Byleth gets down the stairs, then begins looking for Hilda. The pink-haired student was usually lazy despite her decent battle prowess, but she did enjoy making crafts and accessories, which is why Byleth believed that she would be perfect for the job of making things that Bernie would need at her current size.
But unlike Bernie, Hilda could be almost anywhere on the grounds of Garreg Mach, which made her quite difficult to find. Her best friend, Marianne, could be easier - if the two were not hanging out, then Marianne would be close to the stables, doting on her favorite horse, a white one that she called Dorte.
It is for this reason that Byleth checks the stables first, but Marianne is not there. He heads in the direction of the dorms, but he doesn't get far before he spots Hilda talking to Marianne in the shopping district.
"Oh, hi, Professor," Hilda says as she spots him coming towards the pair, her voice sounding as if she had been caught doing something she wasn't supposed to.
"Hello," Marianne says, her voice with little emotion at all.
Byleth smiled at her slightly. For as little emotion as she was showing now, it was still significantly more than she showed during their first meeting. He takes a deep breath, than says, "A very interesting development came up during my teaching of the Black Eagle class, and I believe that the two of you may be able to help me with it."
As expected, Hilda immediately frowns, turning to leave. "I just remembered, I have to, uhm -"
But Byleth cuts her off, grabbing her arm to prevent her from leaving. "I know that you don't like work, but I feel that you may actually enjoy this. After all, you make those cute little charms and accessories."
At that, Hilda perks up. "Oh?" The professor had never commented on the charms being cute before. He was likely saying that only to butter her up, but it still felt nice to hear.
"Two spells collided, and B- the extremely frightened member of the Black Eagles was rendered significantly smaller." He'd been about to refer to Bernie by the name that he knew she preferred (and had thus become his preference as well), but realized that due to their minimal interaction, Hilda and Marianne might not be aware of her by that name - or possibly any name.
"She was...shrunken?" Marianne asked. "I did not know such magic existed."
"Well, the professor did say that two spells collided," Hilda said. "So it's entirely possible that it's a combination no one was aware of before."
"That does make sense," Marianne conceeds.
"So what do you -" Hilda begins, before realizing. "You told me that I'd like this job because of the accessories that I like making."
Byleth nods. "She is going to need some form of bed, at the very least. For the time being, I will be caring for her."
Hilda smiles. "I can do that," she says. "But you know I can't do other things at the same time," she adds knowingly.
It was clear to Byleth that she was trying to use this as a means to leverage some form of out for work. But in all honesty, he had expected that as well. "Well that is fine. I'm sure that no one would argue that this is quite important. After all, she's going to need the bed - or at least a reasonable-but-temporary replacement - tonight."
Hilda frowns. It seemed that the professor had called her bluff. And the worst part was that he had done so while sounding like he was agreeing with her! How did he do that? "Yes," she says. "But, uhm, can I see how small she shrank?"
Byleth pauses. On the one hand, she did need to know how tall Bernie was now in order to make a well-fitted bed. But on the other hand, Bernie was afraid of other people at her normal height, and Hilda had a huge love for extremely cute things.
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