Chapter Text
The land of Moominvalley was a beautiful place. Hidden away from the rest of the world behind mountains and thick forests filled to the brim with wonderful creatures, the bubbling trade city of Moominvalley held one of the richest castles in the North. It was well known around the area for being a home to the unusual and unseen, but barely known in the south at all, mostly due to the large expanse of land separating them and the much larger kingdoms inhabiting the land.
The people of Moominvalley were all a prosperous, happy bunch. The city below, covered by trees and rivers, was always lively. Small creeps and forest animals lived in the trees and bushes, making the forest a hubbub of noise, while the floor was inhabited by hardworking Hemulens and poised Fillyjonks. Meanwhile, the rolling hills of the valley were covered with dirt roads leading to offices and markets; tall buildings housing noisy children and small shops showing off old expensive collectibles.
On top of the largest hill was Moomincastle, a home open to all in need of a warm place to sleep and food to fill their stomachs. Guards were few in number, and were mostly only there to protect goods and riches. Instead, King Moominpapa and Queen Moominmama were friendly folk who opened their arms to everyone.
To someone from the south, their kindness might be taken for lies and trickery, but to the people who lived in the warm-hearted valley, they knew that the trade city was anything but.
And as people from the north, they didn’t see the under workings of the south and its own small town burglar.
𐩲⭛𐩲
The city air was cold and damp. The awakening of fall was heavy over the tall and short buildings, and the people with thin blankets were suffering from the sudden change of weather. While people were cold and sick in the lower portions of the city, the rich aristocrats of the nobles bragged about their trade and money like everything was fine. An infamous young boy, however, just wouldn’t have it.
His shoes hit the ground in a vicious slap, his breathing labored and heavy- heavier than the bag in his hands, filled to the brim with luxuries few could afford. The scarf wrapped tightly around his mouth and nose made it so much harder to breathe, but if he stopped to calm down, he would certainly be caught by the Hemulens behind him.
The alleyway was covered with puddles the boy had to quickly dodge, lest he tripped and dropped the bag. His movements were laggy, and he thanked the Groke that Hemulens were slow creatures.
“Get back here, thief!” One old guard cried. “Give back the kingdom their jewels!”
Funny, the boy thought to himself. Looked more like the royal family’s money than the entire kingdom’s. His head was pounding with thoughts of how he saw the royals treat their people, and he knew this was the only way to get back at them. He couldn’t slow down, no matter how much his paws ached or how exhausted he felt.
His legs were growing numb from all the running, and right when he thought he had lost his way, the boy saw the bustling main road. Quickening his pace, he hid the bag between his arms and held his head down- hat covering his face. Finally busting through the crowd, he ran against their flow- bumping into everyone. Distant cries of “Hey!” and “Watch it!” were ignored, as the boy had a mission he didn’t intend on stopping.
Small grunts and yells from a ways behind him showed that the guards had lost him in the crowd. The boy smiled to himself in pride, still making at a quick pace to make sure they couldn’t catch up. Only when the crowd of the market thinned out did he slip back into an abandoned alley to finally slow down.
His back to the grimy wall, he slid until his rump hit the ground. “Oh, Groke, that was a pain.” he panted, letting the bag slip from his paws. He pulled the scarf down and took in a big gulp of city air. The sounds of the market place were quieter so far in the alley, and the boy was thankful for it.
Gaining his breath back, he let the string around the bag pull loose. Inside sparkled beautiful gems that only the ocean could best. From sapphires to gold, he had stolen many irreplaceable valuables and he didn’t feel the least bit sorry. The old hag of a queen was so cold hearted that one could believe she was the Lady of the Cold in disguise. The boy wrapped the jewels back up and took a few more minutes to let his body relax before getting up and walking his way through the alleys.
The further down the boy went, the worse the smell and visuals got. Many buildings were run down, broken apart into crumpled brick walls. The grotesque stench was horrid with illness in the air, and if you listened close enough, you could hear the soft coughs of the ill in their cold homes.
