The alarm went off with its usual sound. It was a chirping noise, native to a different colony, that was so pleasant to wake up to that it had been added as a common sound on alarm clocks. Pearl had been using it for months now and hadn't gotten sick of it yet. She woke easily, having been half awake already, and reached over to the corner of the bed where the clock was and tapped the alarm off. She hadn't needed the nap, but she'd wanted to sleep one last time in her own bed, on her own planet.
This afternoon, as soon as Pearl's mother came home from work, she'd be leaving her home, a colony planet called Centuri. She'd be taking what would probably be a one-way trip to New Homeworld. Pearl sat up and pushed her hair back from her temples. She'd hoped the nap would steady her, but she still felt nauseous.
A month ago, she had gotten orders to begin packing and prepare to take up an assignment on New Homeworld. It had come as a complete shock. Assignments didn't go out until after school was over, when gems turned nineteen. Pearl would be eighteen for another three months. She'd gone to the assignment office, assuming it was a mistake, but the Hessonite there had told her she was to be ready to leave when scheduled. Today was that day. There was no more putting it off.
She had left her classes unfinished. She had been assigned new uniforms and a new harness for her gem. Pearl had been nervous, getting fitted for the new harness. Her old one had been a swooping necklace and belt combination that looped around the back of her neck, crossed her chest to hold her gem, then twisted around her waist for an elegant finish. Her new one was a light waistcoat that slipped over her shirts. She now had dozens and dozens of them too, one for every occasion, even some tunics for sleeping and lounging. Normally only upper crust gems had a wardrobe full of harnesses, but now she had one too. Pearl's mom was so proud, but Pearl thought it only made her stand out more.
With a sigh, she put her alarm back in her gem, carefully pulled on her clothes, and stood in front of her mirror. Pearl had brushed her fluffy black hair before her nap, and it still shone like polished onyx. Her new uniform, a short tunic and fitted leggings, wear neatly pressed and hung off her body as if they'd been made as one form. Over her tunic her gem-harness hung her all-important gem over her chest. She touched her gem, a nervous habit, and pressed her back teeth together. She needed to perfect; the perfect organic-pearl. She stood out too much. She was always so close to being off-color.
Pearls were supposed to be pale as moonlight, delicate, graceful and soft. Their gems should be milky with a blush of color. They were supposed to be sweet as fruit, and helpful. Silent until spoken to, but always saying just the right thing when they did speak. Pearls were the perfect companions. They were just what every gem needed.
Pearl's gem was a brutish, dark brown-red. She'd been mistaken for a Garnet in the light, and an Onyx in the dark. All her uniforms, like all gems, matched her gem. She wore dark reds, black, dark grays, and browns. When she went to her dance classes with the other pearls, she always stood out. Even with a few black pearls; they dressed in muted grays.
Her parents weren't pearls. Pearl's mother was a proud Rose Quartz, one of highest designations an organic-gem could have. Her father was a ruby. He wasn't the highest-ranking gem ever born, but he was good enough at his job to have his request to be matched with a Rose Quartz to be accepted. When Pearl was growing up, people used to congratulate her mother on giving birth to a garnet. Pearl remembered that was when her mother would square her shoulders, lift her chin and look the other gem in the eye.
"She's a pearl," Rose Quartz would correct them.
And every time, their face would change from happiness to pity.
On top of all that, Pearl couldn't even act properly. She tried to be silent and graceful, but she was put in training classes for science and combat. She was the only pearl in her classes. Ridicule was always waiting for her. Either for not acting like a pearl and doing well, or for acting like a pearl and failing her classes.
Every year her mother requested more dancing classes, more music classes, more etiquette classes. Every year her requests were denied, and Pearl was put into combat training and strategy classes. Pearl couldn't dance, sing, or play instruments like a pearl should be able to. However, she could always floor an agate with a staff and help a peridot fix an engine. It was as if someone wanted her to stand out.
"Connie?! Are you ready?! It's time!"
Pearl took a deep breath and whirled away from the mirror. She marched toward the door with her hard-won grace, without sparing a look around her bedroom. She had been saying goodbye to the room she grew up in for a month. There was no point in one last look.
