Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jasper knew to look for the sea more than the mountain, although both were off limits. Up north was the sea, only a hundred meters from their home. It was off limits for the war they were fighting. Down south, a hundred leagues, at the heart of the known world, shielded by the mountain, was the throne of their enemies.

Her home was the Jade town, where she stayed at the palace, being Pink Diamond’s left hand. Her right hand was Pearl.

They were living a very public life, though carrying a load of secrets, which can fill forty-nine towers. The first thirty-nine were shared between Pink and Pearl, the last ten were shared among them.

Jasper had only been in the big secret for ten years. Fight in the war for ten years. Working hard at the job for ten years.

For the aforementioned of public life and secret life, their cohort got a strange array of shorthand. The war was the ongoing bitter fight between Pink Diamond and the Crystal Gems, of course, but the job was their vengeance against the House of Diamonds, the ruler of this world, strangely enough.

The secret was so grand, even you were not privy to it. However, what was going to happen was not violence, which happened by the sea shore, or bloodshed, which was washed away by the waves. They were called, for the job, back to the mountain, for New Year’s celebrations.

~~~~~~~~~~

Half a month until the New Year, things slacked off a little. Jasper found herself taking a walk around the palace, which was the joint efforts of Pink and Pearl. It’s a newer building, as Jade town was a newer settlement, but nobody can deny its beauty.

Jasper started from their study, a tower in the middle of the palace. When the building process started, this tower complex, with garden and fountains and pleasant pathways, was built first. It was the height of the palace’s beauties.

Design and building were shared interests of Pink and Pearl. Pink did the garden. Pearl built the tower next to it. They joined efforts in the waterworks, an intricate web of fountains. They guarded it with zeal, it was their enclosed place.

It was midday already. The sun was beating down (it’s hot all year round in their country). Jasper realized she had not seen Pearl the whole day. Well, she got a good guess why. This time of the year, Pearl got angsty. At first, in the starting rough patch of their acquaintances, ten years ago, Jasper thought she was so because she disliked the festivities and the little party they held. When their relationship got easier, Pearl told her the reason why (after vehemently declaring she liked both the party and Jasper). She was grim because at this time of the year, the Diamonds called Pink back home.

A messenger from Yellow Diamond came yesterday. Another from Blue Diamond came the day before that. They meant to escort Pink Diamond back to the Capital themselves, as per their Diamond’s bidding. Pearl fenced them off.

Today, by the garden’s gate, as usual, Pearl must have been standing sentinel. She would let no rude messengers pass, who intended to be unwelcome guests until they got Pink Diamond back with them. She did so without offending the court the messengers carried on their backs. Other areas notwithstanding, Pearl got quite a flexibility with diplomacy, where one must be soft but firm.

Jasper decided to keep her company in the meantime. When she reached Pearl, she saw that Pearl was already busy. A messenger was there.

However, Pearl did not portray her usual fitness. If anything, she was shocked and stone-still, and Jasper wasn’t sure she ever talked. Not like the messenger spoke much, but keen on their task of handing Pearl something. Jasper came closer, but the other one had already left. Pearl got a letter. She was pale.

Jasper looked over to see the messenger, who was almost out of sight. They were petite and slender, wearing a white cloak.

“What is it?” Jasper asked.

“We will have to call Pink back.”

“Really? She has just left.”

“This letter was sent by White Diamond,” Pearl laughed, “She is summoned back to the Capital by the master herself.”

~~~~~~

It was late at night when they fired the message calling Pink back. Before dawn, she arrived at the palace. She scarcely had been at the summer house for a few hours. Even the war was not this hasty.

Pink strode through their garden, tiles glimmering like gold in the day’s first sunlight. Jasper and Pearl had been awake, waiting for her. Pearl was sure that she would come back very soon.

“How was your visit?” Jasper said, conversationally. They were having preparations to come to the summer home together, a task Pearl enjoyed, but she had barely bothered with it since yesterday. Was a letter such bad news?

Seemed so, because Pink glided past her, “Where is it?”

Pearl pointed to the middle of the table, where the white envelope lay waiting. A paper knife was beside, but Pink opened it with her hands. They did find it funny, when Pearl was anxious about the waiting, put the knife beside it, setting the table all nice. Go out to do the gardening at night.

White Diamond’s bold penmanship seemed to push out of the page. Pink skimmed through it, while Pearl watched her, transfixed. They were very reticent about their memories at the Capital, where they were born. But Pearl hated the place as much as Pink.

“She wanted me back.” Pink laughed, “There was a time she hated to have me at the same dinner table.”

Pink sighed, looking to the room, “What are we going to do?” Decisions were made by casting votes, a job thing. Usually, the matter discussed was more straightforward, they debated the pros and cons of a common good. However, today, the matter seemed personal. It was related to the history.

The history was not included in their cohort’s official shorthand, because only Jasper used it. Pink and Pearl never spare a world for the matter. As if they were enlisted in the war as soon as they were born.

This was the summary of the history. Pink and Pearl were both born and brought up in the Capital. Pearl was Pink’s, as the custom dictated. At some point, their job was to fight in the war, for the love, back when the three terms pointed to roughly one thing. It broke, it was a great event, when the horrors and the sorrows, which they are blinded to, which they do not wish to see, appeared in plain sight. Probably, Pink and Pearl emerged as different people after it, but she wouldn’t know, Jasper only knew them after the great event.

At Jasper’s probing, Pink and Pearl had different cryptic answers, the history was where they had a big rift uncrossable. Well, she probed Pearl more than Pink, as she said, they got off to a rough start. Jasper used to be an arrogant star child, outstanding among her peers. Pearl was equally proud, even now. Pink was likewise reticent.

The matter seemed personal, but the reasonable path was clear, “We should go,” she said, “We must, it’s only reasonable.”

Pearl was sitting down on the windowsill, turning her back toward them. She turned around, her expression complex but hard to read. She was unhappy with the idea.

“I know we should.” She said, “But would it hurt to send a letter nicely worded? Or fake an accident on the way. The Capital is a very unpleasant place. The Diamonds.”

She laughed, “You won’t like them.”

Jasper found it amusing, “You are telling us to back down?” Pearl was the opposite of a coward. She liked a fight.

“Sometimes, sometimes.” Pearl smiled.

“I have never been to the Capital,” Jasper said.

Pearl was amused, it was Pearl's idea of fun that Jasper is marginally younger than her, "You are missing out on nothing. The sea is a better sight."

To tell the truth, the visit intrigued her. If nothing, it will be for the sightseeing. But will it be nothing? “Come on, aren’t you going to visit family?” She said.

Pearl appeared surprised, while Pink laughed, “I don’t think of it that way.”

Jasper looked at her pointedly, to ask which way she thought of it then. Expectedly, Pink balked.

“We are going to the enemy’s house.” Pearl said, seriously, “The ones who injured us all, and many others.”

“It’s true.” Pink said, “But we have not opened fire yet. You are right, Jasper, I’m afraid we must go.”

Looking at Pearl, Pink tried to reason, “More than ten years. Maybe even White has started missing me. Wouldn't you say so?"

Pearl smiled quickly, but her mood was stumped. She excused herself, while Pink kept Jasper back, showing her gifts from the summer home. Jasper knew Pink was trying to keep her mood light, quite unneeded so, as despite the bad reviews, she was excited for the trip .

Maybe because of the bad reviews, she was excited for the trip. It was their hometown, it was the start of their history, which Jasper wished she was privy to.

Pink noticed Jasper quickly lifted mood, she was amused. She advised Jasper to tone down the excitement, to remember their job. Old drills.

“Aye, aye, ma’am,” Jasper said, low hanging fruits, but it was late, they were tired. Pink laughed like it was really funny.

She was dismissed for the day. They would leave the next morning, there was no time to miss.

~~~~~~~~~~

They set off early tomorrow, with Pearl and Jasper in front as heralds, Pink and the army trailing behind, carrying her large possession.

It was a straight way from the Jade town, the easternmost territory, coming to the Capital, which stood at the center of the known world.

Pearl had been racing. She was swift with a horse, the road was wide and easy, her mind was on something heavier, so she made the task a little bit of a sport, challenging Jasper on. Jasper was glad to comply, equally for the game and Pearl’s mood. She had hoped the strange temper yesterday was temporary. However, it was a far-fetched fancy. Pearl hunched down, if it was possible when riding top speed.

While racing on, something caught Jasper’s eye. Glimmering like white sand under midday sun. She called for Pearl to stop.

Pearl was rosy-cheeked, she was winning, but there wasn’t the usual cheer.

“I saw something,” Jasper said, “Why don’t we take a detour. We are making very good time.”

Pearl appeared to register her surroundings for the first time. The city, where they were going to spend the night at, was within sight. The day was still long. They left Pink quite a road behind.

She agreed, some cheer returned. She smiled, some humor returned, “You have never gone this far, do you?”

Jasper admitted.“Sometimes I forget you are younger," She said. 

“Not by much,” Jasper said.

The scene left and right was a grassy plain, interrupted by streaks of hazy mountain ranges. It appeared clear, but here and there was a group of trees growing thickly. The strange light had been from one of them, Jasper followed it, and Pearl was close behind.

Coming closer, Jasper saw it was a ruin of a building. It was badly damaged, and only a wall was left standing. The broken stone was wide, thick, and tightly-packed, but it didn’t amount to much space, only as large as a room.

“It is a temple.” Pearl said, coming before Jasper, “Or a fancy grave.”

“Was there one similar to this by the road from Jade town to the summer home?”

Pearl smiled, “I suppose. There was a lot around. It was from a faraway day. But almost all of them were so badly damaged. We don’t even know who they were worshipping.”

“Should we pray?” Jasper said. Her religious expertise was limited to the halfhearted rule at her kindergarten. She usually laughed it off. She didn’t believe in life after death.

“I will pass,” Pearl said.

“I can say a few words for your behalf.” And for Pink Diamond, too.

“Oh. What should I pray for?”

“Happiness was the usual drills,” Jasper said.

Pearl smiled, “I was sublimely happy by the sea. And we will be back soon enough.” She had already been thinking about going back, when they scarcely left, “But you can ask for good luck. Let's call Fortune by her name. We would need a lot of those in the Capital.”

“You are being secretive again.” Being old, if Jasper was talking to herself.

“Ah, you will see it soon enough.” Pearl said, “The Capital is the start of many things.”

~~~~~~~~~

The days spent on the road were pleasant and quickly gone. By the fourth day of traveling, Pink’s company reached the Capital’s outpost. Carved itself into the mountain, it boasted the vantage point of a hundred leagues. The mountain also served as a veil, concealing the Capital from prying eyes. White was careful like that.

