Chapter Text
The deserts of Sumeru were harsh, but Cyno found comfort in this dry oasis. The sand against his skin was familiar and so was the humid heat. Here, he felt as if the problems from beyond the wall couldn’t touch him; as if he was free and weightless.
Just as he was about to fall asleep, a sharp whirring of mechanics snapped his eyes open; allowing him to briefly spot a beam of light shooting towards the sky. Many would've thought that it was simply a trick of the light, but Cyno knew better. After all, there was only one thing that could give off such a dark sense of foreboding: Forbidden Knowledge. With a deep inhale, he sat up from where he was half-buried in the sand, before jumping to his feet. It seems that it was time to enact his judgment once again.
Or.. well, that was his initial intention, but he doesn’t actually think he can do that in this baffling situation. Cyno stares. He stares and does nothing else, for his mind still cannot make sense of what he was seeing. There was a pile of clothing near an active ancient mechanism — familiar clothing, and its owner was nowhere in sight. With that black shirt, added with that obnoxiously decorative jacket, and that unique noise-blocking headpiece, who else could it be?
“...Al-Haitham?” Cyno carefully calls, voice still echoing within the ruins despite his soft volume. A miniature movement from beneath the clothes caught his attention. Slowly, he stalked closer to the moving bundle, spear tightly gripped within his hand. Whatever it was, it was small.
When he got close enough to touch the device, he crouched low, warily watching the still pulsing symbols. What exactly happened? With his heart beating rapidly against his ribcage, he delicately stretched one leg after the other towards the lump, taking great care to avoid touching the object.
“Al-Haitham, if I find out that you’re hiding from me, you will be judged upon the scales. You hear me?” He threatened, giving him one last chance to reveal himself, before focusing his attention on the flash of green amongst the dark cloth. It was a lit up dendro vision still attached to the jacket’s shoulder. Its owner was close.
Gingerly, he slipped the head of his staff beneath the clothing and raised it just enough for him to peek at whatever was there. From within the darkness, something silver gleamed against the dim sunlight. He squinted to get better focus and when glowing red pupils met his own, he couldn’t hold in the gasp that escaped his lips. “ Haitham ?”
The boy flinched upon the calling of his supposed name, but turned to gaze at him with wide, fearful eyes all the same. "Are you.. are you going to judge me upon the scales?" The silver haired boy who looks a little bit too much like Al-Haitham whispers.
Cyno's mind was blank for a short instance. This supposedly simple arrest had become something much, much more complicated. Then again, since when has anything relating to forbidden knowledge ever been so straightforward?
"..No," he finally managed. Not yet, at least. "How — why are you here?"
"I don't — I don't know." He whimpers, before curling up even tighter, now squeezing his eyes shut and unwilling to meet his gaze. The pitiful act tugged at the strings of Cyno's heart. He heaved a sigh of defeat before picking up the jacket and spreading it wide.
The child, who had taken it upon himself to crawl out from beneath the black shirt, peeked up at him adorably. They were at a stare-down for a brief moment, with both just waiting for the other to do something, before Cyno finally let the silence get to him and released another noise of defeat. The child tilted his head at that, innocently staring at him with confusion written all over his face. Cyno could only look away with a furrow to his brows, "..You need clothes."
It took another short while of silence, in which Cyno sealed his eyes shut with pursed lips, basically turning his eyes and mouth into flat lines. Could you really blame him? This was an incredibly awkward situation.
Just as he was about to give up, some shuffling was heard and a weight fell upon the open jacket, finally allowing him to wrap it close. Now that it was safe to look, he deftly ties certain sections off to make sure it won't slip off the boy’s small body despite the long ends of his cape jacket thing — seriously, what even is that? — falling to the floor. Afterwards, he picked the child up and carefully secured him in his hold. He expected him to struggle, or to argue at least, something similar to his older self, but the boy simply froze before practically melting into him.
"Huh," Cyno raised his eyebrows and casted a glance at the boy comfortably laying his head on his shoulder. "you're not as bad as I thought."
“So..” Lesser Lord Kusanali began, large emerald eyes curiously meeting apathetic teal, “this is Al-Haitham?” She raised her gaze to the man whose legs the boy was seeking refuge behind, only looking back down once he nodded in confirmation. “Please tell me how this occurred.”
Said man just happened to be Cyno, looking slightly awkward with the whole situation. “I’m not sure, but when I found him in the desert ruins, there was a device nearby that seemed to have been accidentally activated. Therefore, it is highly possible that we’ll find our answers there.”
