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Something smelled nice, a warmth emanating from a little away from him.
Snufkin opened his eyes, as best as he could, gasping as the pain in his body returned, as fast as lightening goes.
“Easy, there.” Someone called to him softly, a familiar, yet worried, voice.
Snufkin looked up at the face slowly appearing in front of his blurry eyes.
“…-” He tried to speak, but just broken out into a violent cough, racking through his whole body, and making him like he was about to faint again.
“Wow. Don’t talk, you need to rest.” The figure warned him with concern. “No moving either.”
Pappa… Snufkin cried silently, wanting to call out for his father, relief of seeing him making his cough turn into sobs, not any less painful.
“Shhh.” Joxter tried to shush him, running a careful, yet gentle, paw through his son’s hair. “It’s okay. I’m here now.” He reassured quietly, his own voice sounding like it was about to break.
Snufkin wasn’t sure when he’d fallen asleep again, only waking up later, as he was in a tent, under a warm blanket, the nice and comfortable fabric contrasting with his painful and bruised body.
He hadn’t even noticed that he had been patched up, his head tightly wrapped into a clean bandage, part of it shadowing Snufkin’s right eye, as it crossed his face, covering the deep cut that ran from his left cheek to his right temple.
“-pa?” Snufkin tried to call out, managing to get half of it out without coughing up his lungs.
“I’m here, kitten.” Joxter quickly showed himself, a paw instantly reaching out to pet his son’s hair. “I’m right here.” He smiled, something sad and guilty.
“Hurt…” Snufkin gasped, the pain making itself known again.
“I know, kit. I know.” Joxter sighed sadly. “I’m sorry. I can’t do much about the pain yet. I already gave you all the medicine I had.” He apologized.
“...” Snufkin wanted to ask, but he wasn’t sure he could speak the whole question out. “H-How?” He set up for, hoping his father would understand the question.
“I arrived in town a day early, but just after they went through. People were saying that they were searching for a vagabond with a green hat.” Joxter explained, hiding his face under his hat as he did. “I had a bad feeling about it. They’d gone the way you would’ve taken to get in to town. So, I went after them, to find you before they did.” He sighed, glancing up at his son with a sad smile. “I was hoping that you would be late. But, of course, you’re never late…”
“Sorry…” Snufkin apologized, feeling guilty somehow. He didn’t like that look of guilt and worry on his father’s face.
“It’s nothing close to your fault.” Joxter shook his head, scolding lightly. “I just hoped they hadn’t found you.”
“They did…” Snufkin mumbled.
“Yeah…” Joxter sighed, hiding under his hat again. “I managed to track them down, after I found your hat and bag in the forest.” He got back to explaining. “Took me longer than I would have liked. I managed to sneak in and knock out those guards.” He before he continued. “You weren’t really responsive, but I managed to get you out before anyone noticed.”
“What-” Snufkin coughed. “Next?”
“I burnt the place down before taking you away.” Joxter shrugged. “Nobody can reach them legally. I had to do something to them myself.” He pointed out when Snufkin gave him a weak frown.
“Good.” Snufkin sighed. “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.” Joxter gave Snufkin a small smile, leaning forward to kiss his forehead. “I just wished I’d arrived sooner.” He sighed quietly.
Snufkin wanted to argue with that, to reassure him, that he had saved his life, and that it was much more important than anything else. But, he knew he couldn’t get it all out, not the way he was now.
And he was so tired…
“You shouldn’t worry about it anymore.” Joxter tried to compose himself again. “You need to rest. Don’t worry about anything else. Tomorrow, I’ll carry you back to the Valley.”
“Too far…” Snufkin noted weakly, already feeling himself drifting off.
“I know shortcuts.” Joxter shrugged. “Home is never too far.”
“Home…”
With that, Snufkin felt consciousness slipping away from him again.
Snufkin wasn’t sure how long it had taken for them to get back to the Valley. He’d spent most of his time asleep, in Joxter’s arms, as they travelled, only waking up for short amounts of times now and again.
All he knew, now, was they were back in the Valley, much earlier than they should be. The cold and the snow were still thick around them, making Joxter’s walking slower, and leaving them both shivering like leaves in the wind, as they weren’t equipped for this kind of weather.
Snufkin was still doing better, though, but he was still not able to walk on his own, too weak, and still hurting from how bad he’d been hurt, to even be able to stand up on his own.
“What are we going to do?” Snufkin asked, shivering into his father’s snow-covered scarf. “They’re still hibernating.”