The further they got inland, the presence of the Diamonds’ house got more prominent. The people were taught to adore them, and their image was revered as divine.

What would Pearl give to bring each and every Capital citizen to the sea? There, where the rock was unsullied, where the sea brought a real image of the absolute. By the sea, they had pretended the Diamonds did not exist altogether, and Pearl fancied herself pure and free. The exquisite carved rock said she was not, she was wearing a dress showing her servile status already.

By the courtyard where the company gather to wait for their returning parade, Pearl was lost in thoughts. She gazed upward, seeing the frieze supporting the expansive roof, which depicts the Diamonds as the perfect lordly house, godborn, glorious. A lofty piece of decoration, the gray stone made the image appeared grim. It must have been old, the image of Pink had short hair, she was poised, tall, and slender, although she had never been so. It was a fanciful illusion. 

It was the carvers’ job to make the Diamonds appear larger than they are, anyways. They filled their job according to White’s design.

By the Temple where she studied, though it was an exception in the Capital with quite a collection of art, there was a handful of artworks depicting the Diamonds. Pearl was duly impressed by their beauty and power. It was quite a shock, when she met Pink for the first time, that she was small, with a self-conscious gait.

Now, her long white hair shining like waves in twilight hours, her body was fine curving porcelain. She looked nothing like the image on the frieze, but closer to it than ever. White would be pleased. It brought a strange humor to Pearl’s lips.

From afar, what was it that she heard? Did the people start singing already?

Pearl leaned out the window, straining to hear the songs more clearly. Her hands gripped the ledge, and her neck craned out. She was trying to see past the morning's daze. She couldn't see anything yet when Jasper distracted her.

She came beside Pearl, silver armor shining, a pink diamond logo on her chest. Pearl knew the time to depart was close.

Jasper was in good humor, “You look pretty, my darling.” ( They use a very soft and endearing speech, their idea of fun)

“What can I do to make you not so upset? You looked at them like calling for a fight.” There was this little sigh in her voice. Pearl had marred her prefect mood. Yet, only so slightly.

“It was my love for peace, for now, that I repeatedly told us to return.” Pearl said.

“It was unreasonable.” Jasper said, a little cocky, “What’s about our ten-year plan?”

Pearl looked at Jasper, quizzed, challenged, but in good humor. Through no conscious effort, ten-year plan was a term Pearl usually used. It was a thing that shut her up real quick, as she knew she was lower than her task.

Pearl said, “I remember our ten-year plan.” Self-consciously, she added, “I would never stray from it.” It was true she behaved foolishly.

Jasper laughed, “I never think otherwise. Anyways, it was too late, we are at their front door.”

“A terrible place. After this, you would love Jade town more.” Pearl knew Jasper thought she was partial to Jade town, it was Jasper’s hometown, but Pearl loved it ten times more. It was a nature-blessed city, close to the sea. White praised it so, fifteen years ago. It would be a piece of cake, she told Pink Diamond.

“I would consider it a challenge.”

Pearl smiled, “Consider it a warning, my dearie.”

“I must go back to my post,” Jasper said, Pearl waved her off. Jasper looked at her pointedly, saying “And you yours.”

“Now, you remind me of my task.” Pearl said, “You have become dependable. Soon enough you would take my job.”

Jasper said, “I just hope one day to be let in on your history.”

Pearl smiled at Jasper’s shorthand history , “It’s nothing much. Don’t worry.”

She looked at the Capital, her hateful hometown. It bred shame, that followed Pink, that followed her, and reached its height in their shared secret. There was no need of any order to seal it away, Pearl was utterly unwilling to share any.

“You don’t trust me at all,” Jasper complained.

“I trust you the most.” Pearl said truthfully, “More than anyone.”

She saw Pink Diamond emerge from her chamber, with shining hair and resplendent dress. She was looking at the same view: the Capital looming high.

Pearl came next to her, it was her position, which Jasper went out of her way to remind Pearl. Their eyes met for a minute. It was unbearable. Their eye contact broke, and carried with it something else: a feeling of generosity, like neighbors forgetting petty arguments. One day, everything was out in the open again. The bitterness renewed.

What do you think, Pearl almost said. After knowing each other so much, all we have left is solitude. However, suddenly, Pearl saw that she was at the peak of her own solitude: a high, dark, and isolated peak, where it was no use saying or yelling. It stifled her speech. Therefore, they were silent.

Pink Diamond’s army marched into the city. Through the tenfold heavy gate, emerged the resplendent white Capital. People lined up on the street, they longed to admire Pink Diamond’s beauty. She was young, beautiful, and mysterious. When she was at the Capital, her reputation was fun-loving and a little bit frivolous. However, after more than ten years, she made her name with her rich kingdom by the sea, and was duly loved. Today was her long-awaited homecoming.

The sun was shining, the street was clean, and the people were excited. They spread flowers along her way, letting her chariot drive through a red carpet of rose petals. She was going to the Palace, where her royal sisters were waiting.

Pink Diamond arrived with her army of ten thousand, by the sea she had a thousand ships. On her long progression, the crown jewel was her perfect Jasper, famous in battle, shaped under Pink’s hands. She was wearing her shining armor, the pink diamond logo was on her chest. She was thrilled, but she was collected, commanding the army on Pink Diamond’s behalf. She was Pink’s beloved companion.

The Palace was at the southernmost part of the city. Pink Diamond dismounted before White’s tower, coming up a flight of stairs, going through the double door studded with amethyst. Beyond the threshold, greeting her were the royal armies of her sister, orderly situated, Agates, Jaspers, and Amethysts, like the row of columns supporting the impossibly high roof. White’s tower rose to the summit of today’s knowledge. She was reaching out to the gods in the blessed realm.

From White’s tower, to the Palace, to the Capital, to everything White can reach all the way to the border of this world, all was the theater of White’s mind. In this room, it was almost too much. Bright and lofty, with people saying things on cue, according to their caste. White was a bad designer, her creation was of bad taste. 

Let’s focus on the scene before. Pink was almost done with climbing the stairs, to present herself before her royal sister.

From Pearl’s youth, in similar events, White was colder, Pink more excitable. Now, they meet each other more equal-footed. Pink went up the stairs quickly, reaching White’s seat. White would not rise from her high throne, never, but she reached out a hand, eager to have Pink back. Pink arrived at the highest step, her action soundless, her face betraying no emotions. She touched White’s hands and knees, and the other was thrilled.

The action was repeated with Yellow Diamond and Blue Diamonds, but warmer and less insidious. It was White who was a strange brood, not the diamond race. Blue Diamond shed a tear, and Yellow Diamond was about to hug Pink outright, but decided against it.

Beside their throne, it was the frame of slenderness, Blue Pearl and Yellow Pearl. They were well and alive, doing right by their name as the Temple’s star graduates.

It was now her turn to kneel before White. Her servile status called for so. No one ever thought twice about it. Her Diamond had done it, what was Pearl before White, the bad designer who created her in equally bad taste?

Pearl heard the music again. She realized this was not real music, it was a dance of madness, symptoms from her dream, an uncommon illness. Ten years ago, Pearl felt for the first time (it was a dark pit and a strange time). They hounded on her. Now, when she was weak and ill, they came back promptly.

Emerge from the left side was one of our actresses, she was lamenting, “If only I were killed in one of those battlefields! Weren’t you so willing to give up yourself?”

Emerge from the right side was the other actress. Calling Pearl by name, she dared her on, “If only there were a sword in my famous hand! They will know why I was feared in battle. Look, look, won’t you take the weapon out of their sheath, kill White now, to avenge our loss?”

“If any of my old friends see me now, they will pity me, and they will lay me to rest. They will pity me, saying my sentence has long passed.”

The ghost’s face was always hazy, she was wearing battered armor. She was so pale, if she lay asleep on a battlefield, people would assume she was already dead. Even now, she longed for her rest. She blamed Pearl for her lack of a sumptuous funeral. Pearl should have paid respect to any abandoned tomb she could find, in the hope the ghost would release her someday. Let's call her Briar.

“They have hated you since forever! If you want to scavenge any of their respect, listen to me: the enemy was within reach. Act! I don’t know why you are afraid. I certainly not.”

The other was in a similar indistinct state, her body was light. She was wearing a white chemise, but it was tattered, like she had spent the last year begging for food. She talked big, if Pearl did not satisfy her whim, she would do it herself. Ah, but she looked hungry, what could she do by herself? Even Briar has a bigger chance of winning a fight. Let's call this vexing creature Heloise.

“I remembered the old days, I saw a light, which I wanted above all. Despite knowing it was stupid, I chased it.” Briar was conversational. Her best days were bygone, though if you ask, all of her best days was the most horrible days. It all depends on the point of view.

“Who cared about it anymore? Call on the blessed whom you turned away from, whom you still call when you need! Call them down to witness this rightful murder!” Heloise had more one-tracked mind.

Pearl would have been lost, if not for seeing the procession moving forward. Her servile status called for so. No one ever thought twice about it. Pearl led the way. Before the stairs leading up to White’s throne, closer to Pearl than any other, Pearl knelt down. Her forehead was close to the dirt. She glared to the ground. Her body was heavy.

In her laying down states, the hounds jumped right on. Heloise exclaimed, her claw on Pearl’s neck , “Horror! Shame! You would do it, wouldn’t you?”

Briar was not a sympathetic character, though her action was milder. She leaned onto Pearl’s back, “If the claw of calamity reached me long ago, you won’t have to go through such humiliation.”

Heloise exclaimed, “You humor her ego! You turn the other way at the altar of the gods, but you kneel before her! And you dare to say you hate her the most. I should have known you also a liar.”

Briar chuckled, “A idle speaker is more correct.” She added, “It was such a bad look.”

She said with the undertone of recommending her favorite place, under a stone plate, six feet underground, “You, of all people, should not bear to do this. You understand what is concealed under those hateful eyes: White fancies herself godlike, god-blessed, and fortunate. She wanted to be immortal. Even you are smarter than that.”

“You know why you are unhappy,” Heloise said, “She made you so. She tore you from your true home, she sent you to the Temple, she exalted at your unhappiness.”

“She fashioned you all out of her mind,” Briar said, “She liked you the most. You used to draw attention upon yourself. You have to be famous.” Heloise laughed, thinking of the bygone days, “It was your lifeline.”

“Kill her now!”

“And let me follow suit. It would be right.”

Pearl thought she must have crawled away from her post. When she regained her clarity, the ceremony had ended, she was behind a column. Jasper rushed towards her. Pearl wondered how she looked.

