Chapter Text
His lungs burned, there was still enough of a chill in the air to make breathing painful. He pushed it aside, wrapping his scarf around his mouth and nose to at least try and warm up the air before he breathed it in. Moomins in general were not built for speed, and even half-dead snufkin would catch up with him before too long, he hoped.
He was in no shape to do this, and running up a mountain was likely to kill him, but he’d rather not think about it. He’d rather not think of several things about what was going on. Like why he was running after moomin. Like what might happen, and if the worst happened-
Snufkin, while being older and more mature than moomin, had a little awareness of his own feelings. Alas. but back to the story.
Moomin made good time. It was nice up here and the summer in the summer, and there were herbs that moomin-mama liked to use grew here, so he he knew the main trails well enough. Not with snufkin, but once he was better they should!
Granted, it was much more creepy now, with the snow, and no pretty flowers blooming so nicely on the rocks. …. Possibly the groke hiding around each bould- too late to worry about that now! Time to start looking.
It was a fleshy, spiky looking plant in shades of blue. The picture in the book showed it living in the cracks of rocks so that’s where he started.
Snufkin finally had to stop, leaning against a tree to try and get his breath back. It was like a iron band around his chest, keeping the air from getting in. It was enough to make him dizzy, with black dots around the edges of his vision. There was a white wiggle up the trail, round and fluffy, moomin! He slumped in relief, pushing away from the tree. Time to get him, get home, accept the fact he’d prolly have to stay in bed and learn to enjoy papa’s horrible adventure stories for the next 6 months.
He didn’t see the spider.
The yelp startled moomin, mostly because it was the last thing he was expecting to hear. Especially since it sounded like snufkin, who never yelped in such an undignified way, and was supposed to be back home in bed. But there was his green hat with the red feather and-
Wow that was a big spider. It was as large as the snow-horse too-ticky built for the winter lady last year, hairy and the same shade of gray as the bare rock face. And under it was snufkin!
Out of instinct more than anything he grabbed a rock near at hand and flung it at the giant spider. With any luck it’d distract it and snufkin could- the spider looked up at moomin, but still had snufkin pinned with one foot.
“Come on you ugly old thing!” he flung another rock and another, bouncing off it’s head. “Don’t you want a juicy moomin for lunch?!”
It took a step towards him and he realized he may have not thought this plan through all the way. Oh heck, in for a penny, in for a pound. He took a few steps back and threw another rock. Get up and run snufkin! Get! Up!
He took in a sharp breath, preparing the charge the monstrous thing. There was one thing you could say about moomins, they were not cowards.
Something shiny in snufkin’s hand caught the light, jabbing upwards into the spider’s belly. It screeched, flailing, and moomin took this to rush it. He knocked it off its feet, giving him enough time to grab snufkin’s hand and pull him down the trail behind him.
Down aways, near the trailhead they collapsed into a pile.
“What were you doing up there?” snufkin wheezed. “Don’t you know-”
“What are you doing here?” moomin countered before pulling him into a hug. The fight went out of them, just the relief they survived. “I need to go back up, there’s an herb that might help you get better.”
“The spiders-”
“I’m not afraid of spiders!” he declare, although he was very, very afraid of them. Just in all the excitement of /doing/ something he had forgotten all about the spiders. There were other things he was more afraid of than spiders, however.
(And a small, small bit of him was pleased, that snufkin worried as much about him as he did for him.)
Snufkin looked at him, still puffing for air before bowing his head. “Okay, but I’m coming with you.”
“Are you sure?” he was pale again, even as he was trying to give a carefree smile.
“Yeah-” he was interrupted by a coughing fit.
“Maybe in the morning. We’ll try again, it's getting late.” and not just because, well, thin tent walls and spiders…
Little My came with them the next day, declaring that they were both idiots and needed her supervision. If nothing else, moomin reasoned, three sets of eyes could find peculiar stonecrop in the snow better than one. And maybe a trip out would improve snufkin’s mood.
He was still quiet and withdrawn as they walked. Normally he’d be singing, playing on his harmonica. Telling them about this or that or that time he got locked up in hemulen jail for taking all the signs in a town down-
He grabbed snufkin’s hand gave it a quick squeeze. He got a tight smile in return and he looked a little more at ease.
Little My made a gagging noise.
“If you two are done, which way should we go?”
“Ummm..” moomin turned in a circle, glancing up one trail and then the other. “This one. This one to the right. Not the left because that’s where the giant, possibly still angry spider is. Yep.”
