"So," Amethyst said with a mischievous smirk as they arrived at the other warp pad, "you like dancing?"

Yellow hesitated, wondering if it was a trick question. Did she want her to answer that truthfully? Seeing that the gem was waiting expectantly for her response and Pearl was giving them a small encouraging nod over Amethyst's shoulder, she said, "Not particularly, but I can do it if needed."

"What?" Amethyst wrinkled her nose. "No, you don't have to do anything. Do you like watching people dance, I mean."

"Not particularly," she repeated honestly.

Amethyst just laughed. "Wow, you don't pull any punches, do you?"

"Sorry."

"No, no, don't be sorry, it's just funny!" She elbowed Pearl. "I'm used to this one twirling all over the place." She turned to Blue. "What about you?"

"I like dancing," she said carefully. "Or…I like dancing itself. I don't like being ordered to do it very much."

Amethyst's face fell a bit. "Yeah, that would suck."

"We don't have that kind of dancing here," Pearl told them. "On Earth, dancing is usually for personal enjoyment. Or, for gems, it can also aid us in synchronizing with one another in order to fuse."

"Yeah, we'll show you how we do it here," Amethyst said, leading the way back to their ship.

Pearl followed her, leaving Blue and Yellow to stare after them for a few stunned seconds.

"Did she say fuse?" Yellow hissed under her breath.

"Yes." Blue's voice trembled with excitement. "Do you think they're going to?"

"Those two?"

"Why not?"

For once, Yellow couldn't come up with an answer to that question. She could list off a hundred reasons why an Amethyst and a Pearl would never even think of fusing on Homeworld. She could cite rules and precedents and social norms. But none of those things applied here, and while that was unsettling and foreign, she was starting to like just how radical the rebels here seemed to be. After all, a half-hearted rebellion wouldn't be any rebellion at all.

She took Blue's hand and hurried after the other two gems quickly.

Pearl and Amethyst stopped just outside the escape pod, waiting for them to catch up.

"Is there anything inside?" Pearl asked them. "We'll be careful, obviously, but it would probably be best to remove anything you need now."

"Oh! Yes, just a moment please," Blue said quickly, half-bowing before she hurried inside to gather their equipment. She staggered out of the door a moment later with a large box, and Yellow hurried to help her steady it.

"Whoa, what's all that?" Amethyst asked, coming over and lifting it out of their hands despite Blue's stammered protests that she could manage.

"We took what we could from the main ship before it got destroyed," Yellow replied. "It's mostly destabilizers and a few other supplies."

"So that's where you got those," Pearl mused, eyes darting to the weapons strapped to their waists.

"I'm sorry, we didn't have any other way to defend ourselves," Blue said. "We'd never use them on you."

"Oh, no, that's quite alright," Pearl replied, lifting her hands in a placating manner. "It was smart to take them; I imagine they'll be of use in the near future."

Her face went dark blue at the praise and she dipped her head shyly.

"Ready to go, P?" Amethyst asked, setting the box down on the ground.

Pearl nodded, stretching out her arms and legs briefly.

"You're really going to fuse?" Yellow asked incredulously.

"Sure, why not?" Amethyst replied. "Oh, this is another weird Homeworld thing, isn't it?"

"Pearls don't fuse," Blue said quietly. "And you're of a much higher status, so—"

"Ugh, no, we are not doing the 'you're a Quartz' thing again. Listen up."

Blue gulped and straightened her shoulders.

"Homeworld's a mess," Amethyst said bluntly. "And I don't mean the fun kind." She glanced at Pearl briefly, but the other gem was gazing off into the distance. "There's no reason you can't fuse with whoever who want."

"But Pearls don't…" Yellow began tentatively.

"On Earth they do. Pearls can do whatever they want here, and so can everybody else. As long as you're not hurting anyone, nobody cares. Okay?"

"Okay," the two of them answered meekly.

"Cool." Amethyst grinned. "You ready to see a giant woman?"

Blue nodded eagerly, alight with excitement.

The two of them watched with wide eyes as Pearl and Amethyst joined hands a few yards away.

"She's really fusing with an Amethyst," Yellow whispered, stunned.

"What do you think it's like?" Blue wondered.

"Don't ask me."

