We're Mint To Be 《Snufkin x Reader》

《5》

It had been almost a month since Antheia moved into her home in Moomin Valley. She had been to Moomin house many times, baking with Moominmamma and building furniture with Moominpappa. In fact, her house was now fixed up completely and looked very nice. She had also begun an herb garden and a vegetable garden, and had transplanted some small fruit trees that she knew would be beautiful after the long wait. There were even all sorts of flowers growing in pots inside her house.

She had also hung out with the Little My, Moomin, Snorkmaiden, and Sniff very often. They went on adventures most days before dinner. Snorkmaiden and Moomin sometimes came to Antheia's house to hang out with each other, so Antheia would make them some new tea they'd never tried, talk with them for a while, and then leave them alone while she tended her garden. Even when the garden needed no tending at all, she let the two be. She thought they were very cute together.

Little My visited much more often. Her and Antheia would go to the beach all the time, to search for treasures or go swimming. One time they built a giant sandcastle that Little My decorated with shiny rocks and Antheia stuck flowers around all the fake windows. Little My had wanted to build a fort, but Antheia explained that it wouldn't be very solid if it was made of sand. So they built a fake fort, instead.

Antheia had noticed, though, that she hadn't seen Snufkin since that day by the river. Her friends told new stories of him often, which meant that he'd hung out with them plenty, but she hadn't even gotten a chance to thank him for taking her to the river, much less spend time together. She didn't know Snufkin very well, and could understand not wanting to talk to some stranger, but goodness, it sure seemed like he was trying very hard to avoid her. She hadn't done anything wrong!

She decided she'd ask Little My the next time she saw her.

Luckily, Little My decided to visit that evening. Antheia said hello, then went to the kitchen to make a quick cobbler. Unfortunately, since her peach tree wasn't big enough to put on any fruit, she would have to use some peaches she bought from a farm.

"I had to come over here immediately to tell you something!" Little My said, getting comfortable at Antheia's dining table, like she did before every adventure.

"What is it?"

"Sniff found something by Moomin House. He thinks it's a golden apple tree, but I think he's stupid. We need your help."

"A golden apple tree? What kind of tree grows golden apples?"

"That's just it! There is none. Sniff says we found the very first, and that its apples are magical or something. Like I said, stupid!"

"Well what color are the apples?"

"Theyre kind of gold, I guess. They just seem too dull to me."

"I suppose I better go look," Antheia smiled, placing the pan full of cobbler into her oven. She had the fire burning low so that it wouldn't burn anything. She slung her bag over her shoulder and tied her gray jacket around her waist. Little My led the way to the apple tree. It was about three quarters of the way to Moomin House, so the walk wasn't very long. When they got to the tree, Sniff was leaning on the trunk. He caught sight of the two and waved frantically.

"Did Little My tell you all about the tree? It's golden, isn't it?!" He said, putting his hands on Antheia's shoulders and shaking her. Antheia pulled his hands off of her, dizzy, and examined the fruit hanging from the tree.

"Oh! I know what it is now!" Antheia giggled, "you've definitely found a gold colored apple!"

"I knew it!" Sniff shouted.

"It's called an Opal apple. Some traveler must have dropped or planted one here, they're not natural."

Sniff's ears stayed perked. "What do you mean 'not natural?' Are they super rare and we could sell them?"

"I suppose you could if you really wanted, but by unnatural I mean they don't grow in the wild, they were bred by people. I definitely wouldn't think to find any here!" Antheia said.

"Can you eat 'em?" Little My asked, moving on to much more important matters.

"Of course! They're delicious, or so I've heard. I've never really been anywhere that grows them," Antheia said. She reached up to pluck an apple low enough for her arms. Once her fingertips made contact with the apple, her ring began to glow a golden color, as it had done when she first found it. The apple she was touching grew and became even more ripe in a matter of seconds, and the branch it was on became longer and sturdier. Just as instantly as the glow had come, the light from her ring flickered out.

Antheia turned with wide eyes to look at Little My and Sniff, but they just watched her patiently. She furrowed her brows, guessing they hadn't seen whatever just happened. She brushed it off.

Tugging and twisting a little, Antheia harvested an apple. She pulled a very small knife she used for thick stems out of her bag and carefully sliced the apple into three pieces, then cut out the core. She handed a piece to everyone, and they all bit in.

Sniff was the first to swallow. "It's so sweet!!" He smiled, chowing down the rest of his slice and pulling more apples from the tree. Little My followed suit, using her red coat to hold all her apples. Once she couldn't hold any more, Little My decided to go home with Antheia.

Antheia pulled out her cobbler, which was only slightly burnt. She gave one of the warm pieces to Little My and put another piece on a plate for herself. Little My and Antheia sat down across from each other at Antheia's cozy dinner table.

Antheia swallowed a bite and set her fork down. "Well, now that that's over, I've got a little bit of a question for you."