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The sound of clanking swords echoed through the sky-arena as Connie and Pearl sparred. It had been a few months since Steven had left Beach City, and Connie had taken to continue training with Pearl in his absence.
If anything, this was perfect for Pearl, as she had found herself with too much time in her hands, and with an unwillingness to spend too much time in the temple or the beach house, which felt much more empty now that he was gone. In many ways, she has come to realise, Connie was leaning on her for support, and this thought has filled her with a willingness to care for the young girl as she did years earlier, she had come to develop a sense of responsibility towards the girl ever since she had taken her under her wing, she knew Connie had her mother, but Priyanka couldn’t protect her in the world of gems, and Pearl found herself more than willing to do it in her place, out of love.
Pearl noticed with slight worry that her student was winded, and motioned them to take a break. As they walked towards the stairs of the Sky Arena, she encouraged her, “Excellent form as always Connie.” The girl blushed, “Thank you, ma’am. I mean, Pearl.” Pearl laughed, her pupil was still not used to calling her by her name, despite her insistence after their battle against the diamonds in the Homeworld. “You are a real Crystal Gem.” she had said, and she meant it.
Then again, she realised, they haven’t spent a lot of time training after that, there was so much to do and so little time. She frowned as she thought about how Connie must have felt after all of the events of her childhood, even less acclimated to their world than Steven ever was, ever since she realised the full extent of Steven’s trauma, she had been thinking about a certain topic, sitting in the stairs of Sky-Arena, she decided, it was the perfect time to breach the subject.
“Connie…” she began, as the girl looked at her, “Yes, Pearl?” She sighed, “I feel sometimes that I had been very insufficient towards Steven while he grew up. No please, let me finish” She raised her hand slightly and looked down, “I never realised how… Bad he felt, how he bottled it all up, not until…”
She looked at Connie again, “I know I am not your mother, I know I wasn’t present in your life as much as I was in his, yet. But being a part of it for the last three years now, I realise that you have seen a lot of the events that made him feel terrible and traumatised…”
Connie nodded, encouraging her to continue, “What I am trying to say is, I suppose, we never talked to you either. I know it can be hard to talk to Dr Maheswaran about the Gems for you sometimes, and I just hate to think that you have been bottling up your feelings as well.”
Connie stood silently for a while, looking down, Pearl swallowed hard, “I apologise if I have been too direct, I just wanted to know you could talk to me.” she said uncertainly. “No Pearl, It is okay.” the girl said, looking up, her eyes were wet, “You are wrong, you know.” Pearl tilted her head slightly, “I do see you as a mother, you don’t have to replace mom for that, we have been through so much and you took responsibility for me, you taught me how to use the sword, how to be independent… You trusted me.” She sighed, “And, I suppose you are right, the things Steven and I saw, some of them, we weren’t supposed to. But I don’t think you had a chance to stop many of them, and I know you did your best protecting us.” Pearl nodded uncertainly.
“That doesn’t make it okay, but sometimes, life isn’t okay. I have been going to therapy since… Well, ever since the Diamonds, I suppose. It is… Hard, sometimes, but I am managing.” She hugged her mentor slowly, “But, I will keep in mind that you are here for me, I appreciate it.”
They stood there for a while, watching the sunset, before standing up and walking to the warp pad.