She raised one eyebrow, looking at one, then the other. “Good thing I came then. Now hurry up, my feet are cold.”
It wasn’t a hard climb, and snufkin really did start looking like he felt better being out of the house. Why hadn’t moomin thought of this earlier? He’d just been down and depressed after being cooped up.
“Okay!” he said, once they reached the edge of the treeline. “It should be up here somewhere. Its blue and has spiky bits.”
“Are you sure? I see a whole lot of nothing up here.” she clambered up a rock and took a good look around.
“Its low to the ground it’ll be under the snow.” snufkin was already brushing off the spaces between rocks. “You’re the perfect height to find it.”
“Ha. Ha. Ha. good to see you haven’t lost your sense of humor. Even if you have lost all your sense.” she muttered, but started looking around.
They had to have a break, with a small fire, tea and sandwiches that moominmamma thoughtfully had packed for them. More looking and Moomin was starting to despair. All this and possibly getting eaten by giant, fanged spiders- (in his head they had become big as houses) and not one bit of peculiar stonecrop?
“We’ll have to head back soon if we want to be back before dark.” snufkin was cleaning up the remains of their little fire, looking a bit grey in the late afternoon light. It only sharpened his determination.
“Just a little longer. I’m going to check by the big boulder.” he scrambled over the snow and loose rocks and- there! Spiky blue fronds of peculiar stonecrop!
He swung off his backpack and started loading the branches inside. A bit for the hemulen, plenty for mama to use and maybe some for her garden. Snufkin would be better, and then everything would be like it was before!
And then something grey and hairy jumped on him-
He shrieked and flailed, which probably was what saved him. This spider was much smaller than the one from yesterday, but still moomin-sized at least. He lost his footing on the skree and fell, kicking and flailing and keeping it from getting a chance to bite him with it’s entirely too-enormous fangs.
“HA!” Little My lept onto the spider’s back, Papa’s carving fork in one hand, rope in the other. “Who’s afraid of a little spider?! Not me!”
“Little My!!” she had the rope around the spider’s head, using them like reins while she poked it with the carving fork. Snufkin dragged moomin away from them, bag full of herbs in hand.
“Should we go back for her?” he asked, once they had ran a ways down the path, out of sight.
“No, she should be fine…. I think.” they looked at each other. “It’s Little My. she’s always fine. Let’s get you out of this cold, you look like you fell down the mountain.”
They made it home just after dark, the house lit up like a lighthouse in the mist. Momma was waiting for them, of course, with cake and tea. Little my returned a while later, dragging the corpse of the moomin-sized spider and complaining that she saved their behinds yet had to drag it home all by herself.
Papa quietly put it out on the back porch, careful to not touch it. Moominmama took the peculiar stonecrop and crushed it before putting it in some warm water and papa’s purely medicinal home-distilled liquor to steep. (made every year from blue pears and carefully hidden from the hemulen police, just in case.) then off to the baths with them to warm up.
She gave snufkin the first dose, and a little for moomin, just incase running about gave him a cold and tucked them all into bed. Now it was just a matter of time.
He did look better by morning. Perhaps it was the medicine, maybe it was getting outside again. His color looked better, and his skin was cool and dry when moomin felt his face. Another dose of medicine, and he even felt up to sitting on the porch with his harmonica. Things were going to be back to normal.
It was a little depressing for moomin, as much as he was happy to have his friend be healthy and okay. Because normal didn’t mean the same, and it wouldn’t be the same between him and snufkin would it?
“I guess…” moomin said, “you’ll be heading out soon.” his friend looked over at him, putting the harmonica on his lap.
“Hmm… no, I might as well stay since I’m already here.”
“But in the fall?” everything was tight with anticipation of being told-
“Well… I don’t quite know. We’ll have to see how I feel when that time comes. I rather like the feeling of being free to choose if I come or go.”
“Oh… oh!” he perked up in delight.
“What about that house you wanted to build moomin? Are you going to do that?”
“Well maybe. So you have somewhere to come to if you are sick again. But you don’t /have/ to stay there.”
“I have never helped build a house before… I guess it would be an adventure of sorts.”
But house-building will be for another story. Moomin and snufkin and all the others would be sure to have an interesting summer, as all summers in Moomin valley were interesting, in one way or another. So ends the story of the winter Snufkin came to stay for the winter in Moomin valley. Whether or not he learned a lesson was up in the air. alas.