Black Diamond and Pearl stayed the night in one of Lady Lapis's guest rooms, sleeping side by side with Black's legs hanging off the edge of the Lapis-sized bed. The owner had apologized for the dimensions of it, with a grimace and a sigh.
Regardless, Black slept like the dead and awoke only when the harsh morning light flooded the window. She stood and wandered to the source of the sunshine, resting her hand upon the frame and looking out into the inactive town. A wind came and combed its fingers through her hair, chilling her.
Someone knocked on the door and without awaiting the response, stuck her head in.
"You're up." Lady Lapis had yet to put on her crown and wore heavy bags beneath her deep blue eyes. "I'd like to talk to you. Can you come down stairs?"
"Yes, of course."
Lady Lapis closed the door behind Black Diamond, who followed right after her. The pair walked through the hallway and down the stairs until reaching the main room. The Lady's quick feet had stopped in the center of the floor, and she rolled her lips with the threat of coming words.
When Black Diamond neared, she finally spoke, "I'm still not sure about you, and I'm sure you know that, but you've caught me in a very desperate time. I don't usually allow strangers to stay in my home or even my city, but I haven't seen my wife so active for months. I'm not sure what you've done to need to come all the way out here, but at this point, I'm not sure I care." She continued looking into Black Diamond's dark gaze despite pausing and picking at her lips. "My people need your help."
A pause stretched out where Black would reply, but bent her brows instead.
Lady Lapis continued, "White Diamond and her damned army damaged a lot of our town." Her attention wavered and rolled to the smooth tiles on the floor. "I would appreciate if you could assist with the survivors. I don't know your powers, but some of them are missing limbs or recovering from wounds. A lot of them are still at the hospital." Lady Lapis paused. "If you could help them, I'll allow you to stay and give you and your Pearl food and water."
"I would be happy to help, but I need more supplies. I don't have enough medicine for the entire village with me."
"I anticipated that. If you need anything at all, tell me."
"I will, thank you."
For a moment, Lady Lapis said nothing. She stopped looking at Black Diamond and instead studied her front door. The morning light brought out the weathered features of her face, as well as the untouched gold shimmering upon her cheeks. "I wish you would have come here sooner." She began to walk away. "I'm going to check on my wife now." But Lady Lapis only ascended a few steps on the staircase before she and Black Diamond looked at one another again. "Do you have any other clothes?"
"I don't."
"I'll provide you with something else to wear. I can't have you staying here dressed in rags. It reflects poorly."
"I understand."
The lady turned around and made her way back to the second floor, slowly as if crushed by an invisible weight and lingering near the upper steps, which she finally crossed after some deliberation.
Black Diamond and Pearl began their time in the village running. Lady Lapis had dressed and fed them and sent them to work at the hospital from their first full day there.
They arrived wrapped in the light blue fabrics to a room full of both exhausted and unconscious women. The healers presented drawn faces with sunken eyes, while the sick and wounded slept or moaned in pain. Some accomplished both and nearly all of them did so beneath bloodied bandages and old blankets no one could afford to replace.
The small staff of healers tended to the forty or so bodies in their care while Black Diamond and Pearl did their best to help.
The other Lapises showed them to the materials they had—an almost empty cabinet inside a meager supply room. The few jars were organized in rows and labelled neatly, though some had nearly been emptied as the herbs in question only covered the very bottom.
"We've had to use a lot of our supplies throughout the course of the war." One of the healers passed by Black Diamond and went for a container. Her bun bobbled with the pace of her feet. "Lady Lapis had ordered more, but it takes a long time because we live so far from everything." She sighed and filled her face mask momentarily with air. "I hope you can help us, but if you can't, no one will blame you."
"I promise that I'll do my best."
The healer's eyes squinted above her hidden smile and she didn't linger a moment longer.
"They really don't have much." Black Diamond bit the nail of her index finger.
"We don't have much either," Pearl responded. "After making that potion for the lady's wife last night, we're running low."
"On everything?"
"Almost."
Black Diamond sighed. "Well, we'll do our best. Can I ask you to make as much elixir as possible?"
"Of course, My Lady," but Pearl's voice came more quietly than usual, and Black Diamond said no more as they went to work.