It took him only a few days to wrap his head around the kingdom’s sewer and street systems. Took him only a few hours to realize that the south was far too harsh for him anymore. Took him even less to figure out he had to do something about it.
Although his paws throbbed in protest of his moving, he made his trek to one of the houses close to the kingdom border and softly knocked on the door. “Miss Mymblie,” He called out. “Miss Mymblie, it’s me.”
Soon after, the boy heard heavy footsteps rushing to the door.
It creaked open to show a young and tired Mymble woman on the other side. “Oh, mister Robin Hood, sir. Thank Groke you made it.” Miss Mymblie opened the door fully, allowing him to make his way inside. “Please, please, do come in,” She ushered.
He nodded to her silently and made his way inside. The kitchen he had entered was dirty from lack of use and two Mymble children were wrestling on the ground, covered in mud. They regarded him in passing, their tails swishing dust his way before continuing what they were doing.
The door closed and Miss Mymblie came from behind him to grab his paw and pointed to a door in the corridor. “He’s in there, sir, where I last left him.” She led him to the aforementioned room, opening the door as quietly as possible.
Inside the small room were three beds- since this Mymble was so young she only had three children to take care of for now. On one was a small Mymble boy, panting softly in his sleep with water at his side and a warm washcloth on his forehead. The boy with the bag clicked his teeth together in worry as the young child’s mother rushed to his side. “I’m afraid since your last visit, Young Mymb has only gotten worse. I’ve started worrying that maybe what you’ve gotten from the kingdom won’t be of any use at this point, mister Robin Hood.” The young mother wrapped her paw around her son’s- her lip trembling.
The boy with the bag came over to put a comforting paw on the woman’s shoulder. “Miss, please wait.” He whispered, “You might just be surprised.”
Miss Mymblie grabbed the bag with a wobbly paw, taking the string off slowly to reveal the glistening gems and gold. She put a hand to her mouth and choked out a sob. Her shoulders shook with a new vigor, bringing life to her solemn form. “O-oh, mister, thank you. Thank you. W-with this, we could afford the best doctor in the kingdom,” she murmured, awe in her voice.
The boy nodded once more, crossing his arms loosely with a smile. “My only request is that you share the rest of the money to the other poor families here that have come across this terrible cold. They need this bag’s help just as much as you do.”
“Of course, sir, of course.” The woman choked out another sob, a small smile spreading across her cheeks. “The rumors really are true. You really are the saviors of us poor folk.”
“No, no,” The boy said. “I just do things anyone could.”
“Nonsense,” Miss Mymblie spoke. She crumpled the bag in her paws, rubbing snot on her sleeve. “The south is lucky to have you, sir.”
The boy shook his head, disagreeing with her strongly. “If you ever need my help again, just call my name.”
The Mymble took a large sniffle. “D-do you mean your pseudonym or your true name?”
The boy opened the door softly for the sick child resting, his back to the Mymble. “Being true to others is important, after all.”
“And what exactly would that be?”
“No one knows,” he said. Snufkin closed the door.
꠶⭜꠶
“Catch me if you can, losers!” Little My yelled, leaping into the forest.
“Not fair, Little My!” Snorkmaiden laughed, running after the girl excitedly.
Sniff howled out, “P-please wait for me! Oh, dear!”
Moomintroll could only laugh as his friends chased after Little My in a frenzy as he put peanut butter and jam on his toasted bread. Today was the first day of spring, and while the nip of winter was still at their ears, the groups decided that today was the perfect time to have a picnic a little ways away from the border of the kingdom. They had invited Alicia, but the girl was very busy with her magic studies.
Moomintroll sat his butterknife down and closed his jars before taking a large bite of his lunch. He watched his friends chase each other in a mock game of tag through the wood, enjoying the sun beaming on his fur and the taste of his mother’s jam. Once he was finished with his sandwich and realized the others were still running around the trees, he started making his friends’ sandwiches.
