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Day 2 - Lost Item / Arts and Crafts
He notices the lack of weight in his ear almost immediately. Like missing a part of himself. Like missing a finger.
If there is any small consolation, any scrap of reassurance to soothe the way his heart crashes into his ribcage, it is that it is still morning when he realizes the loss. Still early enough for him to not have been many places yet, and for him to recount on one hand where he has been at all. So all he can do is turn right back around, and head straight to the greenhouse.
These things happen. He tells himself that, even as he gingerly steps into the warmth of the little building. Earrings are already delicate, staying in place by a thin little bit of metal. These things happen. Even with something stopping them in place, things can become loose and fall with one little errant turn of the head. These things happen. It is going to be all right. He will find it again.
Dedue knows that if he does not tell himself these things, if he does not do whatever he possibly can to keep his calm, then he will fall apart.
And there is nowhere here, save perhaps the questionable safety of his own dorm room, where it is truly safe to fall apart.
Unfortunately, there is already someone in the greenhouse when he arrives. Lorenz Hellman Gloucester is there admiring how the rose bushes are coming along, favoring the trademark Adrestian breed which flourish in the most brilliant crimson. A bit of a problem; Dedue had hoped to conduct his search in relative privacy with no one to witness any foolishness or weakness on his end. If there were to be other people, he could have only hoped that they would be more inclined to their own business, or too wrapped up in a personal project, or on the way out, to care much about what a simple Duscur commoner were up to.
He does not know the Gloucester heir. Dedue had made sure to study up on the various noble families of Faerghus, of course, because such things were necessary in order to best properly protect his Highness. And yet the Leicester Alliance had always seemed like a far away, distant place, much like the Adrestian Empire. Distant lands whose influence had far reaching consequences and yet had never seemed like immediate issues.
A commoner's thinking; he knows that much after so many teachers and noble people in Fhirdiad had scoffed about him pondering things such as these out loud in clumsy Faerghan.
It doesn't change the fact that he has never had reason to learn about the Alliance nobles, not in any true depth. So all he can say he knows of Gloucester is what he has witnessed of him at a distance: the speeches about the duty of nobles, the arrogance, the constant pestering of women. In some ways he reminds Dedue of Sylvain, which he is sure both men would loathe to hear based on their apparent rivalry, but there are some clear differences.
Perhaps the most notable is that while Sylvain seems almost apathetic to gossip with what is said about his reputation, Lorenz seems far more deeply embedded in all of that, for better or worse.
In this situation, Dedue has a sinking suspicion that it is much worse.
There is not much time to be left pondering about what he should do. Even as he stands there, Lorenz glances over to see who it is that has stepped into the greenhouse. "Oh, good morning to you. You would be His Higness Dimitri's retainer, would you not?"
It's a more polite greeting and inquiry to his person than he has gotten in plenty of other occasions. Dedue supposes he should not be too dismissive of any small victory, even if a part of him wants to toss it aside like everything else. "It is an honor to be recalled compared to His Highness," he says with a practiced and polite bow. The church claims its students are equal. Dedue has more than enough common sense to know that this is not always true, necessarily.
But then, he is the only person of Duscur to attend this place, and no doubt in many years. Likely that is why he has stood out in any capacity.
At least the phrasing seems to be enough to sate Lorenz Gloucester, if the ease apparent in him and the stance of his shoulders is any indication. Nothing tense, nothing aggravated. "Well, it is only appropriate for someone of my stature to keep in mind such details as the retainer to the future king of Faerghus," he says, clearly quite pleased with himself. "You should feel quite honored that you have been graced with such a position."
A quiet but burning impatience thrums underneath his skin. "It is through the generosity of His Highness," he says, trying to muffle the feelings in himself. He thought he'd gotten over this immature part of him. Thought that he could manage throughout anything.
And yet all he can think about is how he'd do anything to get this man out of his way so that he can look for his earring.
This is not the worst thing he has ever had to wait through. Dedue tries to tell himself that, even as Lorenz Gloucester nods. "Of course. Perhaps one day I will have the honor of tea with His Highness. Still, it is rude to speak too much of someone when they are not present." This does not sound like what Lorenz actually does. Dedue makes no comment on this fact. "Have you come to admire the roses today as well?"
