The word on the wind was that the people of the great western woods, where giant trees reached into the sky and were cloaked in clouds, happened across a monster during a hunt. It had been chased away from its den by the party with only a few minor injuries among the hunters. That was what had been told to Aster and Dandelion, who returned with the news. In light of this, combined with Rose Quartz's warning, Jasper had to face the fact that something had to be done about the corrupted gems.
The fire crackled in the warm dark of the great house, and its smoke wafted towards the centrally-placed hole in the roof and veiled the stars. Seated in circles around it were ninety-one gems. Some of them wore cloaks like Jasper's as marks of their hunting prowess, others wore flowers and leaves woven in their hair, and others still preferred to remain unadorned. Wives and close friends cuddled together, and gems with varying conflicts with their neighbors kept a respectful distance from each other. Strips of dried meat, fragments of cracked and sun-dried bones, and nut-and-seed honey rolls were passed around in baskets. Jasper deferred from taking anything from the basket offered to her, and Twig took it from her and passed it on to Carnelian. Carnelian took a strip and sucked on it before passing the basket on. Mother paid attention to nothing at all, curled as she was between Twig and Carnelian, and simply seemed to be enjoying the warmth and company.
Egret sat across from Jasper, on the other side of the fire. Her neck was a good three times longer than it should have been, and she covered it self-consciously in a scarf of woven fur strips. The citrine gem set where her right eye should be reflected the firelight as she basked in her element. "We can learn so much from the new gems," she said at last, and she tried and failed to hide the smile that tugged at the corners of her lips. "A relationship with them can only benefit all of us."
"Fine, but we need to figure out what to do with corrupted gems in case this happens again. We need to create boundaries," Jasper replied. "No corrupted gem needs to be harmed, but the Crystal Gems disagree. They'll need to be herded somewhere without people. Suggestions?"
To Egret's left were Dandelion and Aster, so freshly returned from a trip far north that they huddled together under the polar bear hide they'd brought back with them. Dandelion's hand fidgeted with a leather pouch that contained memory aids; each bead, seed, shell, potsherd, or quill was a marker representing the bands of people she and Aster had come across in their travels. They'd had to wait until the wanderers returned before making a decision, because no one knew this part of the world and all of its people like Aster and Dandelion. "Every place has meaning to some band of people or another." Dandelion rummaged through her pouch as Aster spoke for her. "You're not going to find a place free of people unless you cross the seas or go so far north as to be impractical, and even then the people tell stories of other people far away. Having a place for the corrupted gems is a nice idea, but you'll still have to ask people for permission to use those places."
"Your best option for this preserve is the western badlands," Dandelion said. She pulled out a lizard claw and some mesquite beans, and toyed with them as she spoke. "The people there hunt and gather in family groups. They keep to the rivers and creeks, but do venture further in the badlands to hunt and perform rituals. Their languages may be distantly related to that of our southern neighbors. Living on the land is hard for them, and they will appreciate gifts of additional food and materials. According to their stories, this land once had a milder climate, more lakes, and larger animals to hunt. It has been growing hotter and drier by the year. If corrupted gems are like us and unaffected by the heat, and if the people are properly warned about keeping their distance, the people may be amenable to sharing the hottest parts of their lands with those gems."
It sounded promising, but Jasper would rather have more to go on. "What are our other options?"
Dandelion returned the lizard claw and beans to her pouch and pulled out a seal tooth and a tuft of thick black fur tied off with dried sinew. "As far north as you can go is a frozen desert. The ice extends into and retreats from the sea with the seasons. However, marine hunters travel this land regardless of season and maintain trade relations with similar people further away. The ice makes this land unpredictable, and the extent of trade and intermarriage might be an issue. East and south are too thickly populated by people." And then the tokens were returned to their pouch. "We would suggest the western badlands."
