Saying goodbye to her mother was the hardest thing Pearl ever had to do. Pearl had thought saying goodbye to her father the day she left her colony was bad. He'd had to go on assignment that morning and had left her before Rose brought her to the ship. It had hurt, but something about being at home had made it feel almost normal. Now being on a strange planet and saying goodbye to her mother was so much harder.
"I love you, mom," Pearl said.
"I love you, too, Stardust," Rose said. "You're going to do great. My daughter, a Pink Star! I can't believe it!" Rose squeezed Pearl hard enough to hurt, before letting go. "Make me proud, Stardust."
"I will, Mom." Pearl was crying.
"We'll take good care of her," Rainbow Pearl said, putting a hand on Pearl's shoulder. "She's in good hands."
"I know," Rose said. "I know."
Soon Rose had left, and Rainbow Pearl took Pearl to her room.
"Take the day to rest," Rainbow Pearl breathed. "Go to the medical building and see the rose quartzes. Eat. Maybe go into town. Here on New Homeworld we have organic food you can't get in the colonies. And sleep! Make sure you sleep! And stretch. Summoning a gem weapon for the first time will take so much out of you. Take a shower. A long, hot shower. Maybe bring a chair in there. Maybe we should start your training a day later."
"Pearl," Garnet's voice said from the door. She surprised both of them. "Relax. Little Pearl will be fine. She's tough."
"Yea, P." Amethyst added. "You're smothering her." Amethyst shoved her way around Garnet's hip and approached Pearl. She threw an arm around her waist and gave a lazy smile. "Lil P, you're going to do great. You just need a few hours to recharge. Don't worry. We'll start your training when you're ready."
Pearl smiled a little. "I'm… really going to fight alongside you?"
"Uh, yea!" Amethyst said. "You're handpicked by Pink D herself! We've been waiting ages for you to grow up and get here!"
"Amethyst!" Rainbow Pearl snapped. "Pearl–"
"You can call me by my designation, if you want, Ma'am…" Pearl offered sheepishly.
Rainbow Pearl stared at her, before pressing her lips together, tears in her eyes. "Oh, Connie."
"Stars," Garnet said. "We need to have missions. Pearl. You have to debrief with Pink Diamond. Amethyst, you have to set up Connie's training. Meanwhile, I'll be recording records for today."
"What's my mission?" Pearl asked.
"Your mission is most important, Connie," Garnet said in a serious tone. "Your mission is to prepare, physically and mentally for training by resting."
Pearl blinked, wondering if she was being made fun of. Then Garnet smiled.
"Our mission is to train you, Connie. You are our mission. So everything we do is about making you ready to be a Pink Star. Rest up, okay?"
Pearl nodded. "Okay!"
It took several days for Pearl to be deemed well enough to start her training. Rainbow Pearl took her to a place called the Sky Arena, where her training would begin.
"Here we are, Connie," Rainbow Pearl said. "This is where you will learn the concepts of not just fighting, but knighthood."
"Knighthood?"
"To be someone's knight is to be their shield and sword, to be a living manifestation of their will to act. To stand by their side in times of peace and stand between them and danger in times of war. That is what it is to be a Pink Star."
"I understand!"
"Good. Now we begin!"
Rainbow Pearl's training was harder than Pearl’s classes. Pearl’s classes had prepared her for the moves and basic principles of Rainbow Pearl's training, but not the intensity. Rainbow Pearl was a relentless teacher, expecting Pearl to memorize techniques and steps almost immediately. However, Pearl constantly surprised herself, just squeaking by Rainbow Pearl's expectations. She learned stances, terms, cuts, blocks, and counters. She sweated and worked. She read history and tactics. Most importantly, she earned Pearl Points. Pearl Points could be exchanged for treats, new uniforms, new harasses, specialty training with useless but fun weapons and -most precious of all- hours off.
However, she did not, could not, draw her gem weapon again.
The work was hard, but Pearl was happier than she'd ever been. Her class back home had prepared her for this work, and now she was free to pursue it fully without the strange looks or the disapproving glares. She wasn't off-color here.
There didn't seem to be off-colors in Pink Diamond's court.
Amethyst was overcooked. Pearl hadn't asked about it, although she had complained about being too short to perform a maneuver in front of Amethyst, which had been an invitation enough for Amethyst to say something. Apparently she'd been incubated during the Rebellion of New Homeworld, but had stayed in the ground too long and been found by Pink Diamond by accident much later. Amethyst was shorter than Pearl and demonstrated the maneuver; she added a little jumping flair to pull it off.
Then there was Garnet and Rainbow Pearl. Garnet was leader of the Pink Stars while Pink Diamond was in seclusion and she was fusion. Rainbow Pearl was a fighter despite being a pearl. It was an open secret among the upper class of Pink's Court, apparently. Pink Diamond, after being freed from the Rebellious Rose Quartz's captivity by pre-gem humans, was weakened and with no gems. She and her growing band of humans wandered, looking for Diamond-loyal gems, and came across some rebels picking off what was left of Pink Diamond's court. All the gems had been poofed except Pink Diamond's Pearl, one of her sapphires and the sapphire's ruby guard. They were cornered but refused to give up. They vowed to fight for Pink Diamond. The pearl gained a spear and the ruby and sapphire fused into Garnet, and together they fought back the rebels. Impressed Pink Diamond made them her royal guard-the beginning of the Pink Stars-and allowed fusions and unusual fighters her Court.
