Disclaimer : This licence isn't mine. The opinions express by the characters are not mine. I do not support nor encourage the illegal or dangerous acts or words present here. I can make a distinction between fiction and reality and I trust in my readership's ability in doing the same.

Chapter thirty-two: Huckleberry Pie's back (Part two)

Huckleberry Pie was supposed to start to work the next morning. Meantime, the girls decided to let him stay at the Café. While his dogs were stretching their paws, Huckleberry Pie was answering Apple Dumplin's questions. Of course, Huckleberry was independent, had his own money, could do whatever he wanted when he wanted to… For the young girl, he could do everything that was forbidden to her. His life must be extremely exciting, much more than hers.

After a short night Huckleberry spent by counting his dogs and preventing them from destroying Strawberry Shortcake's room, he presented himself at the orchard, equipped with a spade and all his good willing, but uncertain about his abilities in completing successfully his assignment. Berrykin Bloom was waiting for him, accompanied, as usual, by the Princess Berrykin and the two princesses.

-I don't want them to believe they are better than the other due to their rank, she had said. "They must feel close to their people. Otherwise, they will turn haughty and despising. They'll lose the respect and obedience of their people, and the kingdom my ancestors and I had spent hundreds of years to develop… will collapse in a few years. We all know that a lonely Berrykin is a dead Berrykin."

But little Emerald and Tourmaline didn't know that seeing the agricultural workers working hard was a part of their royal education. For them, it was just another entertainment.

-We're glad to see you back, mister Huckleberry Pie, said the Princess by way of salutation. "Strawberryland needs all its labor force to make our fields ready for our springtime sowing. All that you'll have to do today will be to dig the ground in order to soften it and make it more favorable in having our precious seed. Understand?"

-Yes ma'am, said clumsily the young man, "Uh, I meant Your Majesty."

-Berry well. Let's go!

Berrykin Bloom leaned Huckleberry Pie to the place he had to plow, advised him against digging too close to the sleeping strawberry patches that could get damaged, and then went supervising the other Berrykins. This time, Emerald and Tourmaline didn't follow him.

-Who's that girl? Emerald whispered to her twin sister, using their Berrykin language that humans could not understand (Berrykin Bloom had told them, once, that some thoughts could not be said out loud, because they could hurt people; and she believed she was going to express a hurtful thought).

-I don't know, her sister answered, using the same language for the above-mentioned reason.

The little princesses were perfectly able to make a distinction between a male Berrykin and a female one, but, as they had only lived since that day with young women, they imagined that every human was a girl, too.

-What happen to her hair? It is so short, it's ugly.

-Maybe she has a disease?

-Perhaps. But what are these awful clothing? Why isn't she wearing a dress, like all the other girls?

-Maybe she doesn't know what a dress is?

-Poor girl!

Even though Emerald and Tourmaline were still very young, they had a little bit caught that they were supposed to be exemplar for all the other Berrykins and come to their aid anytime they would need it. And this strange girl, named Huckleberry Pie, really seemed to need it.

-What can we do for her? Tourmaline asked.

-I know that… our people (Emerald didn't understand very well that this word meant, but it was the word her mother used when she told them about the other Berrykins) throw a magic powder coming through their hands to make our precious strawberries reach maturity quicker. I saw them do so, once.

-And so?

-Maybe her hair will grow thanks to our powder!

-Do you know how to throw it?

-No, but it seemed very easy.

Unfortunately, it was easier said than done. Instead of throwing a stream of flakes, like the adult did, the little princesses had to concentrate a lot before managing to get some sparks out of their hands. And yet they were unable to direct them. The sparks couldn't rise high enough to reach Huckleberry's head; they just scattered in the air, before vanishing on the floor. In front of them, Huckleberry Pie was still plowing, without noticing what they were trying to do.

-It's too hard for us, whined Tourmaline. "We are so small and she's so big…"

As well as despondency, Emerald was experiencing an intense feeling of frustration. She was a little princess, and she was unable to complete this task that was easy as pie for all the others! What kind of princess will she be, if she was so unskilled?

-I won't stop before having make her hair grow! She shouted at her sister.

And, gathering all her energy, angst and willpower, she stretched one more time her tiny hands toward Huckleberry's head. Her whole body shivered as she felt her magic, coming from the bottom of her innards, crossing it. The shivers quickly turned into a great warm, that spread through all her limbs. The fire gathered in her hands, and, when Emerald thought her palms were going to burn, she saw a powerful spurt of flame gushing out of her hands… right to the back of Huckleberry's head, the place she had targeted.

-Ouch! Huckleberry cried, rubbing his hair where he has been burnt and turning over to see who had attacked him. But he didn't see any threatening people, just the two princesses, innocently looking at him.

-Hi kids… hmm, princesses, he said clumsily. "Hey, what are you doing here? Are you going to stay here and watch me working?"

-Why not? Emerald asked bravely.

-No reason, Huckleberry replied, unsettled by the princess' aplomb. "But, isn't it a little… boring?"

-Absolutely not, Tourmaline answered.

Huckleberry sighed. He used to think he was really mature, really trustworthy, but he had just been taken down a peg or two by babies. Royal babies, admittedly, but babies anyway!

Behind him, the princesses had started exploring their new power.