Sniff loved honey and jam together- Moominmama had to constantly stop him from putting honey and jam on anything. And while Little My liked downing bread whole, she really enjoyed mayonnaise, pickles, and ham. Snorkmaiden shivered at the thought of eating those things together, and so she enjoyed lettuce, tomatoes, and other vegetables- since Snorks were strict herbivores, unlike Moomins.
Sniff landed on the picnic blanket with Little My on his back, startling Moomintroll out of his stupor. Sniff sighed languidly, “M-Moomintroll! Little My made me run around the woods too fast and now I feel sick!”
Moomintroll raised an eyebrow, hiding his smirk behind his snout. “You could’ve just said no, Sniff.” He put Little My’s sandwich down just to watch her snatch it and chomp down without hesitation.
“Oh, no, I couldn’t!” He cried out. “She would’ve hit me.”
Snorkmaiden let out a snort, sitting down across from Sniff and Little My. “Please, like she would waste her time when she could be setting fire to people’s newspapers.” Little my let out a cackle, pointing to Snorkmaiden with a vicious grin before taking another bite.
Sniff covered his eyes with his hands, letting out a whimpered, “Oh…”
The group of friends ate their sandwiches- with a little bit of guacamole the Snork had made for them- in as much peace as one could get with Little My around. Snorkmaiden talked about her last outing with Ninny, Alicia, and Mymble Junior- at which Little My gagged at. Sniff complained about how Stinky had thrown Hattifattener seeds in front of his house a few days ago, resulting in him being shocked. Little My only threw herself off his back in laughter. Moomintroll talked about his father’s last daring story- it was just like all the other stories of the Oshun Oxtra. After awhile, they ran out of things to talk about and decided to pack up.
Snorkmaiden grabbed all of the jars and boxes and put them all back in the basket, where Little My shoved and sorted everything. Sniff stood by and played with some bugs on the ground with a stick while Moomintroll folded the blanket into a perfect square- just the way his mother taught him. Snorkmaiden carried the basket and blanket, Little My on her shoulders, with Moomintroll and Sniff trailing behind them.
The forest of Moominvalley was glorious. Moomintroll had never been anywhere but the valley, so he was quite biased- it was just that the leaves and the grass grew in such a way that made you never want to look away. Even when night had fallen and all was as quiet as it could get with the Mymble children around, the forest was covered head to toe with fireflies that would light your way if you ever stumbled. The warmth of the valley always won over people’s hearts- it won over his parents when they had built the house. Captivated the vagabonds and traders to stay and build a kingdom alongside Moomintroll’s parents. The beautiful heat of it all just wrapped you in it’s arms and made you think of home.
River sounds trumped around in Moomintroll’s ears- alerting them to the upcoming bridge and town ahead of them. No matter how much he adored the forest surrounding his home, the break out of the wood was always his favorite.
The look of happy villagers and growing crops among a bundling trade center hidden away by mountain and trees was always breathtaking. It made his tail twitch in excitement and his hands clench around the air.
When you looked past the city, you could see Moomincastle on it’s famous hill. Moominpapa and Moominmama had built a house here with no intention of it becoming a happy city, but with his father’s amazing charisma and his mother’s wit, they made the perfect pair. The blue house they originally made was still standing- with it’s red roof and tall frame- but the larger the Moomin city became, so did the family. At first, whenever someone new came, Moominpapa would make them rooms in the house, so they had to branch out. After awhile, the house became a castle and there were fifteen large rooms per floor. Moominpappa just decided that making the people homes was a much easier task.
And so that’s what he did. Almost every home in the city was built by his father. However, when his back started taking a toll on him with all his hard work, Moominpapa made a team of house builders so everyone had a chance at comfortable living.
