Note: I changed the ages around because I cannot for the life of me write children. From now on, Johnathon is 10, H11 is 10, and D13 is 13

Freshwater stretched and opened her eyes with a yawn. Pushing herself up from the small canopy of leaves, it took her a moment to realize that she was still in the zoo. Surprisingly, she hadn't connected with Steven during the night. Trying not to think about it, she made her way around the zoo to make a head count.

H11 was currently holding onto a tree branch a few feet above the ground, whistling a happy tune as she swung back and forth. When she saw Freshwater, she gave her a bright grin. "Oh, you're still here? D13 said you'd probably have left by now." She said, letting go of the tree branch and landing solidly on her feet.

Freshwater arched an eyebrow. "He can talk?" H11 shrugged. "When he wants to." She said simply. Freshwater pursed her lips but didn't ask. "Where is he anyway?" she asked, looking at the tree H11 had been in earlier. The girl shrugged. "J10 and Y6 usually take him for a swim this early in the morning. It helps him calm down and loosen up."

"You don't go with them?" H11 shrugged. "I like to explore the area this early. It's quiet, and D13 isn't awake to tell me to stop playing in the trees before I get hurt." She explained, her eyes widening. "You should try it!" she said, excitedly grabbing Freshwater's arm and tugging it. Freshwater frowned, not moving. "I don't know….I need to get a head count. Make sure everyone's alright." H11 grinned deviously, not relenting as she kept pulling. "So why not get an aerial view? Here, you can climb the best tree here." She rambled as Freshwater relented, allowing H11 to drag her along. "It's got the perfect footholds, and great places to put your hands. It was the first tree I ever climbed, actually. We didn't have many like it when I was on Earth." She said, coming to the base of the tree.

Freshwater hesitated, but decided to humor her. "Alright, alright." She said, approaching the tree and allowing the smaller human to guide her up. "Yeah, see? It's easy!" the human said excitedly as Freshwater hoisted herself up and started to climb, copying wherever H11 put her hands and feet to determine the most sturdy spots. H11 giggled. "You're doing better than D13." She remarked, pulling herself up to a branch below the highest one and sitting on it, grinning down at Freshwater and pointing to the spot above it. "That one's got the best view." She said. "I can always spot when D13, J10, and Y6 are coming so I know to get down." She said as Freshwater gave a final grunt, coming to a rest on the top branch, gazing at the treeline. There wasn't much to see, but she had to admit it was interesting to be so high off the ground.

Scanning the area, Freshwater felt herself relax slightly. H11 giggled. "See? Climbing trees is awesome!" she said, lightly kicking her feet. "I don't remember how I even learned to climb them. I know someone taught me of course, but it couldn't have been D13. He's too serious and scared of heights." She said with a frown. Freshwater shrugged. "It was probably one of your human caregivers. I know a boy on earth who has several who he learns from." H11 stared at her blankly. "Human caregivers?" she said, confused.

Freshwater chuckled. She'd forgotten that she was talking to a human that looked no more than 10. She'd have to dumb down her language. "Parents." she said simply. H11 lowered her gaze, deep in thought. "Maybe?" she said with a frown. Freshwater down at her, confused. "What do you mean maybe?"

H11 shrugged. "I don't remember much before the zoo." She said simply. "I mean, I remember some things, but a lot of it is hazy." She thought for a moment. "D13 remembers a lot of stuff though for some reason." She said with a shrug. "But he is 3 years older than me, so maybe that has something to do with it?" she sighs. "He tells me not to worry about it, but I'm curious. I'll be 11 in a few months, but he still treats me like a little kid."

Freshwater frowned. "Maybe he's trying to protect you. To him, he has to keep you safe."

H11 pouted. "But if he's always trying to keep me out of trouble, then who's the one keeping him out of trouble?"

Freshwater opened her mouth but shut it again. The human had a point. Before she had a chance to digest the question, however, H11 had already jumped down from the tree, nimbly landing on her feet. "D13's on his way back by now." She said at Freshwater's confused face. "That's all well and good, but how do I get down?" H11 looked at her like the answer was obvious. "Jump?" she said. Freshwater started to argue, but the human had already run off to their brother.

Freshwater sighed. Of course. She thought to herself, lowering her gaze to the ground below. Deciding that she liked her gem intact, Freshwater gripped the tree and started to lower herself down carefully. Just as she was gaining confidence in her ability, however, she swear she felt the floor below her start to rumble. Freezing, Freshwater hesitated.

Nothing.

Odd. Freshwater thought, continuing the 10 foot descent. Just as it slipped her mind, it happened again and Freshwater jumped, losing her footing, letting out a cry of surprise as her hand grasped onto something to grab onto but found nothing as she started to fall, jostling her visor off her face.

Bracing her body for impact, Freshwater let out a surprised "oof" when she landed solidly in someone's arms.

"I can't leave you alone for a second." Pearl said, rolling her eyes. Freshwater arched an eyebrow. "How did you do that? Weren't you asleep at our makeshift campsite?" Pearl shrugged. "I was, but you were sleeping longer than I expected, so I went to do a head count. Ran into the small boy and the two older humans." She said, putting Freshwater down and finding her visor before handing it to her. "Thanks." Freshwater said, taking them and raising them to her face to inspect the damage.

As she expected, they were cracked. Sighing, Freshwater just snapped them, making them disappear in a flash of light. "Why do you even wear those?" Pearl asked curiously. "Garnet's are prescription, so are yours too?" Freshwater shrugged. "No. I just don't like having my gem exposed." She explained simply, raising her hand to her face and summoning another visor to replace the previous one.

Pearl frowned. "Why not? I don't think there's much of anything to be self-conscious about. Or has Homeworld got a prejudice against gems with their gems on their eyes now?" she said, rolling her eyes and laughing at the ridiculous concept as the gems wandered in the direction of where they had heard the loud rumbling. Freshwater simply shrugged. "No. I just feel like it's an easy target." She said simply, remembering the numerous times she'd have to remove her visor when she'd gotten in hot water with Holly Blue.

Pearl responded, but Freshwater didn't hear her, her ears immediately registering the light sound of rustling. Freezing, Freshwater turned her attention to the general direction, seeing the bush in front of her shake lightly. "D13, if you stab me with that so help me-" Freshwater muttered, glaring at the bush. Pearl put a hand on Freshwater's shoulder before taking a few steps forward. Freshwater prepared herself in case the little demon tried anything as Pearl got closer to the shrubbery.

Pushing it back, her eyes widened when she immediately recognized the human. It was, in fact, not D13, but Johnathon. The boy lay curled up in the shrubbery and was fast asleep, curled up into a ball as he slept fitfully.

"Oh Jet's going to love this." Freshwater muttered, putting her hand down.