Downstairs Rose Quartz stood by the door, tapping her foot and checking her watch.
"Connie?! There you are! Did you send everything ahead? Your clothes? Your bedding? Do you have your extra gem harnesses?"
Pearl laughed. "I've got everything, Mom. I sent the last of it this morning, after I got up."
"Good. We don't want to be late."
Rose ushered Pearl out the door and into the car. Pearl tried not to look at the neighborhood as she climbed into the passenger's seat and buckled up. All around them were identical, pretty houses with big Pink Diamond emblems hanging on the front doors. This was Pink Diamond's colony; Pearl had grown up here, but likely she would never see it again.
"How was the hospital, Mom?" Pearl asked.
Rose quartzes weren't common soldiers, but medical personnel to natural- and organic-gems alike. Pink Diamond specially designed them herself, during the acquisition of New Homeworld. Pearl had hoped, as a young girl, to have her designation changed to rose quartz.
"Ugh!" Rose huffed. "A nightmare! Wounded came in from the new colony. The organics there are putting up a fight instead of just assimilating like civilized gem-kind. Then there was the Kindergarten Ward. We had four mothers going into labor all at once. An amethyst, a peridot, a hessonite, and an agate! Of course, the agate was being the biggest baby about it. Well, it was her first baby. We might have to call in more sapphires from Homeworld to help with the designations."
"Have there been any pearls?" Pearl asked softly.
Rose gripped the steering wheel and sighed. "No, Stardust. We don't normally get pearls here."
"Of course," Pearl muttered.
There was a brief silence in the car. Fine gray houses with pink emblems rolled past outside. After a few seconds, Rose Quartz spoke.
"Connie, Stardust. When I was assigned to have my first child, I was thrilled. I hoped you'd be an agate or even an emerald. The sapphires would fuss and fuss over you, saying they saw something like a star gas being heating inside me. I was so excited."
"And then you found out I was a pearl," Pearl muttered.
"It's not that simple," Rose said. "On your designation day they kept putting off calling it. I didn't know why. I thought… I thought there were going to be problems when I gave birth. I was so afraid. Then this sapphire arrived." Rose's voice dropped into a whisper. She gripped the steering wheel tightly, smiling to herself. "She didn't look special, at first, but she told the others to get out, and they did. She even sat on my bed. I was in total shock."
"Who was she?" Pearl asked, frowning. "Did Homeworld send her? Why have I never heard this before?"
"Oh, it's all a big secret. Strictly classified. I'm not sure I should be telling you now."
"Then why are you?"
"Because I'm your mother, Pearl." Rose Quartz sighed. "Now, Sapphire showed me her mission briefing and her status. You're not going to believe where she was sent from."
"Sapphires are sent from Homeworld."
"Not this one. She was a member of the Pink Stars."
"The… Pink Stars?"
Pearl stared out the windshield, her mind blank. The Pink Stars were an elite group of gems in Pink Diamond's court. They single-handedly defeated the Rebellion of New Homeworld, when a rogue Rose Quartz and her Renegade Pearl lead an army against Pink Diamond. The Pink Stars answered only to the Diamonds themselves and were known through the galaxy.
"A member of the Pink Stars came to designate me?" Pearl whispered.
"Yes. That sapphire was Pink Diamond's own personal sapphire. And she came to designate you. Do you know why?"
Pearl blinked. Normally she was far cleverer than any pearl had a right to be, but all this was throwing her for a loop, so she said, "No."
"Well, isn't it obvious?" Rose said with a smile. She was almost giddy. "Two years before you were born, there was a huge upheaval as the end of Era 2 was ushered in and we celebrated the beginning of Era 3. You must know what that means!"
Frowning, Pearl went through her history. Era 1 began with the rise of the Diamond Court. White, Yellow, Blue, and Pink Diamond ruled Homeworld and expanded their rule across the universe. Era 2 began with the Rebellion of New Homeworld, then called the Earth. Pink Diamond was briefly captured by the Rebellion Leader Rose Quartz and her Renegade Pearl, only to be freed by the organics of New Homeworld, then called humans. Grateful for their help, Pink Diamond assimilated humans into the first organic-gems and made the Earth into the capital of her new organic-based empire. Era 3 began when Pink Diamond announced she'd be taking another step to join natural and organic gems and changing her form. Pink Diamond hadn't been seen in public since. Rumors had it she'd had a child, like an organic and given her rule to the child. But that was impossible.
