Happy Birthday.

Meringue studied herself in the full-length mirror that hung on the closet door in her and Steel's room. She looked from her mass of unmanageable orange-reddish hair to her overly large feet. She eyed in disgust a body that was too thin, a chest that was too flat, and arms that were too wobbly. Today was her birthday. She was now 15 years old. No one knew it was her birthday. She never told anyone.

Meringue often heard stories of beautiful and elegant sorceresses who had the attention of every man. She bet none of them had to stuff their bras at 15. Meringue glanced at her enhanced chest and decided it just didn't look right with skinny hips. She pulled the sock out of the right side just as Steel, the purple haired warrior princess from the Tacoma Islands, entered the room.

"Again I say your culture is weird." Steel took the sock out of Meringue's hand. "I thought these went on your feet."

Steel seemed to take personal offense to Meringue'e remark. "I may not understand your culture, but I am human. I may be a warrior, but I am still a woman. I have ears. I can listen. In my land it is customary for the older women to guide the young ones on their path to maturity."

"I'm sorry, Steel. I didn't mean it as an insult." Meringue looked back at her image in the mirror. "I'm just feeling self-conscious about my appearance."

"Why?" Steel seemed to really not know why. Meringue guessed that in Tacoma, looks weren't really that important.

"I don't feel attractive. I'm skinny. I'm flat. I'm a little nothing tomboy freak and no one will ever like me."

"So a man must appreciate you for you to have self worth. How pathetic."

"Huh?" Meringue turned back to Steel.

"That's what this is about, isn't it? That boy, Marron. You've been obsessing about every little thing since he came here. Girls in your culture do stupid things to impress a man. You starve yourselves cuz you think you are too fat. Then you complain that you are too skinny. None of you are happy with yourselves. I don't feel sorry for you." Steel grabbed a book and began to read. Meringue looked back at the mirror. She knew Steel was right in her blunt, tactless sort of way, but she still felt ugly.

Fry had gone out with the new guy, Vash. Fry had announced that Vash would train them for their next assignment, but had not mentioned what that assignment could be. Marron sat out in the garden reading a book while Meat tended to the weeds. Meat had a green thumb, something that surprised Marron when he first heard it. Meat hummed and was lost in the care for his flowers, but when Steel came into the garden Meat looked up. "Hey, Steel. Where's Meringue? We haven't seen her all day."

"She's in her room sulking." Steel answered.

"Why?" Marron asked, looking up from his book.

"Today is her birthday or something. I don't understand these teenage girls here."

Meat threw down some weeds and stood up. "We should probably take her out then. I bet she would like that. What do you think, Marron?"

"Sounds like a good idea. I wonder why she didn't mention it. One would think she'd be happy on her birthday."

"You'd think so, wouldn't ya?" Meat agreed.

After much persuading, Meat convinced Meringue to go with him and the whole team out on the town. They could go wherever Meringue wanted, since it was her birthday. Meringue thought a minute. She wanted to go somewhere where she would feel grown up-not like the short, skinny girl that she knew herself. She picked Jacfu's bar and grill. Everyone was skeptical about Meringue's choice of place for fun, but since it was her birthday after all, they went along.

A few hours went by and Meringue was drunk. Not resisting the opportunity to drink and be merry, she downed everything that came her way. Soon she was really at ease and feeling really good; Good enough to want to dance on top of the tables.

Meat sat with Marron at a table. "What is with that girl? What is she doing to herself?"

"I don't know. I don't know her well enough to say. Is she always like this?"

"She's never like this." Meat said. He gasped when suddenly a middle-aged man yelled up at the pretty young sorceress.

"Take it off!" The man waved his arms in the air. Suddenly many drunken men were gathered around the table chanting, "Take it off!"

"We've got to stop her." Meat Bolted from the table with Marron right behind him.

Meringue loved the attention-especially the male attention. She wondered for a split second if they knew she was only 15. Then she didn't care. Then for a split second she wondered what exactly was Yellow Dye #5. Then she just stopped thinking completely. At the encouragement of the men around her, she took off her shirt, exposing a lacy black bra. The men hooted and hollered. Meat's voice broke the spell. "Meringue, get down please."

