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-seven: Rise in importance

Power. This is what Apple Dumplin' was experiencing when she was stealing the other students' money. I'm not even sure she remembered the way she felt, the first time she did that. Her last lesson was over, but Mulberry Murmur had decided they wouldn't come back home so early. And Apple Dumplin' had not the right to say no. So, they just had hung around in the streets running alongside the school, waiting for a guinea pig for Apple's test. And, this day, a six-years-old little girl had made the mistake of following this little used road. At this moment, Apple Dumplin' had felt sorrow for her. Anyway, she had never hurt her. But she had no choice: Mulberry Murmur was assessing her. She was terrified by the idea someone could catch them, but she nevertheless immobilized her victim against the wall. Her voice was trembling a little, when she had ordered the poor little girl to give her all her pocket money if she wanted to come back home in good condition. She was really willing to back out when she had saw the tears running through her cheeks. Her mouth was dry, but she nonetheless found the strength to tell her they would get her if she denounced them. After that, Apple Dumplin' was really feeling nauseous, but she made and effort and smiled at Mulberry while the bullied schoolgirl was running the other way. The same afternoon, she had had the impression that her hands were stained with blood, and that the words "thief" and "brute" were written on her front head.

But now, she had forgotten all her qualms, and she thought that bullying was rather exciting. It was just as if they were part of a secret society. Bullying was not an easy task for beginner. It was a whole organization, and each operation needed a certain time to get ready. They simply could not improvise. They had to lengthily observe the playground at break, to spot the lonely children, the one who were too shy to go with the others and mostly stayed isolated. Then, they had to wait for the good moment, were they could lure them apart. They had to find the proper words that would prevent the pupils from crying for help. And to make sure they would be able to hold their tongue. Definitively, it was not a job for amateurs. It required a fine technique… a technique they had entirely shaped, all by themselves. And this was what Apple Dumplin' preferred. Of course, she couldn't deny her life became noticeably more comfortable since they had started their little business, but money was not her main motivation, quite the reverse. After her first misdeed, Apple Dumplin' hardly dared to touch the banknotes, sullied by her guilt and by her victim's innocence, as if they could stain her hands, too. Her biggest will was to get rid of them and to erase this horrible memory by throwing them away, but she was worry Strawberry Shortcake would find them in the trash, and ask her some embarrassing question. So, she had hidden the banknotes in a box under her bed and tried to never though about what she had done again. But it was leaving Mulberry Murmur aside. She had kept questioning Apple Dumplin about the way she was feeling after having shown her "strength", and if she would be brave enough to try it again. Apple Dumplin' didn't want to, but she was too afraid of Mulberry Murmur's reaction to say no. In top of that, Mulberry could tell her first theft. So, Apple Dumplin' had obeyed. But, extortion after extortion, her fear vanished. When she saw terror shining into the children' eyes, she felt… living. Living for herself, Apple Dumplin', and not living as a doll for her sister, Strawberry Shortcake. Every wrongdoing she did took her away from the constraint Strawberry Shortcake wanted to impose on her. Strawberry Shortcake and her good manners, Strawberry Shortcake and her kindness, Strawberry Shortcake and all her selfless altruism. Yes, she could brag about the gratitude everybody had for her in Strawberryland. But, honestly, what did it brought to her? Nothing, except being forced to abandon her Café, her soul, what she liked the most to an ambitious partner, in order to be even more available for being her neighborhood's maid. And, between a world of decorum and slavery and a world of condemned freedom, Apple Dumplin' had done her choice.

Life carried on in Strawberryland. A few weeks passed, weeks of intense activity, especially for Orange Blossom. Her calling, her assignment, she had dreamt of it since months, she had thrown her body and soul into it, she had lengthily foreseen it, despite all oppositions, ignorance, contempt and do-nothingness, but now it was no longer a dream. A shiver of delight and excitation ran along her spinal column when she entered the widow. Standing proudly in front of her, imposing, strong, was the school, her school, the first step through the achievement of the sense she had given to her life. Now, no one would call her plans "nonsense". Now, her determination had turned physical. Now, things were finally going to change.

The school in itself was a rather modest building. It was a one-floor square building, made with yellow bricks and red tiles, which contained the bare necessities: a classroom, a little storehouse, a staff room and a lunch room, and, as you may know, it was a Berrykin-sized building, that made it looks like a big dollhouse; but, to Orange Blossom, it was the best day of her life.

-Congratulation Miss Blossom, said solemnly the Princess Berrykin, supervising the berry last work. "Thanks to you, a new era is starting for the Berrykin community of Strawberryland. On the occasion of the school's inauguration, you will be awarded a decoration".

