The relationship between most gems with Pearls is strictly one-sided. One gem gets the complete loyalty and servitude of someone pretty, and face none of the objection or argument that plagues the daily life of noble gems. The Pearl, in return, gets absolutely nothing, save for tired feet and the pleasure of serving some insignificant upper crust.

This is not true for the Pearl that belongs to the almighty Yellow Diamond. While it would be a stretch to call them equals, the great Diamond certainly offered much more ore respect to her Pearl's opinion than most gems would. Their relationship did not start out as cordial as you may think, though. For hundreds of years Yellow Diamond and her Pearl had a strictly professional relationship. All of this changed, however, on the first day of the week thousands of years ago.

Yellow Diamond was in a meeting. An emergency meeting, to be exact, called on by a Nephrite concerning recent troubles on a planet they were colonizing. As Yellow was listening to the Nephrite drone on and on about organic resistance, Pearl was at the floor, carefully transcribing every word.

"...according to my Jade, the primary organic species on the planet seems harmless, but actually secrete some kind of toxin that is highly corrosive to all my gems, and myself..."

Yellow hid a yawn. "Then don't deal with them. The Kindergartens will do short work of them, in time."

The Nephrite looked around nervously. "Of course, my Diamond, but the organics are very protective of their territory, which just so happens to be clustered around Kindergarten sites. If we ignore them, the organics get in our way. If we deal with them, they poison my gems."

"If I remember correctly—" This was dripping in sarcasm; of course Yellow remembered correctly. "Lapis Lazulis can fly. Block the area with something organics can't reach, and let the Lapises do their jobs. Everything else will happen as it does."

As Pearl typed that, she scrunched her face up. She could immediately see that idea was not going to work. Most of Homeworld's restraint technology was designed for its native residents, not organics. She kept quiet, though.

Nephrite seemed to have the same idea as Pearl. Sensing this, Yellow put her hand up to stop her. "Gems are infinitely stronger and more durable than any organic. That's all I'll hear of this."

Nephrite sighed and half-heartedly gave a salute. "Of course, my Diamond."

Getting in those last words, Pearl rushed over to open the door for Nephrite.

When Nephrite left, Yellow let out a tired groan and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Egad, can't they think for themselves?"

"It just proves that you are all-knowing, my Diamond!" Pearl chimed, hoping to please her.

Yellow simply sank into her seat. "A Diamond is assuredly all-knowing. One would expect the Nephrites would be at least semi-knowing."

Seeing the disgruntled disposition, Pearl spoke up again. "My Diamond, is there anything you need from me?"

"No, no." Yellow looked at her. "Being a Diamond is thankless work. Everyday, it's request after request, meeting after meeting, report after report. You Pearls have it easy."

Easy?! "I'm going to be shattered for this, my Diamond, but you've just described what I do every second of my life! Whatever you have to do, I have to do it twice over. Anyways, I'm the one who screens all of your audiences. Even you would blush at the things gems say to me when I tell them they can't see you!

"And I definitely don't have it easy with requests. All day its 'Pearl, dance for me' or 'Pearl, make a copy of the report' or 'Pearl, keep Pink occupied so she stays out of my hair'. Your hair is already perfect, my Diamond, so why do you even have to say something like that? So yeah, I don't have it easy, so you can just shatter and replace me already!" Pearl blushed, halfway from the adrenaline of speaking so out of turn, and halfway from the fear of her death.

Instead, Yellow diamond started to laugh. "Maybe it's because I'm delusional from exhaustion, but I actually don't want to shatter you," she said. "Pearl, that is just cute. Perhaps you have to do many things, but they are petty. A Diamond's decision has great consequence; it weighs heavy."

"Well, you get to sit with it."

Again, Pearl was saved by laughter. "All of this stress lately will crack my gem. Pearl, I have a little deal for you," Yellow said. "Let's switch places for a week, and you'll see how hard it really is to be a Diamond. (And I get a break.)"

She's shown too much bravado to back out now. "I think you made a mistake. You're the one who will know what true stress is. I agree, my Diamond!" Not like she had a choice. Although, even if she did, Pearl supposed she would still agree.