“We’ll see when we get to MoominHouse.” Joxter simply answered, as they made their way through the forest. “Maybe we can just stay there until they wake up.”
“Isn’t it like breaking in?” Snufkin pointed out, worried.
“Maybe.” Joxter gave Snufkin a mischievous smile, one he hadn’t seen ever since he’d been saved. “Wouldn’t be my first time.”
“MoominPappa won’t appreciate it…” Snufkin sighed, smiling despite himself into his father’s chest.
“Good.” Joxter gave a small chuckle. “Two birds for one.”
Suddenly, Joxter stopped, listening. Snufkin, confused, looked up at his father, squinting at the light.
“What do you mean, you heard someone talking?” A loud voice rang through the air. A very familiar one.
“Don’t be so loud, Little My.” Another one huffed, as they got closer. “I’m not sure. I just thought I-”
Moomin and Little My stopped dead in their tracks when they arrived in front of both mumriks. Shocked to see them there, their eyes darting from Joxter to Snufkin, stopping on him as they took in his sight.
“See, we won’t even have to break in.” Joxter let out an awkward laugh, talking to Snufkin.
“Not sure if I didn’t prefer the break-in…” Snufkin mumbled, so only Joxter could hear, making him laugh even more, more joyous this time.
“WHAT THE HELL!!!?” Little My finally let out in a yell, making Snufkin flinch at the noise, clinging onto his father.
“Little My!” Moomin scolded, before making his way towards the two mumriks. “Are you alright?” He asked, clearly worried, and trying his best not to stare at Snufkin’s bandaged face.
“Could be better.” Joxter shrugged. “Why don’t you invite us in your house? That would make it better.” He gave him a teasing grin.
“Hu- Oh! Of course!” Moomin quickly agreed. “You must be freezing!”
“I still want to know what happened!” Little My yelled from behind as Moomin led Joxter, still carrying Snufkin in his arms, back on the way to MoominHouse. “Hey! Don’t ignore me!”
“One step at a time, little gremlin.” Joxter gave her a teasing smile.
“You better explain yourself as soon as we’re inside!” Little My threatened. “If you think I’ll let this go, you’re fucking wrong!” She exclaimed, gesturing towards the Snufkin, clinging to his father, at how loud she was being.
“I know.” Joxter huffed. “You don’t need to bother yourself with any revenge, though…” He murmured.
“Huh?!” Little My wanted him to elaborate, but he stayed quiet, following the worrying Moomin as he led them back home.
One they finally made it inside, Moomin hurried to light up a fire in the chimney, approaching the couch from it, so that both mumriks could sit there and warm themselves up.
“I- I’ll go see if we have spare clothes for you!” Moomin announced, as he watched Joxter, trying his best to get the snow off of them both, as he entered.
“Hey!” Little My exclaimed in a betrayed tone, as Joxter let all the snow that had piled up on them fall onto her. “You piece of-” She stopped herself when they heard a noise from upstairs, making Moomin stop as he was about to get up the stairs. “Ah, shit.” Little My grumbled.
“That’s probably for the best.” Joxter noted, looking down at Snufkin.
“M’fine.” Snufkin grumbled, shivering intently against him.
“No, you’re not.” Little My pointed out, giving him a scolding look from under him.
“Well, what in the world is going on in there?” MoominPappa asked, yawning as he made his way down the stairs, followed by MoominMamma. “What are all of you doing here? And why are you two awake?” He asked, confused, until they both got a better view of the two mumriks, still by the door.
“Oh, dear.” MoominMamma gasped. “Oh, Moomin, dear. Can you get them some dry, and warm clothes, please?” She asked, Moomin nodding as he hurried past her.
“I think I would’ve preferred if you’d just broken in, like every time…” MoominPappa noted, as he followed MoominMamma to take a closer look at Snufkin, who had yet to get his face away from his father to look at them.
The attention was suffocating.
“Believe me, I would have preferred it, too.” Joxter gave him a bitter laugh, tightening his hold on his son, trying to comfort this one as he could feel how tense he had gotten.
Moomin quickly came back down with the clothes, bringing some towels as well, and some blankets, despite MoominMamma having yet to ask him to get them.
She thanked him, praising him for how thoughtful he’d been, as she helped drying Snufkin and Joxter, before guiding them to the couch, where Joxter finally sat Snufkin.
They both were helped out of their wet clothes, and into the warmer, and dry, ones, before being given the blankets.
