A/N: I'm back from vacation. Here's a short little ditty for you all.

Though Pearl was a good servant, she was a naturally curious gem. Perhaps this was why she wound up getting herself into situations that maybe she shouldn't be in. She was sitting at the fountain of the human zoo trying to refocus herself. She's gone to look at them, to really examine them after all she had learned. It wasn't quite obvious what their bodies looked like under their clothes. She wondered if, like gems, they all looked uniform beneath.

She knew that she needed to head back to Home World to her post very soon but all this new knowledge had her feeling rather overwhelmed and rather off-kilter. She supposed Pink wouldn't really notice though, her own mind busy with colonies and their own secret missions. Her insides fluttered at the memories of their dalliances on Earth.

The petite gem sighed and rose to her feet, making her way to the warp pad. She was so accustomed to her post that she went automatically without needing to be conscious of where she was going. When she arrived at the door of Pink's main quarters she was surprised to see Blue and Yellow standing outside and the raised voices of their respective Diamonds coming from behind said door. The pair of gems looked at her curiously and she found herself becoming self conscious.

"What's going on?" She whispered.

Yellow narrowed her eyes. "Pink Diamond doesn't seem to be happy. You must not be doing your job right."

Pearl straightened herself indignantly. "That is not true! My Diamond is very happy with me, she tells me so."

Her counterpart snickered nastily. "Sure."

She looked desperately to Blue, who shrugged wordlessly. She strained to hear what was being said.

"... if you can't use discretion, then we'll have to send you away!" Yellow Diamond's harsh voice came. "Why can't you focus your attention on the colony we gave you? The one you begged for?"

"I am, I just... it's something that I enjoy doing to let off the steam from running a colony. Don't act like you've never done it. I see the way you look at your pearl," came Pink's sharp reply.

Pearl looked at Yellow who refused to meet her gaze as a deep yellow-orange crawled up her chest and neck.

"Hmph, and you judge me."

Not that she was really judging her. If anything she was curious and wanted to ask Yellow questions.

"Watch what you say to me, Pink. At least what I do in the privacy of my chambers is kept there. What, you can't find it in yourself to use your pearl for her purpose?"

This time the pair of pearls looked at her, rather surprised.

"The poor thing doesn't even know what it is."

Her cheeks flamed ice blue but she kept her chin up and dared them to make fun of her. After all, she was younger than the two of them and she had a lot to learn. But she was on her way.

Yellow Diamond sighed heavily. "Regardless. If word gets back to White about this, you could not just lose everything you could get shattered. You know how she feels about fraternization with lower class gems."

"I know. I promise to be more careful. We'll have to do something about the gem that talked, of course. We can't have them running around spilling our secrets. I'll see to it that she is taken care of."

"Good. Don't make us have to come back and have this conversation again."

Pearl hurried next to Blue and Yellow and the three stood at attention as the doors swung open and Blue and Yellow Diamonds exited. Each bowed and greeted them with reverence and Pearl ducked inside, quietly closing the door.

"My Diamond, I am here for post," she informed politely, trying to act as though she hadn't heard what had just happened.

She wondered what Pink had meant when she said she would have the gem taken care of. Would she be reassigned or shattered? She tried not to shiver in fear. Would her Master ever do that to her?

"Pearl, good. I need you to run a message for me."

"Yes my Diamond," she curtsied obediently.

Pink looked down at her servant and wondered idly if she could be trained for what she wanted. Surely she could be. Blue and Yellow had trained theirs, so why couldn't she? She rubbed her temples tiredly. She didn't want to do this anymore. She wanted to be free to do as she pleased not stuck hiding her fun behind locked doors and having gems shattered for indiscretion.

The diamond wrote out a quick note to Emerald detailing punishment for the gem and sealed it before handing it to Pearl. "Hurry back we have some important things to attend to."

"Yes my Diamond." Her voice was soft and shaky and her hands trembled as she took the scroll of paper from the larger gem's hand.

"Is-" she stopped herself.

"What?" Pink asked, turning back to her.

She cleared her throat. "Is there anything else you need while I'm out, my diamond?"

"No, that's all. Just be quick." She turned and sat in her throne, eyes fixed on the screen before her as she zoomed in on the map to a landmass on the Earth.

The white gem left silently, trying to ease her own discomfort and fear. She knew what was going to happen to the poor gem who had slipped up. She knew she was the bearer of a death sentence for a fellow gem.

Pearl made certain to be as quick as possible even though it felt like her feet were made of lead. She returned to her Owner's quarters and stood by her side silently, hoping she wouldn't notice her there.

"Come. We need to go to Earth."

She followed Pink wordlessly, head bowed and several paces back from her heels. It felt as though everything was bubbling up to a boil beneath the surface and something scary and dangerous was about to erupt.