The daze left only height and light in Pearl’s eyes. She remembered the temples, where in faraway time, when she was a kid, she had been inclined to believe in. After White’s tower, the most audacious building was that of the famous temples, where the modern gods were worshipped. They bled the cattle, burned the meat, and poured the wine, all for the equilibrium of this world. It was an attractive proposal, which had attracted her, which Pearl was inclined to follow now.

However, this morning, when her mind was clear, when she had not been trapped in this insidious tower, Pearl was guided towards a promise, which she determined to take seriously. At that time, Jasper had asked and Pearl had given her words. She couldn’t bear the title of a liar. She remembered the ten-year plan, she would never stray from it. Everybody knew she was willing to give up herself, but she must do so in the reasonable path. Hadn’t she escape the wood, ten years ago, with that exact answer.

“I've got to leave,” Pearl said. “I can’t stand this.”

Jasper was reasonably vexed, “Why? Where will you go? Why would you stray from your post?”

Pearl smiled. She was utterly unwilling to tell Jasper of her madness, “I will figure something out.”

“Don’t. Why won’t you tell me anything?”

“Not this.” Pearl said, “I will owe you a secret. I will show you the intricacies of this city, which won’t endear it to you! Don’t blame me for going away. It’s the better way. It was for our job.”

If Jasper was annoyed before, now she was infuriated. She would talk more, if not for Pink calling her from afar. She knew their disagreement clearly. She thought it was a horrible thing to take Pearl back to such a place.

“Jasper.” Pink Diamond exclaimed, “Go with me.”

Pearl smiled at her caution. Fright still in her heart, bad humors on her lips, the crazed scene still haunting Pearl’s mind, she turned away, leaving the terrible place.

Her chorus got their last words before Pearl banished them from her mind.

Heloise said, “I did not expect this.”

Briar added, “We will see how it goes.”

Chapter Text

Pearl got into trouble. She was running away from the Palace, her mind on something else, and when her clarity returned, she was the mob’s enemy. People looked at her funny. In this city, Pearl had a reputation. Pink Diamond was said to love her beyond all else.

She could blame the hounds, who had terrorized her. However, they were not in sight, their song had ceased. Pearl wouldn’t call them up again.

She looked ahead. The street was narrow and terribly crowded. The Capital was a small city, an hour to walk across and half a day to go around. It had a terrible population crisis. Here, on the city’s rear, houses stacked upon themselves, people tailing each other. Possibly, running wild, she disrupted the traffic pattern, one among a thousand vexing details here.

She was blaming others, but maybe, it was her. Lately, Pearl fancied herself trustworthy. However, the scene reminded her of her youth, of how she had been: she had poor foresight and a penchant for being unreasonable. Well, seeing the future is someone else’s job, after all.

In this long day, Pearl was likely to act unreasonably. She can carve out her way by force. She can act tamer, apologize, and people would hand her back to Pink. In the Capital, her pool of choices was narrow.

She would like to remain incognito and smooth out this incident. Pearl scanned over the mob, trying to design a way out. She saw Peridots, Cinnabars, Rubies. Just for a second, Pearl saw a deep blue. Pearl was intrigued, she looked more closely. She caught her eyes, high and mighty, lounging on the second floor, looking down on Pearl.

“Blue!” Pearl cried out, raising her arms. She smiled, here was one who didn’t mind her popularity, but she was calculating and cold, “Will you help your poor sister this time?”

~~~~~~~~~~

Before feasting, they must bleed and burn their offering. A kingly task, White rose for it, and when she finished, her robe was barely stained.

In Pink’s house, the religious rites were very simple, as only Pink was half-pious. Jasper could stand aside and nod, while Pearl didn’t bother at all. In the Capital, where the devotees lived, the religious rites were much more grand. Incense billowed up to the sky, which stung everyone's eyes. Bronze plates and ceramic vases clattered, when they piled their sacrifice high. However, to Jasper’s surprise, it only took as long as back home.

White Diamond was facing the altar, saying the last part of what was proper. When she turned around, Pink Diamond was right behind her. White appeared amused, while Pink put up a confident face. Said put up, because it was wholly artificial, Jasper knew for sure. However, White Diamond hadn’t seen her in years. She asked Pink to speak her mind.

Pink, who over the last ten years had learnt from speaking idly, performed her act right away. She spread a red carpet before White, asking her to use it, as it’s her gift, which was brought here from the sea.

White giggled. There was no more becoming word, as she laughed like a child. She was dared by Pink, who half-guessed that her little ploy was easy to see through. White looked at her funny.

It was a curse in a simple, though ancient means. In this hall, many people would have no idea what it is about. Maybe only White and Pink did.

Why would Pink Diamond be so bold, while the day they meet in battle is far away? Why did she choose this subtle means, while White devoted herself to a strange piety? She was hasty, impatient, as if someone also dared her.

White Diamond studied Pink’s face, who wore a sweet and sincere expression. Loving, almost, a crazed passion. It was also a mask, Jasper assumed. She wasn't sure. If it was a mask, then Pink Diamond had worn it expertly. White Diamond was sold on it. For now, she still saw her sister. 

White Diamond saw it fitting to turn to the room, raising her arms, and declaring. She declared that as long as she was able, the Capital would be immortal and live forever. The crowd went wild, it was White’s catch phrase. Jasper was caught off guard, but she duly clapped along. She mulled over the words (courtesy of Pearl’s bad reviews). What silly words. Immortal was such a big promise. Jasper had never considered it.

White wanted Pink to lead her through the red carpet, which Pink complied. She went first, holding out her hand for White. White followed. They were tall and beautiful, their eyes bright and shining.

At school, Jasper was taught that the Diamond house was descended from the ancient giants, which Jasper didn’t take too seriously. Seeing this scene, she had second thoughts. Maybe, there was some truth in it. Maybe, the god-born house was not a figurative speech. Possibly, White seriously considered her chance for immortality?

Jasper laughed to herself, now, this is a neat hypothesis.

She looked about her. Everyone adored their king, White Diamond. The crowd would truly endorse White’s claim to living forever. Ah, she missed a step. Who conquered the world, taking its children, and building the schools? White had carefully crafted the crowd. In the future, when White’s time came and she denied it, her kingdom would be of use.

The parading pair, beautiful and mutually loving, passed Jasper. White briefly considered her, and Jasper put up a straight face. White whispered a question to Pink.

Pink Diamond said she would be here soon. Jasper looked towards them curiously. The pair was soon out of earshot. She hoped White didn’t talk about Pearl. Her friend should have warned Jasper that she was famous.

~~~~~~~~~

The party went much longer than the religious rite. When they were released, the moon was high in the sky. Pink rushed back to her old tower, where she spent her youth. Having been abandoned for so long, it was a run-down, cold place.

Jasper and Pink crossed the garden to reach her tower. It must have been created before Pink developed her green thumb: the foliage was crude. Trees unsuitable were grouped together. Now, they are long dead, leaving leafless branches blocking the way.

However, the waterworks held up. It was dry, but the structure was elegant. The Capital had always been a place of building, its citizens considered that the architecture looked better without foliage. There’s little interest in gardening.

Maybe the garden was all Pink’s. Jasper imagined the young Diamond trying her best, but despite all, her youthful efforts had failed. Even in imagination, the scene made Jasper devastated. If she had been there, she would have helped Pink get the best, most flourishing garden ever.

Lost in thought, Jasper did not see what was in font of her when Pink let out a soft gasp of surprise. Jasper peered forward. She saw a pond, which was not supposed to be here. At this spot, a pipe must had been broken.

Great, they must spend the next ten days next to a swamp. Pink’s tower had not endeared itself to her. Such a pity, Jasper had expected a sweet, adorable room. Suit a youthful Pink Diamond.

Despite her whining, they found another path to the tower quickly. Pink settled down. This was an old place, but not inconvenient. However, Pink appeared restless. Pearl was still nowhere to be found. They were at the Capital, which was generally not a great place for her lot.

One would think the capital would be swarmed with pearls, but it cost ten small temples to train one. When the topic was about the pearls, people chimed in readily. Blue Pearl. They said in unison. She was this generation’s prima ballerina. Sadly, she was not here tonight.

At the party, Jasper was close to Pink Diamond’s side. She could see the only pearl present there, Yellow Diamond’s. The physical resemblance was striking. The pearl was porcelain white, with a strong nose, blue eyes, a well-defined jaw. She was tall, slender, and graceful.

She stood behind Yellow Diamond for the majority of the night. When time was late, she contributed a short performance. Jasper paid special attention to it. Pearl was stingy with any dances and songs. She didn’t care much about it.

Around the kingly table, she stood behind them unnoticed: She was made with music in mind. With music, she was complete, a perfect design. When she danced, she got the room’s undivided attention.

Ah, Jasper corrected herself, putting it so lightly undermined Yellow Pearl’s control. The attention was a little bird, which she swiftly captured.