Snufkin was exclaimed over, of course, as his damaged body was exposed, his bandages, and bruised skin, seen by all of them. He still had yet to look up, just sitting there, on the couch, head hanging low, as he tried to ignore everything around him. He only reacted when Joxter sat next to him, pulling him close, so he was leaning against him, and closing his own blanket onto both of them.
Little My was shushed every time she tried to push them to talk, as MoominMamma prepared some warm tea for all of them, to warm them up.
“So…” MoominPappa started after they all had their tea. “What happened exactly?”
Snufkin seemed to close in on himself even more at the question, clinging to his father again. Joxter pulled him even close, with an arm, as he sighed.
“You can’t escape it now.” Little My pointed out.
“Guess not.” Joxter huffed a laugh. “Well…”
Joxter explained everything for Snufkin. He explained how things could be unfair sometimes, how some people were above the laws, how they could hurt people like them. Then, he went on to explain more about what happened, or what he knew had happened, to Snufkin, as this one just buried himself into Joxter’s shoulder, and under the blanket. He explained how they’d come here to make sure that they would be safe, and to be able to rest in a warm place.
“Well, that’s a hell of a story.” MoominPappa noted, talking for everyone, as they were all staring at the mumriks in shock.
“You better lead me to them later.” Little My fumed.
“I told you, there’s no need for revenge anymore.” Joxter shook his head. “I’m way ahead of you.” He gave her a small, mischievous smile.
“What did you…” MoominPappa was about to ask, before he stopped himself. “You know what? Actually, no. I don’t want to know.”
“Are you sure about that?” Joxter teased.
“Yes, I’m su-” MoominPappa started to huff an answer.
“I burnt the place down, of course.” Joxter blurted out, cutting the moomin off.
“YOU DID WHAT?!” MoominPappa exclaimed in disbelief, annoyed when Joxter laughed at his reaction, seemingly happy by it.
“They deserved worse.” Little My pointed out, pouting.
“They got what they deserved.” Moomin agreed.
“Well, now that everything is cleared up, how about we let them both rest for a while?” MoominMamma offered, giving a knowing smile when Snufkin glanced up at her timidly.
“Yeah! You must be exhausted.” Moomin agreed, getting up. “I’ll go prepare the guest bedroom!”
“Good idea, my boy.” MoominPappa nodded.
Meanwhile, Little My made her way to Snufkin’s feet, looking up at him, trying to see his face. This one met her eyes for a short second, before he hid himself into his father, leaving her frowning.
Joxter gave her a small nudge with his foot, giving her a look as she turned her attention to him. He shook his head, she just huffed, turning away from them and running up the stairs, following after Moomintroll.
“Well, I guess I’ll go check if we have enough wood to last through the rest of the winter.” MoominPappa said as he got up, knowing that it was better to leave the three of them alone, so that Snufkin would be more willing to let himself be cared about.
When this one was gone, MoominMamma put her teacup on the side, approaching Snufkin carefully. Joxter nudged him gently, smiling when this one, finally, looked up at them both.
He looked so small like this, with bandages covering most of his face, his eyes clearly still scared, and pain still present on his face. They could both see how weak he was feeling, how he probably was running a cold on top of it all, because of the wintery weather.
“Can I take a look?” MoominMamma offered gently, reaching out carefully, slowly, towards him.
Snufkin didn’t say anything, but didn’t move away from her paws either. He let her take hold of his cheeks, caressing them softly, before she moved to remove the bandage.
She was very careful with it, knowing how easily she could hurt him, with how weak and hurt he looked. She muffled the gasp that came out at the view of the injury, still loud enough to make Snufkin close his eyes, flinching a little.
“How does it look?” Joxter asked for him.
“You took great care of it.” MoominMamma noted, carefully petting it, making Snufkin’s breath itch. “It looks like it’s already healing. There isn’t much more to be done, other than keeping it clean and bandaged.” She pointed out, putting the bandage back into place. “Is that the worst of it?” She asked Joxter.
“Yeah. The rest were just small cuts.” Joxter confirmed. “Although…” He remembered something. “There was also this wound on the back of his head. But it’s not nearly as bad.”
“I see.” MoominMamma nodded, taking to palpate Snufkin’s head, where Joxter showed her. “It doesn’t look like anything to worry about.” She gave Snufkin a reassuring smile when this one looked up at her with teary eyes, as she stepped away, running a gentle paw through his hair.
She didn’t mention the fact that Snufkin had yet to explain what had happened, aside from what Joxter told them, and knew himself, giving Snufkin the option to talk about it whenever he felt ready.
