Natasha was so angry with him she nearly needed oxygen.
Strange leaned halfway out of the room across the hall and looked at Natasha. "Come sit in here for a while. I think he'll need at least half an hour."
Natasha had no choice but to go in. Then she saw Strange wearing an even more ornate and elaborate Sorcerer Supreme ceremonial robe, trimming his beard in front of a mirror.
"Not bad." Natasha raised an eyebrow at Strange, circling halfway around him. "This doesn't look like European formalwear. Is there some significance to it?"
"It's a variation of a Ming Dynasty court robe, passed down from The Ancient One. During the Ming Dynasty, she was once appointed Chief Astronomical Official of the Imperial Observatory. She liked the official robes from that era, so she altered them and turned them into the Sorcerer Supreme's ceremonial attire."
"So there was actually history behind it." Natasha sounded surprised. "I thought she never involved herself in mundane affairs."
"You know that's impossible. Ancient Chinese mysticism was highly developed, and Kamar-Taj drew attention as soon as it appeared. To preserve the stability of this utopia, The Ancient One had to deal with the authorities herself."
"But she clearly wasn't suited to life at court, so she never went back afterward. Even so, she treasured this ceremonial robe, the only keepsake she retained. It's a genuine antique."
Strange flicked his sleeves, adjusted his collar in the mirror, and turned to Natasha. "Though I agree with you that the thing inside Pepper hardly qualifies as a tumor in the pathological sense, we can't rule out the possibility that traveling through the universe affected it. You need to give Tony some time."
"That's rare. You're actually speaking well of him."
Strange snorted. "Of course I don't want