheless since she might see it as a direct provocation, and everyone has their pride, especially 'gods'. So don't unnecessarily poke at it.", he ended his explanation with a knowing smirk.

Listening to matters involving real 'gods' was a bit shocking even for her, especially since those words were spoken by her younger brother. Still, those matters also roused her curiosity as she had always loved knowing things and this topic certainly seemed interesting enough.

Knowledge was often equated to power and Emma had experienced the truth of those words countless times herself. However, in this case, she also understood that knowing more could turn out to be very dangerous.

Anything involving higher beings was potentially dangerous for mortals according to Elijah, so she suppressed her curiosity and answered.

"Well, having the Prince killed is not in my interest but I will take your advice to heart.", Emma stated with a calm smile, before continuing while a hint of warmth snuck into her smile and tone, "Though thank you for being here to protect me."

"Always.", Elijah replied with a simple smile, his shadowed eyes carrying a somewhat soft look.