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

Chapter 49: Wedding and Ending, part 1: Reunion

Everything seemed to be going berry well in Strawberryland. Since she was in charge of her dwarf rabbit, Ice Milk, Blueberry Pie had earned a lot of self-confidence. She was everything for this rabbit, its only protector, and this power did her a lot of good. Ice Milk showed her she was more than a burden; she was a responsible little girl, who could love him and make him happy, even though he was only a rabbit. Anyway, Orange Blossom used to repeat that human being's goodness had to be estimate in relation to their ability in loving and respecting the ones who were different from them. And, according to what she could see, Blueberry Pie was extremely good. The little girl daily went to the orchard in order to pick the hay, the dill and the basil to feed her rabbit. One day, Berrykin Bloom had teased her.

-May I look at him? He had asked. "He's well fed", he had said, feeling the rabbit's sides, "And his muscles are tonic. Congratulation Miss, your little friend is in perfect health".

Blueberry Pie had blushed, and Berrykin Bloom had winked at Daniel.

-Would you tell me which load he could draw? He had asked, then. "He would certainly be a wonderful draft rabbit for our cart, much more efficient than butterflies."

-Don't even think of it, Blueberry Pie had curtly retorted, quickly carrying Ice Milk away.

Definitively, Blueberry Pie had understood she was a worthy person, who had the right to express her opinions, who could be as good, and even better, than the other's ones.

Blueberry Muffin was also a bit more present for her. One weekend, she had visited her, in the Café. At the beginning, this day had been extremely awkward: the mother and her daughter were both sitting on a chair, not knowing what to say, having a billion questions to ask but not daring to pronounce them. Then Ice Milk had started to twist and turn on his "mother"'s knees.

-Who is it? Blueberry Muffin had asked.

-He's Ice Milk, Blueberry Pie had answered.

The conversation had started this way. Blueberry Muffin had asked her daughters trivial questions about her everyday life, and Blueberry Pie had been thrilled to make her discover her universe. At the end of the weekend, it would have been excessive to say they no longer wanted to be split up again. But, at least, to Blueberry Pie, her mother was no longer a phantasmagorical figure: she had her father from one side, and she had won a mother from the other one. She was not only Blueberry Pie, Huckleberry Pie's daughter, she had remembered she was also part of the Blueberry family. Other persons to rely on.

Alongside Blueberry Muffin's return, Strawberryland's list of inhabitants was about to grow longer. One Saturday morning, the Berrykins having their breakfasts at the Café mentioned a new visitor, an elegant young girl with long blond hair.

-How old is she? She had abruptly asked, not caring about seeming aggressive to her customers.

-Around your age, miss, a young Berrykin had answered, a bit strained. According to Strawberry Shortcake's attention, he had understood his answers were crucial.

-You say she's elegant…?

-Yes, miss. She's wearing fine clothes - (Not the kind you wear to dig your field, Strawberry understood)-, her nails are neatly cut, and her hair… is perfectly styled. It's berry beautiful.

-Do you know where she is, now? Strawberry asked with insistence.

-She may be walking in the orchard.

-She will ruin her shoes, commented his neighbor, but Strawberry was no longer listening to them.

-Blueberry Pie! She shouted. "Would you do me a favor?"

Blueberry Pie was reading another novel, Ice Milk on her shoulder, sitting on the Café's staircase. She gravely nodded to show Strawberry Shortcake she could rely on her.

-Little Blue, would you like to play to be a waitress? It would be extremely funny, and maybe you will have a calling for it. It's extremely easy: when a customer order you something, you cook it in the kitchen, and then you bring it to him. Easy as pie!

-But…

Strawberry Shortcake had already rushed out of the Café.

-It could not be… she thought. "It's impossible. It cannot be… our Lemon Meringue!"

The blond girl was certainly a tourist, and she was silly to lose her temper like that, to abandon her customers on a wimp. Blond hair was common, it could be anybody else. Lemon Meringue was gone. Lemon Meringue was in Big Apple City, with Raspberry Torte, her family, and fame. She had forgotten her. However, Strawberry Shortcake could just not give her quest up. She needed to see the newcomer.

