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Hushed murmurs were all Snorkmaiden heard. She was in Moominhouse, enjoying a cup of tea when there was a hurried knock at the door. Moominmama had gone over, and whatever had happened seemed to be quite worrisome.
Too-ticky stepped inside the house, wringing her hands anxiously. “Thank you, Moominmama. I’m sure you’ll do your best.” Her eyes set on Snorkmaiden. “Oh! You!” She rushed over to the young girl. “All the other children have gone out adventuring, would you mind doing me a favor?”
Snorkmaiden cocked her head to the side, putting down her cup of tea. “What is it? What happened?”
“Oh, well…” Too-ticky bit her lip. “It’s Ninny… She’s gone invisible again.”
“Oh no, do you have any idea what could’ve prompted it?” Moominmama asked, brow furrowed.
“You see, Ninny tends to have horrible nightmares every now and then, poor girl. Apparently this one was so bad that she… Well, you should see for yourself, Snorkmaiden. I was going to ask you, could you spend the day with her? I’d ask the whole lot of you to play with her, but you’re the only one here. Maybe it’ll do her some good to spend some time with another girl as well, who knows. I just don’t want her to feel alone in this,” Too-ticky sighed, putting her hand to her cheek. “I really thought she was getting better.”
Snorkmaiden’s stomach did a flip. Something about Ninny made her feel funny. Maybe it was because she hadn’t seen her in some time now, but the young girl typically didn’t feel anxious when meeting people. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something about spending time with Ninny made her face heat up.
“Oh, of course she’s getting better, Too-ticky,” Moominmama said, putting a hand on the other woman’s shoulder. “I’m sure this is just another bump in the road. Some time with the other children should cheer her up, and she can stay the night if she needs to.”
“Thank you so much, Moominmama. I’m so glad I could rely on you and your wonderful family, without you lot, she probably would’ve still been invisible in the first place. Well, I should get going.” She turned to the door. “Ninny, come in! Don’t be shy now.”
Through the open door, a floating dress and bow bobbed through and walked up next to Too-ticky. Too-ticky pat the invisible girl’s shoulder and squeezed it briefly before turning to Moominmama. “Again, thank you for everything.” She turned away and walked out the door.
Ninny stood silently in the center of the room. While you couldn’t see her face, one could tell that she was quite nervous.
“Snorkmaiden, dear, why don’t you go and play with Ninny outside? I’ll call you both in for some hot chocolate.” Moominmama said.
“Okay, Moominmama.” Snorkmaiden smiled, then looked over to Ninny. “Now what’s gotten into you, Ninny? I know, let’s go out to the flower fields. Maybe that’ll cheer you up.” Snorkmaiden held out her paw to the other girl, and waited until she felt a soft grip around her paw. Quickly, Moominmama gave the two baskets for picking flowers before waving them off. Taking the lead, Snorkmaiden walked out of the house and towards the flower fields with Ninny in toll.
It wasn’t a far walk but it felt like one. Snorkmaiden was relatively affectionate and touchy, so it was natural for her to grab onto the other girl’s hand, but she felt her heart beating faster every second the two were linked.
What ever could be the matter? She thought, Maybe I’m fatigued. Yes, that must be it.
She tried to disregard it, but she couldn’t seem to take her focus off of the other girl. Her hand felt so warm, as invisible as it was.
“Ninny, do you like making flower crowns? They’re lovely, and I think one would be a perfect addition to your outfit. It’ll compliment your bow nicely.” Snorkmaiden said bashfully. She looked back at Ninny; She knew she wouldn’t be able to see her, but she tried to look to around where her eyes would be. However, much to her surprise, when she looked over she saw that Ninny’s hands had become visible again. Seeing her fingers interlocked with Ninny’s made Snorkmaiden’s heart jump.
“Yes,” said the other softly, “I think they’re very nice.”
“Good,” Snorkmaiden sighed, whipping her head around to look away. “You’re very- You’d look very pretty with it on. Now come on, walk a little faster.”
***
Snorkmaiden was hunting for suitable flowers, determined to make a flower crown for the other girl. Ninny was off somewhere else in the flower fields doing the same thing. In Snorkmaiden’s mind, the flowers she was picking just had to compliment Ninny’s red dress and yellow bow. Unable to think of the perfect color combination, she figured that red and yellow flowers would most likely look nice. And so, that’s what she picked. When her basket was filled to the brim, she went off to go and look for Ninny.
Ninny was on the next small hill over, her basket full with soft pink flowers. She walked slowly over to Snorkmaiden before thrusting forward her findings.
“I thought these would look nice on you.” She said softly, her voice almost a whisper.
“Oh,” Snorkmaiden mused, “They’re very pretty indeed…” She found herself silent for a moment, before leaning forward to grab Ninny’s hand again. “Well, come on, these won’t make themselves.”
The two girls plopped down onto a patch of grass, setting the baskets in between them.
“You see, you have to get flowers with a particularly long stem”, Snorkmaiden said, holding up a golden flower, “Then you braid them together, like this…”
Snorkmaiden went slowly, slowing down even more or stopping altogether to help Ninny with her crown at times. They wove and wove the flowers together, mostly silent. As they went on, Ninny’s feet and legs slowly became visible again. Snorkmaiden couldn’t tell how Ninny felt about the crowns, but personally she was thrilled. Crafting was one of her favorite things in the world; Moominmama and her would sometimes spend time together making jewelry and hats and things of the like. She was so engrossed in her project, that she didn’t notice that Ninny was silently weeping until she was done with the crown.
Looking over at the other girl, Snorkmaiden noticed the outline of tears going down an invisible face. Setting her finished flower crown down, she scoot over to Ninny and grabbed her hand.
“Oh, Ninny, whatever is the matter?” She asked softly, squeezing her hand.
Ninny sniffled, “You’re very nice, Snorkmaiden. Thank you.”
Snorkmaiden was taken aback. She was crying because she was being nice to her? “Ninny… Well, I wouldn’t be mean to you…”
“Yes, but…” Ninny was silent for a moment, as if the words were stuck in her throat. She continued, “I’ve had awful dreams… They make me think people aren’t going to be nice to me anymore.”
“Oh!” Snorkmaiden crossed her arms. “Is it that mean Auntie of yours that is bothering you? She won’t ever come near you again! Or so help me!” She cupped Ninny’s face with her paws, wiping the tears away with her thumbs. “You’re safe now.”
Suddenly, Ninny’s face appeared, visible again. As with the rest of her. Her eyes were tear-stricken and her face was a rosy pink hue. She slowly grabbed onto Snorkmaiden’s paws, rubbing her cheek against them. “Thank you.”
Snorkmaiden went beet red, feeling as if she had just gotten struck by lightning. It was much easier to be around the other girl when she was invisible, somehow. “You’re welcome,” She whispered, breathless. She was stricken with how beautiful Ninny was. The golden orange of her hair shone like fire in the sunlight, her green-gray eyes looking like the sea in contrast. She didn’t realize she was staring until Ninny looked up at her through half-lidded eyes, eyelashes wet with tears. “Can you keep showing me how to do the flower crown? I didn’t finish.”
“Yes, of course.” Snorkmaiden said, looking away.
They continued to make the flower crowns, putting them on each other when they were done. Ninny’s was a little wonky, but Snorkmaiden loved it nonetheless.
“I know you’re visible now, but we should keep playing!” Snorkmaiden exclaimed, thrilled at how good the crowns came out.
“What if we went down to the beach?” Ninny mused, cocking her head to the side.
“I’ll race you there!”
And off they went.