Title: Heart-Shaped Herb
Fandom: Black Panther
Rating: G
Length: 200
Content notes: N/A
Author notes: Thanks go to Ianka for encouragement & sanity-checking.
Summary: Life finds a way



At first look, it did seem as though all the plants had burned, all the glimmering heart-shaped flowers turned to dark and lifeless ash, leaves crisped and brittle, breaking apart at a breath or the merest brush of finger or cloth.

But Shana, youngest and least of the acolytes, the shamans-in-training, had faith, a surety that not all were lost, kindled in the same moment the torches had touched the herb-beds. One would have fallen through the cracks, just as one had gone to the hand of She-Who-Would-Be-Queen. One would have sent root-tendrils out exploring, and found a hidden spot in which to grow. One new stem tucked under a stone would have escaped the flames, the reluctant, hesitant torches.

No doubt she would trip and fall over it, as she fell over every other important thing in her life. But that was all right, so long as one was found.

And she would not stop looking until she found one. She would *not*.

Indeed, it was not so long before Shana’s search was successful. At the royal wedding she carried a tray of pots, each with a new sprout, and one flowering heart-shaped herb, glowing bright and vigorous purple.