Blue light descended onto the platform before the temple door. With a blinding flash, it vanished, leaving Steven and Ten looking around for signs of others.

"Yo, Garnet, is that you?" came a voice from the kitchen.

"Amethyst!" said Steven happily.

"Amethyst!" Ten hissed, her hand going to her sword. She realized what she was doing and took a deep breath. "Calm down. There are no enemies here." She slowly released the hilt.

"Are you okay, Ten?"

"I'm fine."

"Y-you don't sound fine."

"Who you talking too, Steven?" came Amethyst's voice. "Is Connie with you? Hi, Connie!"

"No, it's not Connie, it's—where are you?"

"I'm under the kitchen sink. You've been hiding food down here."

"I'm not hiding any food down there. I think you're eating the sponges again."

"That would explain why they're so bland." She stood up from the behind the counter. She was still eating the sponges. "But then why is sponge cake so good?"

She saw Ten and froze with her mouth half open, bits of half-chewed sponge falling out. Then her eyes went wide, her mouth broke into a ridiculous smile, and she began emitting a high-pitched squeal that was painful to the ears.

"STEVEN!" she shouted, bounding over the countertop and landing in front of Ten, which did nothing for Ten's nerves. "Oh. My. Gosh. She's a Rose Quartz!" She reached out and jabbed Ten in the stomach with her index finger. "And she is buuuuuuff. Where did you find her?!"

Ten looked half annoyed, half-confused. "You're his Amethyst friend? Aren't you a bit… short?"

"Pfft, whatever," said Amethyst, circling around Ten and checking out her sword. "I'll let that comment slide this time because, seriously, oh man, a Rose Quartz! I think you're bigger than Rose was!" She leaped up and grabbed Ten around the neck, trying to climb up on to her shoulders. Steven could see Ten shaking and trying with all her might not to freak out on Amethyst.

"Uh, Amethyst? Could you not climb all over our new friend? She's a guest. You wouldn't climb all over Connie, would you? Or Lion?"

"That's because neither of them will let me. Believe me, I've tried. Surprisingly, Connie puts up the bigger fight of the two."

Ten reached up and grabbed Amethyst by the arms, swinging her over her head and, instead of smashing Amethyst into the ground which is what it looked like she wanted to do, she placed her gently on her feet. "Please don't climb me."

Amethyst spun to face her. "Gah, you're so cool! Wait until Pearl and Garnet get a load of you!"

"Oh, yeah," said Steven, digging Pearl out of his pocket. "Pearl's gonna need some time to recover."

Amethyst took the gem. "Whoa." She looked up at Ten. "Did you do this?"

Ten's face flushed. "I did, but it was a misunderstanding, I swear. I would never have—"

Amethyst started laughing. "You poofed Pearl? That's hilarious! Oh man, she is gonna be so embarrassed when she recovers."

Ten was taken aback by that reaction. "Do you think that's funny?" She roared. Amethyst stopped laughing and took a step back in surprise. "One of your comrades was almost killed and you're laughing about it?!"

"Whoa, Ten, calm down," said Steven, grabbing one of her arms. Her fists were balled and shaking. "She didn't mean anything by it. That's just the way Pearl and Amethyst are."

"Yeah, I'm not happy about it. I was just having a little fun at Pearl's expense."

"Then don't act like you don't care!"

"Hey, I care," said Amethyst defensively. "Why do you care? You've never even met her."

"Because I've met hundreds like her." Her eyes were shining with angry tears.

"Okay," said Amethyst, "you need to chill. Steven, I'm taking Pearl's gem to her room, then I'm going to mine. Call me when Garnet gets back." She opened the door to the gem temple. "Great first impression, Rose," she grumbled as she walked over the threshold.

"It's Ten!" Ten shouted after her as the door closed. She stood there breathing heavily for a moment, then sat cross-legged on the floor, putting her face in one of her huge hands. "Gah, why did I do that? I just—I couldn't control myself. Way to screw it up, Ten." She punched the floor with her other hand. The floorboards barely held out.

"I'm sorry, Ten," said Steven. "Amethyst probably wasn't the best person to meet first. Garnet would have been more understanding, I think. Amethyst really does care about Pearl."

"I know, Steven." She rubbed her forehead. "She would be a terrible person if she didn't care for her comrades, and I don't think you would make friends with a terrible person, would you?"

Steven shrugged. "I'd probably try."

Ten laughed. "You probably would." She looked up at him, and then around the room. "So what is this place? A base of some kind?"

"Base? No, this is our home. The gems and I live here."

"All of you? Even your leader? Who is your leader?"

"That would be Garnet. And yeah, she lives here, too."

"Really? But how would you ever hold off an attack? The floor plan is so open."