Orange Blossom simply nodded. It was not due to her lack of gratitude toward the Princess, but she was so removed that she knew she would burst into tears if she tried to talk. So, she just stood still, in face of the school, trying to hold her tears back in her eyes.

Being a teacher by trade won't be that difficult, Blueberry Muffin assured to the Berrykins she was training. They would have to do their regulars tasks on morning, then to make a two-hours lecture to their pupils on the afternoon during which they would teach them everything they had learnt, and then spend the rest of the afternoon getting their next lesson ready. She was herself in charge of the first wave of teachers, and her assignment was to improve their curiosity, to develop their critical mind and to give them basics of literature, philosophy and history. The point was to raise Berrykins' liking for liberal arts and a will to make a profession of it. It was an idea of Orange Blossom. Due to her advanced pregnancy, she could no longer work to the Mart; and Orange had thought it would lift her spirits to let her be a part of her project, by asking her to do what she liked the most: sharing her knowledges. Of course, it meant well, but even thought Blueberry Muffin did her best, she felt like an impostor. How could she explain to her trainee the importance of education when she had given her own studies up? Could she bare to see Berrykins, considered for a so long time as subhumans, do great careers in human jobs while she will certainly be stuck forever between a checkout and her daughter? But she couldn't say that to Orange, after all that she did for her.

Blueberry Muffin's own pupils were volunteer Berrykins, at least ninety years old, who could stay calm and focused for a long time. But the Princess Berrykin refused to be outdone and watched closely the choice of the new teachers. She herself named Berrykin Bill as a math and physics teacher. As for Berrykin Bloom, he was invited to give them management lessons. He shyly objected that the best place for a Berrykin was near to their Mother Nature rather than at school, but the Princess turned a deaf ear. The only concession she made was to let him keep his biggest secrets for his apprentice, a young Lemon Berrykin named Daniel that followed him everywhere and sometimes pull a face to the little Princesses to make them laugh. When Berrykin Bloom pointed out that he would not be able to take care of his precious plants during his lectures, she simply answered he only had to let him work autonomously; he won't do great damages in only two hours per days. Anyway, it was a win-win situation: Daniel would learn his new job, while he would have a more relaxing activity: Doctor Hazel Nutby had extremely seriously said that he really had to slow down. This agreement didn't really suit him: Berrykin Daniel was much stronger and hardier than him, and when he would had taught him everything he knew… Well, he would turn useless. Outdated. Only fit for the trash. Berrykin Bloom refused to admit that, one day, his community wouldn't need him anymore. His whole family had died, and his closest relatives were the Princess and her daughters. But he was rather conscient that the Princess was forced to sacrifice her own desires for her community's sake and wouldn't be able to keep in her community a worthless mouth to feed. And, as for the princesses… they were so young. Well, when he'll disappear, they would be sad, but he wasn't sure his souvenir will stay for a long time in their memory. He had himself forgotten all about his father. He was just a baby when he had died… He guessed he loved him a lot and that he was a Plum Berrykin, like his uncle, and he knew a little bit about it thanks to the stories his uncle told him; but it was everything. Did he had to die all alone, forgotten by everyone?

Moreover, he didn't feel comfortable during his training programs with Blueberry Muffin. Her delivery was close, and her stomach had swelled a lot; however, he had no idea of the way the baby was supposed to get out, and he wondered if it would have to explode. He hoped he wouldn't be there to witness that, and when Blueberry passed next to him, he discreetly looked away.

Meanwhile, Plum Pudding wanted to offer another kind of lesson to the Berrykins. Upright stance was still difficult and painful to her, but, when she wasn't making more exercises to complete her physiotherapy, she stayed sat behind her computer, making researches. It prevented her for thinking too much about that the doctors had said. Anyway, she didn't even want to think of them. They were unable to understand her. They were not artists. She, she couldn't allow herself to lose her legs, not before accomplishing the brilliant career she was destined for. For sure, Lime Chiffon would be surprised when she would see her again in the spotlight! Stuck in her chair, Plum Pudding's small comfort was to imagine the tortures she wanted to inflict her. It would not give her legs back, but she thought, rightly, that the culprit had to be punished. So, she spent her time dissecting Lime Chiffon's social networks and groups of friends, looking for the evidence that would betray her and display the odious attack she had set up against her. But Plum Pudding wasn't the only one who had to deal with judicial troubles.

-Would you know were mister Huckleberry Pie could be? The Princess Berrykin asked once. "Neither I nor anyone else manage to join him."

Plum Pudding raised her head from her computer screen.