It was a short dance, but perhaps a little showy for their sake. Pearl kept the precise movements of the dances they'd seen or performed back on Homeworld, but there was something more to it that they couldn't identify and Amethyst was lending it a sense of spontaneity which changed it entirely. Pearl spun in towards her, and there was immediately a bright glow, the two gems' forms melding together into a large, four-armed fusion.

"Oh my stars," Yellow yelped, grabbing Blue's arm and taking a few steps backwards. The fusion was tall, bigger than Garnet and likely capable of snapping both of them in two without any real effort.

"It's alright," the fusion said, bending down. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Blue hesitantly stepped forward, despite Yellow's protests. "Do you have a name?"

"Opal," she said with a smile. "Nice to meet you."

"You too. How…How does it feel to be a fusion?"

"I don't know...peaceful? Complete? I'm not sure what other fusions feel like."

"It's possible to form a stable multi-gem fusion that easily on Earth?" Yellow queried from a safer distance.

"It would be possible anywhere," Opal replied. "Homeworld just doesn't want anyone figuring that out."

"Can you fight?" she asked bluntly.

"Yes, with a combination of Pearl and Amethyst's weapons."

Blue stared up at her with wide eyes, daring to push her hair out of her face. "You're incredible," she breathed.

Opal chuckled and settled beside her on her knees so she wasn't towering over them quite as much. "You can be whoever you want to be here," she offered.

Yellow gave her a skeptical look. They were still Pearls, even if they were rebels and traitors; that wasn't going to change just because of what planet they were on.

"I mean you can choose," Opal clarified for her. "You can try new things if you want to."

Blue's face colored slightly as she tried to imagine what it would be like to try fusion. "O-Oh."

"But it's probably too soon to be thinking about all that," Opal said thoughtfully. "Go at your own pace."

She nodded faintly. "Thank you."

"Amethyst and Pearl will be happy to help with anything you need, so don't hesitate to ask." She paused, thinking. "Wait, no, I'm supposed to be helping with something now, aren't I?"

"The ship?" Yellow prompted, looking a little confused by the question.

"Oh, that's right! Well, let's get this back to temple," Opal declared, standing up and stretching her arms out. She walked in a circle around the ship, trying to determine the best way to move it. "Or maybe the barn would be a better choice? Yes, I think that'll make it easier for everyone later."

She hefted the ship up halfway off the ground and ducked down a little to get her other pair of arms under it as support.

"Amethyst may have been a little hasty in saying I could carry this," she commented.

"Do you need help?" Blue offered, though she had no idea what help she would be able to provide in this situation.

"Oh, no, no, I've got it. I can drag it back." Opal shifted it a little, getting her arms into a better position to and straightening up. "Would you two mind walking ahead and making sure I don't walk backwards into something?"

"Not at all!" Blue hurried ahead of Opal as they began the walk back, Yellow quickly joining her. They shared the load of supplies between them, watching the path. "She must be a great fighter," she said quietly. "Do you think—"

Yellow gave her an impatient look. "Pearls don't know how to fuse, and I'm pretty sure that's the only Amethyst in the universe that would deign to try it with one anyway, so no. That's not a sound tactic at any stage of the rebellion."

"I suppose," Blue said wistfully. It was still a nice thought.

Once they were back at the house, Opal unfused, leaving Pearl and Amethyst standing just inside the door as Steven came rushing over.

"Aww, Opal can't stick around for a while?"

"Some other time, little man, Opal's tired." Amethyst ruffled Steven's hair.

"Okay," he agreed, smiling. "Did you get the spaceship?"

"Yes, we left it at the barn," Pearl replied, dusting off her tunic. "Peridot, perhaps you and I could take a look at it in the morning."

"Sure," Peridot agreed, not looking up from the small device she had in her hands. "If nothing else, I can strip it for parts. Your Earth technology is still leagues away from Homeworld's; maybe now I can accomplish something without having to come up with new ways to utilize all your primitive machinery."

"Hey, creativity's good for you," Amethyst said, slapping her on the back and nearly making her drop what she was holding.

"Amethyst!" she protested. "I had a perfect score!"

"Oops," she said, looking unapologetic.

