1001 Nights in Their Garden
The Fifth Night- Promises I
My name is Steven Universe, and it's been a long, hard, road. Here at the docks I try desperately to warm myself, on this chilly winter morning. The fog casts an eerie and impenetrable glow over an empty, and abandoned dock. Empty except for me, the carriage, and the trash barrel where I try to warm my dry and cracked hands.
The two horses were hitched up and ready, I had even turned on the kerosene lanterns. "I just know that girl is going to terrify me," I said to the air.
She'd been getting good at it too. When we had first met, years ago, this was a bustling fishing port. Watching it die as more and more men and women were called off to the war, was horrifying. These days the once bustling city was a memorial to the tragedy happening abroad.
I expected Spinel to hit me from the rafters, but today she just sat on the driver's side of the open carriage. A small red stream appeared to gush from her forehead. I climbed up on the seat next to her "lifeless" body. Not buying it in the least bit, I got close to her face, brought my mouth to her cheek and blew razzberries against it, smudging her pale white disguise.
She shook her fist in mock anger, "It's one thing to see right through my gag, but to waste the opportunity, that's just wrong." She pulled out a small dish and began applying it to her face to cover the smudge.
Noticing something off I licked my lips, "Is that that powdered sugar? Have you been using powdered sugar the whole time?"
"Don't be ridiculous, I used to use make up, back when I could afford it." She drew her finger across her forehead and erased the red mark. "Ya shoulda gone for my forehead," she put it in her mouth, and removing it, "Strawberry jam."
We started out from the dock a few minutes later. The whole city was feeling the pinch of war rationing. Just like the dockyards, the city seemed deserted. If I had tried to make this route at the beginning of the war, when the city's wide avenues had been lined with patriotic flags and military parades of new recruits flocked to this city, it would've been literal suicide. Now only an occasional delivery cart like ours, passed like a ghost in the early morning fog.
Spinel was an excellent driver, even if she utterly despised horses. It was fine by me, I loved caring for them. They weren't exactly healthy and were well past their prime, but they did the job well enough. Naturally she had taken to calling the two, Pearl and Connie.
My partner was sometimes hard for me to understand. She seldom talked about her life before the war, and I was afraid to ask. Life had been bad for gems before the war, but now she was the only one that I even knew of left in a city that once had several thousand. We met by sheer accident during my first smuggling attempt. I say attempt because I failed miserably, and if it hadn't been for her quick thinking, I'd be dead, pure and simple.
We struck up a partnership and found that we worked well together. As time passed, I became more and more attached to the gem. Spinel and I were rarely straightforward about our feelings. Mostly she just got a kick out of teasing me.
We made our way through the deserted remains of the once vibrant city. Half-way to the Baringa Estate, she poked me on the shoulder. "You eveh wonder what life woulda been like if you were in my shoes?"
"Stars no! I'm still amazed you were able get on as well as you did."
We came to a check point, and a thin old man with a metal hand, held out his good one saying, "Papers."
I handed him the visa. It was great having a legitimate one for once. More than once, we came a hair's breadth from being caught. He shook his head and let us through.
"Going to see that crazy peacock, are you?" He said.
"You bet, should be quite the time." I replied.
"Just be sure you don't catch any of that radical's ideas, eh?"
"Wouldn't dream of it." I smiled brightly as he checked the visa and sent us forwards.
As though taking a dramatic cue, the Sun chose that moment to finally dispel the fog revealing the soot covered grey faces of the massive apartment blocks. Here and there, women and children who'd been lucky or well connected enough to avoid the industrial conscription which kept the increasingly battered ship of state afloat, began their daily routines.
"I'm not going to miss days like this," I said. Even the best connected were drawing the belt loop ever tighter. While I had never been a thin person, this was one diet I could live without. Two slices of stale bread and three cans of "Ration meat" was no way to live. The can might say "M-E-A-T" but judging from the fact that its contents ranged from white to a deep plum color left much to be desired.
Spinel stretched a little in her seat and relieved me from that recurring nightmare, "What are we gonna do when we get out of here anyway? I find it hard to imagine you taking a job at some factory, and I'm not exactly in any position to be a mother, afteh all."
"Imagine my disappointment."
