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“This is hopeless! It will take us all day to get to the ball like this, Snufkin!” Moomintroll lamented as he stood firm as he could manage against the river’s current. His arms were trying their hardest to support the weight of the canoe he had been carving for the past few days while Snufkin did his part by pulling on a rope they had tied to the ends of one of the canoe’s roots; Moomintroll still hadn’t quite finished his carving it out of its tree of origin, you see, when Stinky had taken a liking to it and decided to steal it for himself. The fact didn’t dissuade the mischievous creature one bit seeing how it floated downstream just fine.
Thankfully, Snufkin noticed the theft just in time and ran to alert Moomintroll. The two somehow managed to catch up to Stinky and get the canoe back, and all was well for a few minutes before Moomintroll was struck with the realization he ran out of Moominhouse just as his parents and friends were about to leave for that fancy dress ball Mrs. Fillyjonk had invited them to. Everyone had spent all week looking forward to it, and Snorkmaiden had seemed so excited to go as his partner, too… He couldn’t think about that right now, however. He and Snufkin had to focus on getting the canoe back to where it had been.
While sitting down on the grass near the riverbank and resting for a few minutes before they set out to do that, Moomintroll had an idea: Maybe they could bring the canoe to the ball and offer to escort Snorkmaiden back to Moominhouse. After sharing his idea with Snufkin, he didn’t say he was against it, but that it would be an awful lot of trouble since the house the ball was being hosted in, he’d heard, was further upstream. Moomintroll shook his head and assured him it was fine: It was the least he could do for Snorkmaiden.
Only now was he realizing how much trouble Snufkin had actually meant.
Just as it seemed they were managing to get the canoe up this particularly steep part of the river, the rope snapped and Snufkin fell backwards. The canoe toppled over Moomintroll and forced him underwater as it slid completely over him, effectively trapping the troll amidst the confusion and surprise. He fought, arms and legs flailing and kicking, desperately trying to find where the canoe’s edge ended. As he was carried off downstream, he coughed up a flurry of bubbles and, with them, the last of the air in his lungs. Snufkin called out his name, but it was muffled by the water currents passing him and a ringing in his ears that got progressively louder until it stopped just as the last of his consciousness escaped from his lips.
Everything went black; the last thing the troll could recall feeling after his vision became too clouded to see was a pair of hands grabbing and pulling one of his arms upwards.
When he opened his eyes again, he did so with a couple of weak coughs. He felt the ghost feeling of water up his snout and grimaced at it. Groaning, he forced himself to sit up. It seemed he was laying on grass.
“Moomin!” Snufkin’s voice said. Moomintroll turned to his right and saw the mumrik was sitting beside him not too far away, his eyes scanning him up and down with alarm. His clothes and hair looked damp, and the small droplets of water falling from the brim of his hat confirmed Moomintroll’s suspicion that Snufkin had had something to do with getting him out of the water. “Are you alright?”
He nodded. “Yes, I think I am. Ugh, where are we?” One of his paws rubbed at his eyes, which were yet to focus correctly. He looked up at the sky and all at once realized it was no longer dusk, but night. His eyes widened as scrambled to stand up. “Oh no, it’s dark already?! Snufkin, how far are we from the ball?”
“I would give it up, Moomin.” Snufkin shook his head gently in place, calm as always. “The water carried you quite far, and I don’t think it’s a good idea to try and find our way to the ball in this darkness. We’ll only get more lost.”
Moomintroll’s ears lay flat against his head, his heart sinking into his stomach. His blue eyes stared into Snufkin’s like a child who’d just been told by their parents the fair they’d been looking forward to going had closed due to unforeseen rain. Without breaking eye contact, he let himself fall back on the grass and then buried his face into his paws to let out a long groan. It was a combination of frustration from having his only way of apologizing ruined, anger at Stinky for stealing the canoe in the first place, and shame at how much of an awful friend he had been to Snorkmaiden.
“Come on, now, Moomin,” Snufkin said, a paw awkwardly hovering over the other’s shoulder for a couple of seconds as if he intended to comfort him before it ultimately drew back.
“I completely messed up…” Moomintroll lamented, face still hidden. “Snorkmaiden must be so embarrassed to not have a partner to dance with.”
“She would’ve felt more embarrassed if we had shown up so close to the ball’s end.”
“Well-- Well--! At least we would’ve been there a-and I could’ve explained everything to her!”
Something in Snufkin’s eyes shifted. He opted to stay quiet and let Moomintroll finish saying whatever he had to say.
“She was so excited to go,” he continued, “and she and mamma and Little My worked so hard on their costumes and I… and I ruined that for her!” As he spoke, Moomintroll’s voice swelled up, filled with the most frustrating kind of frustration one could experience in such a situation. “I wish I had never carved that stupid canoe…”
The mumrik pursed his lips. After giving it some thought, Snufkin decided it would be best to give Moomintroll some space. He stood up without making much noise and told him he would go look for some sticks and twigs to start a fire. Before disappearing into some nearby bushes, he told Moomintroll he could collect some rocks for the fire if he felt like it. Moomintroll didn’t answer, only recoiling his tail so it wrapped around his body and burrowing further into a ball. This seemed to be good enough for Snufkin, though, who gladly left Moomintroll alone with his thoughts without saying anything else.
