Four thousand six hundred and forty-three years ago there had been a series of conversations between White Diamond and those she was leaving behind. Some were about the empire, some about the further things that needed stabilizing at the beginning of Era 2. But most of it was about Domina. Discussions about what the new diamond would need to learn, how the remaining potential colony planets should be given to her in order of increasing difficulty, charting the path of how the daughter of White Diamond should rise to the position of a truly great ruler.
Yellow Diamond rarely disagreed with White Diamond, but Yellow Pearl had never seen the two argue so vehemently about anything.
"You can't expect the empire to simply accept an organic as a diamond."
"The Empire is willing to accept a lot of things Yellow." White Diamond was more at ease than Yellow, and still regal upon her seat despite her great reduction in size and the sudden expansion of her abdomen.
"But not this, you can't honestly expect that the first time White Diamond appears in public in centuries will be as some organic hybrid. We don't even know how her physical form will appear!" And for once White Diamond had relented, and Domina was encouraged, one way or another, to remain in the shadows, much as her mother had once done.
At the time it had seemed sensible to Yellow Pearl because of course, the image of the diamonds mattered over everything else. Now though, she was pretty sure it was in the running for the stupidest decision her former diamond had ever made.
Domina thrived in social situations, far more than her mother ever seemed too, and certainly more than Yellow Diamond.
And it provided Yellow Pearl some entertainment to watch Domina approach unsuspecting gems at the first Cosmic Jubilee of Era 3.
The Cosmic Jubilee was a gala, a time for all the elite of Homeworld to show off their accomplishments among themselves. It typically was not attended by the diamonds, but when White Diamond decides she wants to do something it was difficult to dissuade her.
'Especially,' Yellow Pearl thought 'When the person that's the best at doing that is 3 sectors away.' The other two diamonds were in attendance as well which meant that Yellow was the only pearl on the Homeworld Governing Council present. That being said, the Cosmic Jubilee wasn't as homogenous as Yellow Pearl had expected. There were large numbers of beryls and demantoids but their crowds were also interspersed with quartzes, silicates, rubies, and even a few other pearls.
"Are you the only one here?" Domina was suddenly next to Yellow Pearl jolting her out of her thoughts.
"With Feldspar gone? Of course." Yellow Pearl shook her head and then gestured with a nod in the direction of Blue Diamond, who was speaking with one of the Aquamarines. "Blue Diamonds presence means that Blue was reluctant to come and Jet knows a few of the elites here so decided she would..." Yellow Pearl frowned. "Actually now that I think about it, I can't remember what she said her excuse was." Domina chuckled.
"I'm sure it was good."
"I'm sure," Yellow Pearl mused, looking over Domina briefly, she seemed fine, no visible signs of strain or exhaustion. She was dressed differently, a shimmering cape over one shoulder with sandals instead of her customary boots.
"I was expecting Forest though, the final plans for the new dropships are just awesome."
"She was invited but said that she knew too many gems that were going to be here."
"Don't you know most of the gems here?" Domina asked with a puzzled frown. Yellow Pearl shrugged. She did, perhaps not by cut and facet but she was familiar with most of the gems here by reputation at the very least. But when you're used to being at the beck and call of one of the most powerful beings in the universe, it's hard to be intimidated by an upper crust who has barely even spoken with Yellow Diamond.
"I do, but Yellow Diamond asked me specifically to come." Yellow Pearl smirked, gesturing with a nod to the more and more harried matriarch that was listening to a ruby describe... something that involved an awful lot of moving around.
"So she could have a quick way out?" Domina grinned.
"Well, of course, I'm supposed to go interrupt her in an hour and then-"
"Your Brilliance!" An onyx elbowed her way into their conversation with such smoothness that Yellow Pearl nearly admired her, or would have if she hadn't been subtly shoved aside. "I'd hoped I might get a chance to speak with you!"
Yellow Pearl saw a brief flash of anger over Domina's face, something she'd seen often enough but recently, any anger shown by the Diamond had a... different quality to it. Soon enough Domina's face softened into an easy-going smile and an apologetic glance in Yellow Pearl's direction.
"Onyx 8ES Correct? I've been hearing good things about the colony you oversee, Yellow Pearl's been consulting with a few of the scientists on the coding of the new gems for the next seeding of 23-T72." Domina said. Yellow Pearl rolled her eyes seconds before the Onyx turned to give her a only partially disdainful look. 'Consulting' with those gems had been a futile exercise when they seemed intent of only telling her things she already knew, as slowly as possible.
"Ah yes, that... endeavor is still being worked on?" The onyx said, her initial enthusiasm about speaking with Domina was already waning.
"It is."
"The first gems emerge in a few months." Yellow Pearl piped up, she had moved to stand on Domina's other side.
"They do!" Domina was every picture the proud kindergartener, you would have thought that she grew the gems herself. "Just a test batch, of course, to ensure that we can even make gems in these conditions. Then we'll be implanting the new types."
