Mountain Ranges

One day, Hu Tao and Klee were talking when Xiangling came in pretty furiously. "I had to climb that steep hill towards the statue at the estuary in Liyue to deliver some groceries, I almost fell, why does Amber always give me the tedious jobs, it's not fair" she said. "What you need is a Cryo to help you learn how to climb steep hills" chimed in Hu Tao. "What are Cryos?" asked Xiangling. "Cryos are people who work with the cold and ice, they live up in the mountains, and provide people shelter when they're facing the harsh winter weather" Klee informed. "Pyros don't need to learn how to climb, that's why we don't venture outside of Mondstadt and Liyue" protested Xiangling. Just then, Amber came into the hideout to see if they had any food left. "How come nobody told me that we ran out of meat" said Amber. "Well, we mostly eat the Dendros' vegetables, they're really delicious, but we mostly stick to the meat to help strengthen our protein and for Xiangling, she says it helps her muscles become stronger, but she has little to none anyways" Hu Tao playfully said. "Well, where can we find more meat, the market's closed today" Amber thought. But she overheard the three girls' conversation about Cryos. This gave Amber a brilliant idea. "That's it, we'll ask one of these Cryos if we could have some of their meat supplies, but how can I get in touch with them?" she questioned. Later that afternoon, Hu Tao and Klee saw someone walking by with such peculiar looking shoes. "Excuse me, do you know where we can find a Cryo?" Klee asked. "Well, you found one, my name's Qiqi, what do you two need help with?" "We're wondering if you guys have enough meat for us to borrow for a couple of weeks" said Hu Tao. "Well, sure we have plenty of meat to give, but have you made your arrangements yet?" asked the Cryo. Hu Tao was confused. "That means that we need to tell Amber about who and where we'll be going" Klee told her. So Qiqi followed the two back to the hideout. Qiqi observed the area and gave it high praise. "It's a bit small, but it is warm here, and everything's set up decently, I quite enjoy it" she said. "Nice to meet you, Qiqi, my name's Amber, now I think I'll be taking Hu Tao and Xiangling" "But Amber, it's too cold, we'll freeze quickly like Bennett did" they said. "No problem, that's why I've brought parkas for all three of you, and for goodness sake, put some pants on or something" said the Cyro. Amber just smiled, then chuckled. Once they were ready, Xiangling took out the map and was confused on where to go. "Why does it have two Regisvines on here, the only one that exists is the mountains near us" said Hu Tao. "Nonsense, the new one is the one we're supposed to go to, why do you think they added it to the map?" replied Xiangling. "Because you two, if you would've pay attention and-" But Amber was cut off by Qiqi. "Don't worry, the old Regisvine is the one where you have to climb to get from place to place, the new one has a path that you can simply walk on" The two girls were relieved that they didn't have to climb, especially Xiangling. When they were walking up the mountains, Amber thought of a good question to ask Qiqi. "So Qiqi, are you the Archon of Cryo and what are some adventures that you had?" "Oh, I got a good one to tell" said Qiqi courageously. "A few years, me and the others that work at the old location were told by the previous Archon that an inspector will be here to see who could climb the summit, the highest point of the mountain" "Let's see, I'll pick you, Qiqi, come on" he said. "I was doing pretty well until I was having trouble reaching the near end point, I slipped down, but I remembered, I had automatic spurs on my shoes, I can put these on myself, I thought that the inspector wanted to see if I could use these properly, so I did and worked like a charm, I reached the summit and inspector and the Archon were most impressed. "Good job, Qiqi, you've proven to be a brave and reliable Cryo!" they said cheerfully. "So you guys actually have little things on your shoes to prevent you from falling, how did that come to be?" asked Hu Tao. "Oh, every Cryo gets that on their first day on the job, it's extremely necessary that you must wear them at all times" said Qiqi sternly. Just then, Xiangling was walking when she accidentally slipped off the path, she grabbed on to the ledge, and all she hear was a loud cranking sound. "What was that?!" she exclaimed while getting up. "Automatic spurs, what did I tell ya, never know when they'll come in use" Qiqi said. "You know, you almost made the same mistake as ol' Diona did" "Who's Diona and what happened to her?" Xiangling and Hu Tao asked. "Diona was the next person to arrive after me, she had pink hair, and came from two long lines of royalty, perhaps that caused her to have a high opinion of herself" "She told me that she was going to climb the summit later that afternoon, I warned her about taking precaution, but she dismayed my warnings" "Listen, soon-to-be Archon, I have my lucky pickaxe and automatic spurs, what more do you want?" she said. I'm afraid to say that that was the last I heard of Diona. "Wh-Wh-What happened?" the two girls asked while trembling a little. "One minute Diona was on the top of the mountain, next minute she fell off, and then" Qiqi's voice shuddered. "But what happened?!" they asked. "They said that when they found Diona a few days later, she was nothing more than a pile of ol' decaying bones" finished the Cryo mournfully. Xiangling and Hu Tao were unusually silent, even after they got their meat. Qiqi whispered something to Amber before she left, but neither her or Amber mentioned to the two that Qiqi made the story up.