"Sure, sure, laugh now. But wait until your friends get a load of me."
"I know, I'll have to beat them away with a stick."
It's true that I could never imagine life being normal with that crazy gem, but I'm not sure that's such a bad thing. We'd been together for so long that it sometimes felt like we were married.
We made our way to the inner city. This was the place where the big-wigs and government officials lived and conducted affairs of state. The traditional cold sweat at the sight of all the armed men in party uniform served as reason enough to be nervous. Occasionally a column would march by, led by an officer with drawn sword. Spinel looked totally unmoved by the scene, but reached over and grabbed my hand, until the men passed, and we proceeded farther.
Eventually we arrived at the residence of one Lars Barringa, Prince of Leeds, or Prince of Peacocks if you prefer. The vast walled estate was the sore thumb of the neighborhood. It dazzled the eye in a bright green, accented in purple. Some wondered why his head hadn't rolled years ago, along with the rest of the other so-called radicals. However, his family was old and well established which gave him a lot of leeway.
A servant ushered us in and bolted the door. There was something odd about her, the way she smiled, and the tight buns her hair was tied into. My suspicions were answered when she stopped at a wash basin and came away from it a pale white and pink. Spinel and I nearly fell over each other at that.
She bowed, and bid us follow her deeper in, "A pleasure to meet you both, Lars was thrilled to find a company willing to transport contraband."
We went through room after room where packing crates, bags, and paintings lay strewn about. It was a mess. Spinel spoke up, "So, are you the only contraband we'll be transporting?"
The gem giggled, "Stars no, but you'll see."
Next, we were brought into a small drawing room. The master of the house lived up to his reputation. He was tall, lean, and had a tuft of bright purple hair. He even had large stud earrings. Lars might've been more at home in the circus. He was staring out his window at the military parade out in the distance.
He turned and greeted us warmly as his servant used a hook to close the curtains while staying out of sight. When he offered his hand to Spinel and she refused, he looked at her face close, "She's a gem isn't she?"
"She can speak for herself, and she expects the rug to be pulled any moment now." Her hand was in her pocket. We both carried pistols for self-defense, and that look on her face told me she was ready to use it.
"No tricks, hand to my heart. I've been shielding several gems, but a couple of days ago I got a message from the house of Lords. Took them a long time but they finally found a loophole to allow them to kick me out. You my friends are looking at the new ambassador to the Duchy of the Far North"
I scratched my head, "Where even is that?"
"It is the one part of the world that's colder and gloomier than this place in a snowstorm, but there is one positive. There I won't have to hide my friends once I send for them."
Spinel didn't let her guard down, "How many friends are we talkin'?"
"Would you like to meet them?" Spinel just nodded, how long had it been since she had last seen another gem.
We were used to transporting a gem here or there, but nothing could've prepared me for what I saw. A dozen gems sitting around, playing cards, reading, painting and generally enjoying themselves. "You were protecting all them?"
The servant interrupted, "What did I tell you, master Lars has been keeping us safe her for all these years. When she grabbed his arm, another piece fell into place. "We became one big, happy, chaotic family."
Lars spoke up now, "So will you help us?"
Spinel said, "Of course we'll do it."
That was that, one by one the gems went "poof" and they were packed in a large trunk. I was a little amazed they all fit but they did. This would be the largest manifest of contraband we'd ever smuggled out of the country. Last of all the servant whispered to her master, "Until we meet again my love." She kissed him on the cheek before landing gently on the floor.
Suddenly there was a sharp crash downstairs, and the sound of stomping feet. "Come on there's no time to lose, Lars said. We rushed over and down the back way. When Spinel and I first heard gunshots, we knew that things had gone south. By some miracle we got down to the stables. We heaved the trunk into the cart. Spinel was already at reins, "Comon Steven, time's a waistin'!
Lars grabbed my hand, "Steven, promise that you'll see this through, I couldn't live with myself if anything happens to them."
All I could do was nod before getting into the cart. We started back the way we came, fate had abandoned us, and our hope sank as we heard a horseman shout, "Traitors! Stop at once!" Then they started shooting.
Next Time- The Fifth Night, Promises II
Author's note: Thanks so much for reading!