Pearl swung her sword in an arc and turned on the spot, slashing through the air. She was in her favorite spot in the woods, in the clearing near the cave where she'd hidden from what she was calling the gem beast. For eight months, she’d trained with Rainbow Pearl to become a knight to Pink Diamond. She technically had the day off, but she was planning on using the day to train, anyway.

"Connie!"

Turning, Pearl saw Steven making his way towards her through the woods. He had his usual pink, light pink, and white cloak on, and had a basket over his arm.

"Hey, Steven. What's in the basket?"

Steven grinned and held it up. "I packed a picnic! Do you want to have lunch?"

"Oh!" Connie shifted on the spot. "I was going to train today."

"Well, you train every day. One day off won't hurt."

"I don't know, Steven. Being part of the Pink Stars is a great honor, especially for a pearl like me and—"

"Connie," Steven interrupted. "Hold the phone. Now, give the phone to me. Working hard is important. But feeling good is important, too! You should take a day off and have a picnic! Then get back to work tomorrow."

Pearl frowned as she thought about it.

"Well, overworked muscles wouldn't be a good thing…" She smiled and nodded. "Okay," Pearl said. "You convinced me. Let's have a picnic!"

#

They walked through the woods, talking about Pearl's training and their favorite book and movie series Kitty-copter, laughing and enjoying the day. The sun streamed down through the trees, filtering the forest with hues of green and yellow. Finally, they came to an enormous cliff overlooking the entire area.

The Pink Stars base laid out across the land below them. The training field, the forge, and the library were all visible. Beyond the base was the unused gem temple, erected as refuge by the rebel Rose Quartz during the rebellion and preserved by Pink Diamond after her return to power. Along the right, the beach and ocean stretched out into the distance. Pearl felt her eyes water.

"When I learned I was going to be living on New Homeworld, I almost cried. I knew I would never see the colony I grew up on again." She wiped the tears from her eyes. "But, New Homeworld is so beautiful. I see why Pink Diamond lives here."

"It is beautiful," Steven said. "I've lived here all my life. I've never wanted to be anywhere else."

Steven paused. Pearl could see him out of the corner of her eye. He seemed to have more to say, but he didn't speak. He just stared out over the landscape, frowning sadly. His hood was pushed back and a few strands of his black hair had escaped his ponytail and were swept into his face. He looked so handsome and so troubled.

"Steven? What's wrong?"

"Hm? Oh, heh. It's nothing." He wiped a tear from his eye. "Just thinking."

"I understand," Pearl said, taking his hand. Steven's hand was bigger than hers, warm, soft. He squeezed her hand back, not looking at her, but just holding her back.

They stood together, hand-in-hand, for a few moments before Steven took a breath and held up his basket.

"Lunch?" he said.

Steven spread out a blanket and unpacked the lunch. There were hot dog sandwiches, fruit salad, biscuits and jars of jam. Steven explained each item as he took it out. Pearl grinned. She'd only recently had most of the things he'd brought. Pearl had been right. The colonies had nothing on New Homeworld's food. She was paying attention to the food instead of Steven and reached for the strawberry jam at the same time as him. Their hands overlapped again, and Pearl paused and blushed.

"Sorry," she said at the same time as Steven. She pulled back as Steven took the jar and opened it up. He spread some jam on a biscuit and handed it to Pearl.

"Here," Steven said.

"Thanks," Pearl muttered, taking the biscuit.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, a comfortable silence. There was birdsong in the air. Off in the distance, the sounds of quartz soldiers training in the bases wafted up. Even farther away the sound of the ocean waves washed over everything.

Pearl ate slowly, savoring the taste of the jam. Steven hummed between bites. She closed her eyes and smelled the woods, moist and deep, the ocean sharp and salty, the food and the base, sweet, mouthwatering, metallic and clean. Pearl was warm and content in the sun. She was home.

"I wish I could stay here forever," Pearl muttered, almost to herself.

"We could do this every day," Steven said, "and it wouldn't be enough."

"Mhm!"

Pearl sighed, so grateful that Steven had come and whisked her away from her training. She opened her eyes and looked at him.

Steven was definitely handsome. He had deep brown eyes, suntanned skin that was almost freckled, and the most peculiar hair. It was so curly his ponytail could barely contain it, and deep black. In his highlights where the light hit his hair, it shone reddish, almost pink, like rose quartz. Pearl chuckled and looked off into the woods to hide her blush. Steven was so gorgeous he was sometimes a little hard to look directly at if he wasn't hiding behind his hood.

"What?" Steven asked.

"Nothing," Pearl said, still smiling.

Steven laughed. "Connie, what?"

"Nothing!" Pearl sang. Then something in the woods caught her eye. Her smile faltered ever so slightly.

"Come on," Steven sang back. "What's going—"

"Shush!" Pearl blurted out.

"W-what?"

"Hush, Steven! There's something…" Pearl paused and hopped up into a crouch. "There's something in the shadows." She crept forward, standing, edging towards the woods. Before she could get past the blanket, a gem beast came crashing out of the woods.

It was twice Pearl's height and just as wide, with four legs, two arms, no difference between its body and head to speak of and a body sized mouth with rows of sharp teeth. On top of its round form was a single antenna.

Pearl turned for the sword which was resting by the back side of the blanket where she had been sitting, but before she could reach it a white-hot light-beam shot from over her shoulder and knocked it farther away. She turned back, but barely had time to dive out of the way before the beast warmed up its antenna again and shot at her.

"Connie!" Steven shouted.

Pearl looked at Steven, then looked at the gem beast. Her sword was laying by the cliff edge, out of reach for the moment, but Steven didn't have a weapon at all as far as she knew. She braced against the ground and decided. She hadn't been able to summon her gem weapon again since the first, over eight months ago, but she needed to protect Steven.

"Steven, run!" Pearl shouted as she darted for the beast, hoping her weapon would materialize in her moment of need.

She got close and prepared to strike, only to be hit by a beam. She shuddered in place, pain shooting through her jerking body, then collapsed, faintly hearing Steven calling her name.

It took Pearl a moment to shake off the shock of the hit and looked up to find herself in a pink bubble with Steven.

"Connie?! Connie, are you okay?" Steven shouted. Outside the bubble, the beast was shooting at them.

"Steven? How are you doing this?"

"Connie, we don't have time. We have to run!"

Another shot hit the bubble and Pearl stood and shook her head clear. "There… there's a cave. We were by it earlier. We can regroup there."

"Can you run?"

Pearl crouched on all fours, looking towards the cave. "On three, drop the bubble and follow me."

"Okay!" Steven answered.

"One." Pearl dug her feet and hands in the dirt. The thumping from the gem beast attacks was pounding in her ears. "Two." She tensed all her muscles. "Three!" Pearl shot forward, trusting Steven to drop the bubble in time and follow her.