-It's a matter of hospitality, Strawberry thought, trying to convince herself she was listening to the voice of reason. "This poor girl from town, if it's not Lemon Meringue, is certainly not used to country. These orchards are sprawling, and one can easily get lost in them. If I don't make sure she's alright, who will do it? I just want to make her acquaintance, to show her around the Berry Bitty City – It's the least I could do!"

Strawberry Shortcake was right: the newcomer had certainly got lost in the orchard because the Berrykins she had questioned about her were unable to tell her exactly where she was going.

-She has no aim, one of them told her.

-She's just wandering, as if she doesn't want to go to town, added his workmate.

-You didn't try to lead her? Strawberry Shortcake asked them, surprise. She knew that young Berrykins were always eager to skip work, and helping a disoriented tourist was a golden occasion for doing it without getting caught.

-We did! The first one protested. "But she refused our help."

-She said she needed to be a bit alone, but she said we were berry nice and she gave us cookies", completed the second one, still salivating at this memory.

Where would I go if I wanted to be alone? Strawberry Shortcake wondered, continuing her exploration over the orchard, until she heard an angry voice saying:

-I ask you to pour fertilizer on these strawberry plants, I turn over for two minutes… and when I come back again, you have disappeared!

-I was only helping a poor lady!

A poor lady? Strawberry Shortcake listened carefully. She moved to the place she could hear the two Berrykins having a verbal fight, but they were both too occupied for paying attention to her.

-Please, don't take me for a fool, Berrykin Bloom retorted, trying to stay calm. "How can you persist in lying to me when I catch you with - literally - the hand on the cookie jar…pigging out in secret?"

A lady in distress and cookies? It sounded like déjà-vu to Strawberry Shortcake. They must be talking about the same person.

-I was eating the cookies she gave me because I had helped her! Berrykin Daniel protested.

-Anyway, does Her Majesty pay your for eating cookies?

-I'm not paid at all!

-Excuse-me gentlemen? Strawberry Shortcake said to notify them her presence (Berrykin Bloom's face was turning as red as the rest of his skull, and she thought she needed to put an end to this argument). "You were talking about a foreign lady giving out cookies, weren't you?" she asked to Daniel.

-Yes, he said, trying to avoid his master's wrathful look.

-What does she look like?

-She was quite pretty, with blond hair, blue eyes, and an extremely thorough hairstyle.

-Do you really trust him? Berrykin Bloom asked with impatience.

-I do, Strawberry said with resolution, "Because I've heard other Berrykins singing from the same hymn sheet. Do you know where she's going?"

-She had asked me what was the most beautiful area in Strawberryland, and I told her about the Gazebo, Daniel answered, while Berrykin Bloom, suddenly taking conscious of the unfairness of his behavior, was turning very pale.

Strawberry Shortcake thanked him and turned around and walked away. When she glanced for the last time over her shoulder, she saw that Berrykin Bloom was talking more calmly with his apprentice. There was clear evidence that he was apologizing.

Berrykin Daniel was right: someone was sitting in the Gazebo. Someone who wasn't a Strawberrylander. Strawberry Shortcake could understand why their visitor had chosen this place: the Gazebo was the perfect mix of wildness and civilization, a place where you could enjoy a retreat in the earth of Nature, at the same time as getting all the modern comfort, clean chairs to sit in and a waterproof roof over your head. The visitor was there, her head craned, seeming to bee plunged into an intense reflection, in which she did not longer care about the mud staining her light, delicate ballet flats. A kind of shoes is was not quite sensible to wear in the country, but Strawberry Shortcake knew for whom it was not a problem. And, if she was not mistaken, one of the persons she was thinking of was only a few meters in front of her.

-Excuse me? She softly called, and the foreigner raised her head, as if she was waking up after a long dream. Her eyes met Strawberry Shortcake's ones. These blue eyes…

-I'm glad to see you're back, Lemon Meringue.

