Steven sits up a bit straighter. He wasn't expecting the Balladeer to be familiar with magic, and wouldn't have taken it for granted that he'd be comfortable with it, but it's nice to be wrong on both counts. This will make things a lot easier!

"With magic!" he says, letting his shirt drop back down. "The mutant Gems - Pearl says they're broken. It's not their fault. We don't know how to fix them, yet, so we bubble them and keep them in the Temple, where they can't hurt anyone by mistake. They're safe in there."

He should probably tell the Balladeer who Pearl is, huh? He's never had to explain everything to someone before. But the more people who know about the other Crystal Gems, the better - that way, there will be lots of people who might recognize them when they show up.

"Pearl is one of the other Crystal Gems," Steven says. "It's her, Garnet, Amethyst, and me. They've all got weapons they can pull out of their gems, if they need to fight someone." He gives his stomach a rueful look. "I have a shield, but I can't always get it to appear when I want it to." It does tend to show up when he really needs it, but he wants to have it under control. The others make it look so easy.