Pearl was used to training those who really shouldn't have known any better. Steven and Connie were both very young, and she'd had a hand in helping some other young rebels learn to fight during the gem war. But those were gems who really shouldn't have been picking up a sword at all. She'd read a book once that described a young boy holding a weapon. The narrator had said that he looked as though he should still have been at his mother's breast. It was an exaggeration, of course. Pearl knew that. But had gems nursed their young the way humans did, she might have called those young charges as belonging at their mothers' breasts, too.
Peridot, on the other hand, was a grown gem who really should have known better, and this was a disaster.
The two gems had been practicing their swordfighting for about a week now. Peridot was still unable to compress her gem light to make a decent sword, and was using one of the many practice swords that Connie and Steven used. It was a bit too short for her arms, making her strokes awkward. Pearl kept intending to get her one that actually fit her arm movements, but it appeared that purchasing weapons was more difficult now than just a few short hundred years ago. But that wasn't even the main problem.
The real problem was that Peridot was constantly distracted. "Eyes on me, Peridot!" Pearl kept saying. Her sword that she conjured for the purpose of tutoring was blunted all around, not just at the tip. At first, it had just been an overly cautious safety measure, not wanting to hurt Steven or Connie in any way. But for training Peridot, it became a necessity. Peridot would consistently slip or stumble, accidentally falling into Pearl's blows.
Pearl was trying to be patient. It had only been a week, after all, and one couldn't expect a huge amount of progress in that time. But still, something told her that there was something about this that Peridot just wasn't getting. She would either swing too hard and fall forward, or too light, leaving an easy opening for Pearl to thrust at.
This session appeared to be no different from the others. Pearl and Peridot were practicing the basic parry and thrust, Peal constantly correcting Peridot on her stance. "Too narrow! You can't balance that way! Eyes up, Peridot! Shoulders back, wide stance!"
The swords met once, making a mighty clashing sound. Peridot flinched, and Pearl took her opening, not wanting to play games anymore. She slipped her foot underneath Peridot's, tripping her. Peridot fell face-first with a yelp while Pearl whipped around, stepping on Peridot's back. She aimed her practice sword at the back of Peridot's neck, resting the tip just under her hairline.
"And you're dead." It was clipped and final. Pearl was trying, trying, trying to maintain composure.
Peridot whimpered, struggling under Pearl's surprisingly sturdy hold. "Can we try again?"
"There's no point in trying again if you're not paying attention," Pearl said, stepping down off of Peridot's back. As Peridot rolled over so that she could face Pearl, Pearl continued. "I'm trying to be patient with you, Peridot. I know that you don't have a proper weapon. I know that you weren't trained to or built to fight. But the thing that's bothering me is that you're making it clear to me that you're not listening to my instructions."
"I am!" Peridot insisted, scrambling to her feet and hastily grabbing her sword. "I am listening! Can we please try again? I'll be better this time, you'll see."
Pearl sighed, rubbing her temples gently with her free hand, her own sword hanging limply at her side. "Let's take a break from sparring for a while. Show me your stance again."
Peridot nodded. She actually nailed her stance. Wide feet, open but protected posture, straight shoulders, eyes fixed right on her opponent.
"Very good. Now, practice a few strokes."
Peridot nodded, doing as she was told. Her movements were choppy and still too shallow. Pearl grimaced.
"Put your whole body into it, Peridot. This isn't a flick of the wrist, it's a huge arc created by your entire body."
Peridot at least tried. Her strokes this time were wider, but Pearl could see that she was losing her balance. She walked directly behind Peridot and held her hips firmly in place. The touch seemed to elicit a small squeak from the green gem, but Pearl ignored it.
"You have to weigh yourself down into the earth," Pearl instructed. "A wide stroke will be the death of you if you fall in the middle of it."
"You can strike when you fall," Peridot commented.
"Yes, because I've had thousands of years of practice. You started last week. Now, I'm going to hold you in this position. Try making more wide strokes and see how it feels."
Peridot's wide, round hips squirmed beneath Pearl's hands as she did so, but Pearl held her firmly in place. She could hear from Peridot's metal feet that she wasn't skidding in place anymore, but she needed to hear from Peridot's mouth that a difference was being made before they could continue. It wasn't an entirely unpleasant feeling, anyway.
"It's definitely easier this way," Peridot mumbled. Pearl tried not to make a sound of displeasure, but she could hear in Peridot's voice that she was distracted yet again.
"Are you even paying attention?" she snapped.
Peridot's shoulders twitched, indicating that she had been brought back to earth. Pearl sighed. She instantly let go of Peridot and turned to face her, lowering Peridot's sword with one finger.
"If you're not putting one hundred percent of yourself into this," Pearl said slowly and deliberately, "then we're not going to waste our time here. I have things I need to be doing for Steven and Connie, as well as missions the other gems are on. I'm sacrificing my time for that to be here to train you, do you understand that?"
Peridot visibly recoiled, her shoulders collapsing into a nervous slouch as she brought her arms closer to her body. "Y-yes."
Pearl had nearly had it. With an exasperated sigh, she simply said, "We're done for today." Dissapating her sword, she walked back to the warp pad and activated it for home. She didn't wait for Peridot to follow her.
Night fell before Peridot had returned. A thin coat of sweat was visible on her face and she was panting heavily. Pearl was busy ushering Steven off to bed when she arrived. Not that Steven needed the help, since he had just turned ten and was more than capable of taking care of himself at night, but she needed to be kept busy.
