Lunge. Parry. Thrust.
Chapter Two.
It was almost an entire solar cycle before Pearl saw Rose Quartz again, Pearl was sitting on a stone bench and was again going through some reports from the kindergartens as well as reports and messages from Homeworld which had come through the newly constructed communication spire, the first of many and a direct line to Homeworld.
Under her breath, she began to hum a song. It wasn't anything special by any means, just a few notes that went well together. She enjoyed singing, whenever her Diamond asked to be entertained she always hoped that she meant that she wanted to sing to her, it wasn't only the thing that she was best at but also the only one of her duties that she truly enjoyed.
It was a mark of what an elite model of Pearl she was, only the fanciest of Pearls could sing as an option, for most gems that were granted a Pearl most of them didn't know how to sing, they were meant for holding things or assisting with low level tasks. If a Pearl could sing than in most cases that meant that it was a singing Pearl, that was its prime function, to provide entertainment.
But Pearl was the Pearl of a diamond, she was special, if her Diamond wanted to hear a song then all she had to do was commanded her to do so and it was done, if her Diamond wanted a companion, something to deal with her stress, to be pleased then Pearl could do it all and more. Some gems had told her she was so lucky, to be able to serve a Diamond, to be so close to one was an honour. There was no greater honour for a Pearl.
But the thing was Pearl did not feel very lucky, not at all.
"That's a very nice song." A sweet and familiar voice spoke, causing Pearl to stop humming and look up, eyes shrinking to dots when she saw Rose Quartz standing there, a gentle smile playing on her lips. "Where did you learn it?"
"General Quartz!" Pearl turning off her hologram projection and stood up from the stone bench and bowed quickly, to show her respect. She knew that her Diamond had sent the Quartz away but she was still a Quartz and the commander of her Diamond's forces, she was due the proper respect. "Forgive me, I did not see you."
"No no, please don't apologise, you didn't do anything wrong." The Quartz gem said with a small smile and a small laugh, causing her pink ringlets to bounce in an almost hypnotising manner. "I only wanted to come over and say hello, I hope I'm not interrupting anything important."
"Nothing that can not wait General, I was simply reviewing reports for my Diamond." As soon as Pearl mentioned their Diamond something odd happened, something flash behind Rose Quartz's eyes that for a moment Pearl wondered if she had actually seen it all but she was sure that she had, there was a deep and dark anger there and it unnerved her.
Rose Quartz was quite infamous among the gem elite, being well know was a guaranteed certainty when you were the commander of a Diamond's forces but Rose wasn't just well know, she was infamous for some...rather unusual ideas, to put it lightly. She always tried to argue for the preservation of the planets that they used for colonies, to try not to disturb any of the local life forms.
It was odd, why such a high ranking gem care so much for organic life forms? She did not mean to question the gem but everyone else did, if she had been a lower ranking gem then she might've been shattered or used in a harvest.
And yet, the Quartz did not care what anyone thought of her, to the point that she would willing argue with their Diamond, the argument they were having when Pearl had walked into the throne room kept replaying in her mind, despite the fact that their Diamond could easily shatter her.
As soon as she had seen the look it faded and Rose smiled, although it seemed a little sad to Pearl. "Reports from the kindergartens? Homeworld? Wanting to know how the colony is coming along?"
"Yes. This is going to be vital colony from what I understand." Pearl said and she realised that she should probably get back to her reports, her Diamond would no doubt want a summery of them. As she did every day.
Rose nodded and walked past Pearl, Pearl thought she had gone and thus sat back down but didn't turn her holographic projection back on when she noticed that Rose had not walked off but was standing at the open window that was streaming in light from the earth's sun, Pearl noticed that it seemed to make her eyes sparkle.
"Do you ever think about it?" Rose asked softly, another sad smile dancing across her lips as she stared at the view from the window, Pearl had looked from that window a few times and she had to admit that the view was quite pleasant, the mountain that castle was built into the side of was high above the ground, there were dozens of smaller mountains surrounding it and waterfalls fell down to the great lake below. "This planet is so beautiful, and they're just going to ruin it all for the sake of a few more resources."
