Homeworld still felt foreign and unreal to Jasper when she received a new summons from Yellow Diamond herself. Even in the midst of the chaos of reassigning and relocating all of the gem soldiers displaced from Earth's battlefield by Homeworld's tactical retreat, the planet was unbelievably polished with spires and arenas shining bright against the starline. Everything Earth could have been and yet nothing like that gem-forsaken planet. Even the gems seemed more polished and Jasper, a child of the war from a hasty and slipshod Kindergarten, barely knew how to behave.

It didn't help that everywhere she went, whispers and stares followed her. That's her, she would hear as she moved through the crowds, the Jasper from Beta. I've heard stories, can you imagine? That was her, the Jasper from Beta. Most of her original name had melted away as she gained notoriety during the war, but even now nobody forgot where she had come from. But instead of derision, their voices were now tinged with awe and they tagged a new nickname to the end: The Kindergarten Quartz that Could. It was laughable, in a sick way, but some of the worst perpetrators of the name were her superiors so she could do nothing but wear the distinction as a badge of honor.

After all, if no one would acknowledge how she had failed in the war for Earth, then neither could Jasper. Instead, she walked proudly into Yellow Diamond's audience chamber, her Captain's cape billowing behind her like a legacy – though now fitted with a yellow clasp rather than a pink one. With a salute and an address of "Yellow Diamond," Jasper knelt before her new diamond and waited to be acknowledged.

The gem matriarch sat at a large marble desk beneath a ceiling impressively vaulted to accommodate her height. Lighted screens surrounded her, illuminating the sharp lines of her face and the clean cut of her gem. At Yellow Diamond's side her Pearl, commonly known as Champagne by others because of the color of her gem, wrinkled her nose at screens of her own, sending Yellow Diamond's orders to those below with a clear look of gleeful contempt. Jasper wasn't surprised that this pearl had adapted so eagerly to the overflow of Yellow Diamond's responsibilities. In even their briefest interactions, Champagne made a point of keeping her hand in Yellow Diamond's business. It irked Jasper to no end.

"Ah, Jasper, thank you for your timeliness," Yellow Diamond addressed her after a moment, though she still sounded preoccupied. Jasper waited. She had been given no information about this summons, though she could only assume Yellow Diamond had new responsibilities for her. Perhaps one controlling yet another group of refugees as she was already doing in Facet 2. Most of the refugees were soldiers, though there were displaced technicians, aristocrats, and the like who needed to be sorted out and reassigned. Jasper, as a Captain, only gave the quartzes a sense of structure and kept peace among the nervous gems who had been granted asylum on Homeworld. Tedious work, but necessary in the wake of war. She was grateful the opportunity had been given to her.

"You may stand," Yellow Diamond insisted, beckoning Jasper to her feet and herself rising from her desk. "Pearl, see that the latest reassignments go out. And… Remind the supervisors that it is imperative that each assignment makes it to the correct type of gem. We don't have time for another mix-up."

"Yes, my Diamond," Champagne answered with a salute.

"Do you have a new assignment for me?" Jasper asked as Yellow Diamond descended from the dais her work station was settled on. Now that they stood closer, the lines of exhaustion and grief in Yellow Diamond's face were obvious, despite how her smart appearance tried to distract from it. A sour lump rose in Jasper's throat. Of course Yellow Diamond would be grieving, Homeworld's losses must have hit her the hardest – after all, she had lost more than a colony. But she continued to work for the good of gemkind and Jasper… Jasper suddenly felt sick remembering how she had failed to prevent Earth from being lost. How she had failed to prevent Pink Diamond from…

"Yes," Yellow Diamond interrupted Jasper's wandering thoughts, "I will shortly, but that is not why I called you here." Jasper responded with a curt nod. She let Yellow Diamond lead her down a long hallway and through a multiroom door that kept Yellow Diamond's capitol building easy to traverse using a modified warp pad technology. Being led around by Yellow Diamond herself was incredibly unusual and Jasper tried to brace herself for whatever important burden her new Diamond would ask her to shoulder next. She could not let down another diamond.

The room they emerged into was filled with large, elegantly formed metal boxes that lined the walls from floor to ceiling, each humming softly. Scalloped abalone lamps fixed between each row of boxes bathed the room in cool light. Jasper had never set foot here, but she knew immediately where she was.

The pearl Kindergarten.

Yellow Diamond took a box from one of the uppermost shelves and presented it to Jasper in the palm of her hand. "This one is for you," she said. "All we need now is your light."

Behind a pane of glass there sat a large copper pearl ringed around the middle and only just beginning to flicker with its own light. Jasper blanched, unable to form words. A Pearl was too much, far more than she deserved for clawing her way through countless rebels just to keep from being shattered. More than she deserved for doing what she was made to do, and failing even at that. It wasn't right.

Jasper took an unsteady step backwards but she found herself seeking Yellow Diamond's face. "Ye—" She stopped herself, corrected her address. "My Diamond, this is completely unnecessary. I'm just a quartz soldier. Not a… a…"

The lines in Yellow Diamond's face hardened, her nostrils flared. "A hero?" she guessed. "The gems of our world certainly think you are. And I myself am grateful for your service to my sister, our losses would have been even greater without you." She paused to fix Jasper with a stern look that made Jasper feel incredibly small, as if Yellow Diamond could see each instance of failure that ran through Jasper's mind just by looking at her. In a way, it only validated the shame she felt. "Like it or not, your story, each of your sacrifices, belongs to the public now. Gems will look up to you as we rebuild. They need to see your strength. And they need to see you acknowledged. I make certain that the gems of my court receive what they deserve." As she said this, Yellow Diamond pushed the pearl box into Jasper's hands. It had an ominous weight to it and Jasper tightened her grip carefully, grinding her teeth.

"This is… for the good of Homeworld then?"

"Yes. For your own good as well. You will be taking on a lot of responsibility in the near future, and…pearls have their uses."

Jasper stared at the Pearl in her hands, dreading when she would take form. The last thing she needed right now was a toy ballerina following her around and getting in her way. But she was in no place to argue with Yellow Diamond's generosity. "I understand, thank you. What do you need me to do?"

Yellow Diamond looked satisfied and she pressed the side of the box so the pane of glass retracted. "The light from your gem," she instructed.

With a slow breath, Jasper focused her light into her gem until she could project a beam onto the unfinished pearl. The copper lustre shone under the light and the sides of the box grew warm, the insides glowing brighter by the second. The faint light within the gem grew more distinct as well, to Jasper's slight alarm. Finally, the glass panel snapped shut to trap the heat Jasper had poured into it so that her pearl would finish baking under her own light.

"Excellent." Yellow Diamond took the box from her and set it back in its place. "She will be ready soon enough, there will be a ceremony before the next lunar cycle."

"Thank you, my Diamond," Jasper intoned, feeling hollow. She glanced back at the box holding her pearl as they left the room and a sour taste filled her mouth.