Starista was upstairs in a guest room that Bulma said she could call her own for as long as was necessary. It was below her "means" but before she allowed herself to criticize it occurred to her it was almost fit for a princess, so Bulma must be rich. She smiled and looked at the bed. There were 2 outfits laid out, her own clothing, the black bikini top with red trim, black undies, and pieces of red and black silk that hung from her waist. Next to it was a pair of black jeans and a nice red blouse. She chose the second, changed quickly, and pulled her black, red streaked hair up into a tight bun, and opened the bedroom door. There were many other bedrooms on this floor, and she stood just outside her doorway on a landing overlooking the front entranceway. She could hear voices from the dining room and knew how to get to it, Bulma had showed her. Nomokai was at the other end of the hallway, and she waited for him to open his door. When he emerged, he was wearing dark blue jeans and a dressy black top. He too had chosen the Earthly outfit. He walked to her and gave her his arm. "Do we tell them everything Star?"

"I don't see why not," She sighed, "But don't mention the..."

"I know, I know, don't mention what we brought. Especially since two are missing."

"We'll find them Nomokai, I know we will."

"Yeah well, we can worry about that later, lets just go down."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"EVERYBODY QUIET!" Bulma roared over the other 14 voices present. She had allowed her family, Goku's, Gohan's, and Krillin's to stay. In addition, Piccolo had showed up, so that meant dinner for 16. She was more than a little irritable, as were the other women. "Now, this is very important, so everybody please sit down and be quiet!" For once everyone listened. She and Vegeta sat at one end of the table, Starista and Nomokai would be opposite them. All the other couples would face each other as would brother, sister pairs. "Tonight is very important to me, and I'm sure it is to you as well. We will hear Nomokai and Starista's story and hopefully learn what will happen after tonite. They may choose to stay or leave; they might need our aid, or simply privacy. Whatever it is they ask, I'm willing to help in any way possible. So please be on your best behavior and try not to scare them!" But preceding anyone's response, the two youths entered the room, and Bulma gestured to their seats. All was quiet for a moment, when a low rumble became audible, it was more than a rumble as it persisted, it was a growl!. Star's brow furrowed, as she tried to be polite, but her curiosity won over her manners.

"What in blazes is that noise?" It had rumbled into silence again, but was replaced by Goku's throat clearing.

"Heh heh, well um..I AM kinda hungry, it's only natural!" Pan giggled and Chichi simply shook her head.

"Alright then I guess that answered the question as to whether you would speak before of after we ate.." Bulma smiled, and everyone began to fill their plates.

There was nothing spectacular about dinner, other than the rate at which all of the food disappeared, and the silence that hung over everyone. The idea was, dinner would go faster if no one spoke, and Star and Nomokai would get to speak. Finally everyone looked up from their plates apprehensively at Bulma.

"Well I don't know what you want from me," she said as she sipped at her wine, "I'm not the one doing the talking." All present shifted nervously in the quiet, it was obvious Royalty needed an invitation.

"Well fine! If you need someone to break the ice, I'll be the rude one! But let me assure you two newcomers, I'm NOT usually this uncouth." Chichi spoke up. "I'm not sure how you would be most comfortable explaining things to us, but I think it would be easiest to start from the beginning, and we'll ask questions." Star smiled, that was good enough for her!

"Alrighty then!" The princess began. "I'm.. we're both from Vegitasei. As I've made it clear, I'm a princess and Nomokai is, well Nomokai isn't." Nomokai stared at her a moment, she always was smooth. "My family ruled over the southern hemisphere of the planet, and Vegeta's father ruled the northern part." She paused again to look at the ex- prince. "I'm sorry to just jump into this Vegeta, speak up if you wish."

"Hmph. If I have something to say, I'll let you know." Star rolled her eyes at his attitude.still the same Vegeta.

"When I first met Vegeta, I was only 5. He was a few years older, but our parents decided that we should spens time together every year. That way we could get used to one another. You see.." She decided to elaborate as most of the dinner party was staring at her, waiting for her to make a point. "Planet Vegeta was divided in two, and my father and Vegeta's had the same vision, they wanted us to be married someday.to unite the planet. But when I was growing up, I didn't know, or care. I was being trained intensely by my father, and strangely so, my mother. My parents are a rare example of a saiyan couple, in that my mother was not from our planet, and they were not an arranged marriage." Bra lifted an eyebrow.