"What about the plateau across the Silty River? It's a lot closer," Sage said, from Carnelian's other side. The smallest jasper was impossible to see at this angle, wedged as she was between larger gems, but she had a way of making herself heard. Usually with reason, sometimes by shouting larger gems down with a tone in her voice that people usually reserved for disobedient children and pets. "Why journey for days if we can keep an eye on them close to home?"
Dandelion looked up from the fire to lock eyes with Sage; she didn't like being challenged so publicly. "It's a lot more populated, too."
"We already have good relations with our neighbors." Sage's voice had that exasperated edge she used so often. As frustrating as Jasper could find her bullishness sometimes, she appreciated her spirit. "They'll at least listen to us. It's irresponsible to expend resources to range further for something that's not even guaranteed. What if something happens that the people can't handle? It would take weeks just for word to reach us."
"If I may?" Egret's voice was soft, as if she was afraid of being rude. Yet she was the diplomat, along with her sister citrine Primrose and the carnelian with a twisted back, Wren. Jasper gestured for her to continue. "People appreciate anything that reduces their workload. We can melt down some of the machine parts for tools. Fish hooks, needles, and the like. Whatever option we choose, such tools would surely be welcome."
"Nothing that can be used as a weapon." Citrine said suddenly, from somewhere behind Jasper. Citrine's skeptical personality was closest to Jasper's, and it was only natural that they tended to favor each other's opinions. When Citrine reported manifesting her own weapon during the trade outing to the Mother of Canyons, a blunt warhammer with a striking surface similar to Jasper's helmet, Jasper was unsurprised and maybe a little pleased. The biggest differences in opinions were the tiger's eye and carnelian at her sides; Jasper wasn't interested in taking a wife like that and having two was just greedy. "People are still people, no matter where they come from. Giving them metal weapons gives them an unfair advantage against anyone they might fight with."
Jasper paused to get her thoughts in order. It was never easy, especially complicated decisions like these that would have far-ranging repercussions, but she was getting used to it. At least having advisers to listen to helped. "All right. Paintbrush, get together with the other crafters and figure out what might be a fair exchange for sharing that land. Egret, Aster, and Dandelion, I want you to pay the Silty River people a visit and make our proposal. If they say no, then we consider the alternatives. Citrine and Carnelian, go with them as protection. See if any of the river people might want to volunteer someone to help open a dialogue, first. Primrose and Wren, stay in case something comes up. We'll start on what to do with the Crystal Gems when we have an answer."
"We're not sending Mother away, are we?" Jasper couldn't place the voice immediately, for it came from somewhere several feet behind her, but it sounded like one of the tiger's eyes. Stoneshaper, probably; she liked to show off her work to Mother despite the fact that the corrupted gem likely had no idea what was going on at the best of times. Mother's eyes blinked open and her head lifted from where it had tucked over her wings for the first time since this meeting started, and Jasper wondered how much she really understood. How much of the gem she used to be was still there? She looked tense.
Jasper's eyes met with the corrupted gem's briefly; whether or not she understood was beside the point. She made them and that was more than worth Jasper's respect and all the protection the gems could offer. "No. Until she's able to tell us what she wants, she belongs with us. I want a guard on her at all times until we have a solid agreement with the Crystal Gems." The tension seemed to dissipate, though Jasper had no idea whether it was because of her words or because Twig had started stroking Mother's back.
The meeting wound down shortly afterwards, and the gathering turned into Aster and Dandelion recounting their journeys as the fire waned. Twig leaned against Jasper with her head on Jasper's shoulder and drifted off to sleep. It was peaceful, and Jasper had no idea why she felt like she had no real purpose.
.*.
Because the number of injectors was so limited, Jasper allowed the ruined one to be stripped down for materials to make the gifts they hoped would sway the Silty River people to agree to their proposition regarding the use of the plateau on which they spent their summers. Any part that seemed to sicken the mice they used to test for safety was pulled out of the injector's innards and entombed in clay, and everything that remained was broken down to easily-worked parts.