"Regardless, let's not strip anything for parts until we see whether or not we can fix it," Pearl interjected before Yellow could chime in with her own argument. "I'm almost certain we can, it will just take…"

She continued on about all the materials and tools they would need, and Amethyst rolled her eyes. "The wonder nerds will be happy to have a new project." She caught Yellow's curious look. "Pearl and Peri," she clarified. "And if you want the definition of nerd, there's a great example right there."

"Is 'nerd' an insult?" Yellow asked.

"Depends," Amethyst said noncommittally.

She resolved to find some sort of index for Earth language as soon as she was able.

"Excuse me," Blue cut in, hoping that she wasn't overstepping. "Pearl, um, said it was okay to ask questions?"

"Yeah, anytime," Amethyst agreed amiably. "What's up?"

"Fusion," she said immediately. "How does it work? How does it feel?"

"Wow, okay," Amethyst said with a grin. "Well, I'm not an expert like the G-squad, but I'll see what I can do. I don't know how it works and all that technical stuff, but it feels good."

"Do you do it often?"

"Uh…kinda regularly, I guess? We've gotten better at forming Opal lately, and she's nice to have on some missions, so we've been fusing more often than we used to."

"Is it difficult?" Yellow asked curiously.

"Ehhh, yeah, I guess it can be, but it's not supposed to be. If you're doing it with somebody you trust and you know how to get in sync with each other, it's easy."

"And you can maintain it for a long time?"

"Opal usually sticks around for a few hours, but that's about it. I mean, I guess we could fuse for longer, but we're not really into that; it's more Garnet's thing."

"Oh, she's fused often?" Blue asked.

"She's always fused."

"Really?" she asked, astonished. "I didn't know that was possible!"

"What happens to her component gems?" Yellow wondered. "Do they stop existing?"

"What? No, it doesn't work like that; they just like being together." Amethyst shrugged. "If you want details, you'll have to ask her."

"Is that okay?" Blue asked worriedly.

"Sure," she said, looking at her askance. "You don't need permission for everything."

"Oh. Right." Blue straightened her shoulders. "So, um, you like fusing then?"

"It's awesome. You interested?"

Her face went a deep, deep blue. "I-I…Are you…Are you asking me if I want to fuse with…?"

"What? No, come on, we just met," Amethyst laughed. "I meant in general."

"Oh," she squeaked out, embarrassed. She pressed a hand over her gem. "I…might be? I'm not really sure."

"Amethyst," Pearl cut in with a frown, breaking away from the rapid-fire technical exchange she was having with Peridot, "they just got here. Give them some time to adjust before you start asking those kinds of questions."

"Hey, she asked, I was just curious." Amethyst flashed Blue a quick smile. "Sorry," she added apologetically. "No pressure."

"Th-Thanks," she managed in a tiny voice. "It's okay."

"Anyway," Pearl continued, "it's nearly Steven's bedtime, so we should call it a day."

"What's bedtime?" Yellow asked.

"It's like a rest cycle, except humans require it every day," she explained.

"Every day?"

"They're incredibly inefficient beings," Peridot interjected.

"Hey," Steven complained, "that's rude."

"It's still true." She handed over the device she had been playing with. "Here's your phone. Thank you for letting me use it."

"No problem!"

"Unless one of you requires my presence, I'm going to over to the barn." She glanced sideways at Yellow. "Don't let them touch any of my things."

"They won't," Garnet said, sounding mildly amused. "Have fun." Once Peridot had slipped out, she turned to Steven and ruffled his hair. "Bedtime."

"Do I have to?"

"If you want to give Yellow and Blue a tour in the morning."

His face lit up and he hurried off to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

"Garnet—" Pearl began, looking apprehensive.

"One of us will go with them," Garnet reassured her. "Amethyst, would you mind keeping these two company tonight?"

"You got it, boss." Amethyst beckoned the two of them forward. "Come on, I'll show you my room."

Blue and Yellow followed her warily, taking only a brief look over their shoulders at the gems behind them. Yellow caught sight of the strange expression on Pearl's face and quickly turned away, wondering what it meant. It was fair that the renegade would be suspicious of them, she supposed, but there seemed to be something else there and she couldn't place it.

Well, she decided, it didn't matter if the renegade liked them or not as long as she helped. That was all they'd come here for anyway.

