Chapter Seven: New Friends

"So… You just put it in your mouth, chew and swallow?"

Steven nodded as he put another spoonful of cereal into his mouth. "Yep. And that's eating. Do you want to try some?"

Lapis looked at the bowls milky contents before shaking her head. "No, that's alright, my Dia— I mean, Steven. Maybe next time?" she added with a small smile.

"It's okay," Steven said. "Pearl only eats occasionally." He picked the bowl up and drained the remaining milk out of it before setting it back down, only for Pearl to come from behind and pick it and the spoon he had been using and placing them in the basin, already filled with soapy water.

"My Steven," Pearl said as she began washing the bowl, "perhaps you can prepare the first lesson's textbook?"

"Oh, sure Pearl," Steven said leaping from his seat. He trotted over to the stack of books that sat next to bed. He ran a finger down the spines of the books, stopping at the one second from the bottom. He lifted all the thick, hardbound textbooks off the geography book he needed. He grabbed it, and let the others drop back down with a dull thud. Book tucked under his arm, Steven walked back to the table, where Lapis still sat. "Are you ready, Pearl?"

Pearl grabbed the nearby hand towel and dried her hands, before turning and nodding at him. "I am. Shall we, my Steven?"

He nodded back at her and the two began to walk over to the study area, before Steven stopped and said to Lapis, "You coming?"

"Coming?" Lapis asked. "Are we going somewhere?"

"Just to the study area," Steven answered. "It's time for today's lessons."

"Oh. I… didn't know Diamonds needed lessons."

"Steven does not share the mind or memories of our Diamond, Lapis Lazuli," Pearl explained, a slight curt edge to her voice. "That is why he is Steven, rather than Blue Diamond."

"Ah. Okay, then," Lapis responded, sounding rather unsure of herself.

Steven reassured her, "It's okay, Lapis. This is all new to you. You'll get the hang of it. And we'll help you. Right, Pearl?"

"Of course," Pearl answered simply. "Lapis Lazuli is a member of your Court, my Steven."

"Right! So— Oh! Pearl!" Steven turned excitedly to her. "We should let Lapis have lessons with me!"

"Oh, well, I'm not sure if—"

"But Pearl!" Steven protested, not even letting Pearl finish her response. "Lapis doesn't know anything about the Earth. And if she's going to live here, then she needs to know about it. Right?"

Pearl opened her mouth, only to close it and bow. "Very well, my Steven. Lapis Lazuli." She turned and looked at Lapis. "If you wish to join us, you may." Without another word, Pearl turned heel and walked towards the study area, Steven following after her.

"Um, okay," Lapis responded, quickly getting up from her seat and following the two. "Is there really that much to know?"

"Humans make everything more complicated," Pearl answered. "And there are a lot of humans on this planet."

Steven, Pearl, and Lapis arrived at the study area, a corner of the Palanquin that featured pillows and a low standing desk covered in various folders and loose sheets of paper. Steven took a seat on one side of the table, Pearl crouching down across from him. Lapis hesitated a moment, then sat next to Steven and asked, "Is that what we're learning about today? Humans?"

"Kind of," Steven answered, laying the textbook on the table and opening it to the bookmarked page. "We're learning about Manila."

"What's a 'Manila'?"

"A city in the Philippines," Steven answered.

"And a 'Philippines' is…?"

"A country," Steven answered again.

"Oh. Right," Lapis nodded. "And what's a country?"

"A way humans divide themselves," Pearl said. "Somewhat like the Diamonds and their Courts. Only, there are many more countries than just three."

"One hundred and ninety-four!" recited Steven from memory.

"That seems… very convoluted."

"It is," Pearl sighed. "No leader on Earth seems to be able to match the luster of one of the Diamonds. As such human history is full of petty bickering and fighting."

"But that's for a history lesson," Steven said. "Geography is about all the neat places there are on Earth. And we're focusing on Manila, in the Philippines." Steven pointed to a drawn picture of a collection of islands in the book.

"Hmm… It seems rather small," Lapis said, considering the picture.

"It is rather on the small side," Pearl agreed. "But there is still a considerable population there. Nearly thirteen million humans. Which is significant for a species confined to a single planet."

"Wow. That's a minor colony," Lapis said. "And all those humans live on— is it an island?"

"Yep," Steven nodded. "But Manila is just one city. There's way more living on the whole archipelago."

"Hm. Seems like they'd be cramped," Lapis mused. "Though, I think I'd like to live on island. Near all that water. I mean, there's already so much water on this planet but," she smiled playfully at Steven. "Water is kind of my specialty."