"Well, it has to be done. The authority needs the resources of this world." Pearl said with a delicate shrug of her shoulders, she didn't see the point in getting upset over something that you could not change and Rose Quartz, for all she was respected as a warrior and a strategist would not be able to change the minds of all four diamonds and she would never be able to overturn them.
"But why this world, one full of so much life? Why not a dead world? There are thousands of them that we could build colonies on, why this world?" She muttered sadly, her eyes following a bird the soared in the sky, the sun catching it's brown and white feathers. "Everything about it is so, beautiful."
She sighed heavily and stepped away from the window ledge, she glanced at Pearl and let out an apologetic laugh. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to go on about it. I hope I didn't bore you."
"You didn't. I don't see how you could ever bore anyone." Pearl said quickly and Rose looked taken aback for a moment and Pearl thought for a tense moment that she had offended her somehow but instead the other gem laughed, a snorting like sound that seemed odd coming from a gem that always seemed so poised and graceful, and Pearl was happy that she hadn't offended her.
"So, what do you do when you aren't serving Pink Diamond?" Rose Quartz asked as she sat down next to Pearl, who made sure that she kept her hands close to her body so that she would not accidently touch the Quartz gem, back on homeworld she had once seen a fellow Pearl be shattered where she stood after she had accidently bumped into a Hibonite.
Her fellow Pearl's screams still sometimes sounded in her ears, she had never been more afraid in her life as she watch the brutish gem grab the other Pearl and ripped her gem from her, causing her physical form to disappear from existence, and then crushed the gemstone in her hand and let the pieces fall to the ground.
After all was said and done the Pearl's owner, a Jade, had only been offended that the Hibonite had been so rude in destroying her Pearl and demanded that she order her a new one to replace it, neither of them cared that they had ended another gem's life.
It was then she learned that no other gems considered Pearls real gems, they were servants and that was that.
She realised at that moment that Rose Quartz was staring at her, waiting for an answer to her question. Pearl cleared her throat about her answer for a moment before she answered. "Well, I am always serving my Diamond, that is my purpose as a Pearl. I do not have any spare time to do anything else and even if I did I would only want to do what my Diamond commands of me."
Rose frowned and Pearl wondered what she said that had offended her and wondered all to quickly if what had happened to her sister Pearl was about to happen to her, she let out a sigh of relief however when Rose started to speak again. "Well, there must be something that you like to do? Something that doesn't involve your Diamond?"
Pearl realised at that moment that Rose Quartz had probably never been around many Pearls before, for most Pearl's there life solely revolved around their owner, they didn't know any other way to be, it was what they were designed for. They weren't happy with their lot, some did what they could to change it but there was little to no chance of it ever happening.
Still, the other gem was waiting for a response. "I sometimes like to watch fights in the stadium, and at the Sky Arena, I like how graceful some of the fighters are, especially those who use swords." She said and Rose smiled brightly, her curls bouncing.
"Oh, why didn't you say so!" Rose shouted happily, her gem began to glow pink and she reached out with her before she stopped and pulled it back. "Oh, do you mind?" She asked with a smile.
"If it please you." Pearl said, more than a little surprised that the other gem bothered to ask if it was alright with her before she did it, Rose smile pleased and reached out with her and gently placed it to Pearl's gemstone, Pearl shivered as she felt new information being downloaded directly into her gem, she could see the digits that made it up and she realised that it was program of some sort.
"It's a combat simulator." Rose said as she gently pulled her hand away from her gem. "It's mainly used to train younger gems in swordsman ship, I knew that I had an old copy knocking about somewhere so I thought you might get better use of it."
To say that Pearl was surprised was something of an understatement, she was completely and utterly flabbergasted with what had just happened to her, not only had a Quartz gem, and not just any Quartz gem but a Rose Quartz, and not just any Rose Quartz but the Rose Quartz, given her a gift but it was a gift that would train in her combat apparently. She did not know what to say.
"I don't know what to say." Pearl said and she cursed herself for how stupid that she was being, it wouldn't work no matter what. "But I think it was a bit of waste, Pearls can not fight."
Rose frowned. "Says who?"