Yellow Pearl's smile faded slightly, there was that deadline hanging over her. One she certainly didn't seem to be heading towards with any speed.
"Er... yes, I'm sure the whole project has been a wealth of knowledge," The onyx said awkwardly. "Though I heard tell that you've ordered all traditional methods of Gem creation to halt?"
"Temporarily, there's more than enough-" Domina continued with a wave of her hand. Yellow Pearl saw the bafflement on the Onyx's face, something she'd seen often enough when anyone mentioned the Organic Kindergartening project.
"And you really think that's wise?" Of course, not many gems had the luster to interrupt to argue with a Diamond. Yellow Pearl blinked and glanced at Domina who mostly looked shocked.
"I do." She said indignantly after a few moments, and Yellow Pearl could feel the air movement around them still slightly, this conversation was quickly becoming something she was going to have to mention to Pink. And then Domina was calm, her face polite as she nodded to the both of them. "Now if you two will excuse me, I'm expecting a call this evening, Onyx I'm sure if you have more questions Yellow Diamond will be more than eager to answer them, it is one of her planets after all." Domina winked conspiratorially at Yellow Pearl before quickly walking towards the door.
Yellow Pearl followed her with her eyes, and bit her lip thoughtfully, then spotted Yellow Diamond out of the corner of her eye. She probably wouldn't mind going home early. Yellow Pearl certainly knew she wanted to.
Domina had ailments that she was used to, aching joints, tense muscles, sore fingers. But she expected to leave all that behind now that she wasn't organic. Apparently, headaches were here to stay. Or maybe gemache was more applicable, she knew Steven got them too, the feeling that your gem was trying to either pop out on its own or further bury into you. To Domina now, it felt like being cracked, again.
The apartment was empty when she warped in because of course, it was. Domina pulled off her cape and laid it on the couch nearby, on top of her coat, then unlaced her sandals to kick them off next to her boots. The corporeal section of the Apartment was an utter wreck, not that she needed pearl to clean up with her, it was just so much easier not to care when Pearl wasn't there.
Speaking of pearl, her communicator began to ring moments after she removed her shoes. Domina smiled and tossed her screen to eye level.
"Well we're still in one piece," Pearl said from the other side of the video transmission. She was on the bridge of the ship her and Feldspar were traveling on. Domina saw Feldspar wave at her from the background and waved back.
"That's always good to hear," Domina said. "Was Holik-9 really that bad?" The outer planets that the pair had been checking in on all seemed to be in various states of not following the empires new laws for Era 3, some were still regulating the jobs gems could do, others were restricting communication unnecessarily, some things minor some not. And while Domina missed Pearl so, so, soooooo much, she had to admit that they were needed out there.
"They hadn't ceased pearl production, or gifting," Pearl said with a very tense smile. Domina was torn between shocked silence and unbridled rage. She settled for blinking and disbelief.
"Please tell me you're joking."
"I wish I was. But it's dealt with, I have the Catapelite with us for trial when we get back to Homeworld." Pink Pearl said gesturing up where the camera could just catch glimpses of several floating bubbles. Domina opened her mouth to ask a follow-up question. "And Feldspar has all the data for the court to look over." Domina closed her mouth.
"Well, great job, I'm sorry that didn't get dealt with sooner," Domina said. A message popped up on her screen and Domina saw the text for just long enough to bring a grimace to her face before she wiped it out of sight for later.
"Problem?" Pearl asked.
Domina shook her head and forced a smile to cover her lie. "Just a reminder about going to see Steven tomorrow."
"Oh, well, good luck then, have you slept recently?" She asked. Domina waved her off.
"I'll sleep tomorrow, Steven was talking about a movie night with Connie and Amethyst."
"Well, that good but-" Pearl began only to be cut off by the sound of her receiving another call. "Oh, I'm sorry."
"No! Take it! I'll talk to you soon, miss you." Domina said quickly, ignoring the small catch in her throat.
"Miss you too Domina," Pearl said with a smile before she disconnected the call.
When she did the message Domina had dismissed reasserted itself on screen.
Clear Beryl Facet 7W2F Cut 1GZ
There was nothing else, just the name of a gem. But Domina didn't really need any other context. A Gem shattered for theft of material in the third fleet section, it turns out they were trying to repair themselves after an accident. It was almost a mercy killing, there had never been a way, until Steven, to repair cracked gems.
Mossy and Pearl had told her over and over that it had been for the best, that it wasn't her fault that this gem had to be shattered, but those words didn't feel anymore true now than they did then.
Domina shook her head and deleted the message, this was the twelfth one of those she had gotten in the past decade. All anonymously, all with just the name of a gem she had shattered.
Mysterious and disturbing?
Yes.
Something she was going to let herself dwell on?
Not if she had the choice.
Domina pulled on her jacket and her boots, She still had ten hours to kill before she went to Earth for two days. And there was always still work to do.