“I’ll prepare some medicine for that cold, while you both go get some rest.” She instructed, kissing Snufkin’s forehead, when Moomin came back in, signaling that the room was ready.
“What cold?” Little My chimed in, putting her head through the bars of the stairs’ railing.
“Nothing, Little gremlin.” Joxter gave her a teasing smile, as Snufkin looked away from them again.
“Moomin, Little My, dears, could you come with me in the kitchen? I’ve got a mission for you.” MoominMamma smiled, winking at Snufkin as she left, followed by the other two.
With that, Joxter got up from the couch, letting go of his blanket to put it around Snufkin, on top of his own, so that he could carry him up to the bedroom.
“See, it was better this way.” He nuzzled his son’s hair as this one leaned against his chest.
“Everyone is worried, now, though.” Snufkin mumbled, not really happy with it, despite the relief of being back home, being taken care of by his family.
“Well, wouldn’t have it any other way.” Joxter shrugged. “We all care about you. It’s only natural to worry. You don’t have to interact with everyone yet, either.” He pointed out, trying to reassure his son as he carried him up the stairs slowly. “They understand that you’ll need time.”
“I don’t like it…” Snufkin sighed, burying his face into his father’s chest. “I feel like such a burden…”
“Well, you’re wrong.” Joxter said firmly, stopping onto the stairs to give a serious look at his son. “No one ever thought of you as that, and no one ever will.” His expression softened quickly, and he gave him a sad smile. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You have the right to be hurt and cared for.”
With that, he got them to the room, laying Snufkin carefully in bed, before making his way in as well, smiling when Snufkin reached out, like a small child, for him to hug him as they slept. He didn’t say anything about it, just holding onto Snufkin until this one relaxed in his arms, his breathing evening.
He really wished he could have gotten there sooner…
During the next few days, Snufkin was confined to his bed, Joxter always staying close by, as he was one of the few one who Snufkin wouldn’t shut down, and as he didn’t want to leave him from his sight, not after the way he’d found him.
Snufkin was slowly healing, but the wound on his face was taking its sweet time, meaning he would still need the bandages for quite a while, and that it would leave a big scar on his face, with no way of hiding it.
Everyone worried a lot about him, not only because of all his injuries, but because he’d been avoiding talking to anyone else than MoominMamma and Joxter, not even daring to look up at Moomin when this one came to check up on him, from time to time, or to give him his dinner from MoominMamma.
Joxter, who was still sleeping with him, as this one wouldn’t want to sleep alone, which didn’t bother Joxter as he wanted to be as close to his son as possible, was really worrying over his healing. Not just the physical healing, but Snufkin had been so closed off, and he was so scared, so easily, his nights being plagues with horrible nightmares, leaving him trembling and sobbing for long minutes, into his father’s arms.
MoominMamma tried her best to be supportive as well, trying to reassure Snufkin when she could, trying to offer him to talk to his friends, to have them spend time with him, but, she was really worried over how much Snufkin was trying to stay away from them all.
Eventually, one day, MoominMamma and Joxter decided that it was time they had a discussion with Snufkin, to try to make him understand that he couldn’t just keep on like this, that he would be hurting himself more than anything else.
“I know how hard it is for you, but, you don’t have to shut everyone off.” MoominMamma started gently, playing with his hair as he stayed in his father’s arms, having had another hard night. “They just want to help you. They worry about you.”
“I know you don’t like them worrying about you, but you’re not exactly helping them stop by refusing to see them.” Joxter pointed out quietly.
“We won’t force you, dear. But, we think you should, at least, try to allow them in.” MoominMamma offered, caressing Snufkin’s cheek as he looked up at her with fear in his eyes.
“You won’t be able to heal if you don’t let them care about you.” Joxter pointed out.
“I’ll make sure that Little My doesn’t push you too much, if that’s what you’re worried about.” MoominMamma smiled softly at him. “And, you know Moomin, he’ll just be happy being by your side, even if you don’t want to talk.”
“I don’t want them to see…” Snufkin finally spoke up, tears in his eyes, as he moved a paw up onto his bandaged face.
“They will have to see it sooner or later.” Joxter pointed out carefully.
“It’s not because your face is hurt that it will change how they’ll see you.” MoominMamma continued. “No matter the injury, you’re still you. You’re still our dear Snufkin.” She kissed his forehead.
“But… They’ll ask… They’ll pity me…” Snufkin cried quietly, looking up at her with the most heart-breaking expression she’d ever seen on him. “Everyone will know… They’ll all look at me… Pity me…”
“None of us will ever pity you.” MoominMamma tried to comfort him. “We know you. We know how strong you are. Even if you are hurt, even if it leaves a visible scar, you’re still the same. It won’t change the way we see you.”