“Have you ever gone to a fancy dress ball, Snufkin?” Moomintroll asked. A small yet cozy fire burned in front of him and Snufkin, making delightful crinkling sounds out of the quickly darkening twigs it lay on.
The tramp thought for a moment before smiling. “It may surprise you, but I actually have.”
Moomintroll turned to look at him, expression morphing into one of surprise. “Really?”
Snufkin fed the fire another stick and nodded once. “If I recall correctly, it was a congregation of park keepers celebrating a retirement or something of the sorts.”
“Ah.” Now that sounded more believable than thinking Snufkin had been invited to and attended such a posh event held only for the finest of high society,— and by free will, no less.
The mumrik chuckled. “What?”
Suddenly Moomintroll felt so much more self conscious of his deadpan reaction. “O-oh! It’s nothing. It’s just… weird to hear your name in the same sentence as ‘fancy dress ball’.” One of his ears twitched and his eyes looked at the ground to avoid Snufkin’s amused gaze, listening attentively to his words.
“Hmm… True.” Snufkin hummed, closing his eyes as if thinking back to a fond memory. “If it makes it any better, I wasn’t invited.”
Moomintroll smiled. “Of course. How did you get in, though?” He shuffled closer to his friend, wanting to know how the story went like he did with all of Snufkin’s other tales.
“Front door.”
Snufkin opened one of his eyes upon a sudden surge of silence and saw Moomintroll was giving him a skeptical look with one eyebrow raised. At this, he couldn’t stifle a small laugh. “Oh, well, I may or may not have jumped over the fence surrounding the mansion before going in the front door.”
“Weren’t there any guards?”
“Mm, yes. There were a couple of fuzzys by the door. But they’re easily distracted by anything that shines, you know? So it wasn’t terribly hard to get an opening.”
Moomintroll shifted around so he was now laying on his stomach, arms tucked under his snout and head tilting ever so slightly sideways. “Sure sounds like Sniff takes an awful lot after the Fuzzy, then.” This earned him a chuckle from Snufkin.
“That’s Sniff, alright.”
“Remind me to never leave him in charge of guarding something.”
“Noted.”
“So, what was it like? The park keeper ball?” Moomin said after a while, excited to get back to the story already; he’d almost forgotten about it.
Snufkin leaned back on his arms, still sitting, and let his head bounce back and look at the night sky. “Just as you might imagine one to be: All kinds of guests of all species dancing the night away in a big room with white marble tiles that clicked and clacked from every step taken on them. Their outfits were something to behold.” He threw a couple more sticks and twigs into the fire. “But the things they talked about were not in any way as interesting.”
Moomintroll listened attentively, an image quickly forming in his head where hemulens, mymbles, snorks, muddlers, and even a few moomins danced elaborate choreographies that, combined with the flurrying dresses of all colors that swirled with every turn, made it almost seem like flowers dancing in the wind while the sweetest music played along. How fun it would’ve been to be there and dance all night long! Moomintroll thought.
He sighed and shifted his arms under him to better look at Snufkin. The mumrik had picked off a long piece of grass and was nibbling on one of its ends like a rabbit. Moomintroll always found it adorable when he did that.
“It was a nice party,” Snufkin confessed, “but I don’t think I would ever want to be a part of it.”
“Oh…” Moomintroll said, a little sad. Of course, he already had an idea of how his friend felt about large gatherings, especially ones where you’re expected to dress up to. Snufkin would never settle for anything less comfortable and familiar than his old smock and hat, and Moomintroll, too, had to agree he couldn’t picture the mumrik wearing a fancy, ironed suit or a beautiful dress. “But if it was such a nice party, wouldn’t you ever want to go if only for a little while? Mamma says you can always leave after a while if you wish to and that there’s no shame in that.”
Snufkin turned his eyes at Moomintroll without moving his head and then looked back at the fire in front of him. “Tell me, what part were you looking forward to the most?”
Moomintroll was a little taken aback by him suddenly changing the subject but decided to better not question Snufkin about this. “Hm… I think dancing with Snorkmaiden,” he said after giving it some thought. “She did insist on practicing together whenever she came over, you see. That and I was kind of excited for the waltz.” Silence followed, and the two boys stared at the fire as it continued to burn brightly and warm them further.
“Well,” Snufkin spoke up, standing up. “That could be arranged.”
The troll gave him a questioning look. He didn’t quite get what Snufkin meant until the latter offered his paw and beckoned him to stand up. He finally took it after staring at it dumbfounded, his heart unsure of how fast it wanted to beat. Had Snufkin just offered him to dance together?
“O-oh, um... “ Moomintroll gripped the other’s paw tightly. “But we can’t both lead…”
Snufkin shook his head, a smile on his lips. “No, but I can follow.”