"I… don't think I do," Pearl admitted.
"Well, I do," Rose said with a grin. "We'll see if I'm right when we get your travel assignment."
"What is my assignment?" Pearl muttered. "Who do you think I'm going to belong to?"
It had been the first great shock of Pearl's life to get her assignment. Not only was it early, she wasn't even being given to a Sapphire or an Emerald in one of the many colonies nearby, as she expected. Because of the limitations of the organic mind, organic-gems weren't typically sent far from their birthplace. But she was being sent to New Homeworld. She would likely live and die in another star system.
The question was, what was on New Homeworld for her? The seat of power for Pink Diamond had enough natural-pearls to last eons.
"Shh," Rose said, still smiling. "We'll know as soon as we get to the launch bay," Rose breathed out slowly, as if steading herself, but she was still grinning from ear to ear.
Pearl pressed her back teeth together and stared straight ahead. She wanted to scream, but she couldn't decide why.
#
At the launch bay, Pearl walked with her mother to the directory. She got a few looks from people around them, but since Rose never visibly minded her presence, the attention didn't last. With a hospital containing a Kindergarten Wing so nearby, people probably assumed Pearl was Rose's daughter, even if Pearl was almost an adult. At the directory they found their ship and from there headed to the terminal.
The terminal for their ship was mostly empty, with just a few peridots milling around, eyes glued to their display screens. As they waited for the peridot behind the desk to locate their ship and pilot, Pearl's eyes wandered. This terminal, only used for higher class gems, was comfortably decorated and filled with art. Most prominent of all was the mural.
It went from ceiling to floor and was wider than several people were tall. It was made of shining pink glass, illuminated from the back. Pink Diamond stood in angular glory, one foot resting on the cracked remains of a war helmet, reaching up to the heavens. In one of her hands was a small planet with a single moon, carved with a pink star on it. There were several other planets in an arc around her short, spiked hair. She wore a pair of simple cuffed pants and a short-sleeved top - almost like what a quartz soldier would wear - that had a huge version of the same star on it. Her gem, made of carved glass, sat proudly at her navel.
"What do you mean, you can't find our nephrite?!"
Pearl whirled around. Rose was leaning over the counter, glaring daggers at the poor terrified peridot on the other side.
"I… I'm sorry. I can't find her. The ship is docked but… she's not answering!"
"Not answering?!" Rose growled. "Get that nephrite here, now! We have a meeting on New Homeworld with the Pink Stars and stars help me if we're late because of this–"
"Now, now!" another voice called from the door. An emerald came waltzing into the terminal, smiling widely. She had short blond hair and a tiara-like harness for her gem that held it over her forehead. Her lips were painted the same shade of green as her gem and her eyes were a deep sparkling blue.
Rose straightened up; Pearl crossed her wrists and interlaced her fingers.
"There's no need to shatter that poor peridot," The emerald continued. "She's just the messenger." She laughed, running a gloved hand through his short blond curls. "Did you say you were going to New Homeworld?"
"That's right," Rose said. "We chartered a ship," she glared at the peridot, "but our pilot seems to be missing."
"Not a problem," Emerald said. "You can ride with me. I'm on my way to that star system."
"We don't want to trouble you," Rose said, but she was smiling again.
"It's no trouble! Emerald," she held her hand out, "Facet WH-T, cut FR-ST. Forest, for short."
"Rose Quartz, Facet MHS-WRN, Cut PRY-NK. Call me Priyanka. And this is my lovely daughter, Pearl."
"Facet MHS-WRN, Cut CN-NI," Pearl said. "Connie."
"I've heard of you," Emerald said. "You're the pearl the Pink Stars are interested in."
Pearl blushed. "I… yes! I'm very honored."
"You should be," Emerald said. "Well, we shouldn't keep them waiting. Come on. We're bound for New Homeworld."
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