Meringue hiccuped and giggled. She almost fell over for no reason at all. She got angry at Meat even though he was not yelling at her. "I don't want to dit gown. I'm habbing fun." She almost fell over again.

"Meringue, please. You don't really want to do this. " Came Marron's voice from behind Meat. Meringue was just as mad at him.

"I can do what ever I want. I'm a grown woman now. I'm…I'm… How old am I again?"

"Take it off! Take it off!" Chanted the men. Meringue giggled as she reached back behind her back for her bra clasp. That's when Meat decided they were leaving now. He grabbed Meringue from the table and dragged her kicking and screaming out of the bar and grill.

Meringue hacked up most of her drinks and an unidentified piece of vegetable. She was sweating and she never felt so sick in her entire life. For the first hour of her hangover she pleaded for death to take her. She wasn't that lucky. She was grateful that Marron stayed up with her and was there to hold back her hair while she spoke closely with 'john'. She lifted her head once again and he gently dabbed it with a wet washcloth. "How do you feel?"

"Don't talk so loud."

"Better, I see."

"I really took my shirt off and started dancing?"

Marron nodded. Meringue was completely embarrassed by her behavior. What had they all seen? She pushed it out of her mind. "Why didn't you order anything."

"I don't drink."

"Why not?"

"Last time I just breathed alcohol I almost caught the camp on fire."

"Where was that?" Meringue sat down next to the toilet on the cool, hard tile floor. She was sure she wasn't going to vomit any more-well…pretty sure.

"At a legendary tree that blooms every ten years." Marron described. Meringue looked into the bowl as she felt something else crawl up her throat.

"If you confess your love under the tree you will be happily married." Meringue voiced.

"That's right. How do you know of the legendary tree?"

Meringue smiled. "I went there once…when it wasn't blooming. Just to look. It was the largest tree I'd ever seen-never mind I was only 5." Suddenly her head bowed to the bowl for another stream of bile and alcohol. When she raised her head again, Marron moved some orange strands of sweat-drenched hair off her forehead. He is so sweet. "Did you confess your love to anyone?"

"No. My brother tried to pick up girls. My father tried to pick up girls."

Meringue laughed. "At the legendary tree? What a dope."

"Yes, he was." Marron said with sadness in his voice. Then meringue remembered…Carrot was supposed to be dead. Suddenly she felt a sickness in her stomach that had nothing to do with alcohol. Marron looked at her with concern. "Are you all right?"

"I'm done vomiting, but I don't feel any better."

Fry paced the floor rapidly. "You completely lost control and made a mockery of yourself. I don't have to tell you how stupid that was-although I believe I just did." Fry's stare bore down on Meringue. He scolded her just like a father would, and Meringue was the sorrowful daughter.

"It won't happen again."

"I should hope not. Now go to your room. I want you to read your spell book and give me a report on chapters 7 and 9."

Knowing well that Fry was going to assign the chapters anyway didn't make the punishment any less miserable. She lagged to her room and plopped down on her bed. She opened her book. Steel was already there.

"You didn't have to prove anything, you know." Steel blurted out.

A little annoyed, Meringue asked, "What do you mean?"

"You don't have to prove that you are growing up to anyone. We all can clearly see that." Steel's words were not her usual punishing tone. She pulled Meringue to the mirror. "Look at yourself. You are a pretty girl. You turn heads wherever you go, though you are too naïve to notice. You will grow up to be an exotically beautiful young woman."

"How do you…"

"A warrior princess knows these things." She left Meringue then, staring at herself in the full-length mirror. "You are too naïve to know. You need told."

"That's the most sensitive thing you've ever said."

"Sensitivity is for crybabies who can't deal with real life. I only spoke truth. You will see that in time. In time you will see much." Then under her breath, Steel muttered, "Silly girl."

Meringue thought about her and Steel's relationship. She could learn a lot from the warrior princess. She went back to her spell book. Someday she would be a great and beautiful sorceress. Everyone will see that. By her next birthday her whole world will change.