-I do not, Your Majesty, she said. "But Strawberry Shortcake has told me You had banished him. If I may ask You that, why do You want to find him?"

-My conscious force me to do an exceptional correction in his sentence, and I want him to attempt it. However, he seems to have vanished in the air. His previous landlord told me that he had left them, leaving six unpaid months of rent, without leaving them any new address, and that they would be berry grateful to me if I could put him in contact with them once I would have found him.

-I wish you a good luck, Your Majesty, Plum Pudding said, but she was already elsewhere. Huckleberry Pie's troubles didn't interest her a lot. The only boy she wanted to have news from was her brother, Plum Puddin'. She had sent him in the Berry Big City, and his task could be summarized in three words: Spying Lime Chiffon.

-You must do this if you really like me, she had told him. "I'm not talking about your family loyalty, but to your sense of honor: how can you stand the idea that this murderer is still free? My life is ruined! Don't you want him to pay for that he had done to me?"

Plum Puddin' had given her his agreement, because he was twice worrier for his sister. First of all, he could see she was still convinced she was adopted. Secondly, and that was the most concerning, she was denying her diagnosis. The tone with which she had said "my life is ruined", the way she talked about her accident let no doubt about it: Plum Pudding was sure she would be able to take her career up again. Of course, it was obvious her recovery had been extraordinarily fast, thanks to her determination and all her efforts; but her legs will never be again what they were before. She would be able to walk without crutches, and to run a little bit, but her skeleton had been too damaged to let her do high-level sport like she did before. Plum Puddin' was facing a dilemma: thanks to her ignorance, Plum Pudding had kept her love of life and her hope, which was primordial for her convalescence; but, to the other side, the longest she believed she would fully recover, the hardiest it would be to her to face the truth. And he could not decide which choice was the best. For a moment, he had even considered he was not the right person to tell his sister the truth: it had been so long he hadn't seen her, the bitter pill would be easier to swallow if one of her best friends could take care of that… But whichever option that will be choose, he could not hide her the truth forever.

Plum Puddin' thought the least he could do to comfort Plum Pudding was to give her what she wanted. He didn't himself believe that one of his sister's workmate had hired a henchman to attempt to kill her; and, to him, the culprit had fallen asleep at the heel or was under the influence of alcohol. It didn't justify the road hog, nor it decreased Plum Puddin' frustration of having nothing to identify him. He might well think the driver was eaten up by a feeling of guilt, he was boiling over to know his act hadn't had any consequence for him, while his sister, Plum Pudding, a simple young girl who simply wanted to achieve her dreams, will stay disabled forever. When he hung around the community center where Plum Pudding used to dance, he gazed at the cars running in the street. The culprit had hardly taken the trouble to check if his sister was alright, and left her for dead; and he only thing he had seen from him was that the culprit was a boy. Definitively, it wasn't enough for a serious inquiry. If he knew that the involved car was a van, the street was so dark, the night of the accident, that it could be any van. Each time Plum Puddin' saw this type of car, his heart beat harder, and he wanted more than anything else in the world to stop it and to have an "assertive" interview with the driver; but he thought that using violence will only worsen the problem. Rationally speaking, the only chance he had to find the culprit was a real miracle, due to the lack of clue. For example, if he heard about the arrestation of a danger to the public who had provoked an incredible number of accidents with his van… No, he shouldn't think about that. These fantasies were only making him wasting his time. But Plum Puddin' needed to have something to guide his anger and his revolt… He might well innocently question Plum Pudding's workmates, they all seemed to have a clear conscience, as he had forecasted it. So, he stopped suspecting them. But he still wanted justice to be done.

In Strawberryland, Plum Pudding expected the same thing, but her condition prevented her from going out of the city. When she tried to walk, her legs started to shiver and to stab at her only a half an hour after, even with her crutches, and forced her to sit down again. She could not wait to gain more endurance and autonomy, but she had to admit she was, for the moment, dependant of her brother and her friends.

In the orchard, Berrykin Bloom had gathered arnica, St-John's wort, roots of harpagophytum and comfrey. All these plants had been difficult to find, and he had had to ask for other Berrykin communities' help, but he trusted in the utility of what he was doing. However, it was Daniel's task to guess what he wanted to do, and why he had especially picked these species.

-Arnica is a plant that is berry employed in the treatment of contusions and rheumatism; St-John's wort slakes muscular pain; comfrey is an anti-inflammatory and… (Berrykin Bloom gave him an encouraging smile while he was rummaging about his memory) … harpagophytum too, he ended triumphantly. "I guess you want to do some remedy for Plum Pudding?"

-Exactly, said Berrykin Bloom.

The little princesses, who had stayed rather calm during Daniel's test, started to wriggled: they were bored.