"Pearl," Garnet called, stepping into her room and catching sight of the other gem atop one of the water towers.

"Garnet," she said, turning quickly like she had been caught, though she hadn't been doing anything besides standing there in silence. "Is there a mission?"

"No. Can I join you?"

Pearl nodded. "Of course." She watched Garnet leap up to the tower and then joined her in sitting on the edge, their feet dangling freely off the side. She knew full well why the fusion had decided to check in on her, though she was reluctant to start that conversation. Instead, they sat in silence, Garnet letting her wrap a hand around her arm without questioning why she needed to. "What do you think of them?" Pearl asked finally, eyes darting towards the door.

Garnet considered it for a moment. "I think they're clever, brave, and a little bit impulsive. Not unlike another Pearl I know."

"You think I'm impulsive?" she asked, looking mildly offended.

"Sometimes." She smirked. "Not like Amethyst is, but in your own way."

"Hmm."

"What do you think of them?" Garnet prompted her.

Pearl let out a slow breath. "I don't know what to think of them." She let go of Garnet's arm and curled her fingers together. "Sometimes I used to wonder, about whether Pearls could someday…" She shook her head quickly. "I always thought it wouldn't be possible, that it was a battle we wouldn't be able to win. But those two believe they can. What does that make me?"

"Their inspiration, from the looks of it."

Pearl turned to her desperately. "I wasn't trying to be."

"Does it matter?" Garnet removed her visor, letting it dissolve into light. "There was always going to be a catalyst, Pearl."

"I'm not sure I want that responsibility." She bit her lip. "They came to Earth because they thought I could help them. They risked everything. And Pearls have precious little to risk, even if they serve a Diamond, but they could have been shattered a hundred times over for what they've done."

"They chose it for themselves," Garnet said softly. "You know how important that is."

"I do," she agreed in a whisper. "And I want to help them, really. But what can I do?"

"Teach them," she answered easily. "They're going to need your strength, Pearl. You've been free for thousands of years and they're still new to all this."

Pearl stared down at her knees. "I'm not so sure I'm the best gem for that."

"And I'm pretty sure you're wrong," Garnet said with a small smile, eyes softening.

Pearl laughed weakly. "I suppose I can try," she said, a little bit of determination returning to her face.

Garnet nodded, placing a hand on her shoulder and squeezing. "The rest of us are here too."

"Thank you." She sat in silence for a few long moments. "You really think we can trust them then?"

"We'll be careful, but I think they deserve a chance. You don't?"

"They just showed up out of nowhere; I'm not particularly inclined to trust gems I've only met once or twice in passing." Pearl sighed and shook her head. "Though to be fair, I suppose things weren't much different when it was me defecting, and I wouldn't be here if Rose hadn't believed in me." She closed her eyes. "It's been so long since I've been around other Pearls. I used to be them, but it's uncanny. They're so…"

Garnet waited patiently.

"New," Pearl finished uncertainly. "Naïve, maybe, as much as a Pearl can be. Like I was when I first joined Rose. We latch onto that idea of freedom without really understanding it and then we don't know how to accept it once it's available." Her shoulders slumped a little. "It's so black and white to them right now, but it doesn't stay that way. It's not just Homeworld or Earth, it's…it's both, they both start to exist inside of you and you can't just pick one and forget the other."

"I know," she said quietly. "It's the same for me—for Ruby and Sapphire. Not nearly as hard as it must be for you, but it's still difficult." She smiled. "It's worth it though."

Pearl nodded slowly, tracing her fingers over the surface of the water as she began to sing quietly. "Life and death and love and birth and peace and war on the planet Earth…"

Garnet smiled as she joined her. "Is there anything that's worth more than peace and love on the planet Earth?"

The melody hung, half-incomplete, in the air. Pearl straightened her shoulders. "There's a lot of work to be done," she said finally, a small smile on her face as she turned to Garnet.

"Definitely," she agreed.

"Yes. I'll look at the ship in the morning, and then assess their fighting capabilities." She hurried on, mind busy sorting through what needed to be accomplished. "We can gather information on Homeworld from the ship's database in order to know how to prepare for their arrival. From there, we should be able to determine the best way to move forward and put together a solid defensive strategy…" She thought for a moment. "I'll have to talk to Steven about Pearls too—properly, I mean. I don't think I can postpone that conversation any longer. And he is not going to Homeworld; that's much too risky—"

"One thing at a time, Pearl," Garnet reminded her gently. "Is there anything you'd like help with tonight?"

