I'm wondering if some of you might get the so-called "princess arc" you wanted after all:
- Rei makes an offer (that Baam can't refuse), of marriage of course - princesses are singled out as ideal candidates because of course they are
- Baam declines, 'consent' is required....
- Rei moves to force his hand
- Gustang interrupts/shennanigans
- A proper wife is prepared, unknowingly to her, Rei 'retreats' to her to speed along the union (if his will put them near Lilial's ship after all)
(we are here)
- Lilial freaks out, tells her sister in a pocket-call?
- Shilial alerts ______ (Mas? The princess council? Tower News? etc) in an effort to save her sister? Alternatively: their pocket-call is intercepted
- Other family heads want Baam too (we know this is true to varying degrees), catch wind of what's going on, don't want it to be Rei who gets him
- As does Zahard, wanting peace, or at least the status quo
- A mad dash for Baam is about to ensue by each Great Family drooling over the irregular
- An agreement is made, perhaps a decree from Zahard himself, to have the princesses duke it out for the winner to wed Baam
- The FH's concede to a proxy war instead of directly fighting each other - for now
- A 'Princess Games' is established, now we have a full-on princess battle royale, i.e. the 'princess' part of the 'princess arc'
...
- Forever Alone Baam still doesn't get married no matter the result of the games, as that's just not in the cards for him. The FHs will probably not accept the results anyways (a rival getting an irregular to add to their house), or something else happens (Baam, FUGs, Urek's involvement in the games), and the next arc begins with Total War