Chapter Text
The two boys and the Joxter made their way inside Moominhouse and into the dining room where Moominmamma and Moominpapa both were. Moominmamma looked up from her cooking and Papa from his paper as they all entered at once.
Moomintroll and Snufkin were still very red around their eyes but they held paws and shared a look of mutual contentment
“Mamma?” Moomintroll said.
“Yes, Moomin?” she replied, moving to join them all near where they hovered around the table.
“Snufkin and his dad can’t leave Moominvalley.”
Moominmamma frowned and Moominpapa looked equally confused.
“Why ever not?” She looked at the two Mumriks.
“I’m afraid we’re stuck, Moominmamma, our legs go all locked up when we tried,” The Joxter explained, folding his arms behind his head.
Moominamamma looked to Moominpapa and then back to the rest of them.
“What do you think could be causing that?”
Moomintroll spoke up this time.
“It’s us, Mamma, it’s our food! It traps them like in the fairy tales.”
Moominmamma held a paw to her mouth in disbelief.
“Oh dear, are you sure?”
Moominpapa sat up from his chair.
“Food you say? Is that why Fredrickson was always on my case when I wanted to cook for you all?” He seemed rather frustrated reflecting on it.
The Joxter grinned and laughed. “It would seem so, he worried about your tricky fae nature, I suppose!”
Moominpapa folded his arms and turned his head. “I could be the most dastardly of fae and still not be more of a menace than you, Joxter.”
The Joxter slipped to his side in his swift Joxter way and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.
“You may have a point there!”
Snufkin frowned. “So none of you knew anything about this then?”
Moominmamma shook her head. “I’m afraid not, dear, I’ve only ever cooked for my family before you came along and I don’t think we can very well trap ourselves.”
Moomintroll gave a nod. “You said that our food tastes really, really good, right? And that’s why my cookies made you so upset? Well, they didn’t taste very very good to me- or even good at all,“ he admitted.
Moominmamma gave an amused smile, she supposed now she knew why her baking supplies seemed lower than usual.
“Oh...but if you never knew then however are we supposed to fix this?” Snufkin pointed out.
Moominmamma thought a moment before smiling. “I know, I’m sure there’s something in grandma’s recipe book, it has a solution for just about everything.”
“Oh yes! It even knew what to do that one time I got my head stuck in those trees!” Moomintroll remarked.
Moominmamma made her way to find and retrieve the recipe book.
Snufkin looked over to where his father and Moominpapa were still ribbing each other over the Joxter’s past crimes against their friends. Moominpapa easily scooped the small Mumrik man into a headlock.
His eyes returned to Moomin beside him, smiling at the Mumrik boy in the way Snufkin had seen him smile at him many times before. Snufkin smiled back. He felt light in his heart before a small pang of guilt reminded him that he had thought that maybe none of this had been real.
How could he have doubted that it was genuine? How could he have thought that Moomin and his parents had done any of this on purpose? For all his talk of natures, Snufkin had been too quick to think the worst. He knew why it had happened that way though...
In the end, the fact that Moomin could still look at him like this with his bright blue eyes told him that he had forgiven him for it.
Moominmamma returned with the book and leafed through it, looking for just what they needed.
“Ah! Here we are, ‘What To Do If Your Cooking Traps a Guest into Your Colony’,” She read out.
The Joxter and Moominpapa stopped their roughhousing to pay attention, though the elder Moomin still held the Mumrik.
Moominmamma read the passage and smiled. “This should be simple enough, come along everyone, we’ve got a bit of a walk ahead of us.”
Moominmamma brought along the book and made sure all her cooking was off and settled before leading the gang of fathers and sons away from Moominhouse. They all helped Snufkin and the Joxter collect their belongings before they headed off across the valley.
Snufkin kept his paw held in Moomin's as they crossed together, trailing behind the adults a bit. Moomin gazed around and noticed animals watching the group but daring not to approach.
“They like you so much Snufkin, they’re watching us, but none of them are coming close like they usually do when you stroll through the woods.”
Snufkin gave a little nod. “I suppose it makes more sense now, Moomin, I’m sure the animals are attuned to these sorts of things. They must have known all along that you were fae, that’s why they kept being so frightened.”
Moomin pouted. “Oh how unfair then that I be born a Moomintroll! I very much like animals...”
Snufkin couldn’t help but give a small laugh. “A troll then? I never would have suspected it, trolls usually aren’t so fair to look at.”
Moomin’s cheeks reddened. “Maybe that’s a fortunate thing for me to think about then.”
Snufkin glanced aside. “I’m very sorry about the camellia, Moomin, I destroyed it because I thought you had tricked me…” He admitted.
Moomintroll gave his hand a gentle squeeze.
“It’s okay Snufkin, there will always be more camellias in Moominvalley.”
Snufkin gave a melancholy smile. “Will it be pink or red?”
Moomintroll glanced aside. “Well, as you said, sometimes the giver doesn't want it to be known…”
Snufkin squeezed Moomintroll’s paw and let it be.
When they reached the mountain threshold Moominmamma stopped the group.
“Now, in order to lift the fae claim from one who has eaten our food, all that needs to be done is for one of us to walk the claimed out of the valley and wish you to go,” She explained.
Snufkin looked over to Moomintroll and found him looking back. Snufkin recalled when he had first been trapped by the magic of the Moomins food. How he was only freed when he wished to return to Moomintroll and the valley, now the only way out was for Moomintroll to wish him free.
Moominmamma turned to Moominpapa and the Joxter.
“You’ll have to bring him over and free him too, dear.”
Moominpapa gave a laugh. “It’ll be no trouble wishing this one gone.”
The Joxter quickly took Moominpapa’s paw in his own and grinned up at him.
“Certainly you must have wanted me here if I was trapped at all.”
Moominpapa smiled back but gave him a jab with his elbow. “Since when are you the expert on this?”
Moomintroll took both Snufkins paws in his own and closed his eyes as he wished for his dear friend to be free. It would make him sad to see Snufkin go, but nowhere near as sad as it would if he stayed trapped and miserable in Moominvalley.
When the moment was over and settled, the Moomins each led their Mumrik companions by the hand, out of the valley and across the threshold.
Just as Moominmamma had said, there was no leg locking sensation. Snufkin was able to keep walking with Moomintroll as they made their way onto the mountain trail before stopping.
Snufkin looked down upon Moomin’s face, into his bright blue eyes. He knew this would be the last time for a while that his dark brown eyes would look upon them.
“I will return,” He promised.
“It won’t be so soon... but I can think of nothing that could keep me from here,” Snufkin let a paw gently hold the side of Moomintrolls face.
“Except perhaps another fae curse,” He added in with a grin.
Moomintroll laughed, it was a soft and sweet laugh. As bright and vibrant as the valley behind him and the troll himself before him.
Snufkin once more pressed his nose against Moomintrolls snout, not sure how else he might express what he felt without some awkward maneuvering. Moomintroll seemed to understand what it meant all the same as he blushed quite deeply.
Snufkin parted and gave a wave to the Moomin family. The Joxter grinned and fell into step beside him after his own farewells with Moominpapa.
The two Mumriks left the valley behind, and not long after the Joxter peeled off from Snufkin to follow his own path...
But not before tossing a balled up clump of grass at his son, who smiled fondly after his silly father.
Snufkin took the straps of his pack in his paws and smiled up at the warm afternoon sunshine. For as strange a case as this may have been in Snufkin’s life, he felt light in his heart and he now knew for certain that the feeling was no malicious trick of a fae…