As the sun climbed higher
and beat down with more heat, Tony Stark was aware of a few things
he’d missed earlier. One was that even a lightweight business
suit felt crappy in the tropics. Another was that Queen Nonanithuqui
might look like a linebacker in housedress but she was clearly
nobody’s fool. And lastly, that wherever Pepper Potts was at
the moment, she should not
be having a good time.
Tony wasn’t resentful, exactly, but it hadn’t
helped his mood to see her trot off with a pair of Tahitian boy toys
while he got stuck hammering out picayune details for a mining
agreement that might or might not be, in fact, agreed on.
This was very big on the Not Fair scale, he decided. Potts was the one
with the business acumen, the unflappable mien, the mental rolodex of
contacts. She shouldn’t be off doing God knew what with the
resident hunks and leaving him here to figure this out.
“Let us take a walk and a bit of a break, Mr.
Stark,” The queen murmured, noting his distracted look. Tony
nodded, rising to his feet, but the queen beat him and shook out her
long, grey-streaked hair, breathing deeply. “Ahhh the breeze
is good. Come, the tide is going out.”
“Bully for the tide,” he murmured, but under his
breath and followed in the wide wake of the queen.
The surroundings were beautiful, he noted absently, with tall coconut
trees and pale gold sandy beaches underfoot. The long blue-green line
of the sea was underlined by the white foam of breaking waves. Tony
relaxed a little, and took in a deep breath, aware that the ocean
smelled good.
“Take off your shoes; you’ll be more
comfortable,” the Queen advised in a murmur.
“Islands are not for shoes.”
“Don’t you mean shoes aren’t for
islands?” came his counterpoint.
The Queen shot him a patient smile.
Tony glanced down at his two thousand dollar Berluti lace-ups and
stepped out of them peeling his socks off as well. The Queen clapped
her hands and a smiling servant boy ran out, took the shoes and socks
from Tony, bowing slightly.
“Good help,” Tony acknowledged.
The Queen nodded. “It’s easier because most of them
are related to me. Now—more comfortable?”
He couldn’t lie. “Yes,” came the
admission as he stepped up to walk abreast of her across the soft sand.
She nodded and they strode on for a bit, reaching the firmer sand above
the breaking waves.
The Queen gave a happy sigh and waved an arm back towards the land.
“The highest rise behind us is Tinglotiva, Mr. Stark. As you
can see, it’s not much of a mountain compared with anything
you may have in the United States. My nephews can scale it in two
hours; the path to it is not even paved. And yet you tell me it holds
enough wealth to make my little Ulavuta one of the foremost nations on
the planet.”
“Yep.”
“I’m not sure I want that,” the Queen
told him, and turned to look out over the ocean. For a moment, Tony
stood, slightly stymied.
He hadn’t come across too many people who weren’t
interested in becoming wealthy, and those he had were generally
idealists, eccentrics or inhabitants of their own little worlds.
Clearly Queen Nonanithuqui the Tenth was all three at the same time.
“Okay, but you have to consider that it might not be all
about you,”
he reasoned. “The kind of money we’re talking about
is enough to put your subjects into the twentieth century. Those
nephews of yours could go to any university in the world. You could
have controlling interest in the development of your country, and the
attention of every industrialized nation on the planet.”
“I know,” the Queen murmured gently. “I
also know that if I do not make some sort of agreement about how to
handle the palladium, that Ulavuta will be subject to invasion,
annexation or coup. I’m not really ready to die just yet, Mr.
Stark.”
“Whoa, nobody said anything about invasions or
dying,” Tony shot back, slightly alarmed. The Queen turned to
look at him, her gaze tinged with sadness.
“I just did. And you know
the way the world works, Mr. Stark. Ulavuta will not be left alone
anymore, not with this much potential wealth here. I have to walk
carefully among the tigers—something I think you know about
first-hand yourself.”
Tony gave a reluctant nod. “Okay, yeah, you’re
right. Ulavuta is definitely on the map now, and that’s not
going to change anytime soon. All the more reason to work with me here and get
the best deal going.”
The Queen waded into the oncoming wave, and seawater soaked the hem of
her dress. She laughed softly. “The best deal. I would rather
work with you, Mr. Stark, than any of the others, and do you know why?
Let me give you a hint—it’s certainly not about the
money.”
Tony managed a smile back; she was a cagey one, this Nonanithuqui.
“I’ll bite, your Majesty, why?”
“Two reasons. First of all, Stark Industries is dismantling
their weapon production. I am heartened to see that you and your
resources are turning to more productive and less aggressive endeavors.
That fits in well with Ulavuta’s way of life.”
“Yeah, well it’s a work in progress,”
Tony replied, slightly embarrassed and yet touched by her simple words.
Out along the blue-green horizon, the beautiful curl of a wave rolled
forward and broke into a line of white foam and both of them admired it
for a moment. “And the other?”
“That you love the ocean,” she replied.
Tony blinked, and took off his sunglasses, trying to figure that out.
The Queen chuckled deeply and turned around, heading up out of the
water.
“I’m not sure how that equates in all
this—” he began uncertainly, but the Queen gave a
shrug of her massive shoulders.