“Exactly.” Joxter nodded. “To hell, those who pity others from their looks.” He huffed. “It’s not in this Valley that anyone will do that anyway.” He pointed out. “And the outside towns were already being shitty, it’s not going to change much because of a poor scar.”
“Is all this really just for a stupid scar?” Little My asked, accusingly, as she appeared by the foot of the bed, having snuck in without anyone noticing.
Snufkin looked like he was about to have another panic attack, at the sudden view of Little My, when he’d been trying his best to avoid her, afraid of how she would react about the whole situation, and about what had happened to him.
“Little My…” MoominMamma frowned, a very serious look on her face that sent chills down Little My’s spine. “We’re having a serious conversation.”
“What? I wanted to see my brother. He won’t let me see him. I had to sneak in.” She shrugged, trying to ignore the guilty feeling from MoominMamma’s look. “Besides, if he’s just worried about a silly scar, that’s just stupid. Since when do you listen to what people think of you and how you look?” She pointed out to Snufkin, who was frozen in place, paws clinging to his father’s smock as he stared blankly at her.
“You do have a talent for coming at the best of times, huh?” Joxter huffed at her, not so much annoyed as he was more worried about Snufkin, actually hoping that this could be the breakthrough that he needed. “She isn’t wrong, though. You never cared much about what people had to say about your looks before, why start now?”
“Plus, a scar like that will be quite badass.” Little My grinned. “I’m sure it’ll scare off that silly park keeper, and even Stinky.” She teased.
“Badass…?” Snufkin looked up at his father.
“You’ll sure look more intimidating like that.” Joxter agreed with a small laugh, relieved to see that Snufkin was calming down, and was actually considering what Little My was saying.
“I’m sure Moomin will think you’re even more handsome with it.” Little My huffed, teasing him. She laughed when Snufkin’s face turned a bright shade of pink.
“I don’t think it will make that much of a difference to him, indeed.” MoominMamma chuckled, relieved as well.
“That poor troll is already way too obsessed with you to care about something like that.” Joxter ruffled his hair playfully.
“S- Shut up.” Snufkin pouted, his face redder than ever.
“See?” Joxter pointed out, making Snufkin look at him in confusion. “You’re doing alright, already. Little My isn’t bothering you by being here, right? It isn’t that hard.” He smiled at him.
“Yeah! If you thought talking to Moomin would be hard, heck, you should have been more worried about talking with me.” Little My huffed. “You’ll be just fine with anyone.”
“We can give you as much time as you need, but, as you can see, you don’t have to worry too much about how everyone will react.” MoominMamma took one of Snufkin’s paw and squeezed it, giving him a warm smile.
“Heck! If anyone is bothered by it, you just let me know! I’ll take care of them!” Little My grinned.
“And, I’ll help.” Joxter agreed, grinning as well.
“I’ll have you both covered, just in case, then.” MoominMamma laughed.
“Hell yeah! Let’s go commit crimes!” Little My hopped onto the end of the bed excitedly.
“DON’T!” A voice called out from across the hallway.
Everyone looked at the door, knowing that Little My had talked so loudly that MoominPappa had heard it from across the hall, and that he didn’t want to have to break anyone out of jail, again.
They all turned back to look at each others, before bursting out into a laughing fit, Snufkin joining in as well, although much more quietly, but not enough for them all not to notice.
“Guess we’ll just have to not be arrested, then.” Joxter winked at Little My and Snufkin.
“They’ll never catch me!” Little My puffed up confidently.
“You’re too small to be caught.” Snufkin huffed, surprising everyone, but making them all smile widely.
“Not as small as that thing on your head.” Little My pointed out. “You should worry more about what I can do, than about that silly little scar.”
Snufkin gave her a small smile.
Even though it was small, it was a huge step towards his healing, and they all knew it.
“Now, now.” MoominMamma chuckled. “We should let Snufkin rest some more. We can talk about it again later.” She offered.
“Aw.” Little My sounded disappointed.
“Thank you.” Snufkin mumbled, looking up at MoominMamma with a thankful smile.
She didn’t bother to question him, leaning forward to pull him in a warm embrace, knowing that he was silently asking for it. Joxter joined in as well. They could even feel Little My squeezing in to hug him as well.