Egret thought that Jasper enjoyed the purpose that ripping apart the injector gave her. There was a gleeful glint in her eye that wasn't usually there during everyday tasks. At times Egret wondered if she should speak up and suggest that perhaps Jasper take a more active role in the more destructive aspects of building that could benefit from someone of Jasper's strength, but every time she considered opening her mouth about it, Jasper was closed off and forbidding again.
Maybe later, at a more appropriate time.
It was winter again when the gifts were made to the crafters' exacting standards—they worked to figure out how long it took to heat up the injector metal to more malleable forms, how to melt and reshape the glass, the best way to pour molten metal into molds in order to speed up the process, and how to glaze the insides of any vessels expected to hold food and water. The work became a point of pride for the crafters, and even one injector provided enough materials to gift their neighbors handsomely. The metal was stronger and lighter by far than any of the copper worked by the people of the great northern lakes, and the crafters even managed to make their vessels look nice.
The delegation to the winter camp along the Silty River, a tributary to the Great Red River north of the Kindergarten, took two days to arrive. They had taken care to be considerate of their pregnant guide from the river people, and often carried her during the climbs on canyon walls and treks over rough ground. Citrine, being fairly close to Jasper in strength if not size, carried the cluster of water skins and a collection of metal wares in nets strapped to her back. Aster carried the food supply for their guide, though most of it was meant for the people they would be petitioning for help. Dandelion led the way with her old, worn-out staff that had long since been decorated with dangling beads and reinforced with dried sinew wrapped around the shaft. Carnelian darted ahead to scout. Egret, for the most part, stayed with their guide.
Harecatcher volunteered as guide because of her long association with Egret. Egret had known the girl as a child, a teenager, a bride, and now she was soon to be a mother. And then there would be another generation to watch grow up and die. And another, and another. It was sobering sometimes, and Egret understood why some of the gems refused to associate with people who would only die in a few years. Yet this was her calling, and she was glad for each short life she had contact with.
"Aunt Wateroak is perfectly reasonable," Harecatcher had said when Egret asked about their chances of getting the Silty River people to listen to them. If Egret understood their kinship system correctly, Harecatcher's father was originally of the Silty River people and had married into the Great Red River people. "She will at least take the time to listen to you."
When they arrived at last to the confluence of the Silty and Great Red Rivers, a delta in which the sediment build-up was just sturdy enough to support a healthy number of brush shelters, it was in the middle of the morning and the shadow of the eastern cliff-face was retreating. Egret let her guide go, and Harecatcher walked quickly to the growing party of curious on-lookers. Harecatcher greeted an elderly woman, whom Egret assumed was her aunt, and gestured to the gems as she talked in that subtle way that was often hard to read from afar. Out of politeness, Egret avoided listening in or staring. It was a few moments yet before Harecatcher escorted her aunt to the gems. They were introduced formally, and the elderly woman quickly cut to the chase in a way that would have been rude coming from a younger person.
"Tell me about the monsters you wish to keep on these lands." Her words were quick, abrupt, and as cold as the northern winds.
Egret kept to the words she'd planned since the house meeting, taking special care to remain warm in the face of distrust. It was something she'd pieced together from Jasper's recounting of her talk with Rose Quartz, and Aster and Dandelion's third-hand accounts of corrupted gems far afield. Her gaze remained fixed downward; a show of deference to the elderly woman. "Many generations ago, some of our kind were stricken with a sickness of the mind. It warped their bodies so that they look and behave like animals. We are seeking a place to herd them away from humans for everyone's protection, but this great land has humans everywhere. By herding them to the plateau, we're hoping to minimize their impact on humans. They require no food or water, and they can be docile when left alone."
The elder's eyes were dark and flinty with suspicion when Egret dared to glance up, something she had anticipated. Most humans could be reasoned with once their fears were addressed, and she liked to think that she had all the answers they could want. "And what if they present a threat?"
"Alert us. We are close enough to make the trip within an hour. If you would like some of us to watch them, that can be arranged."
