Before long, Baryte came before the trio and established her presence. She was a heavyset yellow Gem with a round face, an arched nose, plump lips, and a pear-shaped body. Her orange tightly-curled hair was pulled back in a dark brown multilayered headband and hung over the back of her head. Like her fellow high priestess Gneiss, she also wore a strapless dress but this was made instead of a gaudy yellow cloth imported from Tourmaline.
"Thank the Pantheon you're here, dear oracle!" Zoisite cried out with joy. "My fellow slaves and I came all this way to ask something of you."
"What did you have in mind?" Baryte asked the white Gem.
"We were wondering if you could predict the birth of a human-Gem hybrid, a half-breed if you will."
"Well, you came to the wrong oracle for this one."
Zoisite made a wincing sound and said, "I already warned Priestess Gneiss about the possibility of humans overrunning this dimension. Don't tell me I'll have to warn you too."
The high priestess turned her attention to the oracle. "It might not be impossible, you know. They're very destructive creatures and they could very well have us all killed if they ever decide to colonize this dimension."
"Very well." Baryte sighed. She then took a deep breath and chanted, "Chrysocolla, oculis omnis oculus, da mihi ante omnia et futurum esse mendacem."
After she spoke the last few words, a green orb materialized before her and presented a rather interesting image. It showed a naked baby with Rose's gem located where its navel should've been; among other things, this child also had wisps of dark hair and eyes that looked suspiciously like Rhodochrosite's (except they were a much darker shade of pink). Looming over this strange child was some human woman who looked to be in her forties or fifties; could she possibly be related to the human Zoisite had come across while on Earth?
"Dear God..." the white Gem muttered.
"There's more to it than that." Baryte said.
"No..." he whimpered. "That can't be right. It isn't right!"
"So Master, what do we do now?" Rodalquilarite asked eagerly.
Without turning to face his companion, Zoisite replied, "We're going to see to it that that child will never be born and we shall start by going after that human..."
Meanwhile on Earth...
Rose Quartz sat inside the Zimmerman house, watching the night sky above. The rest of her friends were back at the Temple preparing for their battle with Zoisite while the pink Gem decided to stick with Greg and his family. She'd never dreamed she would be in love with someone from a different species, much less a human; in fact, out of all the humans she and her friends had encountered on Earth, he was probably one of the nicest. Sure, he seemed pretty awkward, but she thought it was rather cute. Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted, however, when seven-year-old Parker came along and sat by her.
"What's the matter?" Rose asked the young boy.
"I can't sleep." Parker lamented. "I'm afraid Zooey-Site might get me."
"Well... we all are, Parker. I mean he's a pretty powerful guy, just as much as I am. And I haven't seen him in years so I don't know what he'll do."
"But you're gonna stop him, right?"
"That's right, Parker."
"You promise?"
Rose chuckled. "I promise. Now go back to sleep."
With that, Parker got up and ran back to his room. As soon as she was sure he was gone, she got up from the living room floor and started pacing. Before she could even start thinking about her beloved again, the front door swung open. It was Zirconia.
"Oh, Zirconia!" Rose exclaimed. "Nice of you to drop by!"
"Rose, why aren't you back at the Temple helping us come up with a plan?" Zirconia questioned.
"I thought I'd just collect my thoughts here."
"Your thoughts...?" Zirconia scoffed at this. "Let me guess: you're thinking about that human Greg, aren't you?"
"Not right now. What could you have against him anyway?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's that he's trying to steal you away from us?!"
"He's not stealing anything from anybody, Zirconia, especially not me. Every single time I've been here, I've come of my own volition. You were with me when we had dinner here, remember?"
"Well...well..." Zirconia was fumbling with her words. "If you love him so much, why don't you just live with him and leave us to die, huh?!"
That really did it for Rose. She tried her best to compose herself and she thought over her words carefully, and then she calmly began, "You know, Zirconia, I understand that you've been very fond of me for the last few millenia or so; but what you just said was so unbelievably offensive that I can't even begin to tell you how much it hurt. How dare you suggest I'd have the nerve to just leave you to die at the hands of an old enemy. Is that how you expected to repay me after everything I've done for you, for Pearl, for Amethyst, for everybody? Maybe I was wrong about you..."
The blonde Gem softly gasped. "Rose, I didn't mean it like that..."
"Just go back to the Temple, please." Rose sighed. "I don't want to talk about this anymore."
Zirconia silently walked out, leaving her pink friend alone once again.