"Well..." Pearl paused for a moment as she thought about it for a moment before she continued. "Well, no says it but Pearls just don't fight, we aren't meant for that."
"And who decides what you are meant for?"
Pearl was starting to feel a little frustrated but she knew that she could not get angry, if she yelled at a Quartz then she would be punished by her Diamond and she didn't want that, shattering was not the worst thing that could happen to her after all. "Well...The Diamonds decided that, they have for thousands of years."
"And who decided that they get to decided?" Rose asked with a small smirk.
Pearl opened her mouth to respond but then shut it again, she didn't know who decided that. It's just the way that it all was and no one had ever thought to, at least openly, question it.
No one it seemed, until Rose Quartz.
"Rose!" A voice called from behind Pearl and they both turned to look in time to see a Bismuth and a Ruby approaching, the Bismuth looked a little alarmed about Pearl's presence but she didn't say anything. That thing you told me to look into? It's ready when you're ready to go."
Rose nodded and stood up from the bench and looked down at Pearl, she smiled and there was a hint of sorrow to it. "It looks like I have to go, I hope you will think about what we talked about and-actually, hang on one second." Rose turned to the Bismuth and smiled. "Do you still have that sword you were working on, the lightweight one?"
Bismuth was quite for a moment and raised an eyebrow but after a moment her gem glowed and she pulled out possibly thinnest sword that Pearl had ever seen, it seemed to almost be invisible when it was looked edge on, it did not look like it was capable of slicing into something but it did look like it could pock quite a few holes into something instead. Rose took the sword from Bismuth and held it out towards Pearl. "Here. You have it."
"Rose." The Ruby, her gem located just below her chin, spoke with an anxious expression on her face. "We really do have to get going, now."
"General Quartz, I couldn't I-" Pearl began but she was interrupted by Rose, who chuckled.
"Oh, come on. You need a sword if you're going to use that combat simulator and you should be able to use this one pretty easily. You won't have any difficulty in holding that." Rose said as she placed the sword in Pearl's hands and stepped back with a smile. "Now, I have to get going, I hope that you will try out the combat simulator by the time we speak again."
And just like that she was gone, going down the long corridor like there was a gust of wind carrying her, the Bismuth and the Ruby following after her though the Bismuth did glance back at her for a moment before she followed them.
Pearl glanced down at the sword in her hands for a moment before she stood up and began to make her way deeper into the castle, going the opposite way down the corridor until she arrived in front of the door to her room. The door slid up and she rested the blade against the wall and sat on the floor, crossing her legs and looked at the blade for a few moments.
It was clearly very finely made, that was almost always the case if a Bismuth crafted it and it would be rude for her to turn it away, it was a gift from the Rose Quartz after all.
She stood up and picked up the sword once again and did a few quick thrusts to try and get a feel for it, it was very light so she didn't have any trouble holding it but it was almost too light and at times she thought that a few times it was going to fly out of her hand but it stayed where it was as she learned to tighten her hold on the sword hilt.
She decided she might as well try out the simulator now, her gem glowed and a holographic replication of herself stood before her holding a holographic sword and it began to speak, a harsh and robotic version of her own voice. "Do you wish to engage in combat?!"
"I suppose so." Pearl said with a shrug and then shrieked at the hologram thrust her blade at her and she ducked and she thrust her sword through her hologram's chest. The holo recreation of herself put her arms at her side and spoke again.
"Challenger wins, do you wish to battle again?" The hologram spoke as Pearl got back to her feet, that had been terrifying, how would she explain to her diamond how she had been poofed? How would she explain where she had gotten the sword from?
But despite all of those worries, she had enjoyed ever second of what just happened. Yes, she had been in danger but she hadn't lost. She had managed to save herself even though she had never fought at all in her life. What could she do with proper training?
That decided her answer for her as she drew her sword from the hologram's chest and held it firmly. "Yes, I do!"
"Battle begin!" The hologram shrieked, and then it began.
End of Chapter Two.
Please follow, favourite and review. In case you are wondering yes that was our Bismuth but it wasn't our Ruby, next chapter we're swapping over to Rose's perspective. I hope you'll enjoy it just as much if not more than you enjoyed this one! See ya later!