The morning of Sucrose's birthday, Albedo hurried to the Knights of Favonious' Headquarters before sunlight could eke its way across the indigo dawn sky. The streets were quiet, for very few people were awake at this hour, and none of the shops bustled with activity as they usually did later in the day. Monstadt was still sleeping, and save for the odd Knight or two patrolling the alleys, the only sounds that could be heard were the soft footfalls of his boots hitting the cobblestone paths.

Normally, Albedo wasn't awake at this hour either—he was a scientist and knew the importance of a proper night's rest—but today, he had to ensure that a certain package he had ordered from Liyue had arrived. He hadn't had it addressed to his house, but rather to the Knights of Favonious' Headquarters, since the sheer amount of time he spent there made it so that he qualified it as his residence, too.

As he creaked open the enormous double doors of the Headquarters and nodded at the sleepy guards that stood sentinel next to them, he scanned the foyer to see if any green-haired alchemistress had beaten him here. Thankfully, Sucrose had yet to arrive.

He smiled to himself. He had counted on that. Sucrose was renowned for spending late nights and early mornings fumbling through textbooks and running dozens of experiments in his and her workshop, and his early arrival today was also in hopes that she would still be asleep at home.

Well, he hoped she was at home.

The last thing he needed was for her to have spent the night at the Knights of Favonious' Headquarters!

Shaking his head when he realized that that was a very real possibility, he raced up the staircase, delighted when he noticed that in front of the far door that led to his workshop, there laid a parcel wrapped in dainty blue paper.

He picked it up and opened the door, carefully unwrapping the package as he did so. Inside was a thick book, the cover adorned with his own personal illustration of a magnificent castle that he had once seen on a trip to Fontaine. He touched the gilded calligraphy that was emblazoned across the castle spires, which spelled out the words "The Storybook of Fairy Tales."

"Xingqiu has really outdone himself this time," Albedo murmured to himself as he admired the beautiful script. He turned the first few pages of the book. Each one had Xingqiu's elegant lettering upon thick, creamy paper and the paragraphs of text were accompanied by more of Albedo's own artwork. After closing the book for a moment, he flipped back to the first page, where he had asked Xingqiu to inscribe "To Sucrose, Happy Birthday."

He smiled slightly, pushed some of the equipment off his worktable to make room for the book, and set it down. Sucrose had once told him about some kind of paradisiacal wonderland that she had dreamed of and read stories about as a child, and he had figured that with that, fairy tales were right up her alley, hence the storybook as a birthday present.

Thankful that curious Sucrose had not arrived earlier to intercept this package, Albedo carefully pulled out a clean cloth to cover the book with and decided that since he was already here so early, he might as well work on his unfinished alchemical projects and tests. Unbeknownst to anyone but the invitees, he was planning a surprise birthday party for Sucrose and had initially decided to go shopping for party supplies after he had secured the book. After looking at the dawn sky, he realized that very few Monstadt establishments would be open at this hour, forcing him to postpone his party supply shopping excursion.

Dawn dissolved into morning, and a few hours later, Albedo, who was deep in recording data from his latest alchemical discovery, was surprised to see Sucrose quietly swinging the door open.

"Good morning, Mr. Albedo," she greeted, immediately rushing over to her own workspace and shuffling through her neatly arranged supplies. "I'm surprised to see you here this early!"

He held up a narrow vial of whopperflower nectar to his eye and nodded at her through the golden, translucent syrup. "Good morning." After examining the substance for a moment, he put the vial down and gingerly picked up the storybook. He always gave Sucrose a present for her birthday, so he knew she was expecting something, although he suspected a party was the farthest thought from her mind. Initially, he had thought to pretend to forget her birthday altogether in order to surprise her with the party and present later, but he soon realized that that would be too suspicious: he may not have cared much in celebrating his own birthday, but there was no way he could forget Sucrose's, and she knew it.

Albedo cleared his throat. "Happy Birthday, Sucrose." He handed her the book, feeling warm when she took it eagerly. "This is for you."

Sucrose's eyes widened as she ran one of her gloved fingers down the cursive letters on the cover. "Mr—Mr. Albedo, this, this is too much!" She lowered her head and held it back out to him. "Thank you so much for thinking of me, especially on my birthday, but I'm not sure if I'm the right person to give such a nice present to!"

The warm feeling in his chest only grew at her words. This is why he was so eager to spend months slaving over storybook illustrations and why he had commissioned Xingqiu and spent over two thousand mora to get the book text properly inscribed. This is why he was willing to spend an entire morning of prospective researching time to plan her birthday surprise party and why he was willing to force himself to socialize with the future party invitees so that together, they could celebrate her.

She was far too self-conscious to ever ask for anything more than what she had and even then, too unsure of herself to think that she deserved it.

He gently pushed the book back to her and pressed it into her palms. "Keep it. You love birthdays and deserve to have a nice present to accompany yours."

At his words, Sucrose reddened and pressed the book to her chest. Using one hand to hold it there, she bowed her head and raised the other gratefully. "In that case, thank you so much for this, Mr. Albedo! I'll treasure it and study every page!" Her uplifted palm curled into a determined fist. "I'll make sure I know every word and will ensure that no picture goes unexamined!"

Albedo held back a chuckle. That sounded very much like her. "I hope you enjoy it."

He cleared his throat when he turned to look at the small clock that hung in front of the workshop entrance. It was nearing noon and he had yet to get the rest of the supplies for the party. However, he turned back to look at Sucrose, who was carefully admiring his artwork—actually, had her keen eyes discerned that it was he who had drawn the illustrations? He was suddenly dying to know what she thought of them, but he kept quiet, knowing that with the intensity that she was studying the book, her ears would not catch even his words.

Despite this, he knew that she would have to take a break from reading eventually, and even though she had many experiments set up, she would still inquire after him if he was not around. He would need to keep her distracted when he went to go collect surprise party supplies and judging by the time on the clock, it was almost time for the distraction to arrive.

As if on cue, the Spark Knight skipped into the room, her backpack of bombs thumping heavily behind her. She was humming loudly, and her eyes lit up when she saw him. However, he put a finger to his lips, pointed at the concentrated Sucrose, and whispered, "Do you know what you're supposed to do, Klee?"

Klee nodded enthusiastically, not lowering her voice one decibel upon hearing his quiet tone. "Help Sucrose make me more bombs until you come back!"

Well, he had actually asked her to keep Sucrose busy until sundown when the party would start, but he supposed that that was probably the Klee-equivalent of his request. He pat her head, saying, "As long as you don't blow the workshop up, that sounds about right."

Albedo grabbed one of his clipboards—it held his to-do list for Sucrose's party—and his own bag, before waving to his adoptive sister and well, Sucrose, if her nose hadn't been buried in her new storybook, and walked out of the workshop.