Of course. Dedue may not know the fine details of the young noble in front of him, but all his time spent already in the greenhouse has at least informed him of this particular inclination. Sometimes it almost seems as though Lorenz has no time for any other plant, although perhaps he is incorrect on this front.
It doesn't really matter, in the end. "I merely came in here to check on something." This is not technically untrue. Dedue merely declines on giving any further detail. "It is of little importance to one such as yourself." While he may say that, Dedue still does not make a move to leave. He is well aware of the rules which lay in the games nobles play, even if he is allegedly under the protection of, indeed, the "future" king. But a king of the future is not the king of the present; that is a lesson that he and Dimitri have had to learn, unfortunately. Nobles grow petty, when they think they have not been given their due.
Certainly Lorenz Gloucester seems used to this way of things, because he does not think twice before giving a small and almost imperious nod of his head. "Oh, yes, of course. Then I shall go back to my observing of the roses." He doesn't say that Dedue had best stay out of his way, but, well. Again: Dedue knows how this whole thing goes by now.
That's fine. Dedue doesn't want to be near Lorenz. What he wants to do is comb the greenhouse piece by piece, plant by plant, until he finds his earring.
Of course, he can't be so lucky. While he knows it has to be here in the greenhouse, and the greenhouse is a small space - somehow it is as though he is trying to search for a needle in a haystack. No matter how many places he checks along the edges of the little bricked up spaces, it seems as though he cannot find any trace of it. No glint of warm metal, nothing sticking out from a bit of dirt, nothing hanging from a particularly sturdy plant stalk.
The longer he searches, the more self doubt starts to creep inside of him. What if he's wrong? What if he's foolish, and the earring is nowhere in the greenhouse? What if he's been wasting all this time in the greenhouse, and it was on a bit of cobblestone, already picked by someone interested in something unique that they could hoard for themselves, or sell?
What are the chances that he could find out who would have picked it up? What are the chances that they would give it to him? Would he have to speak with Dimitri? Would that just be causing more trouble for the both of them?
"Dedue?" Ah. Lorenz again. Dedue blinks his way out of his own stress-filled thoughts, and looks up over at the noble. At some point while he's been lost in his head, Lorenz Gloucester has made his way closer to him, and is staring up with a furrow between his brow. "Are you quite all right?"
Ah. "Of course," he answers, because he's never had any other option but to be so for years, now. "Am I bothering you...?"
Strangely enough, that answer does not seem to sate Lorenz in any way. He actually frowns as he surveys Dedue, looking him over. "You have been standing here for a good few minutes, now," he informs him. "I have glanced over at the plant which has ensnared your attention so thoroughly, and yet, although perhaps I will admit that there may be some bit of knowledge which eludes me, I can see no fault or illness in it whatsoever. I also must say that you have been looking in quite a peculiar manner at the plants, less at them and more the dirt they reside in."
This... is a surprising level of attention from the other man, quite frankly. A level of attention that Dedue would not have expected to begin with. Somehow, while he imagines that he could make an attempt at lying... There's no telling how much it would hold out. "I simply misplaced something," he admits. "I believed it to be in the greenhouse, but perhaps I have been mistaken. As I said before - it is a minor matter that you need not concern yourself with."
Perhaps that will be enough to sate the man's interest in what he is doing.
It doesn't. Lorenz Gloucester's eyes light up in understanding, and he also does not leave. "Oh, I see! Of course - that does make sense. I had thought you were coming in somewhat later than what I had grown used to... What is it that you misplaced here, then?"
He is truly loathe to speak of this to anyone else - in particular, those from outside of the Blue Lions and those that Dimitri has placed his trust in. However, he doesn't think he can keep giving vague answers for long.
"A bit of jewelry," he admits. "An earring."