Steven, however, was unsure what she meant. "Water's your specialty?"

Lapis blinked her glassy, reflective eyes at him. "Yeah… I'm a Lapis Lazuli. Water is what I do."

"Ah, my Steven," Pearl quickly piped in. "Forgive me. I should have briefed you when it became clear that Lapis was staying." She tilted her head at him and continued, "Lapis Lazulis are part of the terraforming classes of Gems, specifically water."

"Yeah. I can control the stuff," Lapis added. "Make it do basically whatever I want. Though, with my gem like it is, I don't quite have the handle on it I should."

Lapis's brow fell a bit, but Steven didn't notice. Instead, his mind was racing with questions. "Terraforming? What's that?"

"Broadly speaking, it's shaping a planet or part of planet to be a certain way," Pearl answered.

Lapis nodded. "Yeah. For example, I'd go to a planet and do whatever was needed with the water that was on it. Sometimes that meant redistributing it across the surface, sometimes it meant pushing it all to one area, and sometimes it meant getting it all off world completely."

"Oooh~! So you've been to all kinds of different planets?" Steven asked.

"Well, yeah… Why? You haven't?"

Steven shook his head. "No. Well, Pearl once took me to the Moon Base, but other than that, no."

"Oh," Lapis said. "That's too bad. I mean, Earth seems… nice, but it's pretty small. And if Manila is any indication, a bit crowded."

"Yeah…" Steven sighed. "I love Earth. I want to explore every part of it!" He threw his arm towards the map hanging from the wall, where there was a pin marking every single country Steven had ever gone to. So far there was only twenty three: he had a lot of travelling left. "And after I do, I'm going to go to every other planet and star in the universe!"

Lapis giggled at him. "Well, you've certainly got your work cut out for you. I've only ever been to a small number of Gem colonies. Learning about all of them and about every other uninhabited planet and star seems rather daunting."

"But I have it all planned out already," Steven retorted proudly.

"Oh?" Lapis asked, still grinning and raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah! Hold on!" Steven jumped from his seat and ran back over to his bed, getting on his knees and pulling out a rolled piece of laminated paper. He ran back over to the study area and unrolled his prize onto the table.

"It's… a bunch of stars?" Lapis asked, looking at the poster.

"It's all the constellations that can be seen from Earth," Steven explained. "Once I know everything about Earth, then I'll start learning all about 'em." Steven gazed at the map, diamonds in his eyes. "Isn't that right, Pearl?"

"Yes. Of course, my Steven. Now, about the less—"

"Lapis, of all the planets you went to, which one was your very favorite?"

Lapis tapped her chin. "Hmm… Well, there was this one planet that was like five times the size of Earth, and water covered over ninety percent of its surface. But around the equator, when the sun would begin to set, you'd get this amazing coloring effect on the water. All sparkly and rainbow. And when I would lift it up, it would just twinkle in the light…"

As Lapis went on with her story, unbeknownst to Steven and Lapis, Pearl sighed quietly to herself, resigned to the fact that her carefully laid out lesson plan for the day probably wasn't going to happen.


The seaside air was filled with festive sounds— tinny carnival music, the click-click of rides, the roar of screams from the rollercoaster, the sizzle of frying food, the laughter of children— all against a backdrop of seagull caws and ocean waves. Connie took it all in, eyes wide behind her glasses.

"Funland!" she cried. "Oh man, this is going to be great! I haven't been to an amusement park in forever."

"Yeah, and I ain't ever been to one," said Amethyst.

Connie looked at her sidelong. "You haven't? You literally live, like, ten minutes away."

Amethyst shrugged. "I get busy. Besides, technically, I'm not really meant to hang out too much humans."

There was an awkward moment as Connie figured out what she could say to that.

It was broken by Amethyst giving a bark of laughter. "Don't worry!" she said. "You're cool! 'Sides, if Rose is allowed to spend time with Mr. Universe, I should be able to spend time with you, right? Fair's fair."

"I guess…" Connie said, and began to walk into Funland proper.

Only once she was inside to Connie remember why there was a reason it'd been so long since she'd last been to an amusement park— well, besides the business of schools, extracurriculars, and the near-impossibility of getting her parents to take her. Money.

Even putting aside food— Connie had been sure to pack a lot of nice, healthy snacks— every attraction had signs displaying the number of tokens needed to ride. And those tokens were expensive. Connie visualized her wallet, filled with weeks and weeks of saved allowances, and did some quick mental math. "I think we'll be able to go on three rides each. Maybe four, if we choose the cheaper ones."