"We don't really have to worry about those. At least, not too much. We do get centipeetles though. And drill things. And those whatever plugs. Huh. Come to think of it, we probably should do something about the defenses here."

"You know what?" said Ten, standing up. "The last thing I want to talk about is fighting. Is there something I can do while waiting for this Garnet to return?"

"I can show you around town. You just can't freak anyone out out there. Some of them can be a little panicky. And conspiracy theory-y. And maybe crazy."

"I'll try."

"We'll start with here!" Steven gestured widely to the room. "There's the warp pad," he said, pointing. "You've already seen that. That's the door to the gem temple—only Crystal Gems can get in there. Except Peridot, I guess. And maybe Lapis, eventually. Will not be able to get in, I mean. Eventually not. Unless they can change the door, then maybe she can."

"Crystal Gems?"

"Yeah! That's what we call ourselves. And that's the kitchen. I know gems don't have to eat, but I do, so I keep all my food here. I used to have sponges too but, y'know. And up there is where I sleep. You probably don't do that much either. And over here is the bathroom." He opened the door and looked inside. "Come to think of it, you're not going to use half these room." He turned to find that Ten wasn't behind him. He looked around the corner and saw her staring up at the painting above the door. "Oh. Uh, I see you found mom's painting."

"That's her?" Ten said softly.

"Yeah. That's what she looked like. I never saw her in person though."

"She looks so much like One." Ten sat on the ground and stared up at the painting.

Steven waited, but Ten made no move to get back up. "Uh, and… and this over here is—"

"If you don't mind, Steven," she said, "I'd like to just sit here for a while."

Steven wrung his hands anxiously. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, okay. That's fine. I'll just, uh, be here. Behind you. Just, uh, doing what I do."

"Thank you, Steven."

Steven waited behind her a while, watching. He didn't like that she was so engrossed by the painting for some reason, but he didn't know why. All he knew was he felt a hot flash of annoyance when she looked at it with those wide eyes. At times she would seem on the brink of tears, and sometimes she looked consumed by anger. Whatever was happening in her head was doubtless something Steven would find as confusing and sad as everything else about Ten.

He realized that he still didn't know much about her. Sure, he knew her history, at least the longest and worst part of her history, but he still didn't really know who she was as a person. All he had consistently seen from her so far were angry outbursts and tears. It made him feel like maybe bringing her back to the beach house was a bad idea. While he had been friendly with her, he thought that maybe it was better if he didn't immediately think of her as a friend. She needed help and Steven didn't think he was the one who could help her. Maybe one of the other Crystal Gems was.

At least, he really hoped one of them was.

Garnet returned in the middle of the night. She arrived in a house that was in near total darkness with a small object in her hand. She took a single step off the warp pad and paused. Ahead of her, sitting in front of the door and frozen in a half-turned pose, sat a large, strange gem. Garnet studied her for a moment, then bubbled the object in her hand and tapped it, sending it to the temple. Then she raised her hands, summoned her gauntlets, and took a boxer's stance. "Better talk fast."

"No, no, no," said Ten, standing and putting up her hands. "I don't want to fight. You're Garnet, right? Leader of the Crystal Gems? I'm—"

"Steven!" Garnet called out.

"Huh?" Steven got up from his bed and groggily rubbed his eyes. He looked over the edge of his loft. "Oh, hey Garnet."

Garnet let out a breath of mixed relief and aggravation as she dissipated her gauntlets. "I should have known."

"Oh yeah! Garnet, this is Ten! She's a Rose Quartz!" Steven ran down the stairs and threw his arms out as if presenting her to Garnet. "And Ten, this is Garnet."

"It's very good to meet you," said Ten.

"Charmed," said Garnet, clearly uncharmed.

"Yeah, Ten was anxious to meet you, weren't you, Ten?" Steven made a fist to playfully tap Ten on the leg, but as soon as he balled his hand, Garnet tensed.

"Steven!" she said sharply. It surprised Steven into stopping in mid punch.

"Huh? What's up, Garnet."

Garnet looked surprised too, but quickly recovered. "Would you join me in my room for a moment?"

Steven put his hands on his cheeks and gasped. "Garnet's room?"

"You don't mind waiting, do you?" she said to Ten.

"Oh no, not at all," Ten said quickly.

"Good. Come with me, Steven."

Garnet turned towards the temple door and Steven ran over to stand next to her, hopping excitedly in place. She raised her hands and the gems on the door shone, then the door split open and she and Steven disappeared through it.

That wasn't what Ten was expecting, and it made her anxious. Garnet had barely acknowledged her. Did gems just drop in every day for these people? There was no way that was possible. Then why was she being ignored? What could Garnet possibly be talking with Steven about that was more important than greeting and debriefing a new ally? How could Garnet think that little of her? They had just met! The more she thought about it, the more furious she became.