-Which kind of remedy? Tourmaline asked.

-Let us Daniel guess.

-I would recommend to use them as an ointment, he said.

-Correct.

-May we help you? Emerald asked with hope.

-I'm sorry I can't, your little majesties. These plants are delicate and had to be handled with a lot of care. When you'll grow up…

The twins both frowned. It was not fair. There were apparently so many funny things to do for grown-up, and nothing for them!

-But you can do something else for us, added Berrykin Bloom to neutralized the crisis. "We would need a can to transport the ointment, but I have to stay here with Daniel. Would you find one for us, Your Little Majesties?"

Emerald and Tourmaline immediately found again their good mood.

-Of course, we will! They shouted, before racing toward the castle. They were no longer babies, and, as they were now aware of the dangers that surrounded them, they were allowed to stay alone… but all the other Berrykins kept a watchful eye on them.

Meanwhile, Berrykin Bloom ad Daniel had put all the dried plants in a cooking pot with some hot oil, and a thermometer.

-The temperature must not exceed 104 °F nor fall under 100°F, Berrykin Bloom explained. "Now, we have to let this macerate for one week, and let the humidity evaporate."

-Who will watch the temperature at nighttime? Daniel asked.

-We will stay awake one after another.

-Won't it be a little bit… How to say… tiring?

Berrykin Bloom severely looked at Berrykin Daniel, over his glasses. The young Berrykin immediately went as red as a beetroot.

-Of course, it will. But if you're afraid of being too tired by your work, you can still leave your apprenticeship and go back to the Berry Work. There, you won't be asked to do overtime, nor you'll have opportunities of getting a promotion. You must know what you want, sonny, and I hope you don't want to be the gardener on chief just to have the honor of sitting next to our Princess during official ceremonies. This position may seem enviable, with all the regard and the week of paid leave it brings, but you must know that it is a true calling. When you will take the helm, you will have to be entirely devoted to our community's interests, whatever yours are; because problems won't wait for you to be went back home after your holidays for appearing. No one can predict when our orchards will become sick, what kind of disease they will have, nor the kind of remedy you will have to use. This is why you will have to be always available, and ready to solve any kind of problems in the community, even if it's in the middle of the night, if it's winter, if you are yourself sick or already have your own problems to solve; because you will be the only one who would be able to guess what to do and the health and wealth of whole Strawberryland will lean on you; and that until you will be yourself too worn out to pick up by yourself a glimmerberry, and then, and only then, you will have the right to rest. But, nowadays, if you are too solicitous about your comfort to sacrifice some hours of sleep to help a villager, you have to tell it to me right now, to let me enough time to form another apprentice. What is your decision, sonny? An uninspired career at the Berry Work, when you will be free to do whatever you want when your nine-to-five is over, but in which every day will be similar to the previous and to the next; or a career full of new learnings and challenges… but that brings its share of responsibilities?

Berrykin Daniel shook his head.

-I'll stay. Forgive me, sir, he shyly said.

Berrykin Bloom affectionately pated his shoulder. He was sure Daniel would give him this answer. In spite of his young age, he had noticed that Daniel was already calmer and more mature than his workmates, and made his work with more zeal. He didn't want to deter him from being the next gardener in chief, but he wanted to be sure Daniel knew in what he was going to enroll.

The following week was rather demanding for them both, but particularly for Daniel who was hardly prepared for that. He had to learnt how to stay focused on two different things, doing his regular tasks while looking the cooking pot out at the corner of his eye, or just to find the courage to decline his workmates' invitation to a game of ball, and to hear their laugh when he had to sit down in front of the cooking pot, reciting parsley's attributes to kill time, and waiting for Berrykin Bloom who was often called at the other side of the orchards. Night shift was the worse. They could not come back home, and had to camp next to the pot. At least it brought them warmness, but Daniel had huge difficulties in keeping his eyes opened after a long day of work, and, when Berrykin Bloom woke him up to take his night shift, he more than once considered to give up his apprenticeship. But something always stopped it. He wanted to be useful for his community, but he didn't want to be an interchangeable worker. Of course, it was always useful to have someone to pick the glimmerberries, but he wanted to do something more for his fellow citizens. Something wat would make people remember his name and his action. To start with, Plum Pudding would be so happy to discover the ointment they had made just for her… These thoughts helped him to fight against sleep and indifference. When the temperature was lowering, he poked the embers and though that Berrykin Bloom would be proud of him.

