Work Text:
29 years after the passing of Himmel the Hero, in a cabin at the foot of the Schwer Mountains. Midwinter.
Frieren was roused to the edges of consciousness by movement. The thing that was moving was large and warm and very comfy. It even smelled nice. It seemed to be trying to extricate itself from Frieren’s grasp. Instinctively, Frieren clutched it harder.
“Frieren-sama, I have to go light the fire, otherwise there will be no getting you up today,” said the warm thing.
“Noooo… warm, stay…” Frieren mumbled.
“You are cold, are you not? I will go light the fire, and it will get warmer.” Fern squirmed again. Frieren refused to let go.
“Fern warm…”
Against her will, Frieren was becoming more aware of her surroundings, although she stubbornly kept her eyes closed. She and Fern were bundled in a blanket together on the floor of the cabin. The floor, as always, was cold. The air was also cold. This damn cabin was always cold.
Fern was warm. If Fern left, perhaps Frieren would develop hypothermia and perish. One could never take such chances.
“I can bring you with me, but you won’t like it,” Fern warned.
“No moving. Only sleeping,” Frieren insisted.
“The sun is rising already, Frieren-sama.”
?????? What kind of argument was that? Dawn wasn’t a hospitable time for humans or elves to be awake at all. Frieren pouted. Her apprentice was merciless…
“Sunlight is limited during the winter,” Fern reminded her. “We must make full use of it every day. Besides, it is not even that early. Kraft-sama has already left to gather firewood.”
“Fern, please just ignore her and light the fire,” called Stark, teeth chattering.
“Okay.”
Fern wrapped her arms around Frieren, and for a moment Frieren’s sleep-addled brain thought she might be saved, but then Fern sat both of them upright. Frieren made a noise of protest. Next, the blanket was unwrapped, and that was so terrible. The cold air assaulted her back and limbs. She shrivelled into Fern, already shivering. This was why she didn’t want to travel north, what an awful experience…
Next, Fern arranged Frieren’s arms around her neck and her legs around her hips. Carrying her thus on her front, she stood up. Frieren was transported some distance away, hanging onto Fern for dear life. Suddenly with a snap and a roar there was heat at her back.
Ahhh, fire was wonderful. Why hadn’t Fern done this sooner?
“Alright. Now the fire is lit and it will start to warm up in here, so let us get you ready for the day,” said Fern.
“Blanket first…” Frieren murmured.
Fern sighed. “Frieren-sama is so needy.”
With Frieren clinging to her like a monkey, Fern walked back, bent down, and grabbed the discarded blanket. Then she walked back to the fire, sat on the box they kept there for this purpose, and arranged the blanket around Frieren’s shoulders, bunching it up between them so it wouldn’t fall off.
“Mmmm, warm,” Frieren grinned sleepily.
“Stark-sama, pass me the hairbrush, please,” said Fern.
Stark grunted. There was a shuffling sound and then a pa as Fern received the hairbrush. Fern lifted Frieren’s hair out of the blanket and started brushing.
Finally, Frieren slowly blinked her eyes open. With her chin resting on Fern’s shoulder, she could see Stark out of the corner of her eye. He was sitting on the floor next to Fern facing the fire, wrapped in a blanket himself. He quickly sensed her gaze on him and looked up.
“What’s up with that self-satisfied look?” he demanded.
“Warm,” Frieren said innocently.
Stark rolled his eyes and grumbled, “That makes one of us.”
“Stark is jealous,” Frieren observed.
Stark reddened. “Who’s jealous?? It’s embarrassing that you need to be coddled like this at your advanced age.”
Frieren’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Advanced age, huh?”
Stark flinched. “Sorry! I didn’t mean it! Frieren-san is still very young!”
Frieren grinned and nodded, then closed her eyes again and simply enjoyed having her hair brushed.
Once her hair was done up, the next step was feeding her. Stark brought Fern a baguette from Kraft’s supplies, and the two girls split it. While they ate, Stark changed into his day clothes, using his blanket on the drying rack as a privacy curtain.
Unfortunately for Fern, she would not be able to get ready for the day until Frieren was dressed in her warm day clothes, since it wasn’t until this point that Frieren would stop clinging to Fern’s warmth. Dressing Frieren was also necessarily the last step in the process, since Fern had to wait for the cabin to heat up to have even a shred of a chance of forcing Frieren’s nightclothes off. (Really, these two party members of Frieren’s didn’t know how easy they had it. She generously let them do basically whatever they wanted with her. If Frieren actually didn’t want to do something, there was no way in hell they’d be able to get her to do it.)
“I’m going to go help Kraft,” called Stark. “I’ll be back soon.”
The door opened and closed, letting in a gust of frigid wind. Frieren shivered.
“Frieren-sama, it is time to get dressed,” said Fern.
Frieren latched on tighter. “Mmmm, don’t wanna. Happy like this.”
“Your day clothes are warmer than your nightclothes. You would regret not getting changed.”
“Fern is even warmer,” Frieren pointed out.
Fern clicked her tongue impatiently. Uh oh. That was a warning sign, Frieren had learned. She gave in immediately.
“Actually, Fern is right after all. It is most important to get dressed for the day.”
“Frieren-sama is seeing reason.”
Fern grabbed Frieren’s day clothes and went to the privacy curtain Stark had set up earlier. There, she untangled Frieren’s arms from her neck and dumped her unceremoniously onto the floor. Ah, Fern was truly heartless. The floor was very cold, but Frieren dared not complain. Besides, Fern still helped her change anyway. She was a good girl.
While Fern changed and brushed her own hair, Frieren warmed her hands over the fire. Now that her boots and scarf were on, the cabin was a lot more tolerable. Why hadn’t Fern changed her sooner?
Dressed, Fern came up behind her and draped her arms over Frieren’s shoulders. She rested her chin on Frieren’s head and said, “What skill should we train today for the first class mage exam?”
Frieren leaned lazily into her embrace and closed her eyes. Smells nice. “I was worried I made Fern mad,” she confessed.
“Frieren-sama is incorrigibly lazy,” Fern agreed. “But she is my master after all. If I want her to teach me, I must make certain sacrifices.”
Frieren grinned. “What a good student. Let’s work on your offense today.”