“I see..” The archon offered the child — whose height was of a similar stance to her own — a sweet smile, to which he narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but she didn’t seem to mind. “Hello there, Al-Haitham.”
Silence. The small group gathering within the sanctuary shifted uncomfortably, while some seemed as if the tension was starting to seep under their skin. "Hey," the silver haired boy tilted his head upwards to meet glaring red orbs, "answer her."
He blinked once, his little fingers fisting the flowing kilt around Cyno's waist tighter, before looking down with a displeased expression. "..Hi." Cyno pursed his lips and tensely turned back to the archon. At least he answered.
The white haired girl giggled, before glancing up at him amusedly through long, curly lashes, “He seems to like you.” Cyno scrunched up his nose at that, but couldn’t exactly argue with the way the boy kept clinging onto him. He’s pretty certain that it’s only because he was the first to discover him, though. “Now then, won’t you tell me how you found him?”
After conveying what had happened earlier that day in full detail, Lesser Lor — Nahida asked the Traveler to investigate it along with Dehya and Nilou, since Cyno was unfortunately preoccupied. Nahida herself decided to look for information within the Irminsul. That left him, the koala child, and the only other responsible adult in the room, Tighnari, to discuss who would take care of him until a solution was found. Between the two of them, the answer was as clear as day. “Tighnari-”
“Al-Haitham!” All of a sudden, the doors to the room were slammed open, causing him to whip his head around and summon his staff as he extended an arm to shield the boy still plastered to the side of his leg. He glared at the newcomer, who sauntered in like he owned the place. “You basta—”
All of a sudden, vines wrapped around his mouth, preventing him from speaking, and red, cat-like orbs widened in panic. Tighnari, the culprit, was relentless in his actions and had a hand extended to keep the vines in place, “Don’t curse in front of a child.”
The blonde man frowned in confusion, eyes scanning around the large, open space, before finally landing on the tuft of silver-teal hair behind Cyno. The dendro user instantly froze, and even with the vines limiting the movements of his mouth, he still managed to gape. “..Your eyes are going to pop right out of their sockets if you keep staring that hard.” Cyno jokes, but clearly, no one got the joke. Sadly, before he could explain as to why this was funny, Tighnari retrieved his vines — it had to be on purpose, the sneaky fox — and Kaveh now openly gawked at child-Haitham.
Comically, his jaw closed with a clack and he instantly pointed an accusing finger at the young boy. “Th - who’s that?!” He exclaimed, before continuing, “Does Al-Haitham have a relative he didn’t tell me about!?” He accused, to which Tighnari and Cyno simply shared an exasperated glance, “Or wait.. Don’t tell me.. he had an illegitimate child!? ” He practically shrieked.
“You really think he’s the kind of person to do that.” Cyno deadpanned, easing his battle stance and unsummoning his spear. Kaveh might be a handful, but he was no threat. At least not at the moment.
“Don’t you ?!” He shot back. Tighnari heaved a heavy sigh and massaged his nose bridge, while Cyno simply frowned. Did he think so? In all honesty, he’s not exactly close enough to Al-Haitham to actually decide as to whether he is or isn’t, but judging from what Cyno knows of him, he doesn’t seem to be that kind of person. Then again, he should know from experience that looks can be deceiving.
“..I’m afraid I can’t answer that question.” At least not backed up with proper evidence, which he did not have at the moment. Attentively, he watched as Kaveh approached warily, still in shock and disbelief. When he got close enough to the peeking boy, he crouched down low. Curious red met wary teal, then he raised his hand and pinched the boy's cheek.
Silence permeated the air, before being broken by a too-excited squeal. "Awwweeeee, he's so cute!"
Kaveh continued to squeeze and pull the other's flesh, much to the boy's chagrin. "Staph! 'Emme go—" He started to struggle, but Kaveh was clearly not satisfied.
Said man-child giggled as he continued to enact his torture. "Al-Haitham should've told me he had such a cute little brother — or niece? Or kid! Who cares!!"
"Actually," Tighnari began lightly, "this is Al-Haitham." Everyone waited for him to react and he did not disappoint. He blinked, looked at Al-Haitham’s baby face, then at each of the two other adults, and instantly dropped his hands — well, it was more like his hands fell limp to his sides of their own accord.
" What!? ”
Once they managed to calm him down, the trio — plus the source of their issues, found themselves in Kaveh and Al-Haitham’s shared apartment, discussing as to who would take charge of the currently obedient child sitting in silence, watching them talk about him passively.