"You mean no one's allowed to choose who they marry?"

"No," Vegeta answered, "Almost all marriages are arranged by the government.at least in the higher social ranks. This way, strong men wed strong women, and produce powerful heirs. It keeps the bloodlines pure." He cast a sideways glance at Goku, but didn't say anything.

"Well, I can't say I was thrilled about that rule." Starista continued, "But I really didn't think it could affect me. I was after all, the princess of the southern half of the world, and I was powerful." Nomokai snorted.

"What was that for?!?!" Starista snapped. He looked up quickly.

"Sorry, didn't mean to do that out loud." He explained sarcastically. "I'm just glad to see your ego has healed." Nomokai looked straight at Pan, who was trying to hide a smile and shoving salad around on her plate. Star continued.

"I'm not being as arrogant as most of you would think though. And I'm sure even Nomokai would back me up." She looked around the table, and stared at Piccolo a moment, she hadn't been introduced to him yet. "As I was saying, my mother wasn't native to our planet. She was born to Saiyan parents on a planet in another galaxy. I don't know much about it except that all of the people there are sorcerers of some type. They can manipulate thoughts, objects, energy, whatever they want.it just takes a lifetime of practice. Many of the people on this planet die before they get too powerful, but my mother, who was a saiyan , had her heritage as an ally, and therefore a natural advantage. She concentrated all of her time on her magic, and didn't really care about fighting."

"You're not going to mention Lazula are you?" Nomokai interrupted. Vegeta looked up, not recognizing the name.

"Who?" Inquired Chichi.

"Heh..heh.Well, Lazula was ummmm," Nomokai tried to find the words, Star supplied them;

"Nuts. Yes I know. My mother was one of a set of twins. Her sister is my Aunt Lazula, and all I know about her is that she was a fighting fanatic, and my mother was a magic fanatic. When they were about 16, my mother and aunt were separated, however, because their parents had a horrible fight. My grandmother wanted to remain on this planet and train Lazula magic, but my grandfather wanted to take her back to Planet Vegeta and marry her off.her fighting skills were immense. But she wouldn't allow it, and instead, my mother went back to Planet Vegeta, because she wanted to learn to fight."

"That's not what I heard." Vegeta interjected.

"Vegeta, shushhh!" Bulma hissed.

"No that's alright..Whatever you heard, Vegeta, was wrong, that's all there is to it!" Starista raised her chin defiantly and went on. Vegeta only stared icily at her, meanwhile, Marron was getting bored, and flicked a pea at Goten. She quickly looked back at Star, attentively. "So my mother went to Planet Vegeta, and her father was quite pleased to find that the Prince of the southern hemisphere wanted to marry her, my father. She was a foreigner with magical abilities, and was also a decent fighter." Goten was now rather confused by the pea that had been launched anonymously at him. So he decided to lob it at Bra, and stare at Starista innocently.

"I see, so now your parents had the southern hemisphere secured as a kingdom, their marriage did that." Bulma commented.

"Right." Star answered. "So when I was born I was expected to learn how to fight and do magic. My father was one of the strongest fighters on the planet, and my mother became the most skilled sorceress in the galaxy, so I had to be the best. Unfortunately when it came time for me to look for a husband, I had to be defiant." Bra had no idea where the pea had come from, and chucked it at Trunks before asking Star.

"So you were the heir to the southern throne.and Dad was heir to the northern throne. It makes perfect sense that you two marry. But didn't you have any brothers?"

"Yes actually, I did have a brother, but he couldn't do magic, and Vegeta didn't have a sister, so it just made sense that I go up North. But I did fall in love with a man below my status. And even if he hadn't existed, I would have done anything to avoid Vegeta.

"Who wouldn't!?" Goku laughed. The group joined his laughter, and Nomokai picked up. "You see, Starista and I were actually engaged for a while. She was told she had to marry someone in the upper social class. Even though I'm only a scholar and a soldier, I would have been able to marry Star if Vegeta hadn't been there. But it didn't matter anyways, Star never got a chance to marry anyone..."

***************************

Yeah I'm alive, heres the new chappie, more to follow soon I think. I gotta sleep now though, my back hurts.