After overcoming his initial shock, Steven invited us to follow him back to the beach house, in the hands of the statue. Steven's house was attractively decorated. There were wooden beams spaced around the floorspace, which gave way at the back, to the stony threshold of the temple, featuring a narrow, arch-shaped door with a star on it, like Steven's T-shirt, and another wide, stone circle, like the one Garnet had used to teleport from the Keystone ruins. To the right of the door, was a small kitchen, and to the left, a handsome, white corner sofa, and a small, mezzanine bedroom.

Immediately after entering, we were greeted be a shrill, grating voice. "Steven! You survived!"

Mandy and I were startled, certainly, but Emily cried out in alarm, as we noticed the person who had seemingly been watching the fight with the spider, through the house's blinds. She was very short, around Steven's height, not counting her pointy, triangular hairdo, making her look like an oddly-coloured road sign. She was mostly green, with a darker green body suit, and yellow hair. There was a visor covering the top half of her face, like Garnet's, only transparent, and a triangular, green Gem was fitted into her forehead.

"Oh my god, you're a... a..." Emily struggled.

"A Gem...?" The Gem irritably finished, with a frown on her face. "Steven, why have you invited these dull humans into your home?"

"Because they're not humans!" Steven enthusiastically answered, but he quickly caught himself, and smiled embarrassedly. "Gosh, I didn't even ask if you were all Gem hybrids! Or what your names were!"

I laughed, glad that Steven was being as awkward as I felt. "No, it's just me that's a hybrid, I'm Jayla, but you can call me JJ."

Emily and Mandy introduced themselves too.

The Gem stepped forwards and extended her hand to us. "Hello there, I'm Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG, would any of you care to take an uncomfortable grip of my hand... and elevate and lower it?" She grinned suggestively.

I couldn't help but smirk at the small Gem's unusual speech pattern, as I shook her hand.

"Wow, great job, Peridot!" Steven said. "That is how people greet each other on earth!"

Emily frowned, as she shook Peridot's hand. "What did you say, just now...? Facet what?" She asked.

Peridot frowned, irritably. "2F5L Cut-5XG." She repeated.

"Facet and Cut numbers are how Gems tell each other apart." Steven explained. "There are a lot of Peridots on Homeworld and other Gem planets, but she's the only one on earth, so you don't have to call her that."

"Yes, 'Peridot' is fine." Peridot confirmed.

The five of us took a seat on the couch and got to talking. It turned out, that Steven was fourteen, and had known the Crystal Gems his entire life, and lived with them for almost as long. I'd have lied if I said I wasn't envious. Steven had spent his life surrounded by Gems, who could answer any of his many questions about his heritage. My feelings weren't improved, when Steven began to list the powers his Gem offered him. Steven had super strength, could float through the air, manifest a shield and a protective bubble, heal any injury, create animated plant life, and (for some reason) transform his fingers into cat heads.

With each new power Steven mentioned, my heart fell a little lower. Steven was incredible! And all I could do was summon boomerangs... I reasoned that it was probably just because Steven was a different kind of Gem to me. Upon inquiry, Steven revealed that his mum had been a warrior, called Rose Quartz. Lifting his shirt, he showed us a circular, pink Gem, with a pentagonal facet. It made sense that a Rose Quartz would be more powerful than a Jet. Jets were supposed to be pilots, I imagined they were only expected to summon weapons and fight hand-to-hand (or hand-to-hairy spider leg) as a last resort. I wondered how I would fare behind the wheel of a Gem spaceship, like the one my space mum had flown to earth in.

Eventually, the stone circle in front of the temple burst into life, projecting a beam of light skyward, and when it faded, Garnet had appeared, along with the two remaining Crystal Gems, one tall, slender and pale, with a blue dress and a smooth round Gem on her forehead, and another who was quite the opposite- short, squat and purple, with bushy, lilac hair and very human-like jeans and a top, which partially concealed a purple Gem in the same place as my own. It turned out, these two were Pearl and Amethyst.

"No waaay...!" Amethyst gasped, after we had all introduced ourselves, and I'd drawn attention to my Gem.

"This is incredible..." Pearl noted, bending over slightly to inspect my Gem, up close. "I mean, it's always been a possibility of course, since Steven exists, but to think he wasn't even the first..."

"Well... If Gems have been around for thousands of years, couldn't there have been a bunch who fell in love with humans?" Steven suggested.

"We've been around for thousands of years." Pearl corrected, indicating to herself, Amethyst and Garnet. "The rest of the Gems who came to earth either went back to Homeworld or... well..."

Pearl trailed off, a look of great remorse on her face, my curiosity and empathy fought for control of my mouth for a moment, until curiosity won. I gently asked Steven to finish Pearl's history lesson. He explained to us that a war had been fought for earth thousands of years ago, which had ended with the corruption of the rebel army, reducing them to monsters, the likes of which we'd fought with on the beach.

"But my mum came to earth more recently, like thirty years ago." I pointed out. "How likely is it that she was the only one in however many thousands of years it's been?"

"Yeah, how do you know there aren't other Gems on earth?" Emily added.

