Chapter Text
The pale green Bouazzerite’s piercing stare seemed to drill straight into the Pearl’s very gem. The Pearl stared back at her mistress uncomfortably. They had both just witnessed the newest report from the hologram screen. Pink Diamond’s replacement - Selenium? That doesn’t sound right, the Pearl grimaced - had just made an unprecedented announcement approved by the remaining Diamonds:
“Pearls are free to choose their own role in society.” The words echoed around the empty atrium and the gems’ minds.
The Pearl tried not to grin too widely as her Bouazzerite turned her thin, glaring head towards her slave. Nevertheless, a smile forced its way upon the Pearl’s face. Bravely, the Pearl attempted to hold her owner’s gaze steadfast. She had never looked so deeply into her mistress’s eyes before; when she did appear to make eye contact, she would usually be instead imagining something, illicitly, within her own mind; something more interesting than the scorning of an aristocrat.
“What?” Bouazzerite exclaimed, “Does that mean you’re not…” The Pearl noticed that tears were beginning to form in her pompous owner’s eyes and dampened her own smile, not wanting the obvious disparity between their emotions to provoke the anger of her Bouazzerite. It didn’t work, thought the Pearl as she watched Bouazzerite’s face contort into tight angles of outrage.
“You’re not mine anymore? But I earned you! I deserve you!”
The Pearl covered her ears and took an involuntary step backwards. She’s angry again, she thought fearfully, her smile quickly turning to a worried frown. She could already feel the heel of Bouazzerite’s hand hitting her waist. For some reason, she thought that imagining herself going through a punishment before it was actually enacted somehow made it easier to bear.
“My apologies, my Bouazzerite!” The Pearl laughed. She didn’t know what she was apologizing for, but she always assumed that she did something wrong when Bouazzerite was mad, just to be safe. Bouazzerite took a deep sigh and looked around the room, her face still taut.
“Stand up, Pearl. You look like I am going to hit you.” Bouazzerite muttered very quietly. But you do, though, thought the Pearl. She shook away her thoughts, feeling her short hair slightly whip her cheeks. Whatever, don’t question what she says. Bouazzerite was using her “pretend that didn’t happen” voice. Her “you’re just a silly, dramatic Pearl” voice.
Bouazzerite crossed her arms over her spherical chest and tapped her bare foot on the tiled floor. This was her “don't interrupt me, I’m thinking about things you wouldn't understand” movement. The Pearl was no longer smiling, instead clasping her hands tightly in front of her, with her head down. She scrunched her toes, feeling the grooves between the tiles with her feet. She traced the outline of a diamond-shaped tile with her toenail. They stood in the awkward, silent air, a high-class Bouazzerite and her poor, meek servant. Suddenly, Bouazzerite made a proud face.
“Pearl, I order you to stay with me until further notice.” She smiled. “Not that it matters to you, but I need to verify the information I have just received. And! not to question the perfect reasoning of the Diamonds, of course, but for efficiency’s sake.” The Pearl nodded, all too aware of the painful sinking feeling in her chest. Disappointment burned in her trachea and eyes. It was almost unbearable, but familiar.
Now I am the one near tears. I got my hopes up too high, she thought. Then, in a voice which echoed her mistress’s: silly Pearl.
While her chest felt as though a Ferrochrome were sitting on it, her head felt as light as a Graphite. It was a typical reaction to an overwhelming feeling of emotion. The Pearl had experienced this sensation a few times before. She was regretfully naïve in some aspects, such as considering her loyal servitude anything but eternal.
“Pearl!” Bouazzerite’s voices cut through her thoughts like an Obsidian’s blade though a gem’s form. The Pearl jumped and looked at her like an off-color caught existing.
“Yes, my Bouazzerite?”
“Let’s meet up with some other gems. I will confirm the details of the announcement at the Equatorial Moon Memorial. I order you to escort me to the High entrance.”
“Yes, of course, my Bouazzerite.” The words tumbled out of her mouth like clumps of moist silt. She traced the path to the High entrance in her mind, (one often walked by her and her mistress), and felt her legs pull her along the familiar route. Strangely, she felt as though she were gliding over the mosaics, despite her feet firmly hitting the floor with every step. The lightheadedness remained.
They walked past the high windows overlooking the Tribrilliant Square, past the mural of Bouazzerite’s most precious contribution to gem society, past the Moss Jasper saluting Bouazzerite at the door, and out onto the balcony. The Pearl’s bangs shifted in the whistling outdoor wind, and she quickly pushed them out of her eyes with her mesh-gloved hands. She looked to her left and saw her Bouazzerite’s dress flapping in the fresh breeze. She felt her own skirt pushing against her thighs, but didn’t bother repositioning it. Her bare shoulders and toes felt cold, but she kept her hands firmly clasped in front of her, again.
“To the right, my Bouazzerite.” The Pearl instructed. She winced when she heard the gem scoff in response.
“Do you think I don’t know where the Moon Memorial is?” Bouazzerite sneered in her “can you believe I have to put up with this?” voice, but to the Pearl’s relief, she was talking more to an imaginary audience than to anyone corporeal. The Pearl could tell by the vacant stare in the gem’s yellow-green eyes and the quiet tone she used.
That same yellow-green stare found its way onto the Pearl’s eyes again. The Pearl quickly shifted her gaze to a group of Pyromorphites doing something presumably productive in the Tribrilliant Square some two hundred feet below her.
“Come on, Pearl. We must go.” Bouazzerite interrupted.
“Yes!” The Pearl responded with a overly-enthusiastic smile. Before she assumed her position trotting behind her mistress, she caught Bouazzerite making a sickened face in her direction. The Pearl looked at her feet as she walked, trying to forget the cold biting at her extremities.
The Pearl had such a hard time figuring out what Bouazzerite wanted, even when she was giving orders. She hits me, she gives me gifts, she is my friend, I am her annoyance, I must not frown, I must not smile… Pearl felt sad recounting this. Her ability to carry out Bouazzerite’s orders was her only worth. Or was it? She thought about the announcement and felt the same naïve hope rise in her chest.
The walk to the Moon Memorial wasn’t long, just more windy than usual. The Pearl actually felt glad that she was able to walk in direct sunlight that day. The light hitting her gem, located in the same respective place as her mistress’s (on her upper back between her shoulder blades), helped to alleviate her lightheadedness. Lately, the Pearl had been feeling more and more tired as the weight of her unending duties weighed heavier and heavier on her shoulders. At least walking in the sunshine always made her occasional emotional exhaustion easier to bear.
They reached the spire and onto a warp pad. The Pearl activated the warp without even being asked, and in the blink of an eye, the duo was at the High entrance.
There were separate entrances for separate castes. It would be disrespectful to the Bouazzerite to have her enter the same way as a Quartz. But even Quartzes had to have occasional meetings with their managers, so they were of course allowed in, just somewhere else.
The High entrance was metallic in its luster and shaped like a pentagon. While the opening mechanism was newly updated, the building itself was millennia old, at least two millennia older than the Pearl herself, as apparent by the old diamond insignia on the door. But with Pink Diamond back(? Is it Stevensite who is here now? Yes, that might be it), the Pearl guessed that updates were no longer required. At least it’s less work for the sculptors to do. She reached ahead of her Bouazzerite to open the door before she ordered her to. The Pearl thought it beneficial to be on her owner’s good side today. Maybe that would persuade her to give her Pearl some freedom. Bouazzerite did not acknowledge the action, as usual.