"So that is what was off from your appearance, when I saw you! I had thought something seemed rather incomplete about your appearance today, and yet I was not thinking deeply on it at the time." Lorenz nods, satisfied with solving that little mystery. "Well, then I am familiar with exactly the design you speak of. It is rather unique in design - not something you would see in Faerghan-made jewelry or even the sort of wares that often pass through Leicester. At least, not through Gloucester territory, at any rate."
Dedue is not particularly surprised about this particular little fact that Lorenz gives to him. Duscur was separate from most of Fodlan, massive mountains keeping it safe save from its one close neighbor - Faerghus. If anywhere were to have the most jewelry of Duscur origin, it would be in the places closest to the borders of where Duscur once was...
And he imagines that anything reminiscent of king slayers would have long been tossed away, or melted into scrap metal.
Another nod from Lorenz. "Well, that shall make it all the easier to find, then," he says, and reaches up to being undoing the buttons of his uniform jacket. "Were you simply inspecting the plants in the greenhouse today, or were you involved in some slightly more taxing work, Dedue?"
Dedue stares. "Pardon?" he says, for lack of any better response.
"Well, I was thinking that it was highly unlikely that you would have lost something as secure as an earring whilst going about the daily watering. However, if you were engaging in more involved tasks, then perhaps the movement, or an item, would have jostled it out of place."
Politely, Dedue lets him finish, before he shakes his head. "While that is a very good point, I was more concerned in involving you in a small personal matter of mine. You need not dirty your uniform while assisting me."
Lorenz blinks at him. "Why, it is the very duty of nobility to assist those lower than them," he says. "Sharpening those skills is the very reason we have been sent to Garreg Mach! Along with becoming great tacticians and warriors, forging connections with our peers, we must strive to make the noble name shine. I may not be the head of Gloucester yet, so I am limited in what is available here to me-" Dedue notes that he seems somewhat disappointed at this. Or perhaps struggling, in some manner. "-and so I must practice such skills in other ways."
"And your uniform?"
In this respect, Lorenz looks quite pleased as he gestures to his undershirt. "Why, it is the calling of vests and jackets to hide the dirt which gathers on one when they are doing what needs to be done. Practical and aesthetically pleasing both!"
He had always thought that the purpose of multiple layers was to keep the body warm and perhaps to show off an excess of clothing depending on how intricate the material and how rich the wearer. However, there is no point in getting into such a discussion, not when it is clear he is not capable of stopping Lorenz, and, well...
It is a moment of weakness, to be sure, but he does so desperately desire the help. He will deal with the consequences whatever they may be.
"Then you have my gratitude," he says, perhaps a bit more sincere than he has let himself be normally, before he concedes to other things as well. If Lorenz is already going to be disrobing to some degree, then there is no point in staying fully dressed as well, is there?
Somehow, it becomes Lorenz's turn to stare as Dedue shrugs his jacket off of his shoulders. "Of course," I suppose it is more than sensible for you to follow suit," he says, a bit belated as his eyes fail to track the movement of Dedue's jacket leaving his shoulders. They lag behind just a bit. "Of course, the earring is very important to you..."
"Indeed." Dedue folds up his jacket to place it down on the small brick walls neatly holding back the little gardens. "I apologize for troubling you, so I will take one half of the greenhouse, if I may trouble you to take care of the other half." And perhaps, if he is lucky, he will finish quickly enough to help with Lorenz's share as well. It will make him feel just a little less in debt, if such a thing exists.
Lorenz snaps out of whatever thoughts he was having, and gives an enthusiastic nod of his head. "Of course! I am certain that with our efforts combined, we shall find the earring in no time at all!"
And, in that regard... Lorenz Gloucester is very much correct. The old adage of two heads being better than one proves to be true, here. With two pairs of eyes and two pairs of hands unafraid of going through dirt or foliage, it takes them not even half an hour before Lorenz lets loose a triumphant noise of discovery. Dedue could hardly begin how to explain the process, but the backing for his earring had somehow been nudged off while he was wrangling with some particularly heavy and wild plants. More dealing with those same plants and their long winding stems, and, well... It is apparently quite easy to have an earring get nudged off in the whole process.
