She discarded her gloves, and added a sheer ruffle at her shoulders. Just for fun, she added some thigh-highs. From her round, pale gem was her as an amorphous being of light, shuffling through her scant amount of forms, before settling into solidity.

The yellow lights of the control room filled Pearl's vision, her Diamond looking at her in the middle of typing.

"How long has it been?" Pearl asked, smoothing the new ruffles.

Yellow Diamond shut off the screens. "It's been a month."

"I see. My Diamond," she added hastily. "What about Planet C? Has there been any trouble?"

"I was just looking over a report from them. The Lapis Lazulis have just finished terraforming the Prime Kindergarten without a hitch. Blue Diamond and I have already gone through extraction, with injection about to commence soon." Yellow offered a rare smile. "It's a good thing the loss of gems and resources has been minimized as much as it was. One of my Brookites have found an exceptionally viable planet."

"That is good news, my Diamond." Pearl fiddled with her hands. She still felt her boldness of the past week on her shoulders; but a month had passed for everyone else, and her escapades as a false Diamond were surely forgotten. It was more than an idle thought, wondering if—although the deal was sanctioned by the most important person in this court—all her bombast that week would be forgiven. Pearl didn't mind so much the scorn from the nobles she ended up spurning, but from Yellow Diamond. She could imagine it now: Yellow would consider the deal as some impulsive thing made from tiredness, and all that week she was kicking herself over letting a little Pearl flaunt a fake sense of authority. Oh, Pearl would surely be shattered! She cursed at fate that she wasn't killed before she formed.

"Don't sell yourself short. I was dead set then on razing the planet of all life, regardless of the loss of energy that we need. If we had done that, we wouldn't be able to advance our defense systems."

Pearl blushed at the praise. "My—my Diamond, I really didn't do much." She frowned. "And—and it was improper to pretend to be as high as I was. I truly apologize for taking advantage of you. My Diamond."

Yellow Diamond laughed, a sweet sound. "I rather miss the confidence you had a month ago! You aren't some lowly service Pearl, you are the Pearl of a Diamond. I'd say you're leagues more important than any common gem!"

"R-right." Her face was a profuse orange. "Forgive me for asking, but will I be shattered for this, my Diamond?"

"If you were to be shattered, I would have shattered you the moment the suggestion came out of your mouth." Yellow smiled kindly as if she hadn't promised her death. "And in any case, this has helped me notice a lot of things, and I'm sure you have as well."

Pearl resisted the urge to shiver. "Yes, my Diamond. Say, did I overwork you?"

Yellow reopened her screens. "I think I may have been shirking."

Pearl tittered. "If anything, all we learned is that all gems work, and it's all important."

"That's a good point." A message popped up on Yellow's screen. "Now that you're back, you can field these again. Ah, it's from the Brookite."

"My Diamond, is this the colony you mentioned?" Pearl asked.

Wordlessly, Yellow turned the pale screen to her servant. "It's the richest planet I've seen. I'm convinced it's perfect for what I'm planning."

"May I ask…?"

"It was going to be a secret, but you're my Pearl. Of course, this means you must not speak of it until it's official," said Yellow. "This will be Pink Diamond's first colony. With everything that it has, it's sure to be a success."

"Another good call from you, my Diamond!" She was certain that idea would not work. "Th-thank you, and I'll… continue working."

Yellow Diamond and her Pearl were two gems that were utterly convinced of their places in society. Yellow's is to unconditionally lead; Pearl's, to unconditionally serve. Yet they both had a week of unfamiliarity and confusion, both thrown so far from their comfort zone from some silly arrangement made on the spur of the moment. From this impulsive arrangement came a change deep in their gems. Although they both believed everything would be back to normal, that normality would never come.

It would not be them that instigated the change, but for the next 6,000 years, they would feel its effects warping them into somebody different.

The two of them would soon learn how to love and how to appreciate from somewhere new and unexpected: the Earth.