Moomintroll’s ears perked up at this. His heart skipped a beat. “Is that really ok?” He’d never seen two girls or two boys waltzing together before-- the only reference he could go by was his own parents and maybe Mumble and the Inspector (though the latter pair didn’t fancy dancing that much). It was like a new door in his world had just been opened, and he felt more than compelled to go through it.
“I’ve never heard anyone say it isn’t,” Snufkin said.
His heart felt a tingle go through it. “Ah. W-well, then.” Moomintroll looked away for a moment to collect his thoughts and then took a deep breath before bowing at Snufkin. He wasn’t sure if he’d bowed too deep or if he was even doing the gesture correctly, but it was at least something. “May I have this dance?”
The other boy chuckled and did a curtsy using the hem of his smock as if it were a dress. “I would be glad to.”
They both straightened back and Moomintroll awkwardly gestured to Snufkin to come closer, which the mumrik did. With awkward movements, he placed his left paw on Snufkin’s hip, at which point Snufkin also placed his left paw on Moomintroll’s shoulder. However, the troll hesitated when it came to holding his friend’s right paw. Snufkin seemed to notice, and sighed with a certain fondness.
Moomintroll’s tail was furiously moving from side to side behind him as Snufkin gently extended his slightly curled fingers, his touch lingering on his palm before clasping their paws together in the correct position. Moomintroll realized he’d never noticed how soft his friend’s fur actually was, but maybe that was just his mind playing tricks on him like the way his shoulder and paw felt significantly warmer than the rest of his body. Without intending to, he pulled Snufkin closer by the other’s hip, angling his snout down but never breaking eye contact with his friend.
What now?
Snufkin resolved the awkward tension between them by starting to hum a melody he’d probably heard on his travels because Moomintroll couldn’t recall ever hearing it before. Snapped out of his racing thoughts, the troll instinctively took the first step, and Snufkin followed like he said he would.
The troll found himself thinking back to how pleased Snorkmaiden had been at how he almost never tripped over himself and was, in general, very good at leading; his parents had also told him so in the past. Still, Moomintroll felt like he’d forgotten everything he thought he knew about waltzing the moment he and Snufkin started swaying from side to side. He stepped on the tramp’s feet more times than he’d ever had with Snorkmaiden and he struggled to find a rhythm to settle in.
Thankfully, Snufkin was incredibly patient with him, and assured him with each apology that he was doing just fine.
“You’re really a very good dancer, Moomintroll,” Snufkin said.
And that small piece of praise seemed to be everything Moomintroll needed to hear to fix his coordination problems: It sent shivers down his back that made his fur stand and ignited a small flame in his heart. With a decided look, Moomintroll straightened his back and began to lead Snufkin into a more consistent pace, also bolder and creative in how it implemented twirling the mumrik in place and even a hop when the tempo started to gradually increase. Snufkin let out small laughs and giggles whenever Moomintroll made a new addition to their dancing, which only incited the latter to pick up the pace even more.
At a certain point, the melody was forgotten and it became only Moomintroll leading Snufkin along the grass while they both stared at each other with smiles on their faces. Moomintroll forgot everything else outside of them existed for a few fleeting seconds. The atmosphere felt like pure bliss and joy. He couldn’t think of anything or anyone but Snufkin and how charming he looked and the way his paw rested on his shoulder and them being so close felt so right . He didn’t even notice when their fingers had intertwined together when it was supposed to be nothing but a simple pawhold.
However, since all good things must come to an end, Moomintroll was thrown off when his mind decided to remind him of Snorkmaiden.
He was supposed to be dancing with her . Not Snufkin.
His eyes widened, breath catching in his throat and, unable to keep up the pace again, he stepped on Snufkin’s boot once more. They both fell to the ground.
“Snufkin!” Moomintroll’s paws came up to his mouth. The mumrik sat up. “Oh, Snufkin, are you alright?”
He nodded. “Yeah…“
“I’m so, so sorry!” Moomin helped his friend up. “I-- I, um, got distracted there.”
“No worries,” Snufkin said, brushing off some dirt from his smock before turning to Moomintroll. “Well, that was fun, don’t you think?”
“O-oh! Yes! Of course, it was very fun.”
“Do you feel a bit better from not having been able to go to the ball?”
“I think so,” Moomintroll lied. He was actually feeling extremely glad he hadn’t gone to the ball since he wouldn’t have been able to dance with Snufkin then, but he daren’t accept this himself.
“I think we should rest for tonight, though.” Snufkin removed his scarf and hat. “That way we can get up early and get to Moominhouse by breakfast.”
Moomintroll nodded. With that, he pushed his thoughts aside as he and Snufkin settled onto the grass side by side. Just as he believed Snufkin was starting to drift off, he gathered up the courage to ask the question that would plague his mind for days on end if he didn’t ask it now.
“Snufkin?”
“What is it?”
“Could we…? Would you like to try dancing together again?”
Snufkin didn’t respond immediately and the silence felt like a thousand boulders crushing Moomintroll’s chest.
“Maybe if Stinky ever steals your carpentry and we get stranded in the middle of the woods again.”
Moomintroll couldn’t help but laugh.