Chapter 66

Twenty-nine years past Himmel's death, the group settles into the fortified city of Heiss with a few free days ahead. Hoping to get back at Fern for her usual sharpness, Stark dares to ask her out, and to his shock she calmly accepts before walking off to set the time. Rattled and afraid she might still be angry, he lays the whole situation out to Frieren over dinner and begs her to suggest what might please the girl.

Frieren teases that she ought to understand a maiden's heart, being a young lady herself, then quickly proves unhelpful by offering to simply treat Stark to a meal as though he were a grandchild. When he lets the comparison slip a second time, she warns that a third will reduce her to a three-day tantrum, the kind that once left even Himmel trembling.

Returning to the matter at hand, Frieren admits she may know a handful of places Fern would appreciate and guides Stark through several of them, finishing at a quiet height that looks out over the whole city. Stark marvels at how well she knows the girl, but Frieren deflects the credit. It was Heiter who catalogued every one of Fern's tastes and passed them on, hoping Frieren would step into a parent's role. She confesses she struggled at first to find anything Fern truly liked.

Stark insists that remembering it all still makes her a fine parent, and the compliment softens her enough to drop her grievance count back to one. The exchange paints the unusual little family that has formed around the orphaned girl and the absent priest who once looked after her.

Come morning, Fern holds up two outfits and wants Frieren's verdict on which suits her, and a half-asleep Frieren mumbles that they look identical before asking Fern to tie her hair, earning an angry braid for the careless answer. Stark and Fern then meet in the streets and set off together. A running detail of the chapter is that Fern braids Frieren's hair in distinct patterns according to her mood, a habit a bathhouse woman later compliments without knowing its source.