"Your dad?" Carole asked her.

Rose solemnly nodded her head. "Yeah, he says they used to be good friends back in the day." she answered.

"So what happened to change all that?"

"Well... apparently, my mother drove a wedge between them. I never met her, so I don't really know for sure."

"You never met...?" Carole was at a loss for words. She then said, "Oh, Rose, I'm so sorry. My mother died just a few years ago." She reached over and patted her pink-haired companion on the shoulder. "So then how do you know about this Zoisite man once being friends with your father?"

"Nephrite told me about them when I was a child."

Carole tilted her head back slightly. "Nephrite? Who's that?"

"He was the Queen's second-in-command before Zoisite took his place. He was also like my father and my husband."

"There's a Queen involved?"

"I'll explain later."

Meanwhile in the Mineralis Dimension...

After trekking across several miles of conifer-lined fields, a garden with omnivorous yonic flowers, and a religious cult that may or may not have been worshipping Jesus, Zoisite and Lemhi had now made it to the Temple of Orthoclase and Hackmanite. Of course, Rodalquilarite had decided to pledge her undying loyalty to them after they'd saved her and come with.

"We're finally here, guys." she announced right after their camelid parked near the temple entrance. "That was totally worth it, right?"

"Yeah... it sure was." Lemhi laughed nervously. He didn't know if he was feeling nauseous or just uncomfortable around her. "Well, after this, how about we take you home?"

"Home? You kidding? I never wanna go home after this. I'd rather travel with you guys!"

"And we appreciate that, Miss Roda. Honestly." He then turned to Zoisite and muttered, "How can you possibly stand this girl, Master? Her loyalty is making me sick!"

"Well, when you've had a wife who acts just like her, you get used to it." Zoisite laughed as he remembered Tellurite once again.

"What are we supposed to do with her once we get to Earth?"

"I'm sure we can think of something. Now let's go inside. Agite nunc!"

As soon as the trio entered the temple, they were greeted by a blue Gem who appeared to be a Hauyne. She had deep blue skin, a shorn head, bluish-gray eyes, and an oblong face. There was a distinct ankh-shaped mark on her cheek and it appeared to be the color of faded ink. She also had on an elaborate navy-hued headdress and a blue toga that reached the floor.

"Greetings, fellow priestess." the white Gem said when he saw her. "How are you?"

Hauyne just smiled.

"I see." he responded. "Well, could you please bring Priestess Gneiss out here?"

The blue Gem nodded her head and then left for a moment. When she returned, a light blue Gem with an oval face and a sharp nose followed right behind her. This new Gem was High Priestess Gneiss; she had light grayish-blue skin that looked a bit dry, slate-blue eyes with star-shaped pupils, and iron-blue hair with lighter jagged horizontal lines running along the bottom. Her outfit consisted of a simple Greek headdress decorated with a lavender feather and a strapless dress made from smoky gray Iolite silk.

"You were asking for me?" the high priestess asked her guest.

"Yes," Zoisite answered. "I'm the Chancellor of Chalcopyrite. You've heard of me, correct?"

"Oh yes, we all have, especially Hauyne." She pointed at the darker blue Gem. "Speaking of, she's mute and has been for several years now." There was a brief pause. "Well, aren't you going to introduce your slaves to me?"

"Right." The white Gem gestured to Lemhi. "This is Lemhi, a Vivianite who has been a member of my household since he was young. Rodalquilarite, on the other hand..." He glanced at the juvenile green Gem for a minute and continued, "...is a recent addition."

"Good to know. Now tell me: what brings you three here?"

"We were planning to off a human and several members of his family..."

"And you're telling me this because...?"

"...he appears to have some sort of connection with Rose's group. Now I'm not sure why, but I have a bad feeling that he might impregnate one of them and create a half-breed. Doesn't that concern you at all?"

"The thought of human-Gem hybrids rearing their heads again after several millenia on Earth? Maybe. But why do you want this human and his family killed when they don't seem to have done anything wrong?"

"These humans have destroyed everything they've ever touched and we could be next! Why, I'd swear by Obsidian herself that they could find their way here and have us all wiped out! Is that what you want?"

Gneiss thought about this for a moment and then decided, "Very well, but it's not me you should be asking to look into the future. That honor belongs to Baryte, the second-most beautiful Gem alive."

A/N: Hi, I've come back from the dead! Now before we go, I'd like to remind anybody who wants to type a "Reason You Suck" speech to me to please do that in a PM and not in a review. Also please don't use the reviews section to leave misogynistic slurs because it might as well be bullying. (I'm looking at you too, anons.)

Also, I'd like to forgive two of the greatest ever authors in the SU fandom for all their transgressions against me; I know I haven't been on very good terms with Scraps or Crystal-Gem-Goddess since the incident, but I'd like to say this once and never again: I'm sorry for nearly ruining everything and thank you for giving me one hell of a wake-up call.

As for my good ol' friend Toku (AKA Trollface Mastah), I'd like to thank him for sticking by me for the umpteenth time. Not a day goes by when I don't think about him and I hope he realizes how much he means to me.

*ahem* But I digress. Keep a lookout for the next chapter!