Strawberry Shortcake walked silently to the Café, Lemon Meringue on her heels, both savoring these seconds which only belonged to them, on the empty dirt road. They did not talk. Lemon Meringue was learning again to recognize Strawberryland, she had wished so hard to leave and which had lured her again, like a magnet. She needed some time, to acclimatize again to a place which was diametrically opposed to the places she had been living in, for so long. Strawberry Shortcake knew she would talk when she would feel at her niche. She simply shouldn't rush her.

A great surprise was waiting for them in the Café: None of the customers was still sitting on the tables, but they were all with their elbows on the counter, trying to shout advices louder than the prevailing racket; while some of them were straight in the kitchen, merrily searching the cupboards and the fridge. They were all having a lot of fun, and they had totally forgotten they had to go to work.

-What are you doing? Lemon Meringue asked, a bit scared. "Are you expropriating Strawberry Shortcake?"

-Not in the least! A jovial Berrykin answered her. "Little Blue had some troubles with the pancakes maker, so we decided we would help her out with all the orders. Who would have believed that running a restaurant could be so funny?"

-Who is Little Blue?

-I ask you the same thing, the Berrykin said. "Who are you?"

Strawberry Shortcake thought that it was time for a good explanation. After some unsuccessful attempts to lure the customers' attention, she used her secret method: a high-pitched, extended whistling. It was nor berry mellifluous, but it was at least efficient.

-Listen, everybody! She said with a strong voice. "Our friend Lemon Meringue has returned in Strawberryland after a long trip. Let's recap her everything she missed during her absence!"

Strawberry Shortcake had Lemon Meringue sit down, while all the Berrykins were racing around her. They all wanted to be Strawberryland's ambassador and speaker, in such a way that they were all speaking in the same time and could not give Lemon Meringue an understandable tale. Strawberry Shortcake had to use all her authority to force them to wait their turn and to avoid digressions, but she managed to let Lemon Meringue know about the main changes in Strawberryland since her departure. Blueberry Pie, by her side, felt as concerned as Lemon Meringue, this beautiful blond lady who could only be a fairy, who had escaped from a tales book and had to manage without her magic powers. They were all telling what had been Strawberryland's story in the last four years; so, in a way, the story of her life.

-Now, it's your turn, Strawberry Shortcake said after the last Berrykin had finished his last anecdote, at the same time as the summary of the forty-eight previous chapters of this fanfiction (plus some personal stories which directly concerned him but that I didn't have the time to write here). "Tell us what you did for four years, in Big Apple City?"

It was the first time Lemon Meringue found herself in front of a such wide audience, devouring her with curious eyes. None of the Berrykins at the Café had left Strawberryland, and the story of Lemon's adventures in a metropolis was similar to an action movie to them. The only missing thing was pop-corn, and then they would really have been feeling like they were on a movie theater. Strawberry Shortcake, taking again the control of her Café, managed to find a glass in the middle of the disorder the Berrykins had made and filled it with fresh grenadine: Lemon Meringue's tale was likely to be quite long, and she would certainly need to water her dry throat. All the Berrykins were sitting up, motionless, and their silence and contemplation was a particularly strong contrast with the agitation and noise they had shown up to this point. Lemon Meringue was a bit unsettled, doubting if she would find the proper words to describes what she had lived, or of it would just sound like the pointless whining of a spoiled girl.

-Will you start or what? A Berrykin to whom patience was coming to its limits cried.

-Shhhh! His colleagues immediately whispered, fearing that this rude remark would get the young girl back up.

-He's right, Lemon Meringue softly said. "I've lived in Big Apple City during my childhood and, honestly, I have kept an excellent memory of this city. Well, you may have noticed that Raspberry Torte likes to take all the credit…"

-Speak of her, where's miss Torte?

-Shhh!

-In fact, we both wondered if what we did in Strawberryland, fashion design and hairstyling, was good enough for being showed… elsewhere. When I considered travelling in Big Apple City, Raspberry Torte immediately agreed in coming with me. To be totally honest, we were… boring a little in Strawberryland. Please, don't take it personally.