Egret was patient and still as she stood fast under the elder's scrutiny, even as she felt pinned down. Harecatcher shifted awkwardly on her feet, her gaze darting between the gem and her aunt. Finally, after long deliberation, the elder spoke. "We remember when your kind came from the stars to raze our land and steal our children. Our cousins of the east remember that your kind turned a fertile canyon valley into a wasteland where nothing will grow again. Our cousins of the southeast remember the war your kind staged that destroyed a holy place. All people remember that your kind cannot be trusted."
Stunned, the citrine had no answer ready for such accusations. Where would she even begin? Should she respond, knowing that to do so would be admitting to guilt? Her mouth opened as she tried to marshal forth a defense, but the elder held a hand up to silence her.
"That is what we remember of the stone people of the stars," the elder continued. There was something slightly less forbidding about her now, though Egret couldn't quite figure out what it was. "But the Great Red River people remember the green women who dwelled in your canyon. They remember that they taught your clan when the green women disappeared and you emerged from the cliffs. We know that relations with your clan have always been beneficial. For that reason alone will we allow your use of the plateau. Take care that no person is harmed because of this."
Relief flooded through Egret's form, clearing out all the tension she wasn't aware she was clinging to. As a gesture of goodwill, she would ask for volunteers to look after the corrupted gems. It was the least she could do for such generosity. "We'll do all we can to deserve your kindness. Thank you."
The elder snorted; it didn't have quite the sting it might have had before. "We'll see. Now come, what do you have to offer for this magnanimity?"
Citrine stepped forth with her nets full of metal tools and containers, and they began the long process of negotiations.
.*.
It was early summer by the time Garnet thought it best to visit the new gems again.
The months before then gave Rose time aplenty to follow the winding labyrinth of her thoughts. She had always been prone to a degree of helpless despair when she was left alone long enough, and that only deepened as time went on and she was forced to look back on everything she did wrong. Worse was the fact that she couldn't talk to anyone but Pearl, and she had burdened her beloved enough as it was. Too much, perhaps.
Even thinking about the new gems didn't entirely banish the guilt that shadowed her thoughts. Blue must have started the secret Kindergarten; the peridot responsible for the Kindergartens had been hers and she was the only peridot with a pearl that Rose could remember. Was it while she was throwing her fits about how hard it was to destroy those wonderful human cities and ceremonial centers, or while she was trying and failing to emotionally manipulate the other diamonds with false tears because she had only a neolith's understanding of the world and too little awareness to do it well?
(You still have only a neolith's worldview and finesse.)
Thinking about it did nothing but make her feel worse. The joy she experienced in seeing other gems, free gems, had dissipated when she remembered that there had been no good options for her. They were free, yes, but they had no purpose but to live. Was that really enough? And yet, if things had been different, they might have been casualties in the war she staged because she could see no other way. Because the gems she tried so hard to impress could see no other way.
(What a sad little gem you are, Pink.)
At the very least, the visit would be a nice distraction.
Pearl was at her side the moment she left her room, her movements so swift and soundless that she frequently used it to her advantage around gems unused to the thought of pearls acting for themselves. There were so many complicated feelings tangled up in her relationship with Pearl, but for now she would focus on the positives. And one of those positives was that she knew she could always count on Pearl to be at her side, no matter what.
(As if she had a choice.)
Before Rose could continue on that thought, the door opened again and Amethyst bumped right into the back of her knees. She turned to smile brightly at the little gem they found years after the corruption, thankful for the interruption. Slung over Amethyst's shoulder was a rolled-up tufted carpet, probably from Aratta. "What's this?" she asked, though she knew well enough that Amethyst had mentioned wanting to bring something with her before.
"Oh, this?" Amethyst grinned broadly as she bounced the carpet on her shoulder. "Well, uh, Gilgy gave me two because we're friends, and I thought maybe I should bring one because that's what friends do, right?"
Rose remembered Gilgamesh. Vaguely. He was the first human to not only spurn her advances, but verbally attacked her with the fates of her former lovers. She had been offended then that he spurned her but became fast friends with Amethyst, but maybe it was for the best. Amethyst needed a friend far more than she needed another lover to distract her from her thoughts.