"Yes," she declared, rising to her feet. "I need to finish Steven's laundry."

Garnet hid a smile and followed Pearl's brisk strides out of the temple.

Yes, she decided, Pearl would be fine. There might be a lot of possibilities awaiting them in the future, but she didn't need to worry about her. Pearl might still be learning how to take care of herself, but she had always excelled at being strong for others and as of late she seemed to have found a way to balance the two ideas in her mind. No doubt thanks to Steven, Garnet knew, and she was glad that someone had finally been able to get the message through to her friend.

She's not common, she's amazing.

The cycle of day and night on Earth appeared to dictate the Crystal Gems' actions to some extent, and Blue wondered if the gems here also participated in the "sleeping" ritual. She wished they could have observed it, but understandably no one seemed particularly keen on leaving the two Pearls to their own devices in the house, especially with Steven there. She'd come to realize via a few more subtle questions and observations that Steven was quite young and somehow not fully matured, and the others seemed to share some sort of caretaking role. Blue and Yellow were a bit apprehensive at the thought of joining Amethyst in her room for the duration of the cycle, but they understood the reasoning and didn't want to offend her by rejecting the hospitality they were being shown.

The small Quartz led them through a maze of miscellaneous objects stacked high above their heads and Blue briefly wondered if they were meant to clean it for her.

"So what do you think?" Amethyst asked, waving a hand vaguely at the room in its entirety.

"It's very nice?" Blue offered politely.

"It's very eclectic," Yellow said in a flat voice.

Amethyst burst out laughing, surprising both of them. "You two are a riot."

"Is that a good thing?" Blue asked. Riot. Like rebellion?

"Yeah, yeah, it's good!" She leaned against one of the piles and it shifted just enough to make Blue take a step back in anticipation of it toppling. "So what do you want to do? Humans sleep a lot, so we have a while."

They exchanged a brief glance, neither really sure how to answer.

Amethyst seemed to realize they were a little lost, and ticked off some options on her fingers. "I can show you all my cool stuff, we can eat, we can talk, we can sleep, I can tell you embarrassing stories about Pearl…" She shrugged. "Pick whatever, it's win-win."

Yellow's brow furrowed in confusion. "It's what?"

"It's a saying, it means they're all good," she explained quickly. "People here like making up a bunch of weird phrases."

"What for?"

"Beats me," Amethyst said. "Some of them seem to translate okay in our heads and others just whoosh right over them. Didn't realize just how much until Peri joined." She tugged something out of the pile she was leaning on and tossed it into the next one over. "I've only ever lived here, so I'm used to it."

"You've never been to Homeworld?" Blue asked curiously.

"Nope," she answered, looking away. "Earth's my Homeworld."

"That must be wonderful."

Amethyst stared at Blue, taken aback by the genuine envy and wistfulness in her voice. "Uh, yeah," she said awkwardly. "I guess it's pretty cool."

"Can you teach us about it?" Yellow asked. "If you have time?"

"Sure I can." She grinned. "You came to the right gem. Wait here, I'm gonna grab some stuff."

They watched her go, gathering assorted things from around the room.

"She's so different," Blue said quietly. "She doesn't act like a Quartz at all."

"She fights like one though," Yellow countered, remembering what she'd seen in the files. "She's probably just as strong as a full-size Amethyst."

"And she fused with a Pearl. Like it was second nature." She touched her gem lightly. "And she treats us like…"

"Like we matter," Yellow finished quietly.

"'Cause you do matter," Amethyst said from behind, startling them. When they turned, they found an unusually serious expression on her face. "You matter a lot."

The candid honesty in her voice hit both of them hard, and they couldn't find anything to say in response.

"That's Earth Lesson Number One," she said after a moment, injecting a lighter tone into the conversation. "Everybody matters. Got it?"

"Got it," they chorused.

The three of them shared a small, tentative smile and Amethyst dumped a pile of things on the ground, gesturing for them to sit down.

"Good. Now get ready, we've got a lot of cool Earth junk to cover."