-I was extremely angry, Emerald explained to her sister in Berrykin language, "And I felt this fire going out of my body."

-I want to try, too! Tourmaline shouted.

They were extremely excited and no longer thought about Huckleberry Pie. Just like her sister, Tourmaline raised her hands and concentrated, but nothing happened.

-It's not fair, she whined.

By her side, Emerald was trying to throw fire again, but her efforts stayed vain, too. Apparently, this tiny sparkle had appeared just to prove them they had powers, but had immediately vanished. Even worse: no one had witnessed their performance! Who will trust them, when they'll say they had done something that no one had done before? As and when their failures came one after another, their frustration and disillusion grew stronger and stronger. Until…

-I think we will never do it anymore, Tourmaline sadly concluded, letting herself fall on the floor.

-Let us have one more try, Emerald purposed, trying to look optimistic in order to encourage her sister, but she was feeling too that it was certainly a waste of time. "A last try, together, if you will…"

Reluctantly, Tourmaline stood up and placed herself side by side with her sister. As they raised, one more time, just like they had done tens of time before, their hands to the strawberry patches, Tourmaline reminded all her despondency, and anger. What was the point? During a second, a tiny little second, they had thought they were powerful, too, worthy of being princesses; but this second was over, and their hope too. And, as she stayed just next to her sister, Tourmaline could feel Emerald was thinking the same thing. But, at the moment Tourmaline was about to let her arms falling down furiously, she felt an abnormal heat on her stomach, a heat that grew and spread in her chest, then to her arm. She turned her head victoriously toward her sister, but, according to her beaming smile, she was experiencing the same thing. The heat stopped in the top of her hands, creating at Tourmaline the impression of touching a scorching hotplate, and then left her body under the form of a little fireball springing out of her finger, immediately joined by Emerald's own fireball.

-We did it! The twins cried.

-We're stronger when we are together, Emerald noticed.

But their joy didn't last long. The two fireballs trace a bright arc of a circle… before landing on a strawberry patch, which immediately caught fire.

-Fire! Fire! They whined, terrified.

Huckleberry Pie spun round and stayed astonished when he saw the pending disaster. Repeating "Fire!" was the only thing he could do. His brain had stopped working, and all that he could do was to watch the blaze gaining ground, standing on his wobbly legs which could hardly support his weight. The twins and him would have been seriously burned, or maybe killed, if some Berrykins weren't working near. Alerted by the babies' shouted, they quickly managed to muffled the fire.

-Mister Huckleberry, I want to know what you did, the Princess Berrykin ordered.

All Strawberryland has gathered for an exceptional trial, in order to determine the circumstance of the fire that could have been deadly. Huckleberry Pie was the main suspect.

-I was just working, when I heard the girls…

The Princess silenced him with an impatient movement of the hand.

-Of course, and the fire started all by itself? That's ridiculous. I seriously advise you to tell us all the truth, otherwise… And my daughters aren't girls, they are princesses.

Standing next to her, Berrykin Bloom was here, the two shocked princesses in his arms. He was trying to give Huckleberry a fortifying look, but he was as shaken up as the twins, and could hardly prevent himself from shivering. He couldn't stop thinking about how lucky the twins have been. If his workmates hadn't been so close to them… At this moment, his arms would have been empty, and he would have been searching for their burnt-out corpses. Their heirs… The Princess would have never forgiven him. She would have sentenced him to death. Maybe she was already blaming him, for having left the princesses alone?

-Mister Huckleberry, you don't realize how gross your situation is. You have caused a fire, and you didn't even try to rescue our heirs, who missed to be burnt alive. What have you got to say for your defense?

-I'm innocent! Huckleberry Pie shouted. "I swear I didn't cause this fire."

The Princess thumped her table.

-That means you're accusing my daughters of being pyromaniacs? she fulminated. "Look at them! They are so traumatized they can no longer talk!"

-Mister Huckleberry, Berrykin Bloom said with a trembling voice, "You really should say all the truth…"

Emerald and Tourmaline were silently crying, too.

-I am saying the truth! Huckleberry cried, almost crying, too.

The trial lasted all afternoon long. When night came, Huckleberry was still protesting his innocence, the Princess was still determined he was guilty, and the princesses were still mute. It was the time of the legal outcome. The opinions were mixed: for the Berrykins, it was obvious Huckleberry Pie was responsible; for Strawberry Shortcake and her friends, it was highly improbable!

-Hucklberry Pie is a nice guy, Strawberry Shortcake explained. "Why would he…"

-Maybe he didn't want to, Orange Blossom cut. "We all know what he did to Blueberry, and he probably ruined her life, without being aware of it. It was certainly an accident, but Huck is so immature he can't simply confess to it."

After the legal outcome, the Princess declared, and that didn't surprise the audience, that the court has sentenced Huckleberry Pie guilty of having destroyed a strawberry patch and having put in deadly danger members of the royal family.

-Considering your inability in completing a task properly, the Princess concluded, "The court won't sentence you in doing community service, but you are sentence in leaving Strawberryland as soon as possible and to never approach the princesses again".

This sentence looked unimportant, but, once more, Huckleberry had lost a home and friends.

And the twins didn't know well if they had to reveal their power, or to keep it secret.

To be continued…