“Moominmama!” Snorkmaiden waved at his mother, who was having a nice chat with the Mymble in her garden. Little My grabbed the basket and blanket from the other girl before hopping down. Once she was gone, Snorkmaiden went to go chat with the older women- probably about love affairs with the local boys and girls. Little My ran off to do Groke knows what, but not before letting out a cackle when throwing the items at Sniff.
“I’m feeling very bullied today,” He grumbled.
Moomintroll pat his back. “Don’t worry. You’ll get used to it eventually.”
Sniff and Moomintroll made their way inside the castle. The original house was where the royal family lived, so they went that way. When you first entered, it didn’t look like much- just a normal home- but when you looked to your left, there was a long and large corridor that ended in a staircase going to the next floor. One of the doors was opened and, when Moomintroll listened close enough, he could hear Ninny giggling to one of her adoptive mothers, Mymble Junior.
Sniff walked over to the kitchen to drop off the picnic items, and Moomintroll saw this as a means of escape from his younger brother. He quietly ran up the stairs to his room on the third floor, his feet scampering as a hope that Sniff wouldn’t catch up.
When he made it to his room, he shut the door, locked it, and opened up the doors to his balcony. The walls next to the doors were covered in thriving vines, small flowers blooming on them as a way to welcome spring. One of the vines fell down and tickled his nose, making him laugh lightly. He would keep them open for Snorkmaiden, or maybe Little My, depending on if she felt like making the climb. Snorkmaiden mostly climbed the vines as a way to be dramatic, but Little My liked it because of the thrill.
Moomintroll chuckled at the thought of the girls before going over to his desk to write more of his story. It was the love story between a young princess and a rigid thief, both fated to never be together, no matter how much they wanted to. Recently, Moomintroll had fallen out of love with the story- if he was ever in love with it in the first place-, but he kept trying to push himself into writing it because he didn’t like the thought of giving up- something his father never did.
Hours passed of just Moomintroll scribbling in the margins of his papers and chewing on his pen. Before he knew it, Misabel was at his door announcing that dinner was done and in the main hall. Moomintroll put his pen down and sighed. Groke, how was he ever going to finish this story? If he wanted to be as good of a king as his father one day, he had to make a story just as great as his, right? With his head in his hands, Moomintroll sat and thought for long about father’s achievements. When he knew it got too late, he rubbed his fur in all directions and stood up, making his way to the great hall on the second floor via the castle entrance.
Inside, his parents sat at the head of each side of the table, while Junior, Ninny, Snorkmaiden and her brother, Sniff, Little My, and many others occupied the other seats. Moomintroll sat next to his father, like every other night. The meal tonight wasn’t prepared by Moominmama, but instead by the kitchen staff- consisting of Mrs. Fillyjonk, Misabel, and two Hemulens that joined the village a year ago or so. It was alright, not as good as his mother, but it passed quite well for a royal meal- just not a Moomin royal meal.
“And then Alicia decided that blowing up the boulder was a lot better of an idea than trying to push it,” Ninny said.
Snorkmaiden chimed in, “Oh, yes, and we all wondered how she would make it explode.”
“Well,” Ninny said, packing up the suspense. “Turns out witches aren’t just good for pranks, but are also pretty solid at getting people out of caves via exploding rock.”
“By the Groke’s nose,” Moominmama laughed. “You girls sure are creative, aren’t you?”
“Creative and charming, they say,” Snorkmaiden beamed.
“Oh, yeah?” Little My teased, stabbing a steamed carrot so hard that the plate let out a scared screech. “Said who? The blind creep down the road?”
“Little My!” Snorkmaiden blushed. “At least my face doesn’t look like I had too many lemons!”
The small Mymble snickered. “Be careful, Snorkmaiden, or else all that pretentious energy will build up in your head and shoot out that big nose of yours.” The girl flicked the Snork in the snout with her fork before crunching the carrot between her teeth.
“Now, Little My,” Moominmama calmly let out, taking a sip of tea. “Don’t make me grab the tea pot.”
