Detrifying Dendros

"Good morning, Hu Tao!" said Amber happily. "Morning Amber, what do you need?" asked Hu Tao. "Now ever since that boulder came and destroyed the Dendros' hideout, they have to build a new one, so I'm asking you if you would like to work with them for a few days?" "Oh yes, thank you, Amber!" cheered Hu Tao. "I will love to work with those lovely friends of mine called the Dendros!" "Alrighty then, you will start working there tomorrow morning, so catch up on some rest when you're done with your jobs" "Yes ma'am!" Hu Tao said happily. Next morning, Nahida and the others were planting some crops when Hu Tao arrived. "Hello, my grassy friends!" she said. "Grassy friends!?" exclaimed Baizhu. "Sorry, uh my Dendroian friends" "Nevermind" Hu Tao put in lamely. "So Nahida, what do I need to do first?" "Well my friend, follow me and I'll show you" said Nahida. Hu Tao loved working with the Dendros, she had fun teasing Baizhu and helping Collei out with whatever she needed. But one day as she was collecting some vegetables, she saw a man enter into the shed. Hu Tao had never seen him before. "Hey Hu Tao!" said Collei. "What's on your mind" "Oh, uh do you know that there's a person living in that shed?" Collei jumped. "Uh what man, you must've been seeing things, it's only us here" she said startled, leaving Hu Tao much confused. When Hu Tao saw him again, the man was gathering vegetables, Baizhu was nearby. "Yo Baizhu, who is that man in the shed, is he another Dendro?" she asked. "Uh, I don't know about any other Dendros living with us, sorry, I have to go" Baizhu said as he sprinted off. "Why are they acting like they never seen him when he was clearly right there?" pondered Hu Tao. She was thinking for so long that it distracted her from her work. "Come on Hu Tao, what are you standing around for, get those legs moving!" ordered Nahida. "Sorry Nahida, but I do need to ask you something" "Which is?" responded Nahida. "Who's that man that is living in that shed, he never speaks, he just does his jobs and stays in there" Nahida became unusually silent. "Uh Hu Tao, I'm not sure if there's anyone in there" said Yaoyao. "Yes there is!" she shouted. "There's someone living in that shed and none of you wanna tell me who he is, why?!" Nahida took a long, deep breath. "Hu Tao, what I'm about to tell you, no one else should know, promise us that" "Uh ok" answered Hu Tao. "No, not an ok, we need a clear and concrete answer, do you promise not to tell anyone" finished Nahida. "I promise" said Hu Tao firmly, and so the old Dendro began. "That man's name is Alhaitham, we call him Al, and the reason why he stays in that shed is because once long ago, he did something cruel" "What did he do?" asked the Pyro, Nahida just sighed then continued. "I won't say it but he fears that if he's found out, he'll be sent away from Teyvat, never to return" finished Nahida gravely. "What!?" spluttered Hu Tao. "That's right, Hu Tao, and that's why we allowed him here to hide, just so that he wouldn't be found out" "But-" "You know enough now, Hu Tao, carry on with your work" interrupted Nahida. Hu Tao said nothing and went away still thinking about Alhaitham. It was late at night and Hu Tao decided she wanted to sleep at Mondstadt. Yoimiya was concerned. "Are you alright, Hu Tao, it seems like there's a lot on your mind" "I'm fine, Yoimiya, but can I ask you all something? And what may that be?" they all said together. "What's the worst thing you've done so far?" Bennett laughed. "Oh Hu Tao, you should know that better than anyone, when I was in the high tide, Yoimiya got stranded in the woods, the twins playing tricks, and Diluc, well aside from that slip up on the hill, hasn't really done anything" "I know, but I don't think those things are worth being sent away" "Sent away?!" shrieked Aether. "What do you mean?" Lumine continued. "Nothing, just thinking about stuff" The others said no more and they all went to sleep at once. Next day, Hu Tao heard Baizhu and Collei debating about something rather small. "But Baizhu, I keep telling you to get contacts, those glasses fog up too easily, it messes up your vision" warned Collei. "Nonsense, I'm not gonna be spending half a hour trying to stick tiny lenses in my eyes, I might get astigmatism" "Woah, Baizhu's using big words now, I suppose being around Nahida and Yaoyao would do that to a young Dendro" joked Hu Tao. Collei laughed while Baizhu was fuming."Hello again Hu Tao, ready to start work?" smiled Nahida. "Yeah, but last night, I talked the others about what things they could've done to get sent away" she said nervously. "Hu Tao, did you tell them about Al?" "No certainly not, I made a promise to you all, I wouldn't dare break it" "Very well then, off you go, young Pyro" Hu Tao got done with her work early, so she decided to go the shed and talk to Alhaitham. "Excuse me, sir" she said. "You can come out and talk to me, I want to get to know you a little better and perhaps help you out" Alhaitham slowly opened the door, he said hi and just listened to Hu Tao. "Look, we've all done bad things in the past, that's what makes us human, some of my friends did bad stuff and so did I so what you could've done shouldn't be more worse than that, right" "Well Hu Tao, what I did was even worse" Presently, Shinobu was near the bridge while listening to them, she thought this would be the perfect story for Miko and Sara to talk about. "Long ago, I was good friends with this Dendro, we both loved architect, and so after a few years, we've built the Palace of Alcazarzaray, which is far from here, I thought the finished result looked quite bland, so I urged him to redesign, he became so cross that we parted way" "And" he said while his voice became more quiet. "In retaliation, I drove my ship into the lighthouse which caused it to fall on top of the