Collei had an exasperating day of work, she wanted a rest but wanted to ask Nahida and Yaoyao something. "Excuse me, you two, can I ask an important question?" "Sure, Collei, what is it?" said Nahida. "How did you two meet and became good friends with each other?" Collei added. "Oh, young Dendro, that is quite a story to tell" responded Nahida. There was a long pause while Nahida was just staring at the sky. "Well, are you gonna tell us or what?!" said Baizhu sharply. "Alright alright, my mind doesn't remember every single detail about it, but I'll try my best to explain" said Nahida, and with that said, the ol' Dendro began. "It was a few hundred years ago, three hundred to be exact, so do you remember when Raiden's older sister died, yeah somehow that cause a whole lot of chaos to spread over Teyvat, that's when the former Dendro Archon created me to fill in for her position since she, well perished as well" said Nahida sadly. "I'm so sorry to hear that" said Collei in sympathy. "It's alright, at least I have a legacy to uphold, but anyways after that happened, some of the sages and Sumeru took me and placed me in a sanctuary, it was basically solitary confinement but I was able to observe Sumeru through an earpiece" "Talk about illegal information" chuckled Baizhu, Collei hit him right in the mouth. "Well, I was completely shut up, I did come out from time to time, though once I might've accidentally caused an earthquake" Collei was beyond words when she heard that, she had to clear her throat before she could speak again. "Well, it sucks that you didn't interact with the world that much, so how did you get out?" Collei asked. "Uh, I think that's where I'm meant to come in" said Yaoyao proudly. "From what Nahida had told me, those people made everyone forget about the previous Archon thus making Nahida the true Dendro Archon" said Yaoyao as she made air quotations. "Well, you'll always be our true Archon, Nahida" said Collei. "Oh, my dear child, you are too precious, never change" Nahida said while blushing immensely. "So she was basically kinda depressed and lonely while being in there, but that's when I heard word going around in Liyue that an Archon is being held captive in there and that there was no way to get her out" "I was determined, so through getting info from the townsfolk, I made it to the place where two sage were outside guarding it." Yaoyao continued, Baizhu was starting to get more interested. "Excuse me, gentlemen, but can I take that Dendro with me?" I said. They just laughed and said, "Silly child, you think we would just give one of the most powerful beings of Teyvat to you, what a joke!" they exclaimed. "I was started to get agitated" Yaoyao said. "You know, why are you isolating an Archon from the outside, you think letting them out and them exploring Sumeru to improve and make it a better place would be the right thing to do, right?!" "Exactly!" agreed Collei. "She's not coming out, that is that, now scram!" said the sages, but Nahida had heard the entire conversation and told them to let me in with her" Nobody said anything, so Yaoyao continued. "Hi there, uh my name's Yaoyao, who are you?" "I go by many names, but they just call me Kusanali" Nahida said shyly. "Alright, uh yeah we're giving you a new name, how about uh, Willow?" "No thanks, don't wanna be named after a plant" said Nahida quietly. "Ok, so uh Anna?" I suggested. "No, I want something short but interesting" "You are quite a hard one to please, uh Natalie, no, Hilda, not exactly, Darlene-" "Oh, wait, what if I take the first two letters of those names and put them together, Na-Hi-Da, Nahida!" she said excitedly. "Alright, your new name shall be Nahida, now how can we get you outta here?" I pondered. "Hmm, how about we find a way to make them unconscious?" said Nahida. "I don't usually condone to such heinous methods, but I do want you to interact more with the world, so yeah, why not?" "What mischievous scamps you two were!" Collei said in shock. "Well, we were both young, what did you expect?" said the two Dendros in unison. "So", continued Yaoyao, "can you grow a stem or root or something like that?" "I can grow a little stalk, I'm not sure-" "That would be most helpful, so I mixed the stalk with a few other substances and made the perfect concoction, I'm a healer by the way, you need to know stuff like this" whispered Yaoyao. "I respect and understand that" applauded Baizhu. "I guess that's how it works in Liyue, I suppose, should've guessed that from Hu Tao and Keqing" added Collei. "So we quietly exited the sanctuary and made the two sages fall dead, not literally of course, so now Nahida was free!" Yaoyao said happily. "Alright, I'm feeling a little sleepy, so Yaoyao, you can continue the tales, just don't mention anything embarrassing, will you?" said Nahida. "Of course I won't" said Yaoyao, she winked at Collei and Baizhu. "So, I took Nahida to my place to sleep for the night, then tomorrow was her first day exploring Sumeru, I teached her how to greet people and most importantly not to tell them that she was an Archon" Yaoyao looked, Nahida was fast asleep. "So we entered Sumeru, we saw a husband and wife talking so I told Nahida to go speak to them" "Uh, excuse me, sir and ma'am, my name's Nahida" she said nervously. "Aww honey, she's so cute, do you want a hug, little one?" said