Pearl bristles, immediately on the defensive, hissing right back: "I was startled, I mean what did you expect?! Why didn't you think to drop that little truth bomb earlier? Or, I don't know, maybe at any point before we started slinking around the hallways after dark!?"

She takes a deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Why on Earth would these humans want to make gems? Or for that matter, how are they even accomplishing this? The scientific implications are mind boggling, they don't have any of the correct equipment or conditions..."