After a short bow, she stood up ramrod straight. Her eyes were hard and unfriendly. She is proud, Jasper made an informed observation, having seen the same expression and pose countless times. Maybe not as proud as Pearl.

~~~~~~~~

Now, Pink grew anxious. A handful of her people were dispatched to look for Pearl. Jasper looked upon the people leaving, conflicted. If Pearl was unwilling, like she likely was, were the people dispatched going to force her back? How? Not to mention, forcing Pearl to do anything was such a strange thing to Jasper. Pearl had a way of commanding respect. When they disagreed, the best Jasper could do was negotiate.

Looking behind, Pink was in a similar snare. Before she made up her mind, one scout returned, bringing an Agate in white.

The color made Jasper worry, while Pink Diamond turned infuriated. The Agate barely said anything, but Pink denied every little sentence she breathed. She demanded Pearl back, right now.

Jasper cringed at this outburst. She caught two words from the poor Agate. Temple. Performance.

Now, were people doing performances at temples? What kind of performance? Or was it a theater? Doesn’t matter, she had to go looking for Pearl. Jasper slipped away quietly.

The middle of the month was a few days ago. The moon was bright. It was giving Jasper the last light. The leafless branches was dark, and the pond was painted a deep blue, dabbled with silver moonlight. Things looked less unkempt and more mythical. They left the abandoned gardens to go to a secret wood from bygone days.

When Jasper reached the pond, she saw a much-missed figure on the other side. Just as slender as the leafless branches, and just as upright. She was wearing a blue dress. The mist covered her face. Her dress was supposed to be pink, right? The night had dyed it blue in Jasper’s eyes. Jasper called her name, but Pearl was silent. She quickened her pace, coming to Jasper.

Well, Jasper laughed to herself, now shouting was too much? The Capital was a tough place. Pearl was less of a prude back home.

However, as the figure came closer, Jasper realized that her dress was in fact blue. She was not Pearl. She was Blue Diamond’s pearl, the logo was on her chest. She smiled politely. Her eyes were bright and beautiful.

She said, “I came because Pearl asked me to.”

The noise from the tower made Blue Pearl hesitate, “It seemed like Pink Diamond was giving our Agate a hard time. Do you think it’s smart to go in and relay Pearl’s words? I don’t want the troubles. Ultimately, Pearl got to do what Pink Diamond wants.”

Jasper’s heart skipped a beat. She urged Blue Pearl in, repeatedly assured that it would be just fine.

Her heart was heavy. Ultimately, Pearl got to do what Pink Diamond wants? Blue Pearl said so, and it was true, it was the law within the Capital’s walls.

No, she was mistaken. It was the law everywhere, except for the niche they carved back in Jade town. In this strange city, when her conditions lay thick, Pearl bailed herself out of service. Jasper was utterly unwilling to call her back, she was her friend. But what was she doing just now? Worse, Jasper got a hunch she would need Pearl back another time or two.

Jasper led Blue Pearl to Pink. They swapped small talk. The Temple, with a capital T, was a prestigious school, where all the finest pearls studied. Pearl graduated there, along with Blue Pearl and Yellow Pearl. They were hosting a New Year’s show. Pearl’s help was wanted. Or, concluded from Blue’s attitude, Pearl talked her way into it.

It was a fine place, a clever middle way, Jasper was relieved. Yes, why would she doubt Pearl? She was careful and exact.

Jasper wished them good luck. Blue Pearl gave her a funny look, “I heard this is your first time visiting?”

“Am I supposed to recognize you?” Jasper smiled, “No worries, people sang your praises tonight.”

Blue Pearl smiled, “Did you know anything about Pearl as a student?”

“Not really.” Jasper said, “She is reticent.”

“Well, she was not bad.” Skipping over other qualities of a fine dancer, Blue Pearl said, “She was clever.”

Clever was an apt word for Pearl, Jasper thought. The situation at Jade town, no notes, was special. Pearl got her range there, which was not available anywhere else. Jasper always assumed Pearl was drastically different in her youth, but maybe not? 

They reached the threshold of Pink’s tower, but Blue Pearl needed more reassurance. Jasper assured her, Pink would never do anything against Pearl’s wishes. She held Pearl too high for that.

Blue Pearl smiled, “Her Diamond made her as proud as today.”

“They got secrets.” Jasper was wistful, “I just hope to understand.”

“Maybe it’s nothing worth your time,” Blue Pearl said.

“Why?” Jasper demanded, “It’s frustrating, you know, to be in the dark about the truth.”

“I wouldn’t bother.” Blue Pearl said, “I understand not liking things artificial, but why not? Maybe the surface is fine.” She walked into Pink Diamond’s door, “Usually it’s pretty.”

~~~~~~~~

Blue was brief with her request. She put it mildly and sweetly. To Jasper’s surprise, Pink was quiet for a minute. However, she gave her permission.

When Blue Pearl left, Jasper came closer to Pink. She was holding Pearl’s so-called letter, an advertisement pamphlet for the New Year’s show. Giselle ballet. Pink fidgeted with it.

Jasper coaxed Pink out, asking why she was troubled. After more hesitation, Pink said she thought Pearl disliked the Temple. She said it was a harsh place. Pink looked about herself, laughed, and said this was worse.

Jasper was quick to offer to see Pearl tomorrow. The scene painted was curious, and Jasper wanted to take a closer look.

Chapter Text

Tomorrow morning, Jasper left to see Pearl. She got a guide from Yellow Diamond’s place, who was polite but a little quiet. She was left to her own devices for the majority of the way. Jasper took the time to consider the road. The guide said they would avoid the main streets because of traffic. She seemed apologetic, but Jasper was content with the smaller alleys they went to. It’s all new scenes.

The guide chose this way because she worried about the traffic, but the alleys are also crowded. How packed will the main streets be? Back home, they were always riding freely. Here, the guide advised her that it’s faster to walk. She said, if we went a straight line on the main road, it would take an hour to walk through and half a day to go around. This is a moderate-sized city. However, if we were going diagonally, then it took hours to go absolutely anywhere. The Capital got a population crisis. She lamented.

The guide repeatedly said to go faster, take the shortcuts, and avoid peak hours, but Jasper said she was fine with taking the time. She was here for a holiday. The leisure view surprised the guide, but not in a mean-spirited way. After that, she was walking a few steps forward, letting Jasper admire the view behind. Jasper did initiate conversation, but the guide seemed unexcited. Maybe keeping to themselves was just the Capital’s way.

Let’s focus on the scene before her. The dominant color was white. Limestone and concrete came in that color, it was reasonable. A little more quizzical was the brutalist taste. There was little decoration, and the architecture was bulky and bare. It was an intellectual design preference, which was not wholly alien to Jade town. However, they went to the extreme. It looked hard to live in.

Jasper could imagine the people smoothing down the stones, placing their bricks in a strict numerical progression. They touched on them back in the Kindergarten. Pleasing proportion like 1:2, 2:3, 3:5. The teachers were convinced the map of the universe was there. They exalted in the maths like they were gifted with a vision. Jasper was good with numbers (she was good at every subject), but like many things, she was not sold on it. She needed her grade good and her job prospects golden. Other things can wait.

The people here also bear the harshness of the buildings. They walked fast and looked incredibly busy. Jasper found it funny. She thought Pearl was peculiar in the way she walked with a purpose, but possibly just another product of the Capital.

Jasper caught up to the guide, saying sorry for taking her time. The guide said all good.

“People looked so busy here.” Jasper said, “It’s not like we are free over there, but this is a little strange.” The war was public knowledge, but not exactly tea-time talk. There was always fighting going on in the new land, but Pink’s war was well-known for its long duration.

The guide laughed, a little anxious, “Maybe it’s just the way of life. We are herded on.”

“What?”

“You know. There were always so many things to build and so much land to cover. We need to make things even more vast and beautiful. It is the plan.”

The guide said it in a dreamy voice. She checked the time, and it turned out they spent a whole morning on a supposedly thirty-minute road. She mumbled something about her supervisor. Saying sorry again, she asked Jasper to be quicker.