According to the Berrykins' wide open eyes, they actually were.

-We were eager to do new experiments, to discover other lifestyles… and my aunt Edna was ready to help us, at the beginning. I can't really remember if we had both planned to stay forever in Big Apple City, or if we had considered coming back in Strawberryland, one day. In brief, everything was supposed to be alright.

Lemon Meringue drank a mouthful of grenadine to gather her courage and carried on.

-First of all, aunt Edna had made me a strange surprise, by inviting my brother and my sister to join me in Big Apple City.

-You have sibling? A Berrykin asked. "No kidding!"

-Yes, indeed. They are in a business school, and she thought it would do them good to bury themselves in the world of business. I thought, at first, it would work but… Really, I'm not proud of myself. It appeared to be a terrible idea. I've always had troubles with my little sister and, seeing her close to me every day… I had not managed to stand it.

-What kind of troubles?

-It's tactless, Strawberry Shortcake remarked.

-I think it is because Ada, my sister, got everything I dreamed to have, Lemon explained, ignoring Strawberry's intervention. "She grew up in a dynamic town when I was in the country, and she frequented a famous grande école while I was an unknown hairdresser…

It was an ordeal for Lemon Meringue to confess her jealousy, but it was as hard for Strawberry Shortcake to hear a such sentence on her beloved homeland.

-You were jealous? The Berrykin insisted.

- Yes, I bet. And, maybe I was living the life I didn't have through her. I recognize I've been berry demanding with her. In top of that, my relationship with Ada wasn't the only cloud on the horizon.

The Berrykins sat up straight on their seats, listening carefully, waiting to hear new gossips.

-There was Raspberry Torte, and she taught me the biggest lessons of my life. Let's say she's the base of everything. When we arrived… we were both in a kind of honeymoon.

The Berrykins chuckled.

-No, Lemon Meringue hastily repeated, "This is not what I meant. I wasn't in love with her, but I thought I was her… "Berry Best Friend", as we used to say (she sadly sighed), so I was sure everything would be alright. Our project was to get a break in the world of haute couture, together, as a duo. I would be in charge inventing new and trendy hairstyles, while Raspberry Torte would revolutionize the way the Big Apple Citizens were dressed up. Extremely fanciful, isn't it?

Every Berrykins in the Café was hanging on Lemon Meringue's every word.

-To me, it was evident that I must be the leader of our store, because my aunt Edna had nicely supplied us the place, and lend us some fonds to start our business. I think it had been the first thing which had caused Raspberry Torte's bitterness. Maybe she had felt she was sidelined… Now that I mentioned it, I realize she was the only one who wasn't a member of the Lemon family… The first quarrel we had was about our areas' location. Aunt Edna had given me the second floor, because she said it would be easier for Raspberry Torte to take delivery of her materials and to arrange her equipment if she was in the first floor. During long days, Raspberry Torte had made us understand it didn't fit her. She though my spot was better, because it was more insulated from the noise and dust in the street. None of us paid attention to her at the time. I knew she used to be… bad-tempered, and I thought it was a whim.

-That's a lot of "I", the eldest of the Berrykin listening to Lemon Meringue noticed.

-Shhh! The others whistled, not in the mood for making a literary analysis.

He was right, Lemon Meringue realized. During all the time she had been in Big Apple City, the person who had especially filled her mind had been "I". Had I chosen the right color of sign for her store? Should I invest more in advertisement for my business? What Raspberry Torte used to think- and Lem and Ada too- escaped her. In fact, the Berrykin was right. She could only talk to them about what she had thought, what he had felt, because she had never paid attention to what other people felt around her before. And, at this moment, talking about her seemed so pointless to her that the only thing she managed to do was to stare at her interlocutor, feeling that her brain was as empty as her actions before. She had tried to create her own business; but she had always acted like a spoiled rotten little girl, demanding everything to be the way she, Lemon Meringue, wanted them to be, unwilling to make concessions. And how had it ended? No more money, a broken friendship and siblings who no longer wanted to hear about her. But how could she make such a confession in front of those Berrykins she hardly knew nd who had forgotten everything about her, according to the fact they hadn't even recognized her? It was not surprising. She had never tried to be close to them when she was in Strawberryland, and so they didn't, neither. And the only thing she managed to do was to stare at her interlocutor, without saying a word.