"No way," Amethyst said, digging around in her pants pockets. (Something else Connie had apparently inspired her to 'regenerate' with). She pulled out a brown burlap bags that jangled. "This is on me."

"Woah! How much have you got in there?" Connie grabbed a bag from Amethyst's hand and began digging through it…

… only to slow down considerably as she looked at the coins and realized she didn't recognise most of the denominations. A few she could figure out— there was some toonies from the Great White North, and what looked like Euros— but others… well, they looked ancient, for starters, and did— were some of them written in Greek ? And here were a couple of small blue ones that were definitely from the Aqua Mexican Empire, which, Connie remembered very clearly from last week's history lesson, had fallen 230 years ago.

Connie plucked out a coin which was a particularly bright yellow. It felt soft in her hand. "Is this… real gold?"

"Lemme see." Amethyst took the coin and licked it. "Yep! Not pure though. Some copper mixed in, I think."

Connie could just shake her head.

Thankfully, among Amethyst's hodgepodge of archeological coins, there was still a fistful of actual modern American currency. All totalled, that was enough for both of them to get full ten rides each, plus some deliciously unhealthy carnival food.

"Still don't see why we couldn't use all of my money," Amethyst said, tossing an entire thing of cotton candy (and the stick) in her mouth as she and Connie lined up for the Merry Go Round. Connie did her best to explain, which somehow got into a discussion of eCove, and how Amethyst could probably strike it rich if she tries selling her stuff online.

It was a ridiculous, dizzying, amazing day. Ride after ride— tilt-a-whirl, Space Drop, the Teacups— and more. They ran into a brief snag at the Thunder Bird, where it turned out that Amethyst was gonna be too short to ride, but after waving Connie ahead, she'd reappeared two minutes later in the body of a buff teenager. After that, Connie wanted to learn all about Amethyst's shapeshifting, and they'd gone to the House of Mirrors to experiment with it. Amethyst could make herself tall, or short, or turn herself into an animal, or object, or even a mythical beast—

— she was amazing.

"We gotta do this again sometime," Amethyst said, as the sun began to set and announcements about the park's imminent closure.

"Y-yeah," Connie agreed.

"Oh, I know!" Amethyst ripped a nearby poster off a wall as they passed. "We could go to this!"

"Wrestle-Mania?" Connie read, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah!"

Connie bit her lip as she considered the poster She didn't want to sound lame, but… "Isn't that just a bunch of buff dudes screaming at each other and pretending to fight?"

"Yeah!" Amethyst repeated. "It's AWESOME!"

As she spoke, Amethyst clenched her arm, its muscles bulging cartoonishly. Connie couldn't help but giggle. "Okay," she said, but then she looked more closely at the poster. "Ugh, but it starts at eight-thirty on Saturday nights. No way I'll be allowed to go!"

Amethyst blinked at her. "Huh? Whaddya mean?"

"It's late!" Connie exclaimed. "My curfew is like, nine, at the very latest, my parents will want me home…"

Connie had learned that Amethyst had a pretty… patchwork set of things she knew, and got the feeling she'd stumbled into another one of the Gem's information blanks. Amethyst seemed to have realized that too, and took a moment figuring out her next question. "Why? Do ya have… that 'school' thing the next day?"

"No…" said Connie, slowly, as they passed through the gates out of Funland. "I've got tennis practice, but that's not until ten thirty…"

"So… you don't need to wake up really early?"

"No… But I know my Mom still won't like it. But I guess if you asked her, or Rose Quartz did…"

Amethyst looked confused again as she fished something out of a nearby trashcan. "Huh?"

"They love you," Connie explained. "I mean, you saved my life, of course they do. They think you're responsible."

"Heh," Amethyst laughed, through a mouth full of empty-chip bags. "Responsible."

Connie laughed too, though in a vague, absent sort of way. Maybe it would work. Her parents had always been… overprotective, yeah, and even more so since the accident. Which was only natural, she thought, feeling a flare of pain from her phantom finger. They didn't like her going anywhere without supervision. But maybe if the invitation came from someone they liked, and respected, or Dad agreed to accompany her… maybe she could go.

Because she wanted to. She really did. Not because she cared about 'The Lock Ness Blogster' beating up the 'Beautiful Builders' or whoever, but because, well—

She caught sight of the Temple in the distance, a massive, magical statue of ancient stone, staring pensively across the water. That was where Amethyst lived. Amethyst was part of that. She was a Crystal Gem, an ancient, shape-shifting, protector of humanity.

