Like a string of shining jewels

[jealousyborn]

A very young-looking Beryl from the Silver Millenium's Earth Kingdom is more or less cheerfully straightening and dusting the bedchamber of what appears to be an elegant suite of rooms. There's a small object on a table, which she examines closely; a piece of jewelry. It seems to be made for a woman, which suggests the masculine owner of this

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[jealousyborn]

Beryl lets out a faint squeak (yes, squeak) and turns around immediately. She blushes furiously and stammers out a greeting.

"J-Jadeite-sama!"

[jealousyborn]

Eep. Beryl stares at her hands as if she'd forgotten she was holding the precious necklace, and then quickly shoves it back onto the table as if it might bite her or burn her instead if she doesn't get it out of her hands fast.

She really wasn't going to take it!

There's a long, awkward silence.

[jealousyborn]

"Eh? You don't recognize it?" Then again, a shitennou has even less reason to be here than she does. She was here for an honest purpose, after all; and a shitennou would rarely if ever be called to Endymion's own chambers.

"It's Endymion-sama's chambers," Beryl says. "It's my turn to clean them."

[jealousyborn]

Did he really expect anything else?

"He's in love with the moon princess." She says it almost wistfully, glancing without even realizing it towards a window that affords a view of that same moon. If she could be a princess like that, with power and status and wealth and beauty...

[jealousyborn]

Flustered, her first thought is to deny it.

"Of course not! I couldn't look at him like that! He's our prince!" Her expression of a moment earlier suggests exactly how she looks at Endymion, however, of course.

She was only, uh, uh, uh, wondering it would be like to be rich and have those beautiful jewels! Absolutely no intent of stealing them (true; even if the thought would occur to her, the inevitable punishment is an excellent deterrent) or of thinking she could be with Endymion (so obviously false; it occupies more and more of her thoughts these days).

[jealousyborn]

She really doesn't want to discuss these things, with one of the shitennou no less, but she has little choice. She avoids answering directly, however, and compliments the gems in front of them instead.

"It's just that I couldn't help looking at it. This necklace is so beautiful," she says. As if she's still pretending the real issue is the issue of her honesty and her job in the palace, she adds, "I was going to return to cleaning in just a moment."

[jealousyborn]

He doesn't need to apologize to her. But Beryl manages a smile, too, as he does. Something seems very different about him today, and it finally occurs to her to remember the other worlds she's learned about. Is he one of those other 'Jadeites', then, the ones who treat her so kindly?

"Be well, Jadeite-sama," she dares just before he's turning to leave.