“Your house. It overlooks the ocean. You have chosen to live
where you can see it all the time, and the reason for that, aside from
the flash and panache of the Malibu real estate is that you find it
soothing to the soul. Any man who appreciates what power and majesty
lie in the resources of the earth is a man who understands himself. I
would bet you, Tony Stark, that there are very few mirrors in your
home, but many, many windows. Am I right?”
“Yeah . . .” he acknowledged, still slightly lost.
The Queen laughed again. “Ha! See? You are a man with a soul,
unlike some of the others that I will be forced to entertain and listen
to. And because of that, I think I
will deal with you and Stark Enterprises over anyone
else.”
“Well all right!” Tony enthused, sticking his
sunglasses into his coat pocket. He would have continued speaking, but
the sudden appearance of three surfboards, two studs, and Pepper Potts
in a tiny green bikini sucked the air out of his lungs.
“Hey Auntie Nona! We’re going to teach Miss Pepper
how to surf!” One of the boys yelled as the three of them
jogged towards the Queen.
Pepper had her hair down, and managed to carry her board with a lithe,
athletic grace. She gleamed with sunscreen.
“Potts—” Tony finally managed to blurt as
she shifted her surfboard in front of herself and blushed, looking both
bashful and slightly defiant.
“Mr. Stark,” she cooed back, smiling shyly.
“I hope your negotiations are going well.”
“You’re in a bathing suit,” he babbled.
“Almost. Showing skin. Confess; you’re not the real
Pepper Potts.”
“Afraid so,” she admitted, lifting her chin.
“But you know how it is when you’re a guest. Have
to go with the flow.”
“Stop. Having. fun.” Tony ordered in an undertone,
his scowl flashing as he leaned closer.
Pepper gave an innocent look in return, and lightly hefted her board.
“I’ll try to have a terrible time, sir, although it
may be difficult.” She trotted off, flanked by the two studs,
laughing.
“Try harder!”
Tony ordered, only to turn and find the Queen grinning at
him, her strong white teeth nearly as dazzling as those of her nephews.
“This isn’t right; she should be working, you
know.”
“All work and no play makes Miss Potts a lonely woman, Mr.
Stark. Besides, we shall have tea on the terrace and you may keep an
eye on her surfing lesson,” came the soft reply. Tony shot a
last despairing glance as down the beach, Pepper splashed her way into
the waves.
The sight of her--long, sleek and wet--was doing things to him that no
amount of good tailoring could hide for long, and Tony reluctantly
turned away from the sight. “I had her . . .”
“Trained?” the Queen frowned in a slightly
dangerous way.
Tony paused. “Nooo, I had her, ah, here because she
knows Stark Industries as well as I do. Pepper is a valued member of my
team.”
The Queen’s expression shifted to something much more merry,
and she laughed, shaking all over the way a big woman does when she is
very amused.
“Come now, do not begrudge a good person a chance to play
hooky, as it were. Heaven knows you did it often enough in the last few
years, true?”
Not for the first time, Tony wished he hadn’t indulged in his
playboy reputation quite so deeply because he realized that when even
the isolated ruler of a tiny island knew your sordid history---
“Tea,” Tony sighed.
Pepper had surfed, briefly in her college days, and was pleased that
some of the skills were still with her as she sat on the board and rode
the swells between Bram and Essex. Off on the distant shore she saw the
terrace of the palace, and two figures up there, one of whom had to be
Tony.
She hoped he was stewing a bit, and gave a guilty chuckle at the
thought.
“This next one is promising,” Bram interrupted her
thought, gesturing to a rising wave behind them. Pepper agreed, and
moving carefully, managed to get her board perpendicular to the rushing
swell.
It was a disaster, but she laughed as she popped up from the tumbling
backwash of the wave, a little dizzy from her spin dryer ride. Essex
reached to fish her up, grinning at her mishap. “Are you all
right?”
“F-fine. I miscalculated that one,” Pepper admitted
through a grin. With a graceful climb she was back on the board,
straddling it and keeping an eye on the waves. Bram had taken the last
one with confidence and was nearly thirty yards off to the left,
skimming into the sand now and flashing a thumbs up at the two of them.
“Ayyyyyy, Where did you
two go?” he called back to them cheerfully.
“Under, bro, seriously under!”
They clustered together again just behind the wave line, and Pepper
noted that Tony was still watching her. Impulsively, she waved.
Tentatively her boss waved back. Pepper wondered if he was worried
about her getting hurt, and that thought warmed her for a moment.
It felt good to think the shoe might for once be on the other foot.
Then the swell under her rose, and she paddled, taking it with glee,
concentrating on nothing more serious than keeping her balance and
riding out the push of the wave.
After another hour of surfing, the three of them trotted out of the
waves and back to the palace, tired but happy. Essex carried her board
for her, shrugging off her gratitude. “No problem, Miss
Pepper. You did really well.”
They brought her back to the courtyard, where Mama Pelit took in the
sight of them and put her hands on her hips, shaking her head.
“Sandy from head to foot! You two go shower and help everyone
set up. Miss Pepper, I suggest a shower, massage and nap, in that
order, eh?”
She tried to protest, but Mama Pelit simply smiled. “Now,
now, you’ll want to be relaxed for the Luau tonight. Whether
we’re celebrating an agreement with Stark Industries or not,
it’s sure to be quite a party, and you’ll want to
be ready for it, eh?”
This was hard to argue about, Pepper realized, especially since Mama
Pelit had used the magic word: massage.