the wife. "Nahida looked back at me with the biggest eyes, I mean I thought they were about to pop out of her sockets" Collei and Baizhu giggled. "I just shook my head, and quite silently, she said yes" "Oh, you sure are adorable, you look even better than my husband!" "Excuse me, woman?!" "I just laughed endlessly, so they went away, leaving Nahida's heart pounding" "I don't wanna do this anymore, Yaoyao, it's too stressful!" she said. "No, it isn't, it just takes a little time, that's all and besides, you can't be scared of interaction, I mean you let me in firstand we became fast friends" "I, I guess so, uh what else should we do?" "Well, have you ever had some good food before?" I asked. "Not really, all I had to eat was some grass, plants that I grew myself and some of the floorboards" That even made Baizhu feel sorry for Nahida. "Oh my god, it's a darn good thing you let her out, Yaoyao" said Collei in a heartfelt tone. "Yeah, that was my reaction tok when she told me that, so I told her about a well known restaurant in Liyue" continued Yaoyao. "It's run by a family named the Xianglings, it is a lovely place to eat at, so do you wanna go?" "Uh, I'm just scared, I'm scared of the outside world, what if something bad happens, I, I-" "Then I slapped her right on the face" "Listen to me, Nahida, you are not gonna let your fears hold back from interacting with the world, alright, and also do you want to make Sumeru a better place for your people, notice the term "your", so are you gonna do that or be a spineless coward?" "You're right, Yaoyao, the people of Sumeru are depending on me!" "You're damn right they are, now after we're done eating, I'll let you in on a surprise" I smiled. "Huh Yaoyao, I didn't know you were that strict" "It's necessary to be strict, Collei, especially to those who don't, ahem particularly like to put that much effort into their work" said Yaoyao while directly staring at Baizhu. "Well Baizhu has changed a lot since he first came here, so cut him some slack" smiled Collei. "Maybe, but anyways, we were at the shop" "Hello there, youngins, what would you like to order?" said a man. "Is there any free food here?" I asked. "No, you have to pay for the food here, that's how business works, but there's a disconut on the Rice Buns" "Well how much are they?" Nahida said. "It was originally 1,250 coins now it's just 1,200" said the worker. "1,200 coins?" we said together. "We don't have that many coins!" "Well either pay up or get out" he said in a ominous tone. "Soon, Nahida had the perfect idea" "Mister, can you give us the food for free, I've been starving for month and all I had to eat was floorboards, so please give us the Rice Buns for free" she said innocently. "Oh, damn, I'm sorry you had to go through that, here, take as many as you like!" "Ok, Mister" Nahida turned on her heel and had one of the most devious expressions on her face" complimented Yaoyao. "Using your trauma as an advantage to get you free stuff, dang, you're a natural" I said. "Well, I do that all the time to the sages to get what I want, it's a skill really if you think about it" said Nahida as she was stuffing her face with food. "Alright, so about that surprise, back in the day, I heard that the Pyro Archon opened up some sort of hideout for people to train in order to receive their seal, and they're usually busy helping out the folk in their with whatever they need, so I was wondering-" "If we can build a hideout to help the people of Sumeru, of course, anything for them, let's get started!" "That's what I like to hear!" "So after a few months of drawing layouts, getting materials and learning a bit about construction, we've build the hideout and it remained here to this very day" "Wow, this thing is older than anyone I know, excluding the Archons of course" said Collei. "Mhm, so we were satisfied with our little project, but then we came across another problem, what exactly would we do for work?" "Hey there!" called a farmer. "Yes sir, do you need anything" Nahida said, leaving me impressed since I was usually the one to talk first. "Hey, uhm my crops have been dying out and I know you two are Dendros so would you mind if you grow some more for me and my farm?" "Of course, we'll show all the steps!" So he showed him how to plant crops in the most delicate matter, and in a matter of days, we had a full garden" "Oh thank you so much, I'll be sure to tell other folk about this place!" said the farmer as he ran off almost like a child. "Of course, the more people, the better!" "Well dear Nahida, I'm proud of you, we're finally helping out all of Sumeru, think of that" "Yeah, and thanks, Yaoyao for everything, I couldn't have done all of this if it weren't for your advice" said Nahida tenderly. "Well you were a major contribution too of course, but you are most welcome, some would probably call us sisters, huh?" "Yeah, maybe so" "And so we both went to sleep, and couldn't wait for tomorrow to arrive!" Yaoyao finished proudly. Collei had to wipe away some tears. "Wow, that was simply beautiful, I really do appreciate you two a lot more now" "Even I have to admit, that was quite an endearing story, but now I promise to work twice as hard specifically for you two!" Baizhu said happily. "Oh, you two, what would we do without you?" And Yaoyao, Baizhu and Collei went to sleep peacefully.