The way Pearl's hand tensed on her arm reminded her that she hadn't been fair with her beloved, either. Some vague guilt that always seemed woven into the tapestry of their relationship reminded her of its existence. Maybe someday she would figure out how to do right by Pearl, too.
She forced aside all those awful feelings and was thankful that her smile only shifted slightly. Amethyst never noticed the little things. Few gems did. "That's a wonderful idea!"
"We should go," Garnet said. Rose thought nothing of taking the lead to the warp pad, and they were whisked away to the secret Kindergarten.
It was still dark in the Kindergarten, and the narrow canyon walls were ribbons of black framing a sliver of star-strewn sky. A torch held by one of the off-color jaspers was the only illumination, and its light was only enough to highlight the abstract beauty of the rippling orange sandstone around her.
"Name's Twig," the jasper said with the kind of stiffness in her voice that suggested that she still didn't trust them. Rose could hardly blame her. "I'll lead you out."
"Why don't you use your gem for light?" Too late did Rose realize that maybe she shouldn't have said that. The jasper's cheeks seemed to darken in the light of the torch, as if Rose had touched on something embarrassing. How much did these gems really know about themselves? She wanted to say that it was fine, that no one knew everything, but the jasper turned towards the exit.
"Because. Come on."
Rose stilled the urge to explain half a dozen things as they were led to a long wooden ladder leading out of the chasm, and thankfully her gems followed her example. She could say that by using her gem for light, the jasper wouldn't need to carry a torch. She could say that they didn't need the ladder to get to the cliff's edge. She could ask why the jasper chose the name she did. And so on. She wanted to say something, but then Garnet's hand fell on her elbow as a warning.
The jasper stalked up the ladder with the fluidity of centuries of practice, leaving them to scramble after her. For a moment Rose worried that the ladder would collapse with her mass, but the rungs were secure and refused to budge in the face of her enthusiasm. But for Amethyst's grumbling and the concessionary tones of Pearl putting the carpet away in her gem, the climb was long and silent.
After well over a hundred feet's worth of climb, they arrived at the top of the hill in which the canyon was carved. The great oval building was much more impressive up close, with a roof of woven mats and walls of huge wooden logs between geometrically-decorated squares of white stucco. It was just a bit taller than she had been, before she was Rose. She wanted to go through the rope-hinged wooden door and explore, but a soft touch from Pearl reminded her why she was really here.
Not that she would have gotten far. The huge jasper stepped out of the building, granting her a tantalizing glimpse of firelight limning the forms of several quartzes who looked to be hard at work at something or another. The door closed too quickly for her to make anything else out. The way the huge jasper's eyes narrowed at her suggested that her curiosity wasn't welcome.
Rose hadn't noticed much about the strange new gems when they met, not really. The earthy green rhombuses on their uniforms were what really drew her eyes then: a mark of defiance, as if that shy little elder pearl had chosen to claim these off-color gems as her own. She could better appreciate the glint of beads strung through the gems' hair and hung around their necks. Some of them wore clothes, others didn't.
"You still want to do this?" Jasper's voice was gruff and unyielding; she was likely still nursing the injury to her ego. It was such a familiar quartz trait that Rose could hardly begrudge her the indulgence.
She still had little idea what this involved. Gems didn't make concessions and agreements and treaties, they simply did what was demanded of them. This was such new terrain, such human terrain, that Rose felt that she had to go along with it. "Of course," she replied, and hoped her enthusiasm for the novelty of this formality wasn't too off-putting.
The way Jasper grunted suggested that she was much too transparent. "We'll walk to a halfway point to meet with the witnesses."
"Ugh, we're walking?" Amethyst groaned loudly from behind her. "How long is it gonna take?"
Jasper's eyes narrowed at Amethyst. She seemed to bristle with displeasure and Rose smiled apologetically in the effort to prevent a clashing of egos. "Amethyst can stay, can't she?"