The Mymble huffed, her eyebrows scrunched up in defiance, but she sat down anyway.
The rest of the dinner went by without a hiccup- well, besides Sniff letting out a shriek of terror when Little My bit his tail out of boredom. When dinner was finished, everyone who came either went to their rooms in Moomincastle or to their own homes in the village. Snorkmaiden came by to tell him that she would be by soon, but Little My was going to be too busy pranking the poor mailman to make it. The troll was fine with this and told her goodbye for now, making his way back into the royal house.
Moomintroll’s parents had made their way back before him, as they were sitting on opposite couches. Moominmama was knitting another pair of wool socks for one of the Mymble children, who had lost them in a bush to a snake. Moominpapa was reading over one of his memoirs when Moomintroll strolled in.
“Moomintroll, my boy!” His father beamed, patting the spot next to him. “Come here, I need to talk to you for a second.”
“Of course, papa.” Moomintroll sat next to his father, looking at him expectantly.
The older Moomin sat his book down, turning to his son. “So, I understand that you’re turning older, and-”
“Papa, I’ve already had the talk-”
“No, no! Oh, heavens, no, boy, that’s not what I’m talking about at all.” Moominpapa looked mortified. “No, what I’m saying is, that there’s a very big shipment coming from the south at the end of next week, and since, you know.” His father cleared his throat into his fist. “Sooner or later, you’ll take over as king-”
Moomintroll’s ears went back. “Right, of course.”
“I just thought it would be a good idea if you came with me to the docks to oversee it.” Moominpapa shuffled around on his rump. “And this is only a suggestion. If you don’t want to-”
Moomintroll’s ears came back forward, but they only clamped to his head in worry. “No, no, of course I’ll go. Practice is good, it’s what I need.”
After searching his eyes, his father relaxed and beamed out a glorious smile. “That’s amazing, my boy! Make sure you have yourself all tidied up and with your crown on when the time arises.”
Moomintroll could only smile back. “Of course, papa.”
Moominpapa patted his shoulder with pride. “Right; now, why don’t you go get some sleep, eh? Rest those young bones of your’s!”
Letting out a laugh, Moomintroll got up and went up the stairs. “Good night, papa, mama. I love you both.”
“We love you, too, son!” His father called.
“Don’t let the creeps bite, dear.” His mother soothed.
Moomintroll scurried up the stairs, grabbed his doorknob, and entered as fast as he could. He closed the door and slid down to the floor.
With his ears back, all he could say was, “Oh, Groke.”
Moomintroll sat there, unable to do anything but think and sigh- he was so dreadfully worried that he was going to mess up. That if he said one wrong thing, then Moominvalley’s chance at trade with the south would be completely ruined. His father would look foolish for raising such a boy, and the only thing his mother would be able to do was rub his back and say, “Oh, dear.” He knew his parents’ wouldn’t blame him- that they would hug him tight and tell him that they’ll get other trade routes with other southern kingdoms.
But the damage would be done.
A small knock on his balcony door awoke him from his fretful stupor. He looked up to see Snorkmaiden waving at him through his slightly fogged up window doors. Moomintroll got up quickly, making his way over to his friend in a haste.
“Moomintroll!” She said excitedly when he opened up the room. “Pleasure seeing you here,” She joked.
Moomintroll let out a laugh and let the girl inside. He knew for a fact that she saw him huddled in a ball, head in paws, but he also knew that Snorkmaiden had a wonderful patience for him and would cheer him up to the best of her ability until the feelings boiled over.
She sat on his queen size bed, and bent over the edge to grab a jar of pudding and a spoon Little My had hidden away for a snack. She popped the lid open and took a bite before speaking. “So, how was your day?”
Moomintroll let out an amused huff, sitting down next to her and grabbing his own spoon from under his bed. “Well, you were there for most of it, so.”
“Oh, yes, I guess that’s true. Well, should I tell you about yesterday?”
