(See the end of the chapter for notes .)

Chapter Text

Pearl does not trust her Master.

She is a Feldspar. An administrator, very high ranking in the courts, involved with diplomacy, organization, and communications. Her main duties are arranging functions, parties, meetings and galas. Pearl’s main function, by extension, is as a waiter at these functions. She delivers messages, gives directions, announces guests’ arrival, assists in any way she can.

During the functions, Feldspar behaves very much like every other Master Pearl has observed. To the guests, she is an excellent host, genial and considerate. To Pearl, she is professional and distant, only speaking to her when issuing instructions or receiving correspondence. Otherwise, she leaves Pearl to her duties, far to busy with her own to pay her any mind.

Or so it seems.

Pearl has caught Feldspar watching her, out of the corner of her eye. Very quick, very subtle, but unmistakable, once she’d started to look out for it.

Other Masters do not do that. Pearl knows. She has watched. When other Gems bring their pearls to serve at various galas, they practically ignore them. (Unless they make some kind of mistake, of course). But not her Master. No, her Master watches her— and she doesn’t want anyone else to know that she does.

That was in public. In private…

In private, Feldspar is always talking to her.

She’ll talk about her duties. About upcoming plans for various functions. About the political effects of the invention of the new clinohumite gem class. About the recent squabbles between the howlites and the turquoises. Pearl listens to it all obediently and patiently.

She is very good at listening. Listening and watching.

When you are not permitted to speak unless spoken to, it is the only things available to do at these functions. And it can be interesting, too. Gems follow patterns, and it is satisfying, learning those patterns, and learning to predict them. Who speaks to who. The power dynamics at play. The inflection and the tones used. The deferences, the praises, the subtle compliments and the snide insults.

An entire hierarchy spreads out before her, from the grandest Diamonds to the lowliest corals. She sees each Gem’s place, how they fit in together.

Feldspar is near the top of the hierarchy. Pearl is near the bottom.

Feldspars do not converse with pearls. Masters do not converse with their servants. Owners do not converse with their trinkets.

But this one does. Pearl does not know how to react to this, so she simply does not.

Until, one Cycle, when they are in Feldspar’s chambers, Feldspar puts down her holo-tablet, looks her servant in the eyes and says, “Pearl, I wish to ask something of you.”

Pearl inclines her head. “I am at my Master’s service.”

Feldspar purses her lips. “No. This is not an order, merely a request.”

Pearl remains silent.

“You are very observant, aren’t you, Pearl?”

“I can be, if you so desire.”

Her Master sighs, although a quick smile dances on her lips. “And quick-witted, too. You always know exactly what to say. Always perfectly polite. A model pearl.”

Again, Pearl says nothing.

“I see you watching. Always listening, always looking. No one ever notices you. No one ever notices a pearl. You’re… background noise. Unimportant.

“It’s not the same with me. I’m a Feldspar. Every Gem knows where I stand, knows the political power granted by my position. They tip toe around me, always watching what they say. They don’t want to slip up, say something wrong. No one knows what I might do with that information.”

This is true. Feldspar is so inviting, so affable, always greeting her guests with bright smiles. Other Gems smile back at her, but those smiles do not reach their eyes. They do not trust Feldspar.

Still silent, Pearl watches her Master from beneath the fringes of her hair.

“You must hear a great deal, don’t you?”

She blinks innocently up at Feldspar. “What are asking, My Feldspar?”

Felspar is not smiling now. Her gaze is sharp and piercing. “I want you to be my informant. To be my ears. Find out what Gems are thinking, what they are saying. Their worries, their fears, their dissatisfactions. The rumours they’ve been hearing.

“It would be dangerous,” she continues, after a moment, raising her hand. “Pearls are mostly ignored, so many would not even notice you. But some Gems might be paranoid, and see through you regardless. If you were caught— if we were caught— then the consequences would be severe.

“So I am not ordering you. I am asking you.”

Pearl does not speak immediately. She thinks.

This is not how things work. Masters do not request, do not ask. They do not give options, or choices.

She could stay silent. Bat her eyelids, play dumb. Feldspar might not fall for the act, but she'd take the hint, and Pearl would avoid any traps her Master may be hiding.

But she is curious.

“…There truly will be no penalty, should I decline?” Pearl says. Emotion— suspicion— enters into her voice, for the first time in her life.

“None.”

Pearl thinks some more. Narrows her eyes. “Then tell me, My Feldspar,” she says, placing the slightest emphasis on the title. “Why should I do this for you, if it is so dangerous?”

Feldspar nods, as if satisfied by this question. A true politician, she answers with one of her own. “Tell me— do the Gems you watch seem happy?”

Pearls considers this question. It is a very odd one. ‘Happiness’ is not something she has ever really considered.

“Some,” she says, eventually. “The higher ranking ones— but only those who are successful. The others are…” She takes a moment to choose the correct word. “Nervous.”

“Skittish,” agrees Feldspar. “Fearful. Cracks are forming in the Empire. Things are going wrong, and everyone’s afraid they will be held responsible, and punished.”

Pearl nods. This is sensible. Only to be expected.

“What would you do, Pearl, if you found a Temple filled with cracks?”

“I would repair it.”

“And what if it could not be repaired? What if the instability was too great?”

Ah. Now she sees. “I would build a new one. A better one.”

“But first,” Felspar says, her voice low now, and breathless, “the old one must be destroyed. And to do that, you need to find those cracks… and chip away at them.”

Pearl holds her hands close to her chest, then closes her eyes. Thinks the proposition over. When she opens them, she looks on the other Gem— the Feldspar, who might not be her Master, after all. A partner, perhaps.

And she says, “Very well. I accept.”