They spent much of their time and energy replacing old bandages and cleaning wounds. After Pearl had prepared her potion, each patient could only afford a sip. She had produced about a liter, but amongst the forty or so injured gems, it spread thin.
Still, Black Diamond sat with each injured Lapis, one at a time, and sealed their wounds. For the first few, she and Pearl went about the same procedure they always did. The light purple smoke came and stole the open cuts as it disappeared. Some of the other healers stopped to watch her work and some of the injured gems opened their dark blue eyes.
Many had lost entire limbs and a lot of blood, but they parted their lashes and turned their gazes to the lady's near-black irises, breathing more noisily than usual. Despite their sudden attention, none seemed totally awake. Their expressions never shifted outside of slightly parted lips and furrowed brows. Only when Black Diamond finished did their faces relax and their eyes close again.
Upon using all of their own materials, Black resorted to using her powers only. She set her hands over the open wounds and sat for hours as the bleeding ceased and cuts began to close. New skin would take shape beneath her fingers and Pearl almost constantly tended to the sweat upon her brow.
"That's amazing," the healers would comment as they passed by. None could stay and watch very long, but stopped at least occasionally to observe Black Diamond's powers.
Black never answered. Every drop of her focus went into her spell.
The sun came down and the desert sky grew bursts of pink, purple, and orange. The colorful but dim light penetrated the open windows of the medical tent and Black Diamond finally put down her hands.
The wound, an arm that ended at the elbow, had almost stopped bleeding. The tip came together to form a bloody scab with scarring along the edges, and even though Black Diamond had stopped and put her hands at her side, she couldn't keep her eyes off of it.
What finally drew her attention was a lantern that came from her right field of vision.
Her eyes met with those of a healer's.
"Coal, we're changing shifts. You're welcome to go back to Lady Lapis now."
"Thank you."
Pearl wiped the sweat from Black Diamond's brow and the three of them remained exactly where they stood.
"Do you remember where it is? We're a little bit from there."
"I'm sorry. I don't."
"I wouldn't mind showing you. I live in that direction anyway." The lantern squealed a little in her hand as she shifted. "Just let me know when you're ready."
"I only need a minute, thank you."
"Of course, I'll be waiting by the entrance."
The healer walked away and Black Diamond leaned further onto the hard ground and watched as one group of Lapises spoke to another. Each wore the same dark blue fabrics with the same mask and the same tight bun at the crown of their heads. Some had speckles of gold across stretches of skin, but those odd freckles faded into the coming darkness.
"My Lady, are you alright?"
"I'm exhausted."
All of the healers continued to speak and the entire group erupted into laughter.
"You worked hard today."
Black Diamond rose to her feet. "Let's head back. I don't want to keep her waiting."
"Sure, My Lady."
Black and Pearl followed the healer through town as the stars burst from beneath the occasional cloud. Sometimes a lantern would drift overhead along with the sound of flapping wings, but other than that, the town wore silence like a pall that engulfed it as much as the night did.
The party moved with quick steps and upon reaching Lady Lapis's comparable mansion, the guide finally asked, "How did you learn to heal so well?"
"Oh," Black Diamond responded, "I've had a lot of practice."
"Just practice?" She grinned beneath her mask and knocked on the door.
"Really, just practice."
"Well, you should teach us your methods. None of us had ever seen anything like that."
"Perhaps I will."
One of the servants answered the door. "Please come in, Miss Coal."
"You'll come back tomorrow, won't you?" The healer had taken a few steps back.
"I'm sure I will."
"Great. See you then!" After speaking those words, she formed wings and took off, becoming another star in the sky by the light of her lantern.
"Madame," the servant called from the open door. "If you don't mind, Lady Lapis would like to speak to you. She's waiting in her room with her wife."
"Oh, yes. Of course."
Black Diamond and Pearl came inside and climbed the stairs, and upon reaching the second floor, their child ran past them with a doll in her arms. They kept walking, but she paused to stare at Black and Pearl while putting several fingers in her mouth.
Black Diamond turned to smile and wave, but the girl stood exactly in place, golden eyes wide as she moistened her digits with saliva.