“You already told us about the adventure you had with the other girls, though,” Moomintroll said, slurping down pudding.
“Well, yeah,” She rolled her eyes. “But, I’m talking about the other yesterday, duh.”
Moomintroll raised a brow, but still nodded with a smile. “Oh, right, duh.”
“Okay, so, I wake up right?” Snorkmaiden gestured with her hand before taking another bite of pudding. “I get ready, look like an absolute gem, and I go out to town because Snork just loved the thought of not getting any food or soap for a week.”
“You could have just taken from us.”
The Snork rolled her eyes once more. “Yes, but my brother has already taken up your entire basement for his inventions; we couldn’t possibly take more.”
Moomintroll let out a huff. “Okay, then, continue.”
Snorkmaiden snapped back into her story with a short jolt. “So, I’m at the market, and when I’m grabbing the avocados for Snork’s guacamole, the vendor asks me out on a date. I’m not as flabbergasted as I would have been a few years ago, but I do put on a show because this was the finest looking Toffle I have ever seen. But then, his sister comes out from the back, looks at me, then asks me out as well! I was so shocked by the turn of events that I barely noticed when they started squabbling. And hopefully they were too busy fighting over me to see me sneak an avocado or two for free.” Snorkmaiden winked at Moomintroll mischievously, taking another bite of the butterscotch pudding.
The boy gaped out, “Snorkmaiden! Really?!”
Snorkmaiden let out a snort, nodding her head in quick succession. “Yes, I did! And you know what I did with it?” She made it sound so innocent and evil at the same time.
Moomintroll giggled in the back of his throat, saying, “What?”
“Remember that guacamole we had today for lunch?”
The Moomin gasped loudly, slapping a hand down on Snorkmaiden’s shoulder with a hearty laugh. “Oh, Snorkmaiden, you didn’t!”
The girl nodded once more in a fit of laughter. “You looked so pleased with that stolen food today, it was hard to keep my laughter in check!”
“At this rate, you and Little My will become partners in crime!”
“Who says we haven’t already?”
The two let out a few more laughs about the avocados before becoming content to just sit there and eat pudding. When Moomintroll found he had gotten his fill, he fiddled with his spoon while Snorkmaiden finished up the jar. The two put the spoons back in the jar and under the bed. The two shared stories and jokes together until Snorkmaiden said it was time to go back to her room.
She stood up and stretched, letting out a sigh when her back popped. “It was fun hanging out with you again, Moomintroll. I’ll see you later, yeah?”
Moomintroll nodded, but hesitated. His brows furrowed and Snorkmaiden took it as the invitation to wait. After a second of contemplation, Moomintroll said, “Actually, I had a talk with Papa, and he said that I new shipment from the south was coming in.”
Snorkmaiden beamed. “Oh, that’s wonderful! I hope we get some of their exotic vegetables! We rarely have potatoes anymore, it would be amazing to have another batch.”
“Yes, but he wants me to go with him.”
“Oh.” Her shoulders slumped, seeing his ears turned back and his voice solemn. “Well,” she says, contemplating. “How about we have a really big adventure with our friends the day or so before? Adventures always make you feel better.”
Moomintroll stared at the floorboards for a second before letting out a huge smile. He grabbed his friend’s paws and squeezed. “Oh, thank you, Snokrmaiden! We haven’t had a big adventure in so long, I can’t wait!”
The Snork laughed and squeezed back. “Of course, Moomintroll. Anything for you.” She let go of his paws, going to the door. “Expect giving up my beauty sleep.” She winked as she closed his bedroom door behind her.
Moomintroll jumped up and down, excited for his new adventure. He had no idea what Snorkmaiden was planning, but he was pumped. Ever since he got older, his royal duties had gotten more serious, so now, at the ripe age of twenty-one, Moomintroll didn’t get much of a chance for daring adventures.
That night, Moomintroll went to bed with a tail twitching with excitement.