Jasper followed her. She saw the streets with more critical eyes. She got a hunch that it was about White Diamond’s immortality again, if such a thing can exist.

~~~~~~~~

They arrived at the Temple. After lauding the Temple’s praises, the guide excused herself. Jasper was repeatedly told that the Temple was famous, but at first glance, it just looked old. The Capital liked their towers and white stones, so the Temple looked outdated with its expanse and darker reddish bricks. Again, it looked like an unfriendly institution. It was expected. Her Kindergarten was strict with guests pass. Jasper can imagine the Temple being even more so.

She stood in front of the gate, which was made with dark metal spikes and entwined with rose bushes that must be a thousand years old. The guards have been giving her trouble for the past fifteen minutes. However, a new friend came to rescue her.

“She’s with me,” Blue Pearl said. “Let her in.” The guards followed suit.

Jasper went inside. Blue Pearl greeted her pleasantly. She told Blue Pearl she was here for Pearl. Blue Pearl offered to lead her there.

Jasper’s first impression of the Temple was that it was huge. There were a few large buildings, and three times the width of them in gardens. The buildings didn’t bother to go higher than two stories, they expanded wide. It was a stately old place. The impression of the crowded Capital was still fresh, Jasper could see the Temple was a coveted place, if only for its property value alone. Of course, it is more than that, but Jasper could see the Capital had more businessmen than art lovers.

Blue Pearl led Jasper to a building. It opened to a hall with every surface decorated with frescoes and paintings. As a large number of them were made with the Temple, meaning a very long time ago, their subject remained obscure. Heroes and beauties. Half-human monsters. Beautiful people with perfect bodies.

The last part was surprising, because beautiful bodies were still very much the leading taste in art today. Beautiful and proportional. An old teacher's voice echoed. Again, if Jasper truly bought what she was told, she could dig deeper into what was proportional. Was it the same obsession shown in architecture?

Jasper realized she had lagged behind, again. Blue Pearl was a few steps ahead, but she was also busy. An Agate came to her, showing her a clipboard, and whispering urgently. Blue Pearl quietly said something back, but decided her guest, Jasper, took priority. She told the Agate to look for her later.

“Sorry, I took my time.” Jasper said.

Blue Pearl smiled, “It’s alright. The collection is impressive, isn’t it? You should take a closer look. It is not open to the public.”

“Am I intruding on your time?” Jasper asked, “Looks like you got the Temple to run.”

Blue Pearl laughed, “No. Still a long way to go, I’m afraid.”

Blue Pearl showed her where the artwork transitioned. Further down the hall were newer ones, depicting the star students. Some are straightforward portraits, but there was a handful of more elaborate ones, with figures in a mythical scene. Elaborate foliage, imaginary costumes, and monumental landscape. Blue Pearl said they were reimagined ballet’s scenes. It was an expensive project, but always well-received.

“I think you will like this one.” Blue Pearl showed her a painting of a girl dancing in a red-black dress, in a scene like a town market. She was immensely happy. Her demeanor was fierce. The figures in the background were cheering her on.

All the figures looked similar, of course, they originally came from the same place. However, the educated guess was obvious, “It is Pearl?”

“Yes.” Blue Pearl said, “She played Kitri in her graduate performance. Very eye-catching.”

“She looked energetic.”

“She had reasons to be happy.” Blue Pearl said, “She just landed a plum job. It was just decided that she would have her place beside Pink Diamond.”

“Oh, how so?”

“She did a good job at the New Year’s show. We played Giselle that year. Oh, we are playing it this year, too, if you don’t know.”

“It was rare for a student to land a lead role. I thought they got to wait until graduation?” Jasper said. Even at graduation, only a handful of star students got their time to shine.

Needless to say, it was a harsh system, but one they all subjected to. The Temple’s students got it worse because they had to put up a show. Jasper had never slurred from her schoolwork because of the same reason. She can never catch Pink Diamond’s eyes otherwise.

Jasper recalled her situation more closely. The state which they found Pink Diamond. Was she capable of making choices at that time? Maybe Jasper got Pearl to thank for her job.

Blue Pearl was silent. Jasper assumed the information was not meant for her. She offered an olive branch, “I guess she was that good, after all.”

Blue Pearl smiled. In the dark hall, it looked more sincere. “Yes, she was determined. It was understandable.”

“The situation was a little harsh.” Jasper said. She was not sure of her statement, but she wanted to bait Blue Pearl out. It was obvious someone got secrets she was not privy to, again.

Blue Pearl smiled, conceded, “It was truly so. Pearl was incredibly anxious.” Jasper knew Pearl was not a genius in Blue Pearl’s caliber. “But she was also clever.” It was a little harder to know what clever entailed, but that’s all Blue can give.

Jasper asked to see Blue Pearl’s stuff. After some modest reflection, Blue conceded. Maybe Jasper was looking too closely at Pearl’s situation: Blue Pearl played all sorts of lead roles ever since she was a student, up until now. She would also play Giselle this year. From the party’s talks, she was only getting better.

Finally, they arrived at Pearl’s place. She was in a classroom. The show was a mix of professionals and students. All of them were the Temple’s product. Blue Pearl said they timed it right and told Jasper to be quiet.

Pearl was rehearsing her five-minute solo, which was her room and board in the Temple. It was a sweet and cheery melody, at the first act of the ballet. She was good. Her footing was light and exact. Her turns were balanced, and her moves are tight. In better words, she was well-articulated. She knew the beauties of the dance and made a compelling case for it.

Pearl finished her part. The room got a similar reaction to Jasper’s. They applauded and praised her generously. However, Pearl was carefully emotionless. Was it unexpected? Jasper did not think Pearl was one to be cheered up by songs and dances, but it was a small shock to see her so distanced. Image of Pearl’s youth was still fresh in her mind. There was a time she had been energetic and fierce. Now, all her strengths were quiet.

Blue Pearl gestured Pearl to Jasper. Pearl smiled when she saw her. The Agate, who had just came to Blue Pearl with urgency, snatched her again.

Pearl walked towards Jasper with purpose, again. She was wearing the Temple’s uniform, which was a sweet pastel thing. It made her look less authoritative, unlike the dress she wears back home to ran the town.

“I expect you to come.” Pearl said, “But you won’t ask me to go back, will you?”

“I won’t,” Jasper smiled, “But even if I was really nice and sweet about it?”

“Not a chance.” Pearl said, “This is the better way. I wish I could help you, though. You saw the place.” Pearl said. The Palace was not especially endearing, of course, but the way Pearl spoke about it was like it would eat Jasper alive. What had it done to her?

“I found it strange.” Jasper said, “But not too much yet.”

“Good.” Pearl smiled, “I wish I had something for you to bring back. But enough of that. How do you find the city? You have been waiting to see it.”

Jasper did not want to say it was strange a second time, while she was the one to push for the trip. She settled for, “It was alright. Carefully planned. A little crowded.”

“Yes, I forgot how crowded it was.” Pearl said, “Though I was always at the Temple, back then.” She skipped the Palace, but it must be where they were, before they were given the city by the sea.

“I didn’t know the Temple at all before I was here.” Pearl was amused, she thought it was legendary famous. It must be, it just escaped Jasper’s notice somehow.

“And I didn’t know you were popular!” Jasper said, “A star student. But I should have.”

Pearl smiled, “Just as good as you, my darling.”

Pearl told Jasper an abridged version of what happened yesterday, when she got into trouble. Jasper was alarmed. She realized the issue of incognito quickly. Pearl got more freedom back home. She wished she had taken Pearl’s aversion more seriously. The Capital was a harmful place.

Pearl smiled, “You worry too much about me. I got myself sorted all nice and cozy here.” Pearl’s exaggeration made Jasper think otherwise. “I knew it would be bad, but not for me alone.”

“What?”

“I know you are capable by yourself, of course.” Pearl said.

“But the place is indiscriminating.” She looked at Jasper funny, “And you are plenty sweet and youthful.”

“No.” Jasper was halfway annoyed, “Say it fully. I know it’s not only me you talk about. What about Pink?”

“I worried about you more.” Pearl said, looking away. Somehow, she cringed into herself. The uniform made her look more mellow. She remembered Blue’s words, anxious and clever. She could imagine it still.

“Come on, don’t you want to give me something to bring back? Give me a piece of advice.” Jasper said, mellowed out her voice.

“The Palace is not a place to be wading in the dark.” The last sentence was a bluff, but it worked on Pearl.

“Pink Diamond would be unhappy there.” Pearl said, “And it would not be your fault.”

“What.” Jasper said. She pushed Pearl for more. Pearl was determinedly silent. Jasper turned annoyed and confused. Talking about Pink Diamond and her supposed plights did it to her. When pressing Pearl for more, she knew why Pearl was unwilling to say anything at first: Jasper easily lost her cool with Pink’s situation. She cared for her so much.

At last, they broke off and Jasper left for the Palace. Her steam went out halfway through. She was sorry. She came to check on Pearl, but she hardly asked her any questions. Why Pearl never mentioned Blue Pearl, whom she called sister, who was well and alive? Why say she was good and golden, while she wore a heavy expression?

Chapter Text

It’s been four days since they parted. Jasper did not bother to send her anything, not a note or a letter. Subsequently, this left Pearl in an information drought. This bothered her. The movement in the Capital was swift, but it always originated from the Palace. From White, most of the time, but Blue and Yellow got their own moves.

They should be careful, and observe the Diamonds’ movements. Well, that was supposed to be her task. With Pearl bailing out, maybe Jasper forgot about it. Or not, maybe it drowned out among other things: meaningless things that kept one busy there. Would Jasper realize she was in a hostile place, enemy’s ground? Even though Pearl was rehearsing a dance, and Jasper was doing whatever fanciful in the Palace.

She and Jasper parted in bad humors, though this was not the first, and certainly not the last time. She knew Jasper was angry because she did not speak enough, but Pearl believe she showed quite a lot of things. However, there were things that Jasper deliberately turned a blind eye on, which Pearl found hard to blame her for.

She was at backstage, waiting for her part. She leaned on a cold wall. The theater’s air was dry. Apart from the bright stage light, everywhere else was dimly lit. Outside, the director was talking loudly, while the young faces inside were whispering among themselves.

The students liked her. Well, Pearl rose to the highest status a pearl can. She danced well, also. What’s more, in others’ eyes, Pink Diamond truly humored her. The students looked at her as if looking at a way out. A proper, narrow way out, a crack in a wall, but something, at least.

Pearl pitied them beyond words. Should she speak out loud now, that the Temple was a scam, and the way out they advertised led to a dark pit? Look at her! What kind of prize is a servile status? Did the students know White exalted in their sure and secured unhappiness, or just they adored her, like they were taught? 

She should have said the only way out was revolution, and it was close at hand.

However, things got their time and place. Pearl came to a similar conclusion to what happened in the Palace, a few days ago: not now.

After enough waiting, it was Pearl’s turn for the rehearsal. A cheery five-minute melody. It would make long speeches, talking about her opinions of singing, dancing, and the character she was playing. The answers would also be subtle, five degrees to the left and right of I don’t care much about it . Moreover, it will inevitably lead to her youth and the Temple, of which enough was said. Therefore, let’s talk about the music, which was the Temple’s strength, and which art was less personal.

The musical composition was well thought out, where every part related to each other and to the whole. The base of it was mathematical, and the first expression in music was the perfect musical interval on a lyre. A lyre string was plucked to produce a note. It is then stopped at a half, third, quarter, and fifth of its length, at ratios of 1:2, 2:3, 3:4, and 4:5.

Then, it expanded outward, but the base was intact. The orchestra got every instrument under the sun. The music it made was complicated. However, if it had been made properly, like the piece she was dancing to, then pick a note and cleave it to the core. You should find it easy to do so, and at the core, the fancy golden rule was waiting.

The rule is abstract, the math was hard to understand, but did it shine beautifully for one moment? It was the math that suggested the star, of the sky, of the nebula.

Pearl performed her variation flawlessly, and quite effortlessly. It should be so. Her mind saw the music’s structure clearly, and made her body a vehicle to express it. When she finished, people loved it. Especially the older teachers. Pearl was naturally an old-schooler.

Pearl was carefully blank in expression and in heart. Suddenly, she was tired. The praises hung heavy on her, the young faces were hard to look at, and the theater was too cold and dry. The music was stiff and boring. She would rather clanging pots and pans together. Had she finished her part? She could just slip away.

Pearl was halfway up the raised auditorium when she realized how spoiled she was. What was she running away from, when Jasper was at the Palace bearing the worst? Her character and her love would have forbidden her to run. Pearl, weak in character and dry of love, was she going to run from nothing at all? Was she going to run because people complimented her dancing, which she spent all her youth studying?

Realizing her silliness, Pearl got herself a cozy and quiet seat, halfway up from the stage. She remembered what she was waiting for: Blue was going to perform her part.

Blue was a curious character. For now, let’s talk about the most conspicuous aspect of her, which impressed the sight and mind. All this theater, which could house up to two thousand people, was Blue’s. It was the old taste, to cement her glory in building.

The theater was clam-shaped, boasting 2 thousand seats. The orchestra’s radius was 20 cubits, the lower auditorium’s was 80 cubits, and the upper auditorium’ was 120 cubits. The roof is curved. The stage is expansive. The orchestra pit is lavish. The New Year’s show will be the opening show of this theater.

Well, Blue was loyal to the Temple. The building was for her love. It was not the first thing, and wouldn’t be the last to bear her name. However, this was a big statement: Blue is vying for the Temple’s control.

She is thrice-worthy compared to other contenders, but she would be the first pearl to possess this ancient gem. The result of the competition was obscured.

Settled down, she saw the musicians testing their instruments. There was less humdrum than usual. People, like her, were finding a seat for themselves: Blue would perform soon. For good reasons, she was the prima ballerina.

The matter of style was not discussed in the temple. There was one style, the true style, which was written in the book, realized in the building, then interpreted in dance. Pearl leant it well, and found it reasonable. Shoulder back and core engaged, she would lift her arm to a rhythmic, moderate, correct angle, sanctioned by the Temple, the Capital, White.

Blue knew better than that. She freed her movements, lively and empathetic in the way the Temple’s master could never calculate. A raiment of the impossible, glittering and profuse. Like the glittering transparent moth’s wings, multiplied to infinity. She bewildered the eyes.

The scene reminded her of a faraway time, back when she was a student, Pearl had wanted to compete with Blue. Well, it sounded presumptuous now, but not unreasonable altogether. Blue had been the best of her year. Pearl had also been the best of her year. Worse, Pearl had actively criticized Blue’s move, as its eclectic did not bow to analytics.

Pearl had retired from the scene for years, but if she was still dancing, this would have been the moment where she admitted defeat.

Blue was on stage, they would play Giselle this year, with Blue taking the lead role. The whole Capital was excited. She was going to rehearse the second act. Wearing a long white skirt, she was now a ghost, dancing in the woods. Freed from the weight of her body, she danced freely. However, she was not freed from the weight of her mind. The other ghosts promised that to her, though. With enough time, she would forget. But a protagonist needed to live more boldly. Giselle would free herself from the weight of her mind, she would forgive, somehow.

Pearl watched Blue dance and was enraptured. She was overwhelmed by vigor, she was enamored by virtuosity. She could have cried, if she had not been made so angry and confused. When Giselle decided to forgive her old lover again, Pearl was simultaneously convinced and rejecting. How so!? Throw the bouquet, which he dared to give, back to his face! Gripped him by his hair, yank him down, and make this a joint grave! Sprung alive again to make even! (Is it possible with this kind of pain?)

She gripped her forearms until it left marks. When she run her hands through her skirt, they were sweaty. Well, it was a hell of a run packed in an hour.

Blue bowed very curtly. She stepped out of character easily, and Pearl could have been moved by love. Blue was so lovely, and she was her sister! Pearl could have been moved by love, just as she had been when she was young. However, Blue’s face was hard and uncaring. Pearl remembered why her love was cut short, then no more: Blue was an exceedingly cold character. Moreover, today, she was crossed.

The standing ovation was still going on. People cheered and hollered her name. Heedless of the applause, she searched for someone around the auditorium. Pearl turned jumpy, she slipped further into the darkness. Blue exited the stage, ascended the stairs, eyes sharp scanning each row.

Pearl said, “This must be a joke.” She turned around and fled.