-Lemon Meringue must use "I", Strawberry Shortcake explained, breaking the awkward silence which had followed the last question. "She's talking about her past".

The Berrykin simply nodded, showing he was ready for hearing the rest of the story.

-There were also Lem and Ada, Lemon Meringue said with a less confident voice. "They had jut graduated from a business school, and so they constantly tried to put in their two cents about the way we -Aunt Edna, Raspberry and I- ruled our store. It always made me turn mad… In fact, they are five years younger than me, and I could not bear to see they could teach me something. I… kind of… mistreated them each time they tried to give me advise… but, they were also interested in fashion and, most of the time, they tried to show me the styles they had just invented. I wasn't well-placed for judging them, so I didn't give them much attention. I thought they would go and see Raspberry Torte, but I heard later that… they didn't.

-Why? A young Berrykin asked. He was so young that he had certainly not been working in the Berry Work for a long time, Lemon Meringue noticed. For the moment, he had grown up surrounded by Berrykins, and so he was still not aware of all the negative passions which corrupted human interpersonal relationships. Jealousy. Envy. Malevolence.

-They were shy, I guess, Lemon Meringue clumsily explained, "And I think they simply didn't dare to. And maybe Raspberry thought it wasn't her job to look after them".

-Everything had been a huge misunderstanding, Strawberry Shortcake concluded.

The young Berrykin seemed satisfied with this answer.

-Strawberry Shortcake is right, Lemon Meringue slowly said, "Everything had been a huge misunderstanding. I misunderstood my friend with a workmate, and then Raspberry misunderstood her workmate-I – for a rival. We were supposed to work hand in hand, with Raspberry sewing outfits, and I making the perfect hairstyle and make up for them, but as we got along, we gradually confined ourselves into our universes, me in the second floor, Raspberry in the first one. We were rivals, and we frankly turned into enemies… Our business was no longer a store, it was a true arena. No holds were barred for stealing customers to the others, but Raspberry was much stronger than me for playing this kind of game. From gossips to slanders, the Raspberry Meringue second floor turned into a no-man's-land. Raspberry made me becoming a pariah, as much in the store that in the streets."

-You had been right to left her, Strawberry Shortcake said. "No one could live in a such claustrophobic atmosphere, face to face with someone you hate."

It would be Strawberry Shortcake's biggest nightmare. In fact, she had no one she could consider as her enemy- even the Peculiar Purple Pieman would reform in front of her kindness and good advises, she thought- but friendship was as important as eating and drinking to her, and she was not sure she would be able to live if she was totally deprived of friendship, locked with people who ignored her at best, who murdered her with cutting remarks and dirty tricks at worst.

-What happened next? The young Berrykin insisted.

-Did you poison Raspberry's meal? Another one asked.

-Did you locked her into a cardboard box and send her at the other end of the world? A third one guessed.

-No, Lemon Meringue said, smiling in front of so much innocence and imagination. "No, but Raspberry Torte found a new workmate. A dressmaker, like her, named Rebecca Rottcake. She comes from France and, according to what I've heard, they have turn inseparables. And… I felt I had nothing else to do in Big Apple City. My workmate hated me, my reputation is over, and my aunt will never let me start a new business of my own now,", she said, bitterly chuckling. "I'm back in Strawberryland to take a vacation…"

-And to find what I shall do next to earn my life, she thought.

-You have made the right choice Lemon, Strawberry said, but she was thinking Lemon should have make her return three years earlier. Orange Blossom had no longer schools to build, and Blueberry Pie would a bit too old for needing a childminder in little time.

-I will not be a burden to you, Lemon promised, "I will find an occupation to make me useful here".

To be continued…