Edelgard followed the little monastery map that she'd been given to a small, overgrown bed that was once used to produce vegetables and herbs. It was tucked away in a small corner that was a bit hard to find. No wonder it'd been abandoned. It was really out of the way, but Byletha had been keen to clean up areas she'd found to be still usable. This area was huge and would take some weeks to clean up. They would probably have it done just in time for the summer growing season. Spring was already well upon them and it'd take quite a while to get all of this weeded out.

She blinked when she saw Dimitri and Dedue approaching. "Oh, Dimitri!" She smiled at him warmly. She hadn't expected him to be here. She wouldn't complain about it, though. She didn't know Dedue well, but he did seem to be a good man. Of course, Hubert stood behind Edelgard but she didn't care. The more help they could get out here, the better. She did take her gloves off, though, not wanting to get the white cloth stained through dirt and mud.

He smiled at her warmly, raising one hand in greeting. "Oh, good afternoon, El. I didn't expect to see anybody else here. The professor just told us to come here and help with weeding."

"Same, more or less. This area is pretty huge, though... It's gonna take a while to clean up." She supposed she'd be on duty for the next several weeks. She brushed her hand through her brown hair, still self-conscious about the change. Most people had adapted to it, but looking in the mirror... She still expected the white hair that had plagued her since the Crest experiments. But the Church had helped her remove it. It would take time for her self-image to adjust to the new reality.

She shook the thoughts away. "Anyway, why don't we get started?"

She heard Hubert sigh. "This really is beneath us."

Edelgard shook her head. "Not really. I helped Helen in the garden a lot. Same with the quail." The royal falconer's wife had taught her how to tend a garden and Ueli, the falconer himself, had taught her how to forage during the one falconry season she'd been out in the countryside for the whole season. She had learned a lot about plants through both experiences. Domestic and wild plants could be very useful, so she was curious to see if anything had survived while this area had fallen into disrepair.

Each pair started at a different end of the beds and Edelgard hyper focused on what she was doing. She heard Dedue and Dimitri talking about something, but it just seemed to be smalltalk from what little glimpses she got. It wasn't really any of her concern though. She could see where there were patches of herbs and flowers that somehow managed to cling onto existence even as the weeds choked them out. Marigold, comfrey, lavender, chamomile... There were quite a few useful herbs and flowers among all of these weeds. This place wasn't entirely unsalvageable.

They took a break a little while later and Edelgard sat next to Dimitri, resting her head against his arm. He gently ran a hand over the side of her head. "Are you doing all right, El?" The sun was warm and working in more or less all black wasn't easy... She'd lost basically all of her heat tolerance due to those long nights spent on the dungeon floor when it hurt too much to move after they'd committed their horrible acts against her.

She nodded. "Thankfully, we're in shade right now." However, the sun was still ticking bit by bit overhead. It was after classes, so the day grew long. Finding shade in even the monastery's buildings was hard. She had a white button-down on underneath her uniform, but she'd rather not have the expensive fabric potentially get stained from the dirt and mire that lay in the flowerbeds. "I'm finding a lot of useful plants among the weeds though... I wonder if there's somewhere we could move them to in the meanwhile. The lavender and chamomile would make for some lovely tea." And probably help her anxiety a little bit. She usually felt at least a little bit calmer after having some lavender and chamomile tea. Granted, she was anxious all the time, but it helped alleviate that for a little while even if it was miniscule.

"Oh? You found the same? I found quite a few edible plants among the weeds too. I suppose your area might have been more for herbs and such while the area Dedue and I are was for root vegetables and such." She looked up at Dimitri as he chuckled. Well, this was a pretty big area, so it made sense it might be split into multiple purposes. She wondered if they could transfer any of the plants without killing them. It would help the monastery and rest of the students in general to have such a wide area dedicated to herbs and edible plants alike.

She heard Dedue sigh. "Please do not eat the weeds, Your Highness."

"I am just saying there were a lot of useful plants intermingled among the weeds, Dedue."

Edelgard nodded. "He's right. We're not talking about the weeds. We're talking about the plants that survived among the weeds. There are a lot of good herbs and edible plants among them." She could identify a lot of them. She could almost see where the original plan was. The lavender and chamomile were incredibly abundant which made sense... A lot of students could have anxiety problems and tears would help them. That and the lavender just smelled good. She really enjoyed the scent that it gave off and the lovely light, floral taste it brought to tea when added in. It'd been a little while since she'd had some good, strong lavender tea…

Hubert glanced at Dedue and the two exchanged a weary look. Edelgard folded her arms and gave Hubert a stern look. He knew she'd learned to identify useful herbs and edible plants. She didn't get why he was acting this way. Still, he said nothing and she stood up a little while later, brushing off her uniform. "Anyway, we should probably get back to it..." Dimitri stood as well and each pair went back to their respective end of the growing bed. They had a lot of work to do...