As if beckoned by some unspoken connection between them, the skinny jasper appeared at Jasper's side the moment she glanced her way. "Twig. Watch her." Jasper's voice had that quality a lot of agates shared: one who was used to command, regardless of where that status came from. "The rest of you, follow us. The going is rough. Watch your step."
Pearl lingered for a moment to give Amethyst her carpet, but returned to her side more quickly and silently than any other gem could manage. The other gems seemed to form from the shadows and surround them in a susurrus of hard light forms and material clothing against sand and stone: the citrine named Mouse, a one-armed jasper, a normal-sized carnelian and the smaller one from their first encounter. They left the hill and headed west, following some path that only the strange gems seemed to be able to see.
As the sky grew lighter with the coming dawn, Rose finally asked of the tiny carnelian; "Do you have many humans out here?"
"Enough," the carnelian said with a grin. She walked the unseen path as if she'd done so a thousand times before. "This is one of their trade routes. That funny-looking rock we passed a while back? That marks an intersection. If we'd taken that turn, we'd be heading north by now. Head east and you'll arrive at the flint quarries they say has been a trade center since before that war of yours. Head southeast and you'll arrive at another trade center. Keep an eye out and you'll notice all the rock carvings pointing the way. Humans leave signs of themselves everywhere. You just gotta know how to look."
For her part, Rose tried. She paid closer attention to where her feet were going. Maybe the ground was a little smoother where they were walking, but she couldn't possibly be sure. Still, wasn't it marvelous how much she had yet to learn? "How did you learn how to read all this?"
"Asking whichever hunter or trader I'd run across. Mostly just paying attention."
They were silent after that, but Rose didn't mind. The time they spent walking allowed her to think without interruption, and the new environment kept her too engaged for her thoughts to grow dark the way they always seemed to after the war. She stumbled less over tilted, broken beds of red sandstone when she watched where she put her feet. Every now and then, she thought she saw a remnant of human wayfaring: a rock that looked like it might have been a broken arrowhead, scorched wood, scraps of worn-out leather. Every now and then, Carnelian stopped briefly to pick something up and show her how to read it: bones scored by the stone knives used to butcher them, flint flakes in the shape of clam shells that were evidence of the forming of stone tools, nodules of stone so reshaped and reworked that they were discarded once they were no longer useful.
Not that they could stop for very long. Jasper was a hard taskmaster and barked at them when they tarried for more than a minute. It was such a strange experience, to be treated like a neolith by someone who didn't tower over her as much as the other Diamonds did. And by someone who should have been one of her own gems? Stars, it was so unusual that she couldn't possibly be offended.
In time they came to the top of a hill, where an old woman and a young man stood in wait for them. Beside them was a citrine with her gem set into one of her eyes and a neck that was much too long for her form. When the citrine turned, her silhouette was almost familiar. For the barest sliver of a moment, Pink Diamond felt the sting of regret.
The citrine with the too-long neck smiled generously as they approached, though her eye never quite met Rose's. A lot of the strange new gems were like that, she realized at last. Their body language seemed so different from other gems; surely it was another thing they picked up from humans. How remarkable!
"My name is Egret," the citrine said. She nodded at the elderly woman and the youth. "This is Wateroak, an elder from the Silty River people, and her nephew Greycloud. Greycloud will be traveling shortly to the trading center at the eastern flint quarries, where he will share word of this meeting."
Neither human looked particularly trusting, but Rose wasn't given time to dwell. Jasper stepped forward in her massive fur cloak, the green and blue beads in her hair glittering in the golden glow of the morning. A beaded leather strip was wrapped around a section of hair in the back, but quartz hair tended to be too wild to be so easily tamed. Then Jasper stopped and turned, her expression almost expectant.
Rose gestured for Pearl and Garnet to wait as she followed, stopping by Jasper's side shortly afterwards. She made the mistake of looking down.