"I suppose the plants up north in Faerghus are not so inclined to this sort of stem," Lorenz muses, as Dedue brings a pail of water for the two of them. Their shirts may need more indepth washing, but their hands and faces, at least, can be salvaged. "Little wonder that you were caught by surprise, with the things they could catch."
There is some sense, to the words that Lorenz speaks, and Dedue truly does his best to pay attention. This is important knowledge to have - a lesson that he will never forget.
And yet all he can do is rub his thumb along the intricate details of his earring where he cradles it delicately in his palms. A birthday gift, to celebrate him getting one year older, a man who could help in the kitchen and take care of any new siblings. A member of his community who could take care of it all.
He'd never gotten that chance. Not truly. The weight of his earring reminds him that maybe, desperately, he can still do something for them all.
Perhaps his lack of proper answer draws some of Lorenz's attention, for the other man pauses a moment before he perks up. "Ah, but you really should have a proper stop for your earring, since this one has clearly proven itself to be inadequate. While we have only spoken a scarce few times as she has helped me hone my training quite fantastically, I believe that Hilda of Goneril could help with this endeavor!"
Hilda Goneril... Dedue thinks he has seen some of the training that Lorenz is referring to. Only to his eyes, it had looked much more like Hilda was trying at all costs to avoid lifting a single finger, let alone her axe, while she made Lorenz do all of the work.
Well. That is none of his business, quite frankly. "How might she be able to help?" he asks, doing an admirable job of keeping the skepticism from his voice. It's a skill he has had to spend years honing.
"Oh, as one of her many hobbies picked up as a maiden of nobility, Hilda is quite knowledgeable about jewelry, you see," Lorenz says quite proudly, as though he has ever had anything to do with it. Which Dedue doubts, but, again: none of his business. "I am positive that if we were simply to approach her on the matter, then she could no doubt offer up a solution. Considering how she herself also has to engage in battle, I imagine she must be quite insightful on such things."
If Lorenz is correct in this assessment - and Hilda being interested in jewelry sounds more viable than her helping Lorenz with training - then no doubt he is right. However, Dedue still finds himself hesitant. "I am afraid I could not afford to repay her for her assistance."
Certainly, Dedue has some funds saved up. It had been one of the things which Dimitri had insisted upon, way back during their time together, to the point that he had become quite enraged upon being pressed. Dedue of course would have insisted that he not need it, that simply being in Dimitri's service would be enough. Asking for anything else... wouldn't that have been risky? But Dimitri had insisted, claiming that they could not declare themselves a kingdom of any proper sort if they refused to hire the people who laid their lives down in the name of Faerghus.
It had been a clever bit of politics at the time, although it had taken Dedue a bit to realize as such. He'd been too focused on his own anxieties, and that Dimitri could get in trouble, or that he could get taken away. But by framing it as something for the good of many instead of just one, well, Dimitri had managed to get away with it.
So he has funds, things he has carefully saved up and hidden away... But he is not certain if those funds would be enough to pay off someone of Hilda Goneril's standing.
Lorenz merely shakes his head. "Oh, please, accepting payment from a commoner would be a spit in the face of a noble's honor," he says. Dedue wonders if he has actually spoken to Hilda on this manner, because he is not entirely sure she would agree. "Still, I can understand your trepidation." He places a hand delicately upon his breast. "I shall speak with her in your stead, and keep you abreast of the conversation."
"You need not go to so much trouble for me..." But he cannot speak nearly fast enough, quite clearly. Lorenz is already halfway out the greenhouse by the time that Dedue manages to finish his sentence, and he is left staring at the space where his fellow student once was.
Truly, it seems some nobility never let go of that arrogance and the right to assume, no matter anything else. Dedue shakes his head, even as he goes to find a pouch to hold his earring in for a time.
Still. Perhaps arrogant, perhaps chatty and prone to gossip... but he had shed his jacket without a second thought in order to better help Dedue. Had offered to assist him in speaking with Hilda. Dedue is still left to wonder, of course, just what the catch is...
But while he can be cautious, perhaps he can also mention this tale to Dimitri. A good deed for a good deed. That much, he can offer.