"Because Gems are super loud and flashy!" Amethyst said. "They're always all, 'We're here to conquer your planet and kidnap you for a zoo!'"

"It's true." Peridot agreed. "We Gems are not a subtle species, overall."

"But you're talking about military Gems, from that Homeworld you mentioned." Mandy said. "Mightn't there have been other castaways like Jet, or rebels like you guys, since then? You know, Gems who specifically don't want to be found?"

Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl shared a series of nervous looks.

"That's right, just think of Fluorite and Rhodonite!" Steven said, excitedly. "Homeworld Gems like them could fall in love and fuse, anywhere in the Galaxy, and if they met near earth, the first thing they would do is come to earth and go into hiding! Same with Gems like Padparashca and the Rutile twins!"

There was another pause, as the realisation settled in.

"Sooo..." Amethyst eventually said. "What do we do with that? Are we gonna look all over the earth for other Gems, and see if they wanna be Crystal Gems?"

"Not today, we're not." Garnet quickly answered. "We have enough new recruits for now."

"R... recruits?" I reacted.

I had worried earlier that the Crystal Gems were heroes who protected the earth, to whom I could never measure up. I was deeply flattered by Garnet's presumption, but my concern was still present.

"I don't think you want me to be a Crystal Gem... I mean, I'm no good in a fight! If it wasn't for Emily's gizmo earlier, I'd be spider food right now..."

"That's just because you never got the chance to train with a Gem warrior!" Steven said. "I used to worry that I wouldn't be much help to the Gems, too, but then they took me on missions, so I could get experience, and Pearl taught me how to fight!" He gasped loudly. "You should come and train with us!"

My mind raced with the possibilities, learning to use my powers to their full potential, to protect the earth... As good as it sounded, there was an obvious drawback.

"I'd love to, but... Jets aren't supposed to be warriors... They're pilots."

There was a pause, during which many of the Gems shared fleeting glances. Suddenly, Steven, Amethyst and Pearl burst into laughter. Garnet also seemed to smirk slightly.

Eventually, Pearl wiped a tear from her eye. "Jayla, around here, we don't let Homeworld's expectations of us limit our potential. Why, we Pearls are made to assist aristocrats in doing menial tasks, but I was one of the fiercest warriors in the rebellion!"

"And I was always told that we younger Gems couldn't possess psionic powers!" Peridot enthusiastically contributed. "And look at me now!"

Peridot held her hands out and scowled in concentration, and a teaspoon floated out of a cup of tea, on the coffee table, and span around in the air, spraying droplets of tea in all directions.

I had to admit to myself, that I was impressed. The Crystal Gems sentiments really spoke to my insecurities. Even though I had never heard of an alien Pearl before today, it was inspiring to know that one could go from servant to warrior, by her own will.

"Okay!" I blurted out, before I felt committed to my answer. "Let's train!"

As it turned out, Pearl trained Steven, alongside his human friend, Connie, who would be coming over tomorrow. I agreed to wait until then, so we could all train together. The conversation drifted back and forth for a while after that. After all of my questions about Gems, the Crystal Gems were curious to know about me. I told them about growing up, believing I was the only one of my kind, and how I was now living in a tiny flat with Mandy, and working in a coffee shop.

Eventually, we were talking about the Crystal Gems again, and Emily asked, "So you rebelled against your Homeworld when they came here, but... It was just about wanting the Earth to be safe, right?"

That seemed like a strange question, and the house's other occupants seemed to share my opinion.

"Well of course, why else would we?" Pearl asked.

"I dunno..." Emily awkwardly replied. "I thought it might be about Gems... like... you don't like Homeworld Gems or something?"

Garnet frowned confusedly. "That would be ridiculous..." She noted.

"Yeah, all Gems are Homeworld Gems to begin with!" Peridot pointed out, in a voice which suggested Emily was an idiot.

"Uhhh, yo, not me?" Amethyst said.

"Except Amethyst." Peridot acknowledged.

"So... what are you gonna do if you find out there are other Gems on earth?" Emily asked.

"We'll ask them to join our team!" Steven said, excitedly.

"And if they don't want to?" Emily pressed.

"There's not much middle ground between invading Homeworld Gems and Crystal Gems..." Pearl said.

"But what if other Gems just want to be left alone, by you and Homeworld?" There was more than a hint of panic in Emily's voice, which everyone noticed.

"Emily...?" Mandy said, in a cautious voice, but holding her arm, comfortingly.

"What are you talking about...?" I asked.

Emily looked around the room, realising everyone was staring at her. She exhaled slowly, calming herself, while also sighing in resignation. "Okay... confession time..." She looked to me and Mandy. "I'm really sorry I didn't tell you guys sooner... My aunts made me promise."

Emily reached behind her head, undid her eyepatch, and lifted her hair. I thought back to when I had first asked Emily about the patch. She hadn't said "I'm lost my eye" or "My eye was injured", she had said "I have one eye". She had told the truth, her eyepatch didn't cover a damaged or inactive eyeball... it covered a green, triangular Gem.