And it was only a matter of time before Amethyst realized that Connie Maheswaran was just… Connie Maheswaran.


The day, just as Pearl had predicted, did not go anything as she had planned. She supposed she couldn't begrudge Steven— he always was so friendly with humans and animals, and this was this first Gem aside from herself that he had ever met in his life. And that meeting had gone far better than Pearl could have ever hoped.

Nonetheless, it was frustrating, how every single lesson got waylaid or distracted to explain something to the Lapis Lazuli, or because the Lapis Lazuli had some story of her own to share, or because Steven had wanted to play a game with the Lapis Lazuli—

Pearl made herself hold still, and let out a long sigh. A habit which Greg had taught her, to let out irritation. It was a surprisingly effective technique.

She was relieved when night began to fall, and bedtime preparations began. This too took longer than usual, but eventually Steven's pajamas were on, his teeth were clean, he was under the covers, and the requested bedtime story read to him.

Steven fluttered his eyelashes up at her and asked, "Can I have a kiss?"

This wasn't a true order. It was a bonding ritual he had partaken in with Greg, and which Pearl had gladly adopted in his absence. "Hmm," she said, tapping her chin. "I don't know…"

"Plllleeeeaaassseeee?"

Pearl smiled. "Very well, then."

She planted her lips gently, carefully, on Steven's forehead. When she straightened up, she noticed Lapis Lazuli's eyes on her, saying nothing. It took all of Pearl's self-control not to blush.

Lapis Lazuli had been informed of 'sleep', and Steven had invited her to join him. Lapis had told him "another time, maybe," instead electing to explore the area surrounding the Palanquin. Pearl was more than happy to let her go, though not without warning her to be wary if she found any humans.

For a while, it was just her and Steven, in the Palanquin, as it had been for so long. The distant sound of organic wildlife… Steven's breathing, slow and steady, getting ever slower…

When at last it transformed into a proper snore, Pearl silently got to her feet, grabbed her compact, Blueberry Pi computer, and slid out past the Palanquin's curtains.

She tread lightly across the grass, through the trees, along the cliff edge, making not a sound as she walked. Soon she came to the grove of bushes, and was pushing them aside to—

"Where're you going?"

Pearl nearly jumped at the Lazuli's voice. "Nowhere?"

Lapis Lazuli stepped out from behind a nearby tree, her eyes reflecting strangely in the moonlight. "Then why are you going to a warp pad?" Lapis Lazuli came a little closer, and repeated again, "So where're you going?"

She'd been caught out in the lie, but Pearls had their own ways of dealing with such situations. She clasped her hands to her chest and said demurely, "I am afraid you are not authorized for that information."

"Really," said Lapis Lazuli, voice dry.

Pearl simply bowed her head.

"Well then," said Lapis Lazuli, turning away, "I suppose I'll just have to ask our Diamond for authorization."

"N-no! Do not tell Steven!"

Lapis Lazuli turned slowly back. "Wait… even he doesn't know what you're doing?"

Pearl stayed very, very still.

"Okay. He definitely needs to know what's going on." Lapis Lazuli started off again, quicker this time.

"Wait!" Pearl cried, loud as she dared. Again, Lapis stopped, and the expression she turned on Pearl was scrutinizing. "Please… If you promise not to tell Steven… then I will show my task."

"I won't promise to keep a secret that might harm my Diamond."

"It won't."

"Fine," Lapis Lazuli said, after a long moment. "Show me."

The two went through the bushes, and stood in rigid silence on the warp pad as it carried them away. When the blue stream died, they found themselves in a place filled with harsh yellow light. An orange canyon, pock-marked with irregular holes, stretching up above them, the sun still high and hot in the sky.

"A kindergarten?" said Lapis Lazuli.

Pearl didn't bother answering such an obvious question.

Instead Pearl led her wordlessly off the warp pad, around the bend, to where the her construction project lay.

It didn't look like much. For the most part, it was a blue roaming eye, or the remains of one. Huge chunks of its carapace had been removed. Around it was strewn all sort of detritus and debris; piles of human engineering texts, partially-disassembled Injectors, all manner of tools, from wrenches, hammers, screwdrivers, blow torches…

"What are you building?" asked Lapis Lazuli, picking up a piece of scrap metal and staring at it.

Pearl went to the nearest Injector, which she was working on removing its head as carefully as possible. "A drill."

"A what ?"

