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He didn’t know how it happened.
“Alhaitham, are you okay?” Jean signed hurriedly, kneeling down to where he was sitting on the dirt-covered road.
His knee stung, the slow trickle of warm blood soaking into the light fabric of his pants. He stared at Jean, eyes wide and mouth parted but without any words spoken. Alhaitham was breathing too rapidly to be normal, his chest rising and falling at a quickened pace as he struggled to grasp his present surroundings. Though Jean was in front of him, reaching out to him with a concerned expression on her face, he couldn’t see her.
He was back in Sumeru.
Back in the forests, his body weak and feverish, covered in aching wounds and dried blood.
He was back with his parents, muttering to themselves as they slowly led him away from the desert, away from the city, and towards the mountainous region of Liyue. Their faces, still fresh in his memory, looked terrified.
He couldn’t move. He could only watch as everything crumbled around him, his world destroyed by the bloodshed of his parents.
An unidentified pair of hands grabbed his, pulling them up and away from the ground beneath him. He slowly blinked, the dense forests of Sumeru warping into the flat, grassy plains of Mondstadt. Jean was sitting in front of him, holding his hands tightly while she tried to comfort him.
He wasn’t in Sumeru. He wasn’t with his already dead parents. He was home in Mondstadt. With Jean. With Diluc and Kaeya approaching in the distance, the soft smell of grapes and wine slowly filling his senses. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes as his shoulders relaxed gradually.
Jean seemed satisfied, pulling her hands away.
“Are you okay? You’re hurt,” She signed questioningly, her lips tugged downwards into a small frown.
He raised his hands shakily, “I’m okay. It just stings a little.”
The two brothers slowed their walk, looking at the both of them with similar downturned lips to Jean’s. Kaeya approached Alhaitham, lowering himself to the ground to pat his shoulder while Diluc said something to Jean. His mouth moved, but Alhaitham couldn’t read his lips well enough to understand what he was saying.
“We’re going to take you inside so Addie can patch you up,” Kaeya informed him, smiling.
Kaeya brought himself back up off of the ground, reaching a hand out for Alhaitham to take. He took it gingerly, moving to stand up. He winced as his scraped knee stung at the sudden movement, hissing a little. Kaeya tightened his hold on Alhaitham’s hand reassuringly, while Jean continued to converse with Diluc.
Seems like whatever they were discussing, it was important.
“What are they talking about?” Alhaitham asked Kaeya with a raised eyebrow.
Kaeya signed back quickly, “Something important for later. It’s a surprise!”
A surprise? Alhaitham narrowed his eyes skeptically, though he decided against saying anything else. After what happened just a moment ago, a surprise was certainly the last thing he needed at the moment.
Jean and Diluc finished talking a minute later, Diluc checking on Kaeya while Jean walked over to stand next to him. They all headed back towards the Dawn Winery together, Alhaitham with a light limp as every step worsened his pain just slightly more.
By the time they made it there, Adelinde already had bandages ready and prepared. It shocked him, though Diluc and Kaeya seemed to have expected it. He was pulled over to the couch in front of the fire, seated down so she could get a better look at his wound.
“Addie always expects one of us to get hurt after we go outside. She’s always prepared.” Kaeya beamed, grinning proudly at the maid’s work.
He seemed to really respect Adelinde, Alhaitham’s mind whispered to him. A simple thought, but one that helped him understand the younger boy just a little better.
Searing pain coursed through his body at the lightest touch of ointment over his bleeding knee. He hissed, trying to swat away at Adelinde’s hand to prevent such a pain from being felt again. She wagged her finger, a quiet lecture telling him to cut it out. It didn’t take much longer for her to completely cover the scrape in bandages, sterilized and protected from any outside infection.
Adelinde stepped away, leaving him to relax against the couch and watch the fireplace in front of him. The flames flickered, the firewood crackling as they ate away at the lumber. The scent comforted him, reminding him of the home he’s made at the Gunnhildr Estate.
Jean tapped his shoulder, pulling his attention away from the fire in front of him.
“Come sit with us at the dining table!” She smiled widely, inviting him over to where Master Crepus, Kaeya, Diluc, and Adelinde were all situated.
He approached the table, immediately taking note of the cake placed down in front of one of the chairs. It was decorated carefully, small roses and crystalfly patterns littered all over the top and sides of the pastry. ‘ Happy Birthday Alhaitham’ was written in neat cursive, surrounded by candles waiting to be lit.
He’s never seen something like this before. Though his parents celebrated the day of his birth, he never got a cake quite as grand as this one.
“We made this just for you! Happy birthday!” Jean hastily signed, all while Master Crepus slowly lit the candles one by one. “Make a wish and blow out the candles!”
A wish?
He stared at the small flames, thinking long and hard. What should he wish for? Is there a point to wishing at all? Simply blowing out the candles on a cake surely wouldn’t make a wish come true.
But, he supposed, there was no harm in trying anyways.
“I wish…” He closed his eyes, thinking to himself, “I wish to stay with the Gunnhildrs, to continue being their son.”
He inhaled, blowing out the candles just as quickly as he thought of his wish. Though he couldn’t hear them, he could see the small gathering of people surrounding him clap their hands together.
Jean wrapped her arms around him, Kaeya and Diluc followed suit. He smiled, closing his eyes while embracing the warmth that surrounded him.
“Happy Birthday, me.”