And better care to the roses, when he next drops by.
If there is any small consolation, any scrap of reassurance to soothe the way his heart crashes into his ribcage, it is that it is still morning when he realizes the loss. Still early enough for him to not have been many places yet, and for him to recount on one hand where he has been at all. So all he can do is turn right back around, and head straight to the greenhouse.
These things happen. He tells himself that, even as he gingerly steps into the warmth of the little building. Earrings are already delicate, staying in place by a thin little bit of metal. These things happen. Even with something stopping them in place, things can become loose and fall with one little errant turn of the head. These things happen. It is going to be all right. He will find it again.
Dedue knows that if he does not tell himself these things, if he does not do whatever he possibly can to keep his calm, then he will fall apart.
And there is nowhere here, save perhaps the questionable safety of his own dorm room, where it is truly safe to fall apart.
Unfortunately, there is already someone in the greenhouse when he arrives. Lorenz Hellman Gloucester is there admiring how the rose bushes are coming along, favoring the trademark Adrestian breed which flourish in the most brilliant crimson. A bit of a problem; Dedue had hoped to conduct his search in relative privacy with no one to witness any foolishness or weakness on his end. If there were to be other people, he could have only hoped that they would be more inclined to their own business, or too wrapped up in a personal project, or on the way out, to care much about what a simple Duscur commoner were up to.
He does not know the Gloucester heir. Dedue had made sure to study up on the various noble families of Faerghus, of course, because such things were necessary in order to best properly protect his Highness. And yet the Leicester Alliance had always seemed like a far away, distant place, much like the Adrestian Empire. Distant lands whose influence had far reaching consequences and yet had never seemed like immediate issues.
A commoner's thinking; he knows that much after so many teachers and noble people in Fhirdiad had scoffed about him pondering things such as these out loud in clumsy Faerghan.
It doesn't change the fact that he has never had reason to learn about the Alliance nobles, not in any true depth. So all he can say he knows of Gloucester is what he has witnessed of him at a distance: the speeches about the duty of nobles, the arrogance, the constant pestering of women. In some ways he reminds Dedue of Sylvain, which he is sure both men would loathe to hear based on their apparent rivalry, but there are some clear differences.
Perhaps the most notable is that while Sylvain seems almost apathetic to gossip with what is said about his reputation, Lorenz seems far more deeply embedded in all of that, for better or worse.
In this situation, Dedue has a sinking suspicion that it is much worse.
There is not much time to be left pondering about what he should do. Even as he stands there, Lorenz glances over to see who it is that has stepped into the greenhouse. "Oh, good morning to you. You would be His Higness Dimitri's retainer, would you not?"
It's a more polite greeting and inquiry to his person than he has gotten in plenty of other occasions. Dedue supposes he should not be too dismissive of any small victory, even if a part of him wants to toss it aside like everything else. "It is an honor to be recalled compared to His Highness," he says with a practiced and polite bow. The church claims its students are equal. Dedue has more than enough common sense to know that this is not always true, necessarily.
But then, he is the only person of Duscur to attend this place, and no doubt in many years. Likely that is why he has stood out in any capacity.
At least the phrasing seems to be enough to sate Lorenz Gloucester, if the ease apparent in him and the stance of his shoulders is any indication. Nothing tense, nothing aggravated. "Well, it is only appropriate for someone of my stature to keep in mind such details as the retainer to the future king of Faerghus," he says, clearly quite pleased with himself. "You should feel quite honored that you have been graced with such a position."
A quiet but burning impatience thrums underneath his skin. "It is through the generosity of His Highness," he says, trying to muffle the feelings in himself. He thought he'd gotten over this immature part of him. Thought that he could manage throughout anything.
And yet all he can think about is how he'd do anything to get this man out of his way so that he can look for his earring.
This is not the worst thing he has ever had to wait through. Dedue tries to tell himself that, even as Lorenz Gloucester nods. "Of course. Perhaps one day I will have the honor of tea with His Highness. Still, it is rude to speak too much of someone when they are not present." This does not sound like what Lorenz actually does. Dedue makes no comment on this fact. "Have you come to admire the roses today as well?"