As time passed, the anger began to ebb, but it was still piping hot when Garnet came back through the door. Steven came with her, but he moved off to the side, staring down at the ground with a dejected look.

"Ten, was it? Steven, Amethyst, and I just had a little talk about you. I need you to step outside with me for a little chat."

"Fine." Though still angry, Ten was quick to obey. She had no doubt that Garnet was in charge. She carried herself like the confident commander who expected her orders to be followed.

They walked out the front door, down the stairs, and onto the beach. In a seemingly random spot, Garnet stopped, turned toward Ten, and sat down. She patted the sand, so Ten sat down across from her.

"Close your eyes," said Garnet.

Ten gave her a suspicious look. "Why would I do that?"

"If you want me to trust you, you have to trust me. Close your eyes."

Ten frowned but did as she was instructed. A long moment passed and they sat there in the dark, alone on the beach. "I want you to take a deep breath," Garnet said at length.

"Why? I don't need to breath."

"I said, I want you to take a deep breath."

Ten blew air out of her nose in agitation, but did what she was told. "Now breathe out slowly." Ten did so. "And breathe in again. Now out slowly." She repeated this for several minutes. At first, Ten was annoyed with having to perform this asinine test or ritual or whatever it was, but slowly, that annoyance began to fade, and so too did her anger. Garnet's commands to breathe became less commanding, more quiet and gentle. After a few more minutes, Garnet stopped instructing her and just let Ten breathe that way for a while.

"How are you feeling now?" Garnet asked.

"Surprisingly relaxed," Ten said.

"Good. Open your eyes." Garnet was still sitting across from her, but she was scooching closer. "I need you to be calm because you are not going to like what I have to say. I want to be very clear about something: what you did to Pearl was unacceptable."

"I know—" Ten began.

Garnet cut her off sharply. "No excuses. What you did was try to kill my friend, and you almost succeeded. If Steven wasn't there, or if Steven didn't have the powers of a Rose Quartz, I might be sorting through her shards right now. Had Steven been the first through that door, I might have had to bury him too."

"I didn't—"

Garnet practically shouted. "NO EXCUSES." Ten shut her mouth. Softly again, Garnet continued. "You have a lot of issues, Ten, issues that you need to get a handle on. I am not going to be your therapist, I am not going to babysit you, and I am not trusting you to be around Steven until you get yourself together and give me a reason to trust you.

"We're the Crystal Gems. We may make big mistakes and we may not always fight for the right cause, but we try. We don't ambush people. We don't fight them unless they give us a reason to. We talk to people. We're not murderers. Something tells me you can't say the same for yourself." Ten frowned, but she didn't offer a rebuttal. "I'm asking you to stay out here for the night. It won't make me trust you, but it will be a good start. Steven might come looking for you. If he does, you avoid him until I tell you otherwise. Are we clear?"

Ten looked down at the sand, angry and ashamed. "Crystal."

Garnet leaned back. "Good word choice. Now that I've said my piece, what would you like to say for yourself?"

Ten looked at Garnet, who returned her stare with an open expression. The look on Garnet's face made Ten shake, but not with anger. She felt a heat rise up in her chest and in her cheeks, and before she knew it, she was crying.

"I'm such an idiot," she said, pounding the sand with one hand and wiping at her face with the other. "I've dreamt of this moment for so long, playing it out in my head, but everything's gone wrong. I wanted to make a good first impression but I kept screwing it up over and over. Literally my first seconds with Pearl I nearly kill her, then I lose my temper with Amethyst, and I don't even know what I can do about you." She sniffed loudly and tried to stem her flowing nose with her arm. "I just wanted to be trusted and liked. I just wanted to be safe. And now I'm none of those things."

Garnet nodded sympathetically. "I can understand that. You're not the first to mess up introductions with us. Probably won't be the last, either."

"Please, I just need another chance. I promise I can do better. You can't turn me away. You just can't."

"You're in no position to tell me what I can and can't do," said Garnet. "But you'll get your chance. Just not today. Nor tomorrow. Maybe not for a while. The Crystal Gems and I need to discuss your situation and decide what we should do with you. If you hang around the beach, we'll come get you eventually." She was quiet for a moment, watching Ten as she struggled to regain composure. "Steven said you've got quite the story, but he didn't want to tell me himself. That's very unlike him. I'll take his word that you only have good intentions because he is rarely wrong about people. But just know that if any harm befalls him because of you, it is your duty to take responsibility."

Ten didn't know what Garnet meant by that, but she nodded anyway. Garnet stood up and walked over to Ten. "It's hard to make friends sometimes, I know. But you have one advantage that a lot of people don't."

Ten sniffed. "What's that?"

With a wry grin, Garnet said, "Most idiots don't know that they're idiots." She gave Ten a gentle bop on the head with her fist, then walked past her towards the beach house.