"Why can't you take care of him? Don’t you live together?" Cyno accused. He did not mean to sound like he wanted this child out of his hands as soon as possible, even if that was exactly what he wanted.
"He doesn't like me," Kaveh whined, dramatically falling to his knees and clutching his chest with literal tears running down his face. “Baby Haitham, please just let big bro Kaveh take care of you! I promise it’ll be fun!” Said child simply sent him a look of pure disgust, before turning his face away with a petulant ‘hmph’. Cyno’s lips gave the slightest of twitches before he managed to keep himself in check. “See!” Kaveh cried out indignantly, pointing his index finger to the smug-looking child. “He hates me!”
"Well, maybe if you stopped squishing his cheeks," Tighnari suggested. His tail was swishing back and forth as he crossed his arms.
“But — but how could I?! Have you seen how chubby they are?!” Kaveh desperately turned to the unimpressed fox, completely ignoring his blatant annoyance, before standing up, stomping over to the child, and pulling his admittedly full cheeks like what Tighnari had just told him not to do. “Just look at how soft and squishy..” The child frowned at his ministrations, trying his best to express his discomfort despite his skin being stretched like rubber. “Seriously, he’s adorable!” He cooed upon the child’s futile attempts at speaking. His skin was turning red from all the rough treatment and tears were gathering in the corners of the boy’s eyes. With a heavy sigh, Cyno made his own verdict.
“Okay, that’s enough.” Having decided to cease the boy’s suffering, he shot out his hands to wrap around Kaveh’s offending wrists. Not enough to hurt, but firm enough that he wouldn't be able to escape without a fight. The dendro user instantly froze, and gulped when the general glared daggers to further convey his warning. “He’ll be staying with Tighnari,” and that was the end of it.
The sun was hanging low in the sky by the time they'd managed to reach Gandharva Ville, and Cyno’s arm was starting to feel the strain of carrying a rather considerable weight for half the day. Kaveh had refused their offer to join out of ‘heartache’, or so the dramatic grown-up man had cried prior to running off to who knows where, and the child only seemed to grow fonder of Cyno, much to his chagrin. He was even bold enough to ask him to carry him all the way here. Well, if holding out one's hands to wordlessly demand to be picked up counts as asking.
All of that brought him to his current situation, gently massaging his arm to ease its built-up tension as Tighnari brewed them all some soothing tea. Cyno looks out the window, and exhales quietly through his lips. “I’m going to have to stay the night..” Not like he minded per se — he’s stayed over many times before — but this time, he was simply feeling like he’s missing out on a lot of work. Although this, too, might count as work, depending on how one looks at it.
A gentle clack of ceramic against the wooden table signaled his tea’s arrival. “Here, drink it while it’s still warm.” Cyno accepted gratefully as the Forest Watcher nudged the cup closer to his person, before slipping onto the seat next to him with his own steaming cup in hand.
Cyno took a tentative sip and sighed in relief as soon as the liquid pleasantly soothed his parched throat. “Thanks.” Tighnari simply nodded. As he took another, larger gulp, Al-Haitham approached them determinedly, and a still drinking Cyno raised an eyebrow upon the uncharacteristic display. Now what did he want?
"I'm gonna marry you when I grow up!" The child suddenly declared, and as soon as he heard the word 'marry', Cyno spat out his tea in absolute shock, before proceeding to have an uncontrollable coughing fit. Tighnari, the sweet angel, helped dislodge the wayward liquid by patting him on the back even though his own mouth was agape, staring at the young Haitham in disbelief.
Where did he learn that from? A coughing Cyno hurriedly scans the peripheral, before his eyes land on a fidgeting Collei, trying futilely to hide a fairytale book behind her back. He should've known.
"Trust me," Cyno rasped, still struggling to suck in air into his poor lungs, "that will never happen." When he looked back up, those sharp eyes were wide and glossy - oh archons, did he make him cry?!
“Uh, what he means is that you’re too young for him.” Tighnari tries gently, to which Cyno nods aggressively. Anything to stop this ridiculous scene.
Al-Haitham pouted with those enlarged watery eyes, and wiped his blotched face with his sleeves. “Then I’ll just grow up faster!”
The Forest Watcher grimaced, but still tried to argue, albeit very softly, “I’m afraid that’s not how it works. Growing up takes time-”
“Then I’ll make a potion that makes me big in no time!” Both Cyno and Tighnari’s jaws dropped yet again. “Or - or I’ll make another body that I can use! Then I won’t be a child anymore!”
