A/N: Magi and other discernible characters/quotes/citations belong to their respective authors. I do not own original content Magi. No profits were made.

Cited: magi. fandom wiki

A/N: I haven't read/seen the entire Magi series. So, I understand that there might be some loopholes or some OOC, but I tried my best to fill them in with hours of research! Don't hate if you don't appreciate, just leave my page. *Constructive criticism only, please!

A/N: Shout out to December Silentvale for the awesome feedback that helped with edits!

A/N: This is my 3rd edit/publish for the first 2 chapters. So please be sure to re-read from the beginning before starting CH 3 because it might not make a lot of sense since I added/changed some things around. Thank you for your patience!

Chapter II: The Holy Kingdom of Samaria

The true High Priestess bowed, taking the napkin out of the King's hand, "The honor is all mine, King Sinbad."

"Please, call me Sinbad… or Sin, for short," The King bowed back after retracting his hand.

"Then, please, let us drop all formalities. You may address me as Samara." The Priestess helped Luna up from where she was kneeling.

Luna stood behind the chair she was sitting in before, holding a first aid kit she grabbed from one of the guards. The Priestess sat down, and Luna bandaged the Priestess's wound.

"Thank you, Luna." The Priestess glanced back at her commander, setting the slightly bloodied napkin down to her left.

The King sat as well, pouring the Priestess a fresh cup of tea.

She took a sip, lifting her veil slightly with her free hand, "I do apologize for all the commotion, Sinbad."

"No need to apologize, Pries—Samara. I completely understand your welcoming strategies." The King responded politely. "I can't say it's my first, though. Once upon a time, I received a similar welcome from the queen of Artemyra, just east of your kingdom."

"Ah, yes, Queen Mira and I are good friends."

"Friends?" The King exclaimed in surprise. "One of her daughters, Pisti, is one of my Eight Generals. Yet, I haven't heard of any formal alliances between Samaria and Artemyra."

"That's because there are none. The Queen and I have simply been friends a long time." The Priestess took another sip of tea without breaking eye contact, adding to her enigma.

The King chuckled softly before changing the topic, "Interesting country you're leading here."

"How so?" The Priestess set her cup down.

"I notice that there is no currency involved in your trade. I used to think the whole world was controlled by money."

"Here, we don't measure wealth by gold or any type of currency; Here, wealth is measured by happiness, health, and equality."

The King chuckled, "How do you measure such things?"

"Walk with me…" The Priestess stood and guided the King towards the edge of the garden, where a viewpoint allowed them to see the city; Luna, Masrur, Ja'Far, and the Samarian guards standing only a few yards away at the gazebo. "Everyone is given an equal opportunity in this country, to be whomever they want to be. The only condition is that they contribute for the greater good."

"An equal opportunity…" The King looked out into the city, "Even the throne?"

The Priestess gently smiled while staring at the King's profile, "Even the throne."

"So, anyone can simply… challenge your ruling?" The King turned to the Priestess.

She smiled again, "Checks and balances."

"How does that work?"

"Why so interested?" She leaned against the wall, "Do you plan to challenge my ruling?"

He chuckled, "On the contrary, I aspire to rule my country with your progressive confidence."

"Well, lucky for you, I believe in hands-on learning."

He smirked and held his hand out to the Priestess, "No better way to absorb the culture than to immerse oneself in it."

She looked down at his hand and back up in the King's golden eyes and walked off, ignoring him, "Come, see the Samarian way of life."

They walked to the great hall of the castle; this time, only their generals followed suit. Several children were being taught by a few castle scholars. A couple of students were studying heat magic, a few were working on medicinal potions, some were being taught arithmetic, and in the corner, they were attempting to build a scale model of the castle.

The Priestess stood by the doorway, allowing the King to peek in, "Once children turn thirteen in this country, they may start schooling to ascend to the throne. The school is right here in the castle and students are given a well-rounded education. After two years, all the students are tested mentally, physically and for leadership skills. Students who excel in all three categories are offered a spot to continue onto secondary school for the throne. However, the truly important students are those who decline and those not offered a spot because they are given a chance to find their true passion. Some become engineers, doctors, scholars, magicians, farmers, some choose to live a much simpler life… whoever they all want to be. Sitting at the throne has become more about representing the people and their interests; the high priest or priestess holds little governing power over the citizens. The only power given to the throne is assuring the peace is maintained and that everyone's happiness and well-being is protected."

"How do you make it all possible with such limited resources?"

"Skills trade." The Priestess closed the door to the great hall. "This is a country where knowledge is wealth – and that wealth is given to the people, by the people, for the people. The only steadfast law in this country is that you must contribute for the greater good, everything else you need to survive and live a good life is given to you – the skills learned by every citizen once they start schooling for the throne. Every citizen is taught how to grow crops, cook, build their own houses, defend themselves, even cure common illnesses. So, we have rarely needed to trade with any other countries nor have we needed to trade with each other with essentially meaningless trinkets such as gold or jewels or money. Besides, the closest countries to trade with is the barren Dark Continent and Artemyra… and well, you know how difficult it is to form trading alliances with my dear friend, the Queen."

They both had a laugh.

The Priestess turned to her commander, "Luna, we're going into town."

Luna guided the King and his Generals to their respective chambers, where the customary Samarian attire of simple robes and facial veils waited for them to change into. They all exited their chambers once they were outfitted and started walking to the front of the castle.

"Do we all have to wear the veils as well?" Masrur inquired with slight annoyance.

"I believe so. It seems customary to the attire as we saw when we rode through the kingdom." Ja'Far replied.

"I wonder what they are for?" The King questioned further.

They all met the Priestess with a smile at the top of the castle steps.