Finally, the long week of wait came to an end; which allowed Berrykin Bloom and Daniel to put the maceration in a large sheet and to wring it, in order to collect all the good oil, full of plants' attributes. Then, encircled by a troup of curious Berrykins and the Royal Family itself, they mixed the oil with beeswax cut into small pieces, and made the mixture slowly melt down, regularly stirring it and generously adding Berrykin sparkles, sparkles whose attributes stayed unclear; as they could ripen the berries or shrink people, cure illnesses and change colors of things, speed up hair growth or having a tear-inducing effect; in a way, the sparkles could do everything you want, on condition of believing it.

Once all the ointment got potted, all the Berrykins made a procession to the Café. With the honors due to their rank, the Princess and her daughters were ahead of them. When they proudly announced that they had made a remedy that would probably improve Plum Pudding's recovery, the young dancer couldn't prevent herself from crying out of gratitude.

-This is so nice from you, she sobbed (she had always been quite emotional). "You should not have… I don't know what to do to show you my gratitude. Why… I have never done anything special for you."

-Of course, you did, the Princess Berrykin replied with good mood, "Like everybody does in Strawberryland. We managed to create a society in which every member lives in harmony with his neighborhood, thanks to our network of quid pro quo which greatly improve everybody's condition of living. You may feel indebted to us, but we are not waiting any specific favor from you. Just carry on living the way you are…"

Plum Puddin', back in Strawberryland, was the last one to trust in the Berrykin remedy. To him, it was just another trick from faith healer, but the placebo effect could have a positive consequence on Plum Pudding's mental health. Anyway, he witnessed once one of the "session" Plum Pudding had with Berrykin Bloom and Daniel, who massaged her legs with their magical ointment. Even through his gloves, Berrykin Bloom could feel every muscle, every nerve, every sinew, and he winced when he touched the places where they had been damaged, moved and imperfectly put back in place. At these moments, he closed his eyes out of concentration, his movements became stronger, and he focused to put his own vital energy across his hands to Plum Pudding's legs. As a Berrykin, and as a gardener, he thought his duty was to help Life when it was prevented from fully spreading out; and, each time he felt a tear in Plum Pudding's anatomy, he was hurt as if this wound was of his, and the pain didn't stop until he had not done his best to heal it. Once Berrykin Bloom had used the biggest part of his sparkles and energy in the treatment, he went backward and asked Daniel to replace him. Berrykin Daniel's moves were slow and uncertain, but Berrykin Bloom said it was a good exercise to train his sensitivity. One day, Plum Puddin' asked him how he got able to cure humans, him who had always studied botany. Berrykin Bloom, feeling some suspicion in his voice, humbly answered that, in a way, plants and humans were rather similar: flesh, vein, sap and constant blossom. Once, he mischievously added at Daniel's attention that, according to what he felt in Plum Pudding's legs, he was a better doctor with his botany than official doctors unable to feel the true essence of Life.

When Plum Puddin' found himself face to face with his sister, he asked her if she really trusted them.

-Anyway, they can't hurt me, she responded, "And I don't want to waste too much time in my recovery. Every day I spent stuck in this chair is a lost day for my training. I've got everything to gain if the remedy works, and if it doesn't, well, too bad but it can't be helped."

Plum Puddin' thought it was a good way to see the situation.

-Now, it's my turn to ask you some questions, Plum Pudding retorted. "What did you find for me in the Berry Big City?"

Plum Puddin' shook his head.

-Lime Chiffon must be innocent, Plum. And if she's culprit, she keeps her cards too close to her chest for me. Anyhow, it is not my task to search for her business, and we don't have the authority to absolutely charge her for your accident if we have no evidences. The only thing we could do would be to hire a private investigator.

All the hope and excitation had vanished in Plum Pudding's eyes. At heart, she felt that Plum Puddin' was right, but it was the only lead she had; and it was awful for her to don't know the reason of her accident, of being forced to stay motionless in her chair when so many questions were whirling in her mind. Why her? Why?

-At least, my little stay out of Strawberryland had not been fully vain, Plum Puddin' added to cheer her up. "Do you remember my former classmate, Purée of Hazelnut? I asked her to send a request to the City of Magnolia's hospital, and she got this for me. Read it!" he said, pulling a folder out of his backpack.

This folder was their mother's medical file. Plum Pudding took it and browsed it with great curiosity, wondering what she was going to find. Maybe she was about to crack the secret of her origins?

The page which interested her the most were the one about their mother's pregnancy. Unfortunately, the sterile inventory of all the exams she had passed, and the omnipresent jargon were not very revealing to her. However, at the end of this section, she found a whole description oh her delivery, the complications she suffered, and the way she had at last given birth to a little boy… and, two hours later, to a little girl.

-Are you reassured… my sister?

To be continued…