The hill ended in a great cliff. The river had gone on detour, looped around, and resumed its course over so many years that it cut a near-perfect circle into the sandstone. Down in the chasm, clinging to the walls and every available flat surface, was an explosion of green that contrasted sharply against the red and orange cliffs. It must be lovely in full daylight!
"We decided what we want to do about the corrupted gems." There was something so formal in Jasper's posture now. She stood straighter, but more closed in somehow. Her voice seemed to lose its natural roughness. "They'll be herded somewhere safe. The Silty River people agreed to let us use the plateau. Our proposal is this: Let us handle any corrupted gems west of the Great River. People know us and trust us more than they do you. They'll report any sightings to us. In turn, you're allowed to come and go as you will in these lands. We won't attack you, nor will the people who hear about this."
Rose almost wanted to laugh. What made Jasper think that she still had any ability to resist the Crystal Gems? They had taken these strange gems down easily, and they hadn't even tried that hard. But, still, Rose appreciated the effort at diplomacy. "How can you be sure the corrupted gems will be safe there? Or the humans?"
"Fine." Jasper clasped her shoulder and pressed her until she was facing ever so slightly south of due west and pointed to the white-capped cliffs in the far distance. "Those cliffs mark the eastern edge of the plateau. It's forty-six thousand paces to the western cliff. The plateau is surrounded by cliffs on all sides. The terrain is rugged, there are places to hide, and the Silty River people only live on the rim in the summers. They know to avoid the corrupted gems. Mouse volunteered to watch over them."
She wanted to ask how Jasper could be so certain, but that didn't feel like something she should be arguing with an oversized quartz about. In light of having new places to explore, it was a small concession. Rose turned back to face Jasper again, hoping beyond hope that the excitement over all the new experiences available to her wasn't too apparent. "Very well." The words fell out of her mouth before she could think on them. "I—we'll keep to east of the Great River." Wherever that was. Rose didn't think these strange gems had the capacity to patrol so much land, especially when Garnet's future vision would allow the Crystal Gems to predict their movements. "You're welcome to visit us, too. Any of you. We'll show you how to use the warp pads. And… and if any of you wants combat training, Pearl is a wonder and I'm sure she'll be happy to help."
(You should have asked her before volunteering her like that.)
Rose dismissed the niggling doubt and grinned brightly at Jasper. "We can be friends, can't we?"
Jasper didn't so much soften as relax just enough to be noticeable. "Allies."
It was a start.
Locations, several of which I've actually been: Antelope Canyon (Beta Kindergarten), Horseshoe Bend (Alliance Rock), Paria River (translated straight from the Paiute word for muddy/salty), Paria Plateau/Vermilion Cliffs National Monument (the corrupted gem preserve, which in the real world was mostly a travel corridor; the Silty River people's practice of summering on the cliffs and wintering in the Paria River/Colorado River confluence is a nod to similar practices in the Grand Canyon), the Mississippi River (the Great River), Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument, the future Chaco Canyon, and Aratta (appears in both the Vedas and Sumerian literature, might be fictional and might not; mostly this is here as a nod to a side-story I'm informally calling Gilgamesh and Amethyst's Excellent Adventure). Dandelion's suggestion for the preserve is Death Valley.
"But Ajora, why are they metalworking?" Good news: evidence of copper hammering in the American Great Lakes has been found, dating between 8000-1000 BCE, gold-working in South America between 2155-1936 BCE, and copper working in South American between 1432-1132 BCE. Dandelion and Aster have, at this point, been to every corner of the Americas. Also, while the Beta gems have adopted some of the art, building, and social practices of their neighbors, their art styles are unique to them.
Names: For the Silty River people, I pulled from a Southern Paiute dictionary and did some heavy duty research into naming practices. I did not want to use anyone's actual names because that is taboo in a lot of North American indigenous cultures, so I went with translation and adjustment so that the names aren't purely 1:1 translations. A similar route was taken with the Harecatcher, whose name is derived from a name found in a list of historic Hopi names.
The next part is Maturation. Chapter 1 is already written, but I want to wait a bit before I post.