~~~~~~~~~

The Temple was huge. After fifteen years abroad, Pearl had forgotten the niches and hollows of the places. Outside of the theater, she crossed the garden (rose brambles and ash trees), reaching the main building. She went to the stairs in the back, went up once, took one right turn, three left turns, and went down twice. The sunlight became scant. The place became all stairs, going down. The space was dimly lit by candles and lamps.

Pearl did not remember where she was, but she had a hunch that coming down would lead to a closer exit than going up, so Pearl descended the stairs. The place is cold, dry, and well-ventilated. Things smelled clean and fresh. Taking a closer look by the lamp, she saw that the stone was pristine white, untouched by the environment. Pearls realized that by accident, she had gone to the labyrinth.

Well, she laughed to herself, it could have been worse, and she slowed her pace. She went far enough, maybe Blue would be bored with the chase.

The labyrinth, along with the majority of the architecture and wall decorations, was left from a faraway day. A history before the house of Diamonds, which was ignored. The teachers thought this place served some ancient cultic or caging purpose, and the doors were locked, as easily as that. However, the students can still get in. There had been a few dares happened here. Pearl knew the way out. She did not remember it exactly, but going down enough, they would find an opening.

Moreover, the stairs were inviting. It’s dark, but very clean. In her youth, Pearl was enamored by the history it suggested. The idea of an ancient past was attractive and mythical. She had fun exploring the place with other pearls. She was looking closely into it, to see what the downward spiral maze had to offer.

Now, when she had done more reading, Pearl knew she had stumbled on a blind spot of knowledge. The labyrinth was counterproductive as a prison, and people in the past honored their god in sunlight. This had always been a fanciful place. An attractive illusion.

Pearl wondered what crossed Blue. She narrowed down the hypothesis quickly. The only thing that could have made Blue Pearl fast on her feet was the Temple, and the only place that could stir the Temple is the Palace.

She ran from the Palace, but its outstretched long arm covered the Temple. Anything in the Capital is a chess piece on the Palace’s set. Only on the rear of the continent would they find any relief. Pearl has been missing the roaring wind and the gentle lapping rolling water. Pearl closed her eyes and the heaven of her dream appeared vivid: her ongoing business was by the sea.

She went down until it tired her. She looked about herself to find a hint of an opening. She followed the clue of the wind, of the sound. She looked for the bright blue sunlight, dramatically different from the heavy yellow light at this place. Finally, she found what she was looking for: a window to the outside world.

Pearl was also reminded why this spot had been used as an adventure site: they got a vantage point looking over the whole Capital, and in the middle, glittering in sunlight, reaching upward, was the Diamonds’ tower.

They would have to stoop down, but they could have exited there, and gone back to class. What terrible thing. Her neck was stiff. She found it difficult to stoop down.

“You went quite far,” Blue said, suddenly appearing from behind, “Do you even know the way back?”

Pearl smiled. She felt dizzy. The labyrinth’s draughts caught up to her. Looking into the bright light and back to the labyrinth, she was seeing doubles. She swiped her temple, where a sheen of cold sweat gathered. Well, her health had been a troublesome thing. Back home, she met with her doctor every other week.

Frowning, smiling, and feeling sick, Pearl said, “No, not really.” Well, tagged, she was it.

Pearl was getting sized up in silence, as always, the other’s blue eyes were hidden. Although, it would be the same if Blue showed it: she had always been strangely expressionless. It was useless to guess her, and she got a temper.

“I wish you would just speak your mind?” Pearl said.

Blue chuckled, “Have I never come to you just for a chat?” She walked towards Pearl, looking out the broken window.

Pearl looked at the same view. Again, there were the draughts, the bright light, and Blue’s half-hearted attempt to humor: she had never come to Pearl without a purpose. She came with bad news, really.

“Do you like it here?” Blue said, in a conversational tone.

Pearl was stumped. She always was when confronted with the question of like. She settled on the dry nonsense, “It’s nice.”

She added immediately, “Let me stay here until I can leave the Capital.”

Blue laughed. She sensed Pearl’s anxiety clearly, and she would take advantage of that, “Relax. You worry too much. Don’t you ever think I will come to tell you good news?”

Pearl was silent. The fact stands that Blue never came to her with good news.

“I wondered why you hate the Palace so much.” Blue said, “It used to be all that you wanted.”

Pearl said nothing, Blue tried her shot, “Was it because of White Pearl?”

The anxiety bubbled on her nape exploded. Pearl felt face-first into the wall, like she had just been hit. The stone scraped her face. Feeling cold and nauseated, in this underground passage, the sharp winds were like knives. She sweated profusely, and her eyes were blind for a second. Pearl strained her ears: was she hearing anything? She went as far as she could, as far as it was safe to do, but they were a demanding lot. Would they hate or love Blue, who was no comfort in her illness, but no injuries?

She turned around, slumped against the wall. There were no insidious songs or demanding actresses, not yet. Still blinded and cold, Pearl cowered into herself, her knees supported her hands supported her head. She said, “I’m fine.”

Feeling the daze in her eyes lessened, she looked at Blue Pearl, “Tell me more about White Pearl.”

Blue had taken a step back. After confirming the clarity in Pearl’s eyes, she relaxed minutely. She seemed quite amused. Her arms flared awkwardly, and her stance was nervous. Pearl looked like she had just had a stroke.

Pearl repeated, “I’m fine,” wiping off her forehead, “Speak.”

“… Lately, she had been seen more frequently. People talk about her. Well, she is the main character of a horror story.”

Pearl looked at Blue expectantly, Blue shook her head, “No. According to what I know, she didn’t get any better. Senseless as a ghost.”

Without prompting, Pearl said. “It was all my fault.”

The labyrinth called for confession. The attraction illusion, the fanciful artifact of the past. Pearl would have lifted her hands up, asking for forgiveness, but she got older and started reading more.

This labyrinth was a downward, useless, irrational path, leading to a disappointing scene. Likewise with the Temple. So much for her anxious hope and anxious hard work. So much for that of every student in time unaccountable. She choked on her breath. The misery surprised and made her angry. 

Blue chuckled. This was not what she came to ask of Pearl. Besides, she was tired of the whole story. She thought the whole business a trifle. Three times trifling, if anything. The fifteen-year-ago ordeal is child’s play, White Pearl was an unassuming fool, Pearl was a petty thief.

Pearl could not expect anything from her, but she glared at Blue. Blue deflected, a silent yielding. Pearl averted her eyes. It was as good as it could get.

Blue remembered what she was here for, “I have orders from the Palace. They have expectations for our New Year’s show.” She looked at Pearl intently, “I know you would do it well.”

Pearl laughed, “Nope, no, don’t, terrible idea. Aren’t you so smart and powerful? Think of a way somehow.”

“Is it your turn to speak?” Blue smiled, full of sarcasm, “You are here, you know. You live four days away from the Capital, but they still got you back.”

“Duty necessitates.”

“Likewise with me.” Blue said, looking at the window, where the shadow became steeper. “I must go now. I’m late for a meeting.”

“Off you go.”

“You don’t know the way back?”

Pearl smiled, “I will just crawl out of this hole over here. I know you are busy. I wasted your time.”

Blue shrugged. Knowing the Temple like the back of her hand, she slipped into a hidden path Pearl didn’t even know about. So much for being praised as clever.

Chapter Text

It had been four days since they parted, which meant they had been at the capital for five days, left Jade town for nine, and still had another five days to go.

Jasper started feeling lonely and homesick, which was unexpected. However, looking out the window, to the decrepit garden of Pink, she knew she missed the sight of the sea. They should not have left home so close to the New Year.

She should really send Pearl a note, and forward her the numerous letters addressed to her.

The letters started trickling in on the second day they arrived at the Capital, which meant Pearl had already left the night before. The majority of the letters were addressed to Pearl. She ran Jade town and Pink's business.

Just last month, they got in contact with precious foreign islanders (they did not look all that different from the mainlanders). In their meeting, Pearl had empathetically insisted that they get in touch at any time convenient. Well, they arrived quite late, in disagreeable timing, when business had already dwindled down. Even with Pearl, if they were at home (at the summer home at this time, probably), she would have put the letter aside for later. However, they did not mean to arrive so late. It would have taken five days for the letters to arrive in Jade town, and another five days to arrive in the Capital. Now, because of the wrong address, and the elusive intended receiver, this letter would have to wait another hot minute.

Jasper held it up to the yellow afternoon light. She could just make out the date through the mulberry paper envelope. She did the math wrong. This letter was sent a fortnight ago. Well, already late, nobody can do anything about it now.

She sifted through the pile of envelopes. Thirteen to Pearl, five to her. Two of them were identical, from the town's administration duty. Two were from the army, who were left in Jade town on guard duty. One was without the sender's name.

Pearl got three more letters from the town's administration duty. While Jasper only got reports, Pearl got some decision-making on her roster. She did it well, with efficiency. Well, Jasper knew it was due: there was a time when her task was much heavier and more complicated, however, she almost thrived in it. Sometimes, Pearl looked at the army with businesslike yen, but she only intervened when Jasper asked for it. She was being nice.

Jasper also thought that, during the majority of the ten years they know each other, she had been nice and careful towards Pearl's safety. Pearl got an ambiguity between being nameless and famous. In business, she was their chief, but her position and power were not explained or stated clearly. Not to mention the battles they got. Pearl might think the army can run better, but she adored the fighting to another level. She got incidents.