Of course. Dedue may not know the fine details of the young noble in front of him, but all his time spent already in the greenhouse has at least informed him of this particular inclination. Sometimes it almost seems as though Lorenz has no time for any other plant, although perhaps he is incorrect on this front.
It doesn't really matter, in the end. "I merely came in here to check on something." This is not technically untrue. Dedue merely declines on giving any further detail. "It is of little importance to one such as yourself." While he may say that, Dedue still does not make a move to leave. He is well aware of the rules which lay in the games nobles play, even if he is allegedly under the protection of, indeed, the "future" king. But a king of the future is not the king of the present; that is a lesson that he and Dimitri have had to learn, unfortunately. Nobles grow petty, when they think they have not been given their due.
Certainly Lorenz Gloucester seems used to this way of things, because he does not think twice before giving a small and almost imperious nod of his head. "Oh, yes, of course. Then I shall go back to my observing of the roses." He doesn't say that Dedue had best stay out of his way, but, well. Again: Dedue knows how this whole thing goes by now.
That's fine. Dedue doesn't want to be near Lorenz. What he wants to do is comb the greenhouse piece by piece, plant by plant, until he finds his earring.
Of course, he can't be so lucky. While he knows it has to be here in the greenhouse, and the greenhouse is a small space - somehow it is as though he is trying to search for a needle in a haystack. No matter how many places he checks along the edges of the little bricked up spaces, it seems as though he cannot find any trace of it. No glint of warm metal, nothing sticking out from a bit of dirt, nothing hanging from a particularly sturdy plant stalk.
The longer he searches, the more self doubt starts to creep inside of him. What if he's wrong? What if he's foolish, and the earring is nowhere in the greenhouse? What if he's been wasting all this time in the greenhouse, and it was on a bit of cobblestone, already picked by someone interested in something unique that they could hoard for themselves, or sell?
What are the chances that he could find out who would have picked it up? What are the chances that they would give it to him? Would he have to speak with Dimitri? Would that just be causing more trouble for the both of them?
"Dedue?" Ah. Lorenz again. Dedue blinks his way out of his own stress-filled thoughts, and looks up over at the noble. At some point while he's been lost in his head, Lorenz Gloucester has made his way closer to him, and is staring up with a furrow between his brow. "Are you quite all right?"
Ah. "Of course," he answers, because he's never had any other option but to be so for years, now. "Am I bothering you...?"
Strangely enough, that answer does not seem to sate Lorenz in any way. He actually frowns as he surveys Dedue, looking him over. "You have been standing here for a good few minutes, now," he informs him. "I have glanced over at the plant which has ensnared your attention so thoroughly, and yet, although perhaps I will admit that there may be some bit of knowledge which eludes me, I can see no fault or illness in it whatsoever. I also must say that you have been looking in quite a peculiar manner at the plants, less at them and more the dirt they reside in."
This... is a surprising level of attention from the other man, quite frankly. A level of attention that Dedue would not have expected to begin with. Somehow, while he imagines that he could make an attempt at lying... There's no telling how much it would hold out. "I simply misplaced something," he admits. "I believed it to be in the greenhouse, but perhaps I have been mistaken. As I said before - it is a minor matter that you need not concern yourself with."
Perhaps that will be enough to sate the man's interest in what he is doing.
It doesn't. Lorenz Gloucester's eyes light up in understanding, and he also does not leave. "Oh, I see! Of course - that does make sense. I had thought you were coming in somewhat later than what I had grown used to... What is it that you misplaced here, then?"
He is truly loathe to speak of this to anyone else - in particular, those from outside of the Blue Lions and those that Dimitri has placed his trust in. However, he doesn't think he can keep giving vague answers for long.
"A bit of jewelry," he admits. "An earring."
"So that is what was off from your appearance, when I saw you! I had thought something seemed rather incomplete about your appearance today, and yet I was not thinking deeply on it at the time." Lorenz nods, satisfied with solving that little mystery. "Well, then I am familiar with exactly the design you speak of. It is rather unique in design - not something you would see in Faerghan-made jewelry or even the sort of wares that often pass through Leicester. At least, not through Gloucester territory, at any rate."
