Queen Brahne was steadily growing more and more impatient as the clock beside her struck 11am. He was going to be late solely to spite her and drag out what SHOULD be a substantially quick "business" meeting. Half past 11, a knock came at her sitting room door.

"Enter." She called, unable to mask the impatience in her voice.

The door opened and in walked a tall, porcelain skinned man that positively screamed power. He was dressed rather….unusually though not garishly with visually BLINDING colors. The breastplate he wore was dark purple edged with gold, pure white bell sleeves hung from the lower most edge of the armor; this armor was short though, it ended right below his ribs, revealing his flat stomach. And when he moved his hands, deep purple metallic wristlets could be seen. Hugging his rather feminine hips was a nearly floor length sarong made of the same white material as the sleeves, also bordered with gold. Though the most astonishingly revealing part of this ensemble was -no joke- a thong. It was black and seemingly of metal material. Though if it truly was, considering where it was, it had to be light in weight, so it was most likely mythril.

But the truly eye-catching feature of this man was his face; he was a most beautiful sight to behold. With back length layered, lavender tinted silver hair, piercing sapphires for eyes and deliciously soft looking shell pink lips. No girl –or man for that matter- could resist a come on from this particular male. The Queen giggled as he shut the door softly with a push with one graceful finger before turning towards her, bowing and moving fluidly over to the chair opposite her and sitting down.

"I am going to assume that Your Majesty is pleased with my mages, yes?" he questioned, his voice soft and pleasant.

"I am EXTREMELY pleased, Kuja. They are excellent." Brahne's unusually high and scratchy voice clawed at Kuja's ears and he tried not to wince.

Though hearing that he had done well, Kuja let a sultry smirk pass over his face.

"Oh good. So…the 20,000 is a sufficient number, am I right?"

Brahne shook her head vigorously, her entire body jiggled like gelatin under the yards of fabric that made up her badly colored gown. On the outside, Kuja's expression was unchanging as he witnessed this, though internally he was screaming in revulsion.

"I need more Kuja, I MUST have more."

Well…Kuja could admit ONE thing he and this elephant woman had in common, the overwhelming need for absolute power and control in every situation. He WAS merely the Weapons Dealer in all of this business work, so he was at her mercy right? Of course not. Kuja had more of an ego than God, and even if she couldn't see it, Kuja was pulling the strings. Brahne was really just making all this easier for him to command.

"I see….how many more will Your Majesty need?" He asked affably, the fingers of his right hand drumming on one arm of the chair.

"At least 50,000 more."

A highly pleased look touched his face as he heard this. He brought a hand to his cheek and tapped it thoughtfully.

"My, my Your Majesty, that is a rather tall order….but it can easily be done." His voice trailed off in a way that insinuated a 'But…' somewhere after the fact.

The Queen looked at him, a curious annoyance in her beady eyes.

"Yes?"

"The payment for this batch will be substantially….larger." Kuja replied, keeping his tone light.

Brahne raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? Well….seeing as you are right…you may have whatever it is you want."

If he had been alone, Kuja would have jumped up and down and danced in sheer glee. But seeing as that was totally not like him, he wouldn't and didn't. He had to think about this now…he didn't want money…God what would he do with it? He had as much as he ever needed…but…

"Your daughter." He replied.

At this, Brahne seemed confused, like he had been speaking a different language.

"…Which one?"

Now it was Kuja who was confused. She had more than Garnet? God…with his luck the other daughter or daughters would be just as ugly as Brahne. He felt temporarily ill at the thought of having such a creature in the Desert Palace…

"Excuse me? You…you have more than one daughter?"

Brahne laughed her grating cackle and nodded.

"Yes, just one other. A rather annoying girl and I would be most grateful if you took her off my hands."

'Oh GODS, the girl MUST be hideous if she is trying to pawn her off on me…'

"And why is it that I haven't met this…Second Princess?" Kuja's voice rang with an edge of slight exasperation.

Brahne fanned at her flabby face as she pondered this.

"The girl has been a recluse since the death of the King, she rarely speaks to anyone but Garnet and Beatrix."

That explained it…IF this mystery princess was actually real. Kuja sat up, stretching a bit.

"Well then…I will have to meet this Princess….what is her name?" He asked. What the hell, he'd play along with the Queen if it got him away faster.

"Her name is Samara."

Kuja stared at Brahne, his eyes disbelieving.

"……Where is she….Or…where could I find this Samara..?"

"Honestly, Kuja, I don't know, nor do I care. You will have to seek out Beatrix to find out, or Garnet. She should be in for her lessons at the library." Brahne answered seeming bored with the subject of her other daughter.

Kuja resisted the urge to roll his eyes before the Queen and rose from his seat, bowing fully, bending from the waist.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." He said turning from her and exiting the room.

Lord above Kuja couldn't stand being feet from that woman, if that truly was what she was. No matter...he had more important things before him. Could this Samara be the same as…no…impossible…no one, let alone a 4-year-old bed ridden girl, could have survived such a plummet…BUT. If it was his Samara…well, well…it would be fun destroying her world as it was now, her the imperfect, albeit under-trained secondary and most forgotten princess of Alexandria, shadowed by Princess Garnet; he, the powerful, well-trained mage…he would show no mercy on this little slip of a girl. She would be….16 almost now? PERFECT. Teenagers were always so volatile, this would be much more fun then he could have imagined.

He headed first to the library. Princess Garnet would probably be easier to get information out of. Though…as he walked down the corridor, he saw ahead of him, what seemed to be a young woman, dressed in a black silk mourning gown, a dark veil over her head, blocking her face from the world. He stopped, watching her as she came closer. The girl seemed to be starting back at him, as she too stopped in her tracks.

"…Yes?" She asked, her voice was defensive but soft.

He bowed to her with a smirk.

"My dear girl…you wouldn't happen to know where the Princess Samara is would you?" he said, his disarming manner creeping back into his words.

She nodded.

"You are speaking to her, sir…How can she help you?"

Kuja could have screamed in joy.