Archons- was this kid serious!? Before he could delve deeper into the sheer insanity of these ideas, Tighnari swung an arm around his neck, swiveled him on his seat, and leaned in close. “Okay, so clearly, he’s as stubborn as a rock.”
“Where does he even learn those kinds of things?!” Cyno hissed through his gritted teeth, shooting a sideway glance to the child who was silently watching their interactions with the occasional sniffle. He was so tiny, but so wicked , like seriously, what kind of 5 year old thinks about moving consciousness through science?!
“Unimportant,” Tighnari rolled his eyes and waved his wrist to dismiss the topic. His lips were pursed and his ears were twitching. He was irritated. “What is important is to stop him from dooming himself-”
“I always knew he was crazy.” Cyno mumbled under his breath. He knew cutting the other off was a bad idea, but he couldn’t stop himself from speaking up.
“- And, ” Tighnari continued impatiently, snarl nearly forming against his lips, “go along with whatever it is he wants.”
“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me-”
“Listen, haven't you heard a little something called Puppy Love? This is only temporary, and he’ll probably forget about all of this when he turns back to normal!" Cyno parted his lips, about to refute, when those dual toned orbs glared daggers at him, daring him to argue. His jaws instantly snapped shut. “Even if he doesn’t, he’ll probably be too embarrassed to ever bring it up, so you just do as I say, and it will all turn out well.” The furrow between Cyno’s brows deepened and he opened his mouth to speak again, when Tighnari pulled his lips back, revealing the sharp canines usually kept out of sight; practically growling. “Do. You. Copy?”
Reflexively, Cyno swallowed, and nodded. “Yes, sir.” Gee, did he say he was an angel? Nope, he takes it back. Tighnari was scary — but wait, aren’t biblically accurate angels scary? He’s pretty sure he read something about that from one of Mondstat’s books he borrowed from Lisa..
When he blinked his thoughts away, Tighnari was almost done talking to the boy, but he managed to process his few last words, “..and you’ll stay with us until you go back to normal, okay?”
The boy, looking much happier than before, turned to Cyno with sparkles dancing in his eyes, “So you’ll marry me when I’m an adult again?”
The general turned to his friend with a pinched expression, but there was absolutely no mercy in his eyes, so he could only sigh in defeat. "..Only if you still want to."
Tighnari, satisfied, no longer had his ears plastered to his head, and turned to the child. "There, see?"
Child Al-Haitham cheered and the next thing he knew, a force slammed itself against his stomach, causing him to release a surprised 'oomph'. Automatically, he wraps his arms around the small body before directing his gaze towards it. Bright eyes squinted into happy little crescents up at him with a grin so rare, it rendered Cyno starstruck. "Then it's a promise!"
The only response he could give was a simple hum, even if his heart was sinking to his stomach. I'm afraid it's going to be a promise I'll have to break.
Later that night, he approaches the still busy Forest Watcher and before he even announces his presence, his flicking ears seem to have heard him first, for he turns his head with an unimpressed glance. "Save it Cyno." Then, he proceeds to do whatever it was he was doing.
Despite his blatant dismissal, Cyno was not deterred. “Tighnari, I’m bad with kids,” he reasons pathetically, pursing his lips when he sees Haitham reading yet another book with Collei. That must be the fifth book they’ve read in the span of two hours. “They’re always scared of me.”
“Well, not this one.” He huffs, rolling his eyes before carefully dropping the basket of herbs outside, and finally turning his full attention to the jackal hooded warrior. “He likes you, Cyno. Enough to want to marry you.” The fox scoffed amusedly at that, shaking his head as if he still couldn’t believe it. “No matter how unbelievable it may be.”
“Tell me about it.” Cyno agrees dryly. The child truly has questionable tastes. All of a sudden, he was bonked in the head. “Ow-”
“Idiot,” Tighnari scolded, though Cyno did not know what warranted his wrath this time. “I’m not saying that no one would like you enough to marry you. Just that I didn’t expect Al-Haitham, out of all people, to be that person, even if he’s been turned into a child. So get whatever it is you’re thinking out of your head.”
A thoroughly scolded Cyno sticks out his bottom lip as he rubs his bonked spot. Only Tighnari would ever see him act like this. "Fine, then I'll go tomorrow at dawn. We'll see whether he'd still like me when I'm not here."
Another roll of the eyes and a raise of both hands in surrender was his response. "Fine, suit yourself." As Tighnari turned his back on him to head inside, he could've sworn he heard him mumble something along the lines of ' stupid jackal ', but decides to ignore it in favor of turning in early. He has a long day ahead of him, after all.