Dedue is not particularly surprised about this particular little fact that Lorenz gives to him. Duscur was separate from most of Fodlan, massive mountains keeping it safe save from its one close neighbor - Faerghus. If anywhere were to have the most jewelry of Duscur origin, it would be in the places closest to the borders of where Duscur once was...
And he imagines that anything reminiscent of king slayers would have long been tossed away, or melted into scrap metal.
Another nod from Lorenz. "Well, that shall make it all the easier to find, then," he says, and reaches up to being undoing the buttons of his uniform jacket. "Were you simply inspecting the plants in the greenhouse today, or were you involved in some slightly more taxing work, Dedue?"
Dedue stares. "Pardon?" he says, for lack of any better response.
"Well, I was thinking that it was highly unlikely that you would have lost something as secure as an earring whilst going about the daily watering. However, if you were engaging in more involved tasks, then perhaps the movement, or an item, would have jostled it out of place."
Politely, Dedue lets him finish, before he shakes his head. "While that is a very good point, I was more concerned in involving you in a small personal matter of mine. You need not dirty your uniform while assisting me."
Lorenz blinks at him. "Why, it is the very duty of nobility to assist those lower than them," he says. "Sharpening those skills is the very reason we have been sent to Garreg Mach! Along with becoming great tacticians and warriors, forging connections with our peers, we must strive to make the noble name shine. I may not be the head of Gloucester yet, so I am limited in what is available here to me-" Dedue notes that he seems somewhat disappointed at this. Or perhaps struggling, in some manner. "-and so I must practice such skills in other ways."
"And your uniform?"
In this respect, Lorenz looks quite pleased as he gestures to his undershirt. "Why, it is the calling of vests and jackets to hide the dirt which gathers on one when they are doing what needs to be done. Practical and aesthetically pleasing both!"
He had always thought that the purpose of multiple layers was to keep the body warm and perhaps to show off an excess of clothing depending on how intricate the material and how rich the wearer. However, there is no point in getting into such a discussion, not when it is clear he is not capable of stopping Lorenz, and, well...
It is a moment of weakness, to be sure, but he does so desperately desire the help. He will deal with the consequences whatever they may be.
"Then you have my gratitude," he says, perhaps a bit more sincere than he has let himself be normally, before he concedes to other things as well. If Lorenz is already going to be disrobing to some degree, then there is no point in staying fully dressed as well, is there?
Somehow, it becomes Lorenz's turn to stare as Dedue shrugs his jacket off of his shoulders. "Of course," I suppose it is more than sensible for you to follow suit," he says, a bit belated as his eyes fail to track the movement of Dedue's jacket leaving his shoulders. They lag behind just a bit. "Of course, the earring is very important to you..."
"Indeed." Dedue folds up his jacket to place it down on the small brick walls neatly holding back the little gardens. "I apologize for troubling you, so I will take one half of the greenhouse, if I may trouble you to take care of the other half." And perhaps, if he is lucky, he will finish quickly enough to help with Lorenz's share as well. It will make him feel just a little less in debt, if such a thing exists.
Lorenz snaps out of whatever thoughts he was having, and gives an enthusiastic nod of his head. "Of course! I am certain that with our efforts combined, we shall find the earring in no time at all!"
And, in that regard... Lorenz Gloucester is very much correct. The old adage of two heads being better than one proves to be true, here. With two pairs of eyes and two pairs of hands unafraid of going through dirt or foliage, it takes them not even half an hour before Lorenz lets loose a triumphant noise of discovery. Dedue could hardly begin how to explain the process, but the backing for his earring had somehow been nudged off while he was wrangling with some particularly heavy and wild plants. More dealing with those same plants and their long winding stems, and, well... It is apparently quite easy to have an earring get nudged off in the whole process.
