He was glad everyone made it out safely. Manuela, Flayn, and Monica all seemed to be recovering well. Dimitri's only concern was the continued state of the Blue Lions' lack of a professor. He received assurance from Rhea herself that they would find a suitable replacement. Apparently, this year was the first in which a professor had to be replaced last minute—including the fact that such circumstances have happened twice, as the reasoning that Jeritza became a professor in the first place.
Until a qualified professor was hired, all three classes would work towards being on the same sections of every subject, and after some time they would meet in the reception hall instead of the classrooms for their instruction. Dimitri recalled Seteth expressing some hope that such a transition would be complete by the end of the month.
Dimitri took some time to speak with all of the Blue Lions, now that much of the fear had been allayed. For many, it seemed that the whole incident with Flayn was just the height of such worries. Everyone he spoke to was much less anxious than they were prior—although there was still an investigation into the people who stole the Relic during the Rite of Rebirth, some knights had returned and were asked to stay. That security eased the minds of many.
After confirming that all of them were on their way to properly readjusting from the chaos of the past few months, Dimitri opted to help Dedue manage some of the plants in the greenhouse. Claude entered after a short while.
"Hey, Dimitri, have a minute?"
Dedue didn't offer any protests, so Dimitri turned to Claude. "What do you need?"
"I just want to talk for a little bit while the princess is busy. Something's been bothering me."
Dimitri nodded, and followed him outside of the greenhouse. They only stepped out to the left of the greenhouse a bit.
"It's about the last battle," Claude said quietly, frowning. "I'm trying to get everything sorted out. How close were you when we reached that other guy—the Death Knight?"
"I was still fighting some stragglers in the back," Dimitri replied. "I saw you and Edelgard went forward with some others, and I heard the commander retreated without fighting."
Claude let out something like a chuckle, but it was humorless. "Yeah, right after Edelgard stepped up to fight him."
He recognized where Claude's thoughts may have gone. "You don't think it was a coincidence?"
"That feels like one hell of a coincidence if it was." He paused, looked around, then continued a little quieter. "We know that the Flame Emperor has some sort of alliance with the people who've been attacking the students; judging from the other day, the Death Knight is with them, too."
"So you think Edelgard is involved." He didn't even need to pose it as a question—having been with the Golden Deer since Jeritza's leave, he knew when Claude had a scheme or idea. The Golden Deer's leader had similar proposals and thoughts regarding Jeritza, and turned out to be correct in some manner.
"It's just a thought right now," Claude reasoned. "She left the monastery before the attack during the Rite of Rebirth, and at some point before Flayn disappeared."
"You can't use that as your only reasoning," Dimitri pointed out. "Edelgard was present when we were attacked on the expedition, and when we later looked for the mages."
"I can't say much for the other time, but I've been thinking about the expedition, too. You didn't see what made that thief fall down back then either, did you? Something hit him from the side; magic, maybe, but it didn't leave any marks. Nothing was charred or out of place, from what I could see."
Dimitri paused for a moment to think about it, then shook his head. "I would rather not consider it, if I'm being honest." The different kinds of thoughts the implication brought…it was unpleasant, to put it lightly. He didn't want to see her as anything close to an enemy.
"I don't need you to believe it," Claude said. "I just want to ask a favor of you. Could you sit in with the Black Eagles for a little while?"
"I won't be apart of some elaborate scheme of yours to determine whether or not Edelgard involved in this."
"Think of it as clearing her name, then," Claude reasoned, frowning. "She hasn't obviously done anything yet, but it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye out just in case. If nothing happens, it's all fine and well; if it turns out she is hiding something, I won't even make you tell the knights if you don't want to."
The comment led him to wonder, however briefly, what Claude thought his reason behind the hesitance was. An unwillingness to turn over an old friend to the knights… He couldn't quite decide if that was better or worse than preferring to remain in ignorance if she was involved. Dimitri didn't know if he could manage fighting Edelgard, should she be one of the people he was looking for. One of the people responsible for that tragedy.
Still, Claude was waiting for his answer, not for him to trudge through this debate on a hypothetical scenario.
"I can check if it's an option," Dimitri decided after a moment. "I know there was a student who wanted to be moved to the Golden Deer's shared class. Provided it isn't too late, I can ask Professor Manuela about switching rooms."
"Thanks for doing that. I'll figure out a way to repay you."
"I would say a separate investigation would work, on other people that could be involved."
Claude gave him an amused look, against the mood of the conversation. "You really want to say it isn't her, don't you?"
"…I have my reasons."
"Right, I won't pry. Wouldn't hurt to look into it if the knights will let us, at least."
"We have a deal, then. I'll ask after changing secondary classes once I've helped Dedue in the garden."
Claude nodded, offered a wave, then walked off towards the marketplace. Dimitri went back to helping Dedue, for what little still needed to be done. He opted to go past the classrooms instead of going straight to the infirmary, in case Hanneman or Manuela were there. As he past, Edelgard left the Black Eagles' room; he considered speaking with her or offering some greeting, but she didn't seem interested.
He helped Monica back to the infirmary—supposedly Hubert was close behind her for a similar reason, but Dimitri had his doubts—and spoke with Manuela once he was there. After a brief talk with Hanneman as well, he went to find the student he would be replacing to finalize the change.