After that talk, Snufkin started to allow the others in again. He was still scared about it, and mostly clung to his father at first, but, it slowly became more natural again. Seeing that no one was talking about what had happened, Little My only making fun of him for how he worried he was over nothing, while everyone else just didn’t say anything, just acting like they would always do.
It took him until the end of winter to really heal enough to get out of bed, finally getting back to going outside, with the help of everyone. He was still scared, still had nightmares about the event, but, the others were with him, they were reassuring him, helping him when he needed help. He wasn’t alone anymore.
In the Spring, as he could finally get out, he was able to meet up with Snorkmaiden and Sniff again. They both gasped at the sighed of his, now out to see, healing scar. Sniff asked about it, scared from how bad it looked to have been of an injury, but also much too scared to listen when Little My explained about it, making everyone laugh at him. Snorkmaiden, on the other side, was more worried than scared. She asked him how he was feeling, and if he wanted to talk about it, but didn’t push him to anything. Once she was sure that he would be alright, she would just leave him, with a quick reminder that any of them would be there if he wanted to talk about it.
Of course, as per usual in this kind of small Valley, the word of Snufkin’s injury got around quickly, making people come to see how he was doing. Thankfully, none of them asked anything, they didn’t push him to tell them what had happened. They didn’t judge him, or pity him, only coming by to see that he was still doing alright, and wishing him to get better soon, as he was still having trouble going around on his own, his condition having stopped him from walking for so long, and his legs having been so hurt, that he couldn’t quite walk much yet.
Still, he was getting better.
It took him a few months of being cared over, of having Joxter and MoominMamma reassuring him about the nightmares, and about everything, for him to finally tell the story of what had happened.
There wasn’t much more to add to what Joxter had already told them, but, the confirmation of the horrible way he was treated still had everyone gasping in shock.
But, even then, none of them pitied him.
They worried, but they mostly were proud of how he’d gotten better already, of how strong he’d been all along, dealing with the memory on his own. Now, they could understand him better, and help him better when he was scared over little things.
It took another few months for the nightmares to really die down, but, with everyone’s help and care, he managed to handle them better, until they were finally almost gone.
The year passed quickly, and it soon became fall, the time for Snufkin and Joxter to leave for winter coming quickly around.
“You can always hibernate with us.” Moomin and his family had offered, as he was starting to fear having to go, fearing meeting them again.
“And, if you decide to go, we can stay together for this winter.” Joxter had pointed out.
“I want to come to!” Little My tried to make her way into it as well. “That way, if anything else happens, I’ll be here to punish whoever hurts you!” She said proudly, confidently.
The options were interesting, and Snufkin hesitated. He really wanted to stay in the Valley, stay safe, with his friends and family, but, he knew that it was in his nature to travel. Even with everything that happened, he knew he would end up feeling the need to get out at some point.
So, it was decided that Snufkin and Joxter would stay together for the whole winter, traveling together, and avoiding that part of the South, where they knew they could possibly find their way back into them.
Little My tried hard to convince them all to let her go with them, but, they wouldn’t, knowing that she liked sleeping too much to be of the journey.
In the end, the whole winter went by easily, with nothing big happening. Snufkin was stared at more often than before, people talking behind his back, but it was mostly worry and intimidation. He didn’t care much about it anymore, not with his father with him.
At some point, as they were making their way back to the Valley, they heard about this mansion that had been burnt to the ground a year ago, where people had found out horrible things that had been happening there. The bloody room where Snufkin had been tortured, and the room where he’d been hanged on a meat hook, being two of them, among other things. It turned out that, even the people that were protecting those horrible people, upon hearing about everything that had been found, had turned their back on them, even going as far as to have them personally arrested and judged.
Another rumor was out, the one of the green hat traveler that was their last victim, the one that got away, somehow, before the fire broke down. Many theories on what had happened to them, on how they’d escaped, had been going around every town they went to.
Joxter was worried at first, worried that Snufkin would get scared again, but, apparently, the rumors and theories were much more enjoyable to him than his father had thought, as he would find Snufkin asking people about the theories they were talking about, seemingly having a really good time making the people look at him and wonder if he was the one of the rumors, leaving them to ponder upon it.
When they’d gotten back home, Snufkin had taken to tell his friends about all the rumors they’d heard, about all the theories, having a great time at making fun of them all with Little My.
He’d never seen Snufkin having this fun retelling rumors about himself, and about the horrible things that had happened to him, before. He couldn’t say that he minded, feeling nothing but pride at how well Snufkin had healed from it all.
He was much stronger than he seemed, and that he seemed to realize himself.