"Hey. Peridot!" Steven called from the loft, waving one of his oversized pajama sleeves at the green gem. She simply looked up and gave him a thumbs up for a greeting, lumbering over to the kitchen and using a paper towel to pat the sweat off her face. "Wow, she must have been working really hard today."
"Something like that," Pearl said, tucking him in tightly, but keeping her eyes locked on Peridot. Had she really been in the Sky Arena the whole time? She looked exhausted, and something like a cut seemed to scar one of her arms with black from this distance. Maybe I pushed her too hard, she thought. It has only been a week...
"Pearl! You're gonna choke me!" Steven gasped, giggling and kicking his feet to loosen the blanket that Pearl was tucking far too tight under the mattress. She flinched and pulled it out somewhat.
"Sorry about that, Steven. Do you need anything else?"
A cheeky grin spread on Steven's face. "Just my good night kiss!"
Pearl chuckled and placed her lips to Steven's forehead, stroking his curly, black hair with one hand. "Good night, Steven. Sleep tight."
"Good night, Pearl! Night, Peridot!" he called, looking toward the kitchen.
Peridot was busy chugging a glass of water. "Night, kid."
Steven giggled. "I really like her. I'm glad she's with us."
Pearl said nothing, merely tapping his shoulder affirmatively. "Get some sleep. We have a busy day tomorrow."
"Yes, ma'am!" Steven rolled over, clutching Sir Bearington tight in his arms, and shut his eyes, ready to let sleep take over his body. Satisfied, Pearl descended down the stairs and approached Peridot. She looked even worse up close. Bruises stained her green skin with awkward yellowish blotches, and there were a few smaller cuts in addition to the one long one on her right arm.
"What happened to you?" Pearl asked. "You look a mess."
Peridot shrugged. "I was practicing more after you left." She walked past Pearl and towards the makeshift bed that was the couch. Pearl followed her with her gaze as she shut off the kitchen lights. Peridot sat with a heavy thud, brushing a lock of light green hair off her forehead. A twisting built in the bottom of Pearl's gut.
Pearl followed Peridot, sitting down next to her. Neither of them said anything for a few moments, staring out of the tiny window at the night sky. At last, when Steven's tiny snoring broke the silence, Pearl spoke. "I'm... Look, I'm sorry if I was too hard on you earlier. It's only been a week. I should have been more considerate."
Peridot looked at her, her cocked eyebrow barely visible in the darkness. "What are you sorry for? I needed you to push me like that. I just wasn't really getting it before, you know?"
Pearl kneaded her hands together nervously in her lap. "You shouldn't be hurting yourself like that over something I said. And how did you even get those bruises and cuts, anyway? That's dangerous. I'm not letting you practice alone again. You could have really gotten hurt, you know."
Peridot rubbed her sore arms with her metal hands, looking down at the floor. "I was trying to practice wider strokes, but some of them got too wide... It's all right, though. I think I've got a good idea of exactly how far is too far now, ha..." She coughed, rubbing the back of her neck, still not looking at Pearl in the eyes. "I'm... sorry that I've been letting you down, honestly."
Pearl flinched. "You haven't been... I mean, it's... I've just been too hard on you, that's all."
"No, no, not just about that." Peridot brought one leg up on the couch and held it close to her body, clasping her fingers together. "Ever since you guys took me in, I've just... not been useful. I understand why you had to disable my weaponry, I do. I'm not complaining about that. But I'd just... I'd like to do something more. Something to help out. I wanna be useful. And I don't wanna hurt you or Steven or anyone else again. I'm sick of that." She rested her gem against her knee, sighing. "I'm sorry."
Pearl was silent for a few moments. Regret bubbled in the pit of her stomach. Had she made Peridot feel that way? She had been turning around nicely... "I'm not disappointed in you, Peridot," she said softly, gently. Reaching her hand out and touching Peridot's shoulder, holding it, she added, "In fact, I'm actually very proud of the progress you've made."
Peridot looked up incredulously. "Really?"
Pearl nodded. "You've been working very hard to turn your life around. I've noticed that. So has everyone else. We're lucky to have you, actually. Nobody else knows new gem tech like you." Gingerly, she ruffled the back of Peridot's hair with her fingertips. "So, who cares if you're not a genius with a sword? We still need you."
Peridot sat up straight, grinning and wiping her nose. "Thanks... That means a lot. Especially from you."
Pearl moved her hands away and held them in front of her as though to block the compliment from reaching her. "Please, I'm nobody special."
'You are though!" Peridot protested. She looked as though she was going to say more but stopped herself short. "Y-you're very important, is all. I respect you."
Pearl smiled softly. "Thank you." Satisfied, Pearl stood up. "Are you going to be all right?"
Peridot nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Thanks."
"Well, then. I suppose I'll be seeing you at the same time tomorrow?"
A light, raspy laugh escaped Peridot's lips. "You know it."
"Good, I'm glad to hear it. Well, I'll be off then. Good night, Peridot."
"G'night," Peridot said, pulling the blanket over herself, hiding her face from view. Pearl thought she heard a soft squeal just under Peridot's breath, but figured she must have just heard a mouse outside. Chuckling to herself at the thought, she turned away and stepped into her room, hoping to pass the next few hours until the two began training again. A fresh start never hurt anyone.