One time, the fighting got fierce, the rebels' force broke through the defense and went close to the wall protecting Jade city. Jasper was making her way through a chaotic battle, driving them back. The noise and violence came to the highest level. People were fierce and the battle thrumming, drumming zeal was getting in Jasper also. She noticed the fallen opponents on her way first, who were pierced clean with an arrow. Then, her sight became a commotion.

Pearl went to the wall's highest level, where she was visible from below. She got a bow with her, aided Jasper's path with precision and restraint. Some people in Pink's force did not know her at all. Some knew her because their administration duty overlapped. Only a small amount was not taken aback by her hidden, and now revealed, skills in battle.

Jasper did not know why she was there. Probably, she got tired of waiting. Although she was trying to be patient, Jasper knew Pearl missed the battlefield. Moreover, the battle looked worse from above. Pearl was anxious for Jasper's safety.

On the other hand, maybe she was enchanted. On the Crystal Gem force, some were confused, some were apathetic, but at the sight, some were enchanted. They went crazy. Garnet yanked the bow from her subordinate and aimed for Pearl. She got all the zeal of a murderer, but inadequate skills as an archer. The arrow fell short. She was always a keen melee fighter.

With much effort, the subordinate took back her bow.. She loose her string at Pearl. She did a much better job, but Pearl got enough time to hide. Afterward, there were a few discreet arrows to help with Jasper's way, but Pearl was not seen anymore.

When the sun went down, with their rule of civility, the battle ended, leaving time for rest and dinner. In the orange twilight (the sky was always saturated), Jasper went through the long hallway. The shadows deepened.

She was going to have a serious talk with Pearl, but possibly for the first time, Pink beat her to it.

The two of them were standing as far away from each other as possible without making it funny.

Pink's voice was low and strained, "It's still too early."

"Yes." Pearl said, she was not petulant, but agreed to a hypothesis she helped prove, "It's still so."

"Garnet was going to kill you." Jasper accused.

"She will not," Pearl said.

"She might." Pink said, petulant, sorrowful, contradicted, "And it will be the end of everything."

Well, the frays in the edges, chips on a wall, they happened only a few times, and are tame and undermined (it was another quality of Pearl's movement). Most of the time, they are nice and respectful about their allotted task. Pearl strained herself to be more patient.

Let's get back on the letter, before the sun go down. She will get a headache trying to read under a lamp.

Six of them were from Pink's business. It was actually more complicated than that, so they usually referred to it as the business. It was not Pink's business as a Diamond, but a private owner. It started in all earnestness, ten years ago, with whatever funds they could trickle away from Pink Diamond's state coffer. They owned farmland and workshops at Jade town, of course, but they also got property from more remote inland. In these piles, two were from the north, in depots outside Yellow Diamond's territory. One was further south, a workshop in Blue Diamond's city. Two were from Jade town. One was from Pearl's banker. Her wage was handsome.

Jasper decided to open one letter from Jade town, and the one from Blue Diamond's city. Pearl usually welcomed her to look around a little bit. All the better that she was knowledgeable in their business. However, the letter required the context of the past ten business transactions. This time, when skimming through it, like the other times, Jasper saw only numbers and complaints. A new participant in the market, the sender complained. They got someone rich to back them up, they concluded. Afterwards were all numbers.

The letters were delivered with as much detours as possible without making them non-functional. Funny things would happen if the other Diamonds knew about this business, and their agents were keen. The letters were all sent to the mister at the summer home, with names inherited from their father. At that moment, Jasper was reminded of the enormity of their task, which was unimaginable, which was conceived by chance and betrayal. The thing that, in their own way, Pink and Pearl found it difficult to talk about. Pearl because of her fierce passion. Pink because of her subdued passion.

Would the summer home's mister understand the said task? The thing Pearl took for granted was being higher than an individual, which Pink agreed with. However, it was Jasper's job to help them. She was their tutor.

With that, Jasper saw that the remaining letters to Pearl were from the summer home and her doctor. The former was addressed to both Pearl and Jasper. Jasper opened it, being cheered up by sweet words and good spirit. Her longing for home doubled. She remembered the liveliness and privacy of the summer home, with the covered porch looking to the orchard, and further away were the farms. Due to good design, the house was cool and well-ventilated no matter the weather. There was a wind bell hanging by the porch. Its chiming sounds blended with happy voices.

Jasper should have known she was at a cheerful oasis with lovely people. However, she was beckoned by the mainland, with its bisected roads and skyscrapers. It was reasonable, really. Even Pearl agreed with her. Even Pearl was enamored by the traveling.

The latter was curious, after hesitation, Jasper decided to open it. However, the letter let her down. The doctor was put on short notice of their trip to the Capital. She wanted to set up another appointment as soon as Pearl was home.

The letter was written with brevity and guardedness, Jasper did not know why, and she did not have a lot to work with: Pearl was secretive with her health, and this madam doctor was complicit. Whenever she asked, all Jasper got was Pearl is doing really well. She is getting so much better.

Jasper would reply to her with a thousand years old look, calling out her bullshit. There was something wrong with Pearl's health. There were frays in the edges and chips in the wall. She just didn't know what it was, and what the symptoms were. However, the doctor's lips were tight, even tighter than Pearl, who would answer it's nothing much, along with I have shoulder pain. So much for how you treat your friends.

Jasper put Pearl's letters in a stack and bound them with a cord. She would ask the guide from Yellow Diamond's to deliver it tomorrow. She put it aside.