From there, Black Diamond knocked on Lady Lapis's bedroom door.
"Come in!"
Black and Pearl entered and found the married couple like they had the first time. The pregnant Lapis lay beneath her piles of blankets while her wife stood by and watched over her.
"Coal, welcome back. How was your day?"
"It was fine, Lady Lapis. Thank you."
She smiled and crossed her arms. "You look exhausted."
"Well," Black Diamond paused. "We worked hard today."
"We appreciate your assistance." She cleared her throat. "Dinner is almost ready, but before we eat, do you think you could help my wife? She's not feeling well."
"Darling, she looks exhausted."
"It's alright," Black answered. "I can help."
"Thank you." Lady Lapis stepped away to allow Black Diamond to use her magic.
Black Diamond lifted the blankets and set her hands to work on the woman's stomach. More slowly than the last time, she drew out the pain until it had been properly expelled and the dullness came out of the gem's eyes. A brightness returned to her face, where it dulled slightly in Black's.
"It might not last as long," Black Diamond said. "We ran out of ingredients for the elixir today."
The little round Lapis took her healer's hand between both of her own. "That's alright. I still feel much better. Thank you."
"Of course, ma'am."
"Let's eat. Laying in bed all day takes so much of my energy."
All four of them went to the dining room and every day after that followed the same events. Each morning, Black Diamond and Pearl would leave around the same time Lady Lapis would, work a complete shift at the hospital, and come home to assist that poor bedridden woman before dinner.
The walks to work each morning always consisted of a silence that possessed the entire town. No one spoke during the early morning hours that injected so many pastels into the sky, but from around the street corner, one could hear the banging of hammers and noise of construction.
From the moment any amount of light yawned across the horizon, the reparations of every chip and hole inside that city began and didn't end until the sun dove beneath the waves and took visibility with it. Lady Lapis assisted in asking her people what they needed, and she did this while walking around her city with a pen, parchment, and a bag of bread for the hungry.
Black Diamond observed her one day outside the healer's tent, severe arms crossed and brow bent with her attention pointed in the distance. With an impatient hand, she motioned someone over and a healer came to speak to her.
"I'm dropping off supplies from the capital, from the generous White Diamond herself."
"Are the supplies you asked the runners to pick up still coming, My Lady?"
"Why, yes, they are. I have no way to get into contact with them, so they should be back, ironically, today."
"Well, this is wonderful. We'll have a surplus of medical supplies."
"Yes, but I could have saved the funds and rebuilt more of this city. The runners could have stayed and helped as well."
Just then, a Quartz warrior arrived, pulling behind her a cart of supplies. Upon seeing her, even from her position near the back of the tent, Black Diamond gasped and folded by bringing her chest closer to her knees. She stopped healing her patient and hid behind a cascade she made from her hair, pulling it before her face as though she were drawing a shade. Pearl panicked and did the same and the pair appeared as two boulders,huddling side by side.
"My Diamond has asked me to inform you, Lady Lapis, that she's sending a group of us to help with reparations—"
"I know. You already said that. The fact still remains that I used precious resources when a lot of my people are hungry or could have used the help. Now is not the time to waste even a copper piece and some of those herbs are extremely expensive. Honestly."
Lady Lapis made a few footsteps in the sand. The sound came of a heavy sack making contact with the ground, as well as the chiming of glass bottles against one another.
"Come along. We're headed towards the farm next."
"Yes, Ma'am."
The cart squeaked away and Black Diamond finally parted her veil of hair.
"Coal, Pearl! Look!" One of the healers came to her with a jar full of premade pain elixir. "We have supplies now! I suppose White Diamond sent them."
"Wonderful."
Pearl rose to wipe the sweat from her Diamond's brow.
That night, Black and Pearl made it back before Lady Lapis did and went upstairs alone to assist her wife. The woman turned to them as they appeared within the doorframe with a few tears leaking from her golden eyes. The droplets drained onto the pillow beneath her mass of ruined hair. Yet, she turned back and touched her staring daughter on the shoulder.
"Little one, can you go play somewhere else? Miss Coal is going to help mommy feel better."