"Samarian robes fit you, gentlemen, well." The Priestess complimented.

"We were wondering what these veils are for? We noticed it is customary for everyone to wear in this country. You didn't even remove it even though we were having tea earlier." The King inquired.

"The long robes hide the body and the veils hide a person's face, revealing only the eyes which we believe are the windows to a person's soul. The complete attire is a Samarian tradition to prevent any preconceived biases or judgments cast upon a person." The Priestess explained as she started walking down the steps. "As for taking the attire off in someone else's presence, it is an intimate gesture between two people in love."

"How romantic," The King responded. "Falling in love with someone's soul first, instead of appearances."

"As you'll see for yourselves when we get into town, in Samaria, we believe that true wealth can never be measured, it is something intangible but fills your simple life with so much meaning. Almost all Samarians eventually dedicate their lives to furthering the knowledge to be passed onto the future generations, for the greater good."

The King helped her into the carriage. He sat next to the Priestess and his Generals across from them, "Forgive my forwardness, but that sounds like a dream, Priestess."

"Understandably so, but we have years of history to prove the efficacy of our simple way of life." She countered.

"What exactly do you mean by wealth is given by the people?" The King asked.

"Hya!" They could hear Luna's faint commands to the horses as she drove the carriage.

"You asked how checks and balances worked in this country – isn't it genius?" They could hear the horses' hooves stomping on the ground as the carriage started to pick up speed, allowing her shoulder to brush up against the King's lightly, "Here, there is no monarchy to monopolize the kingdom's wealth if there is no measurable 'wealth', to begin with. By giving all the power to the people, you cannot assassinate one single leader. Not one person is more valuable than the next because all the people are valuable together. Samarian wealth is technically immeasurable. At first glance, we seem like a poor country with limited resources but if you look closely, each citizen chooses their own path in life – some farm, some fish, some build, some cure; but we all trade with each other based on necessity. Wealth and power come from the citizens' ability to thrive on their own. So, naturally, all governing power is controlled by the people."

"How remarkably liberal…" Ja'Far commented.

"Yes, so even the most powerful trading company in the world has nothing to offer us." The Priestess taunted.

The King chuckled, "I could think of a few things."

Ja'Far scowled at his King.

"Is there a judiciary system in place?" Masrur inquired.

"As I mentioned to your King, every citizen is taught most of the skills they need at a very young age. Every citizen can defend themselves and those they hold dear. Should a dispute arise, the citizens try to resolve it peacefully and should a dispute get… out of hand, the citizens themselves usually police it and if needed, bring in scholars to act as mediators."

"That is incredible trust you put in your people…" The King observed.

"That is where you're wrong, Sinbad… I did not put my trust in the citizens of this country – Samaria has been a republic long before I ascended the throne. The cycle of power has always been in the hands of each citizen in Samaria because no one single person should ever oversee and dictate the fates and destinies of anyone else, much less everyone else – that is hubris."

"Astounding sagacity… I conquered seven seas and I did not accomplish what you have attained here in this incredible country."

"Right, where did we go wrong?" Ja'Far whispered to Masrur sarcastically.

"Progressive confidence, Sinbad." She smiled gently again, "Do not forbid any knowledge to the people and they will surprise you. Give them everything they need to know, and they will make the right informed decisions."

They arrived at the edge of the city and they began walking into the market.

"Good afternoon, Priestess Samara." One of the elderly women from the fruit stand came up to them, "Thank you so much for taking such good care of our granddaughter while she is studying. She always comes home to us at the end of each week with such wonderful stories."

"Granny Mikaya, Yasmin is an excellent student and friend to her fellow classmates." The Priestess held her hands, "Besides, she's the one taking care of us by bringing your apple pies to the castle."

"Ah, yes," The old woman patted the Priestess's hands, "I told her that it is high time she learned to make the recipe on her own."

"That would be delightful, Granny." The Priestess hugged her.

"Oh, it is always so good to see you, Samara." The Granny shuffled into her house, "Come inside, I have something to give you and the kids."

They all followed her inside of her small home.

She gave a box of warm pie to Sinbad.

"Why, thank you—" He was cut off as Granny started to stack more pie boxes onto his hands, and onto Ja'Far and Masrur's hands.

"Thank you so much, Granny Mikaya." The Priestess hugged her again as the Sindrian men loaded the pies into the carriage.

"You're so welcome." Granny turned to Masrur and held his hands, "Now, there was something I could use your help with. My roof has been leaking!"

"Oh, so those fifteen boxes of pies weren't really a gift?" The King and Ja'Far said in unison.

"Skills trade, gentlemen." Luna enforced.

While Masrur persevered as a carpenter in exchange for pies, Ja'Far was coerced by a pair of twins to help them get their cat down from a tree in exchange for a song and dance, and Luna went to visit her family… The King and the Priestess were given some time alone. They sat on the pier, dipping their toes into the cold water. The Priestess playfully splashing a bit of water at the King, giggling through her veil as she turned to look at his profile once more.

The King gazed into the open water, reminiscing about his brief time in this country and could not help but recall his memories of all the decisions he made leading up to his half-falling into depravity. "I wish I had met you sooner… I'm afraid my hubris has allowed me to become a sly person after accomplishing so much. Sometimes, I do not recognize myself anymore. I feel that I have become someone I never wanted to be…"

"You've met me now…" The Priestess touched the King's chest, she could feel the rukh flowing through him, "Your heart, mind, and soul… have become filled with so much darkness from others but it is never too late to change if you don't like who you are now. 'Now' is fleeting… Please, allow yourself to shed some ghosts from your past."

The King held the Priestess's hand pressed against his chest.