Then, her eyes caught the letters without a sender. She opened it. It was from Pearl, with less of her usual brevity: it was Pearl who caved and said sorry first about the incident four days ago. Jasper was a little embarrassed. Well, it was not the first and certainly not the last time. They cannot spend all their days being embarrassed. She was called to the temple tomorrow, as Pearl missed her (and the information she stalled to forward) and was in a little trouble herself.

~~~~~~~~~

Pearl got a Zircon from Yellow Diamond to deliver the letter for her. She knew the Zircon was the one who lead Jasper's way the other day. The less acquaintance they made, the better.

Pearl got some extra information to go along with it. She was wearing an easy expression. The temple's garden was all quietness and roses' fragrance.

"It will be nice when Jasper gets news from you," the Zircon said in good humor. She was a cautious and timid kind, traits exacerbated under Yellow's court, "It will cheer her up."

Pearl asked why she needed cheering up. These were days of leisure, with festivities all around.

"Oh, it was those festive, I think." Zircon said, "It was a little strange for me, also. You know the sports they put up lately? Jasper participated in one yesterday. Wrestling. She was good. I think she almost won, but the match was called off."

"Oh, how so?" Pearl asked.

"I don't really know. It was my Diamond who called it off, but Pink Diamond was standing right next to her. I don't want to say what I don't know for sure, but my Diamond was a big fan of those sports. She tends to keep it going..."

"No, maybe it is Pink Diamond who asked for it," Pearl said.

"Yes. Possibly. May I know why? Was the match upsetting to her, or was it not exciting enough? It's strange. I was a kid when Pink Diamond was still in the Capital, but she was the one who pulled up games and sports, not canceling them."

"It was so long ago," Pearl smiled. A little longer than fifteen years. It was a little bit before she got Pearl. It was left unsaid, and the Zircon was taken into a train of nostalgia. Fifteen years ago, she was still at school.

The Zircon's remembering brings up some memories of Pearl, too. Memories etched in stone, covered up by dust. It was easy to recall, like wiping off the dust with the side of her palm. The stone was like flesh, and the memories were salted. It was unpleasant and long days. The sky was what it was now, saturated blue with a glare. She had just graduated, and her days seemed to end before the date she fancied it started. She didn't know how to move anymore. Pink Diamond told her to stop doing things: stop singing, stop dancing, stop talking. She was sentenced to stone.

"Why do you think Pink Diamond stopped the match, anyway? It was just a game." Zircon repeated her question.

"She doesn't like to use her gems to play games anymore." Pearl said.

Chapter Text

The morning that she invited Jasper over, the weather was awfully nice—bright and cool. She woke up early and went to the garden.

The orchestra also gathered early, at the pavilion not far away from the main hall. Pearl stayed at the rear, listening to them practice stuttered pieces of music. After a while, an idle guest artist and old graduate, like Pearl, took notice of her. They were not acquainted before. She was a moonstone with the same gracefulness as the Temple students.

She was usually stationed quite far away, at the rear of the known world, by Blue's snowy mountains. She was an entrepreneur gypsy, who was set on selling Pearl one of her many musical instruments: the fiddle of Pleasure, the banjo of Private Life, and the zither of Ignorance.

They were inventions of the past and the future, the Moonstone said. Her secret business partners dig them up from the abandoned graves or acquired with great price from the foreigners. She talked about the graves and the foreigners with great zeal, her big words reared on children’s comics. They were probably comic, everyone knew that the past was not real and the future was now. She said with a high, excited voice, which was equivocal of its own seriousness. She promised to show Pearl a flying carpet the next time.

Pearl was sold quite easily. She got herself the prettiest of them all, the zither of Ignorance. The Moonstone moved on to other expensive pearls with a little money to spare. Therefore, Jasper found Pearl fiddling with her new instrument—the moonstone had left her an instruction booklet- in the grand hall, where Jasper was led in the other day.

She put the zither aside, stood up, and came to greet Jasper. She smiled, "How nice of you to show up! I was afraid you were not going to."

A little bit dazed and drunken, Pearl gave Jasper a small peck. She sat back down, folded back to herself, and fiddled with the instrument of ignorance.

“Do you even know how to play those?” Jasper said, curious.

She had been frowning when she arrived. She was distracted by Pearl’s rare loveliness. Now, before she returned to the big issues, she was led away by the image: Pearl sitting cross-legged on the hallway’s ledge, she hunched down, and her nose almost touched the zither. She struggled to put three notes together.

“The Moonstone peddler left me a booklet,” Pearl said, “I will be alright.”

“I was swayed to buy something, too.” Jasper said. She took a curious shiny cube out of her pocket, “It’s a dice. The peddler said it was part of a collection. It has a name, which I have to find by myself.”

She held it under the light. It was made of colorful enameled glass. The symbols for the games were painted on its fourteen sides. Jasper squinted her eyes, reading the etched lines, “It is… the dice of Sympathy.”

“Roll the dice!” Pearl said. Jasper complied. It rolled to a fourteen, the highest number.

She picked it up again. In the dice, blooms of colors made up geometric patterns. Red intermingled with blue. The dice’s design was centered in the middle. It’s two halves mirrored. She pulled it along in her palm, its etched name glinting in sunlight. Sympathy. Jasper found it funny. “Why so dramatic?”

“The Capital loved their theatrics.” Pearl said.

Jasper sat on the niche on Pearl’s left hand, perpendicular to her. They were looking out to the same scene, the blooming garden of a hot spring day, breezeless, with enough sun to cause a mean headache.

“I got quite enough of them already.” She said.

Pearl looked at Jasper curiously, “Was it like I said?” She smiled.

“It was just like you warned me.” Jasper said, “I wouldn’t like it here.”

Pearl flipped through the booklet, again. She got better luck producing three notes. “I have said you would love our town more.”

“Yes, but would I know that if I stayed there forever? You liked your traveling."

Pearl smiled, vast landscape rolled through her eyes. What if she had gotten herself a zither early, and followed the road? “You are right.”

They settled for quietness. Jasper was agitated. Things did not go well for her in the Palace. She was in a strange landscape, every road was ominous and tangled. I don't like it, she thought to herself. Behind her back and very close to it, a voice whispered, you wouldn't like it here. The voice did not mimic her. It was a warning that came at good time, from almost a fortnight ago.

Pearl was preoccupied: she picked up the new instrument fast. She plucked the strings and let it tell her what to do. It made clashing, simple sounds. She picked out another three notes, placing them in order. It made some clumsy music, but Pearl was pleased and intrigued. She played it faster, the sounds blurred and curt, and they made chaotic noises. However, they were delightful.

Jasper was watching Pearl. She played with the dice in her hands. She didn’t know which games needed fourteen-sided dices and each with their own names. Why did the dice she got called Sympathy? What’s good does sympathy bring in a battle? Or in business? She got even more confused about the game this dice was supposed to play a part.

“What if I say I want you back at the Palace, by our side?” Jasper said. She was conflicted. She did not want to say it lightly, but she had to say it as lightly as she could.

Pearl’s answer matched her softness, she plucked another note in the instrument of Ignorance. Her eyes flitted to Jasper’s quickly, but she turned away. She smiled, catching the same lightness. “No. I’m afraid not, my darling.”

Jasper was pained, she remembered the other day, where Pearl, silent, diminutive, looking at the ones who were higher than her, who pinned her down. She remembered her private promise, which she went against just now.

“It was not that I don’t care about you.” The lightness in her voice was gone.

Pearl looked at Jasper a moment longer, but just short of her eyes. Why were they afraid of Jasper getting hurt for so long a time, only for a trip to the Capital waste it away? Now, her voice was heavy and her words were equivocal. Are we all going to have a stutter? She complained about the Capital, but it was wild how far its hand reach.

Pearl sighed, “I guess you are having it hard.”

She turned back to the zither, her hands resting on it. It was a handsome instrument, white strings on sleek black wood, with lacquered decorations on the lower left side. She fanned it lightly with her fingertips. The sound was mellow.

Pearl said, “Pink has been unhappy.” She repeated herself, really.

She looked at Pearl in the eyes, but the other was still preoccupied with her zither, “How can I fix it?”

“It was not your fault.” Pearl said, wincing, so briefly and so lightly. Like a spring breeze, their speech had been soft.

"Why is she so unhappy?" Jasper said. It was a kind of unhappiness that left people in awe. It was like a dark day, with a storm raging, thunderbolts tore the heavy cloud apart. She stood astonished.

At Jasper’s pain, now in the open and undeniable, Pearl stopped playing with the zither, but still hugged it closely. Her knees pulled close to her body, her back bending down, and she was looking at Jasper.

She looked tired, bored, and withdrawn, yet her words are full, “The wrongness is so vast, it might have been growing since the beginning of everything. However, don’t blame yourself and only yourself. It’s an unhappy cliche.You, in particular, don't fall in their trap. You are so lovely and brave." She smiled, although things are not particularly fun.

They had such similar eyes, Jasper thought about Blue Pearl, but they couldn’t have been related by blood. She was startled for a second, her plight almost forgotten. Pearl, again, in her pastel attire, looked like a different person. However, she is not a stranger. She is the person who will grow into your accomplice, Jasper thought, you are going to know her.

“Tell me again?” Jasper caught herself. She had seen that face. Pearl looked at her with the same expression before the ruinations caused by the Diamond kingdom, before the young Amethysts who were fresh out of their schooling (Pearl had a lot of sympathy for the young). Pearl would have the humor to explain.

“It’s a tired cliche, a long one at that. We would have to go from the beginning.” She stood up, smoothed out her skirt.

Jasper followed her, flustered, “Oh, it is still there?”

She laughed at Jasper’s question, “No, it’s only tales, but,” she said, “maybe a friction of it remained."

Pearl was regarding her instrument, which now lay on the ledge. It shone beautifully beneath the sun. It was an invention of the past and the future, taken from graves or foreigners. It would ease her headache and let her ignore unhappiness.

"We would have to vacate. This place is too public. Come with me, all the places we are going today are going to be pretty, but I’m afraid you will come to hate them, when the day ends. Would you take my words more seriously this time?”

(She left the zither there.)

"Can I roll your dice?" Pearl said.

"Oh. Sure." Jasper put it on her palm, "What kind of games are these?"

"I think the soldiers used to play them. When they are sober and leisured, they like their game complicated." Pearl said, "I can't remember what the winning goal is, though."

"Roll a fourteen, again!" Jasper said.

"I want a four." Pearl smiled, "That's how many days we have left."

She rolled the dice. It stopped on the ledge, next to the zither. It was a fourteen. Look at that, Pearl said softly. What does that even mean, Jasper said. They don’t know the answer.

The pair left their queer instrument there and went to the path of different things.

"I will tell you things, but don't ever call me back again. You faulted me on pride, but it was my due." Pearl said.

"I won't." Jasper said.

Pearl managed to get up, but she was weak. Her breath was soft and shallow. She hung by Jasper like a willow tree, like a vine on the stone ledge. Her flesh was cool like a breeze, and her fingers were stems.

"Is your illness acting up again?"

Pearl chuckled, "I'm perfectly healthy."

"Pearl."

"Ignore it, if you humor me. It's another story, and this tale will need your full focus and more."

She led Jasper through the winding path of the Temple. Soon, the main building with the sculptures and portraits, where they spent the last hour with the zither of Ignorance and the dice of Sympathy, was out of sight.

They cannot see the surrounding wall or the horizon, but only the uneven ledge of green canopy. The Temple was so huge. Straying from the designated path, where Blue Pearl guided her through the other days, Jasper felt the wonders. Here, the green canopy was overwhelming. It blocked the sunlight. Everything turned hazy. The shortest road bore illusions of a maze.

Jasper was curious what it concealed, but like a traveler in twilight hour, when they know they should go back, she was also quite tired and wary of it.

Possibly, the weariness had seeped through from Pearl, who hung on her arm like a bird injured in flying. She was wearied, also, but then, she was past wearied, she started to talk as glibly as she could.

~~~~~~~

That night, when Jasper went to sleep, she dreamt. It's strange, almost a nightmare, but she could have forgotten it easily. However, over the next ten years, from time to time, the dream reoccurred. It was etched into her consciousness, became part of her psyche. After many times, it was less a nightmare but more a song. If she saw a lake glimmering past the forest barrier in her dream, Jasper would follow it, with gladness in her heart.

However, the first time, it was scary and strange.

She saw a deep and cold lake on the horizon, the type that can outlast a forest fire. She met many Pearls on her way. They said, belligerently, don’t go in.

Come back to your home. They said guiltily. Don't ask me. Ignore it, for your own sake! Yet, after Jasper traversed the forest of past destruction and new reconstruction- as after the forest fire, life returned, and now, the new woods were as tall and wide as her, she reached the lake's shore.

Another Pearl was there, "Come in," she agreed, because Jasper had been insisting, "Underneath, there were ashes of death. I thought you were a twinkling light, from fire, from life, but maybe you were a lake also. Don’t be upset: it makes me love you more."

~~~~~~

"You usually fault me for being cryptic."

"It's alright." Jasper said. Now she knew the kind of pain that stuttered somebody.

Pearl made a face, she liked clarity. Yet, they couldn’t be clear. They settled for the abstract, "It was the giant's wish to live forever. She kept everyone in mindless suffering. She was rich when everyone else was poor, but she wanted to she richer still."

"Exactly how rich does she want to be?"

"I don't know." She said, petulantly. "It's abstract. She drew star maps, she wanted them all."

"How poor is everyone else?"

"I don't know. It cannot be accounted, cannot be expressed."

"Is everyone you and me?"

Pearl smiled, "Now you deigned yourself on my standing."

Jasper was flustered, "You never tell me anything."

"It's alright, I don't want you to be like me. I don't want to complain." She chuckled, "But I was a dirt-poor orphan, Jasper."

"I'm sorry."

"But you are one, too. I'm sorry for you, too. We can go around being sorry for each other, but we are too far away from home and leisure, and we are doing things quite late."

"It's you and me who were sorry for being poor." Jasper lamented.

"And more." Pearl smiled, "You tell me."

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"I know you pitied Pink."

"I know you don't," Jasper sighed, "I don't want us to fight."

Pearl wanted to say something, but like many times the subject of Pink was broached, she was deadly tired before she could speak.

"I do not not pitied her." She tried to explain herself again. She almost fell face-first to the dirt covered with emerald grasses. They had to sit down.

It was another stone ledge, fully covered on three sides with overgrown thorny bushes. They get in from the only side that was left uncovered, but it was a small way in. The bushes bear colorful flowers without fragrance. There was almost no sound, apart from the leaves’ gentle rustle. The stone was very old. It was more moss than white.

"But whatever she gave me seemed to need so much more." Pearl said. She was sitting down, her face hung low, but her hand raised up. She was grasping Jasper. She was angry. She felt that this was very unfair.

However, it was soon submerged in her weariness. She settled down. Her hands were by her body, but she could look up. She leaned on Jasper, who was flustered.

"Don't speak anymore." Jasper said, "I'm sorry for keeping asking you to speak. I know why your doctor was so anxious. You looked like you were going to die in my arms."

"I will keep telling you." Pearl said, "As you said, it's not like I don't care about you. I will show you the start of everything. We need to get away from the Temple. You are in luck: I know a way out."

Jasper was moved, "Thank you."

Pearl chuckled, "Why do we have to go all this way? If only you had taken my words when White sent Pink the invitation. This is her home court, and I feel worse than ever."

"I'm sorry." Jasper said, "But I need to see it for myself."

Pearl sighed, "You do."

Then, she parted the evergreen vines: stones which were wide, smooth, and upright were right under it. They were by the Temple's fence, old and forgotten.

The Temple students like their stellar manner, their good grades, and they believed in a narrow way out. Pearl had been so. She never considered skipping class or jumping the fence, never curious about the wide world there was outside: she didn't buy that kinder people were just outside the wall. She knew the Capital, it was punitive. The people were likewise bleak.

Today, let them take an unusual road, to see where it lead them. They scaled the wall.