The girl looked to her mother and then to Black Diamond and then to her mother again and blinked her round eyes.
"It will only take a few moments, I promise."
The tiny creature's cheeks had turned deep blue.
"Do you want to show Miss Coal how you can fly?"
Her mouth broke into a smile. "Yeah…"
"Okay. Show Miss Coal how you can fly."
The child put four fingers into her mouth as she summoned her wings and stood upon clumsy legs. They dropped her once before she stood again.
"Take your hand out of your mouth, please."
She did and wiped it along her skirt.
"Okay, are you ready? One, two, three, fly!"
Even after that, the girl hesitated a moment before jumping onto the bed and launching into flight. Giggling, she made a few circles and zipped past the guests, right over Pearl's head, and into the hallway where her loud laughter echoed.
"Alright, little one! It's time to land!"
Her mirth sounded until her mother began to count down from ten. Then her two feet patted upon the ground and her echoing laughter remained.
Lapis struggled to cast the blankets off of her. "I'm sorry about that."
"No, no need to apologize. She's very cute. Pearl—"
But Pearl had already produced a vial of elixir that she gave to the woman in bed, while Black Diamond worked with her hands, heating up near the mother's stomach.
"Thank you. I don't think you'll have to do this much longer." The features of her face relaxed as her head sank further into the plush pillow. "Any day now…I'm sorry to trouble you."
"It's no trouble at all." Black Diamond took her agony away. "If you don't mind me saying, it's impressive you were able to conceive again. Most gems don't even experience this once."
"I know, lucky me." She snorted before reading the ceiling, adjusting the gears of her throat. "We really tried this time. The first one was mostly unintentional, but my wife came to me not too long ago and told me she wanted another baby. I'm sure you've noticed that she's not the most romantic of gems, but something in the way she said it…she took me by the hand and was so sincere, I couldn't say no. It took a while, but look at me now, wobbling around like a champ. Have you ever carried?"
"Oh, no," heat swayed the color of Black's face. "I've only ever worked with expecting mothers. I have been curious though, how it feels."
"It's awful. Now you know. Don't try it unless you're madly in love with a gem who can convince you that you're still beautiful—even when you're as big as someone else's house." Both of them laughed. "I'm serious though. That second part isn't optional. Your partner better love you when you're bloated and angry, because what are you going to do when you're slightly less bloated, but sleep deprived, so you know—even angrier, but now you have a screaming baby too? It's not easy and some gems have a whole litter."
"I've seen it happen."
"I'm sure you have. I hope you don't see it happen again any time soon. As if we haven't been through enough."
"I'm sorry."
"No; what are you apologizing for? It was just poor timing."
Black Diamond grinned and finished healing her. Shortly after that, the three went downstairs for dinner to find that Lady Lapis had indeed arrived and had scooped her daughter into her arms. She greeted them with her serious regard, breaking her eye contact occasionally to kiss the youngest on the cheek when she fidgeted or tried to escape.
Together, they sat at the dinner table and shared half a loaf of bread, three oranges and pomegranate seeds, and a few slices of meat. After eating, they wished one another goodnight and returned to their rooms, where Black Diamond set herself next to the window and its gratuitous moonlight.
Even though she faced the window, Pearl could still see her furrowed brow. She watched as her lady expelled a breath slowly, picking at her nails.
"Hey, are you alright?"
Black Diamond didn't answer right away. "I suppose so."
Pearl stood next to her Diamond, who set a hand upon her shoulder. Though Black didn't turn to her, Pearl caught the bags beneath her eyes, which had grown on her face as well.
"Do you want to stay? With the Quartzes here…"
"We have to stay. This family needs us; this town needs us, at least for the time being. But I still don't want any of them to find out. We work hard here, but…"
Pearl paused before wrapping her arms around what parts of her Diamond she could. In return, Black picked her up and held her near, still staring into that wild patch of bright stars.
"They'll probably find out within a few days."
"Even so, My Lady, it might be different this time. Everyone seems to regard Lady Lapis as their leader. Maybe they won't care."
Black touched Pearl's short hair and finally turned from the stars. "I hope they won't." And she carried Pearl and laid down in bed, where both receded into a dark and dreamless sleep.