Pearl bent down, carefully connecting her Pi to a nearby monitor and keyboard. She considered grabbing the fine pair of scissors needed for the carefully work of cutting the Injector's wiring, but instead, went for a laser knife. Depending on how the Lazuli reacted, it may be needed. She said, "You were imprisoned during the middle of the War, weren't you?"

"I guess."

"You would not have been aware of the political climate near the end," Pearl said. She inspected the wiring as she spoke. "The Crystal Gem rebellion gained more and more ground. More and more momentum. It soon became clear that they would take the planet. The Diamonds were willing to accept the loss of a single colony, even one bountiful as Earth, but they could not risk the rebel movement spreading."

Pearl felt Lapis move a little closer. "Okay…"

"The rebels' greatest weapon were their hybrid fusions. So Homeworld decided to build one of their own, greater than any other."

"'Build'?"

Pearl nodded. "They took the shards of every fallen Gem they could find, and placed them deep within the planet's mantle. There the heat and pressure is fusing them into a single being."

"That's…" Lapis trailed off. Finally, Pearl looked at her. Her expression was mingled disgust and horror.

The feeling was mutual. Pearl knew it wasn't her place to question her superiors, but even at the time, she had thought the plan seemed highly… distasteful. If hybrid fusions were so terrible, stooping to the rebels' level to create one for themselves seemed rather— hypocritical. Perhaps if it had only been traitors, it could have been justified, but loyal Gems' shards too had been used, and…

Well. It wouldn't do to dwell.

Pearl continued in her explanation. "It was estimated that the Cluster fusion would take approximately five thousand years to emerge. That leaves only a matter of time before it forms, destroying this planet." Pearl carefully cut through a pair of wires. "I am building a drill to destroy it first."

Lapis's brow was creased. "And you're doing this… against Blue Diamond's orders?"

"No. I am doing this on them."

Pearl explained further. Blue Diamond had always been reluctant on destroying Pink Diamond's former colony, but when she had decided to stay on Earth and have a child there, she had turned against the idea completely. Before she had… passed, she had entreated Pearl with the duty of decommissioning the Cluster.

Blue Diamond had entreated this duty to a Pearl. A Pearl!

A Pearl who had not been made for engineering, or science, or mathematics, and had no training in it besides, who was now supposed to figure out how to build a drill capable of penetrating the planet's crust and destroying the most powerful geoweapon ever engineered.

Pearl's hand gripped the laser knife handle tighter.

"Alright," said Lapis Lazuli, at length. "So… why are you hiding this from Steven?"

"I don't want to scare him."

Pearl sighed, and allowed herself to sit on the dusty ground. It took all her self restraint not to cup her face in her hands.

Lapis Lazuli looked surprised. She hovered, uncertain about what to say. "Well… I don't think you need to worry too much. You're working on this drill thing. And if the planet is destroyed, well, you can just take him to space."

"It's not that simple," Pearl said. "Yes, I could take him to space… but what then, Lapis Lazuli? This is his home. He adores it. It would break his heart to lose it. And where would we go?"

"Homeworld," said Lapis Lazuli. As if it was obvious.

Because it was obvious. Of course it was. That's what Pearl had assumed. That's why she had taught Steven so much about himself, about his mother, about his Homeworld and a Diamond's duty to it, and its duty to their Diamonds. Why shouldn't she? It was his right, his destiny.

"But he can't go to Homeworld," Pearl said, and she didn't meant to say anything else, but the words just came spilling out, like a dam suddenly bursting. "Not now. Perhaps never. Steven is Blue Diamond's son, but he is not Blue Diamond. I see that now. He is small, and naive, and so fragile, and his body is made of meat. Homeworld… the other Diamonds, they'll say he's defective, and you know what they do to defects!"

Pearl's hand clenched and unclenched around the knife, as she cursed herself for not having realized sooner, for having told Steven about all these things which he could not have.

She rounded on Lapis. "Which is why I don't appreciate you coming in here, and telling him stories about far off stars and planets which he'll never be able to see!"

Lapis Lazuli flinched back.

It occurred to Pearl she was holding up the knife in an almost threatening way. She lowered it.

"Sorry," said Lazuli.

Pearl bowed her head. "You could not have known."

There was a silence.

Eventually, Lapis Lazuli bent down. Grabbed something off the ground. It was a screwdriver. "Guess we'll just need to make sure this Cluster-thing never emerges, huh?"

"We," echoed Pearl.

"Yeah." Lapis smiled a little. "I'll help."

Pearl stared at her. "Do you know anything about mechanics?"

"Nope."

"Me neither." Pearl risked a small grin. "So you shall fit right in."