Garnet, Pearl learned, would unfuse for missions, such as going to Centuri so Sapphire could designate Pearl all those years ago.
It was good to be among people who understood her, but it was hard not to be able to match up with them. Pearl couldn't summon her gem weapon a second time. She was just barely passing her training. She doubted herself in everything. She felt lost.
To catch up, Pearl used her days off to train. She headed out into the woods near the Pink Star's base and went through motions of her training. She was halfway through a movement before she tossed down her sword and sighed.
"Hey, keep going. That was good."
Pearl turned to find someone watching her from the shadows of the woods. It was an organic-gem, but Pearl couldn't see where his gem was because of the pink cloak covering his body and most of his face. He was taller than her, with deep black curly hair peeking out from under his hood and bronzed skin. The cloak hood covered half his face, and the flaps buttoned at the shoulders. The cloak fell to his knees where he wore blue pants and terrible open-toed shoes.
"Who are you?" Pearl asked, ignoring the gem's shoes for the moment.
"I'm Rose Quartz."
"Rose Quartz!" Pearl felt relief and surprise wash over her. "I didn't know any men were designated as Rose Quartz."
"Oh!" the rose quartz shifted and laughed. "Well, I'm sort of different. I get that a lot though."
"You do? Different how?" Connie stepped forward, eyes tracing over the pink cloak.
"It's complicated," the rose quartz mumbled sheepishly.
"Oh…" Pearl smiled. "Don't I know it," she said almost to herself.
"And you are?"
"I'm Pearl. Facet MHS-WRN, Cut CN-NI. Connie."
"Can I call you Connie?"
"Sure. What's your identification?"
"Facet UN-VRS, Cut ST-VN. You can call me Steven."
"Steven," Pearl repeated. "Hi, Steven."
"Hi, Connie. So, What's wrong? You were doing so well before you stopped."
"Oh… I don't know." Pearl picked up her sword and looked at it. "I just… I guess I'm homesick. I miss my Mom. She's a rose quartz, too. My Dad's a ruby. I'm here training with the Pink Stars and… I don't know. I guess I just… thought I'd miss them less."
"It's okay to miss them," Steven said. "I mean, they're your parents. But you should use that."
"Use it?" Pearl said.
Steven walked up to Pearl and smiled from behind his hood. "When you have to fight, remember everything you're fighting for, your friends and family, the gems important to you. You're fighting for all the gems you're protecting, including your family. Let the love you feel for them guide you."
"I… I don't know," Pearl said. "I feel like I can't. I mean… I'm just an organic-pearl in the end, aren't I?"
"You're not just a pearl! Pearls are great! They're strong and capable! There's no such thing as just a pearl, Connie. And Organics are great too! I'm organic! My dad is organic! And my friends! We're all great! We're New Homeworld Organics!"
Pearl smiled a little and shook her head. "I have an extra sword, if you want to practice with me."
"Sure."
Steven ended up being a capable fighter. He was well trained, able to block most of Pearl's attacks, but Pearl was able to get in close several times. She even made him push his hood off, revealing his long hair, pulled into a ponytail. They circled one another, taking swipes at each other as Steven called out encouragement and advice. They kept on sparring until the sun began to go down.
"I have to go," Steven said as Connie practiced a few swipes in the air.
"Me too. Pearl will miss me and worry. She's a worrier, like my mom."
Steven chuckled and nodded. "Then you'd better go. We'll see each other again soon, Connie."
Pearl smiled and offered Steven her hand. "Thanks for the advice before, Steven. I think I'll keep it in mind. I want to be useful to the Pink Stars and to Pink Diamond. They're my family, too. So, I'm going to do my best in my training."
"You're going to be an amazing Pink Star," Steven said as he took her hand. "I'll see you soon." Steven let go and walked into the forest, as quiet and mysterious as he'd come. The only thing to set him apart from the woods was the pink of his cloak.
#
Pearl thought about Steven as she collected her things and walked back to the base. She'd never met a male rose quartz before. Because she was so interested in rose quartzes, she'd been officially asked if she'd like her future designation to be same sex and she was even considering it because all of her crushes but one had been women. This would be the fourth rose quartz she'd gotten a crush on, if this continued. But this would be the first male. Pearl supposed this proved she wasn't a lesbian, just really into pink gems. It wasn't her fault that a lot of pink gems were women.
She got back to find Rainbow Pearl already beginning to look for her.
"Connie!" Rainbow Pearl exclaimed when she saw her. "Where were you? I was going to go find you."
"I'm sorry. I was just training. I'm ready to continue with you."
"Really?" Rainbow Pearl said with a smile. "I'm so glad to hear that! We'll start tomorrow after you get some sleep. Then we'll review what we've done so far and go from there."
"Right. I'm heading to bed. And… Pearl?"
"Yes?"
Pearl shifted from foot to foot before speaking, turning over what Steven had told her. "I wanted to tell you how grateful I am for being invited into the Pink Stars, and how much I want to do well here."
Rainbow Pearl smiled and closed the distance between them, hugging Pearl gently. "You're doing great, Connie. Don't worry."
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