palace and destroy it, then there was a wildfire, he was still in that palace before I left so who knows, maybe I- "No need to explain, I understand" sympathized Hu Tao. "Thank you" he said, while Hu Tao was still trying to put the pieces together. Shinobu ran off and just couldn't wait to tell the news. "Miko, why do you still despise Raiden despite her literally improving Teyvat for the better?" asked Sara. "It's all for the people, Sara, if I or we go out of our way to make an bad image of the Shogun, we will be seen as the best Electros of all the entire island" she smiled. "You know I have divine loyalty to her, I've been worshipping her even since I was a little girl" "And you just now realizing after all this time you've been provoking her just to appease me, oh that is too cute" said Miko. "Listen, I'm tired of you using your tactics to perceive me into thinking that Raiden is a bad person even though you're worse than her. "Got any proof, honey?" said Miko sweetly. "Who was the one that planted the idea in Furina to kill Murata?" "Excuse me?" "You heard me, you hated Murata too, is that why you were so happy to take over when Murata left, huh, is that it?!" "It's all you do, Miko, you lie and manipulate to get what you want and you use others for your own gain and infamy, no wonder Raiden's more famous for you" finished Sara. "Why you little-" "What's up, bitches, ooh you're gonna love this story" Shinobu burst out. "You're lucky she saved your ass" whispered Miko. "Alright Shinobu, tell us what you got" When Shinobu gor done explaining, Miko's eyes glimmered with delight. "Oh ho ho, this will make it to the headlines, alright everyone, let's start the show, and this time, we're going live at the scene of the "accident" Hu Tao was pacing back and forth around the hideout. "What did he mean by another Dendro?" she told to herself. "Kirara's too young and Tiga could maybe know a thing or two, but he's out of town" "Maybe it's Kaveh!" she thought. "Collei, Baizhu, where does Kaveh live now ever since he retired?" she asked. "Uh well he stays at the local village now, but what do you need him for?" asked the two Dendros. "Just something, don't worry" said Hu Tao, but Collei and Baizhu did. When she arrived at Kaveh's doorstep, he was surprised. "Hello, who are you?" he asked. "My name's Hu Tao, I'm a Pyro, but I need to talk to you about something" "Well come in and explain it, you can't tell it properly while basking in the sun" So Hu Tao went inside and sat on a chair. "Alright Kaveh, I'm just gonna jump straight to it, do you remember a man named Alhaitham?" "That Dendro's still around?!" he said sharply. "So you do know him, he said you two had an falling out and I was wondering if somehow you two could make amends" Hu Tao suggested. "Listen, what I did was pretty understandable but what he did was borderline insane, he destroyed my palace all because I wouldn't change it, I'm sorry, young one, but that's irredeemable" "I know but listen, just come by the hideout later, ok?" coaxed Hu Tao. "Alright" said Kaveh without any interest. Hu Tao was delighted to tell the others about what had happened. "Well Hu Tao, you're in a bouncy mood, what's up" said Nahida. "Well I talked to Kaveh about Alhaitham and I have convinced him to- "What did you do?!" exploded Nahida. "I talked to Kaveh about the situation and was planning to let the two reunite" "We told you not to tell anyone else!" snapped Yaoyao. Then Miko, Sara, and Shinobu came be with their cameras. "Oh lovely people, would you look at that, that's the Dendro that crashes into other people's things and kills them, he'll be sent away for sure" said Miko deviously. "Everyone to the palace, we won't stick around with deceivers" said Nahida, that made Hu Tao almost want to cry. "Al, please you have to understand" she cried. "No, Hu Tao, all you did was start even more drama, and to think I could consider you as a friend, what a thought!" he fumed while going with the others. "Oh dear, Hu Tao, looks like you've lost all your friends" said Miko. "No, I will make this work because I have someone who's on my side" she shouted. That's when Kaveh strolled by. "Come on, Kaveh, we're making this right once and for all" she said fiercely. "Even more Dendros too, this is something worth looking into, let's follow them, shall we?" persisted Miko. When Hu Tao and Kaveh arrived, they saw all the Dendros just observing the damage. "It's best if I go" whispered Kaveh. "Alhaitham, are you there" he said. "What do you want?!" "Listen, I'm sorry that I didn't listen to you when we were designing the palace, but at the same time, that doesn't give you the right to damage my or our foundation just because we split ways, what I really want to to rekindle our friendship and rebuild this palace once more, so what do you say?" "I would love that, thank you, Kaveh" said Alhaitham as he was hugging Kaveh and even gave him a kiss, and immediately started work. "Oh dear, we're sorry we lashed out at you, Hu Tao, you were right all along" said Nahida. "It's alright, but now, let's leave these two alone and let's go back home" said Hu Tao, leaving all the Dendros well content. Sara saw how Miko looked and then took over the camera. "Well that was a crazy adventure, but in my opinion the person that really should be sent away is Yae Miko herself. "What?!" Miko said while in shock. "She has been manipulating me, Shinobu and you all for hundreds of years just to appease her self image, and even resulted in the death of Baal, so officials, if you're watching, get her off our island, we only worship true Electros here" Sara announced. When officials came and took her, Miko kept yelling, "Those two are even worse, believe me, I have the proof!" "Got any proof, honey?" Sara finished, but Miko was already out of sight and didn't hear what she said.