"I suppose the plants up north in Faerghus are not so inclined to this sort of stem," Lorenz muses, as Dedue brings a pail of water for the two of them. Their shirts may need more indepth washing, but their hands and faces, at least, can be salvaged. "Little wonder that you were caught by surprise, with the things they could catch."
There is some sense, to the words that Lorenz speaks, and Dedue truly does his best to pay attention. This is important knowledge to have - a lesson that he will never forget.
And yet all he can do is rub his thumb along the intricate details of his earring where he cradles it delicately in his palms. A birthday gift, to celebrate him getting one year older, a man who could help in the kitchen and take care of any new siblings. A member of his community who could take care of it all.
He'd never gotten that chance. Not truly. The weight of his earring reminds him that maybe, desperately, he can still do something for them all.
Perhaps his lack of proper answer draws some of Lorenz's attention, for the other man pauses a moment before he perks up. "Ah, but you really should have a proper stop for your earring, since this one has clearly proven itself to be inadequate. While we have only spoken a scarce few times as she has helped me hone my training quite fantastically, I believe that Hilda of Goneril could help with this endeavor!"
Hilda Goneril... Dedue thinks he has seen some of the training that Lorenz is referring to. Only to his eyes, it had looked much more like Hilda was trying at all costs to avoid lifting a single finger, let alone her axe, while she made Lorenz do all of the work.
Well. That is none of his business, quite frankly. "How might she be able to help?" he asks, doing an admirable job of keeping the skepticism from his voice. It's a skill he has had to spend years honing.
"Oh, as one of her many hobbies picked up as a maiden of nobility, Hilda is quite knowledgeable about jewelry, you see," Lorenz says quite proudly, as though he has ever had anything to do with it. Which Dedue doubts, but, again: none of his business. "I am positive that if we were simply to approach her on the matter, then she could no doubt offer up a solution. Considering how she herself also has to engage in battle, I imagine she must be quite insightful on such things."
If Lorenz is correct in this assessment - and Hilda being interested in jewelry sounds more viable than her helping Lorenz with training - then no doubt he is right. However, Dedue still finds himself hesitant. "I am afraid I could not afford to repay her for her assistance."
Certainly, Dedue has some funds saved up. It had been one of the things which Dimitri had insisted upon, way back during their time together, to the point that he had become quite enraged upon being pressed. Dedue of course would have insisted that he not need it, that simply being in Dimitri's service would be enough. Asking for anything else... wouldn't that have been risky? But Dimitri had insisted, claiming that they could not declare themselves a kingdom of any proper sort if they refused to hire the people who laid their lives down in the name of Faerghus.
It had been a clever bit of politics at the time, although it had taken Dedue a bit to realize as such. He'd been too focused on his own anxieties, and that Dimitri could get in trouble, or that he could get taken away. But by framing it as something for the good of many instead of just one, well, Dimitri had managed to get away with it.
So he has funds, things he has carefully saved up and hidden away... But he is not certain if those funds would be enough to pay off someone of Hilda Goneril's standing.
Lorenz merely shakes his head. "Oh, please, accepting payment from a commoner would be a spit in the face of a noble's honor," he says. Dedue wonders if he has actually spoken to Hilda on this manner, because he is not entirely sure she would agree. "Still, I can understand your trepidation." He places a hand delicately upon his breast. "I shall speak with her in your stead, and keep you abreast of the conversation."
"You need not go to so much trouble for me..." But he cannot speak nearly fast enough, quite clearly. Lorenz is already halfway out the greenhouse by the time that Dedue manages to finish his sentence, and he is left staring at the space where his fellow student once was.
Truly, it seems some nobility never let go of that arrogance and the right to assume, no matter anything else. Dedue shakes his head, even as he goes to find a pouch to hold his earring in for a time.
Still. Perhaps arrogant, perhaps chatty and prone to gossip... but he had shed his jacket without a second thought in order to better help Dedue. Had offered to assist him in speaking with Hilda. Dedue is still left to wonder, of course, just what the catch is...
But while he can be cautious, perhaps he can also mention this tale to Dimitri. A good deed for a good deed. That much, he can offer.
And better care to the roses, when he next drops by.