Riven follows the three women as they lead her through the halls of the Qixing Palace. Riven felt very out of place here, dressed in rags and wearing what the people in here might consider a beggers attire, though no one seemed to pay her much mind, all preoccupied with their own work.
"Through here please." One of the girls opens a door for Riven, bowing her head slightly as Riven steps inside. The inside of this room was even more illustrious than the rest of this place. Ningguang wasn't afraid to show off her incredible wealth. The three girls follow Riven close by and close the door behind them, each one walking over to a different part of the room to work on various things.
"So you're Riven Konte." A woman sitting at a desk in the center of the room all the way in back drew Riven's attention as she spoke. She was beautiful, her hair the same ivory white as Riven's, her dress a mix of gold, white and black that seemed to match her perfectly. Long black gloves, golden finger blades on her thumbs, pinkies, and index fingers.
"The people I sent to Lingju said they were ambushed by no less than twelve Treasure Hoarders, and you took them out effortlessly." She reaches for her pipe and takes a long puff from it. Riven couldn't help but get slightly depressed; why are all the beautiful women she bumps into smokers?
"The Treasure Hoarders may be well organized, but they are still just bandits. Hardly a challenge for someone that has been fighting nearly all her life." This was hardly a boast any guard or soldier could have handled the same task just as quickly, or so Riven assumed.
"Perhaps, but taking down twelve enemies by yourself is praise worthy." Ningguang has a smile on her face while taking another puff of her pipe.
"Though, I've not called you here merely because for making sure my investment was secured, but because you seemed to appear out of thin air." Ningguang sets the pipe down and walks out from behind the desk, causing Riven to get a little bit tense.
"What are you talking about?" Placing a hand on her shoulder, she stretches it; Riven wasn't sure why though, perhaps getting ready to fight her way out of here, or was she trying to calm herself down?
"Well, my agents at Wangshu Inn never reported such a...rugged individual coming past, so you couldn't have come from Mondstadt." Riven was unsure if 'Rugged' was a compliment or not.
"You're not from Inazuma as ships from Liyue Harbor would have picked up another escapee floating in the waters." Inazuma was the closed-off nation that Zhongli had told her about, was supposedly under the control of an Archon in the pursuit of 'Eternity' whatever that meant.
"Snezhnaya hasn't sent us any new 'diplomats' since that...incident with Osial." Ningguang smiles her eyes give Riven a once-over. Made Riven feel like she was a soldier under inspection.
"You're also far too attractive to be a Snezhnayan spy." Wait, what did she just say?
"Joking aside." Of course.
"You're an Enigma. You were spotted coming up from the Guili Plains, meaning you would have had to go through Wangshu Inn, yet no one there has ever met you before, true you could have come from the Minlin area, but there are no settlements over there. Not anymore anyway." Riven felt herself getting tenser and tenser as Ningguang spoke. Riven had no wish to fight her way out, but she would not be accused of harboring malicious intent. Ningguang was now close enough to Riven that they could reach out and touch one another.
"It is as though you have appeared right out of thin air, I must admit, I'm eager to solve the mystery surrounding you." Riven couldn't get a good read on this woman. Did Ningguang believe Riven would become a potential threat? Did she think Riven would be a valuable ally to her or, at the very least, a valuable pawn? Regardless Riven was not eager about either prospect; the Noxian empire had toyed with her once, she would not be toyed with again.
"What are you after Lady Ningguang? Have I perhaps done something to provoke your ire?" Ningguang chuckles.
"Not at all. I merely wish to understand this mysterious woman that has appeared from nowhere." Riven could understand that. It's not every day someone suddenly just shows up out of thin air.
"I mean no harm to you or Liyue Lady Ningguang." Ningguang could tell that Riven spoke true, yet still, something nagged her about Riven. She knew nothing about the woman standing in front of her, and that posed a great danger to Liyue.
"We shall see, won't we? Enough of this though, you deserve some kind of reward for saving those archeologists; I believe I have just the thing too. Baixiao, Baiwen, Baishi would you take 's measurements for me." Wait, measurements, measurements for what?
"Of course, Lady Ningguang." The three women had quickly descended upon the confused Riven as Ningguang disappears into a room off to the side.
"Please lift your arm a little higher."
"H-Hey, h-hold on now."
"Press your legs together please."
"W-Wait a moment here."
"Please stand straight, keep those arms relaxed at your side and bent slightly."
"B-But you just told me too..."
"Please stand still, you are moving around to much." Despite Riven's protests all three of Ningguang's secretaries continued to examine Riven, taking measurements of her height, length of her arms and legs, length of her bust, her waist, and of course her hips.
"Thank you Lady Riven, please wait here for just a moment." With that the women that had 'assaulted' her disappeared into the same room that Ningguang had. Leaving Riven confused as to what had just happened. Hours pass and all four women that had gone into that room have not yet come back. Still wondering what the hell was going on. Riven marched over to the door only for one of Ninnguang's secretaries to pop out, Baiwen Riven believes.
"Perfect timing Lady Riven, come in, Lady Ningguang has your reward ready." As soon as Riven was forced into the room she was faced with an absolutely stunning, and extremely intricate, dress. Ningguang appears to have a sly smile on her face as she notices Riven's reaction.
"Care to try it on?" As if in a trance Riven nods her head to Ningguang's question. Riven wasn't one for dresses but something about this particular one called out to her. A red strap wrapped around the back of Riven's neck moving over her breasts which were covered by a white top. The top turned black along the sides as it wrapped around her, leaving her shoulders, arms, and parts of her upper back exposed; it also wrapped around the space just before her arms leading up to her neck turning into a collar that left her throat exposed with jade that sat just below her neck. The red straps moved down underneath a golden jade-encrusted armored waistband. The red fabric splits as it emerges from the waistband; it wraps around her hips, dropping down below her rear stopping along her upper thigh, while in the front, it drops down in between her legs, stopping just past her knees. A pair of middle finger loop gloves along with two metal wrist guards. A pair of thigh-high boots and metal knee guards, lastly a red metallic pauldron for her left shoulder, and two strands of long red fabric that drops down all the way to her legs are attached to the inside of the pauldron. Gazing at herself in the mirror the ivory-haired girl examines herself in her apparent new look.
"This is incredible Lady Ningguang. How did you make this so quickly?" Ningguang laughs as she makes a few slight alterations to Riven's new dress.
"I was in the process of crafting this dress already, just a small hobby of mine." Despite Riven's praise and clear adoration of the dress, Ningguang looked displeased.
"Ahh, even after adding these metallic pieces to the dress, it still feels as though something is missing. It appears I'm still a little rusty." If this was her rusty work Riven wonders what she would consider perfect. Ningguang stands up after making the final tweaks to the dress, dusting herself off and setting her tools to the side.
"Yet, this is your reward, lady Konte, if you are satisfied with it, then you may keep it." Wait, hold on now; the work she did does not constitute a reward this amazing.
"N-No Lady, Ningguang, I could never accept this as a reward, for what I did, t-this is far too nice, and it would be wasted on me. I spend most of my time outdoors and fighting; this dress would only get damaged or destroyed in my hands." Ningguang smiles and turns to face Riven; her hands reach up to Riven's collar to adjust it slightly.
"The material this outfit is made from is quite durable; it will not get torn so easily. You also care a great deal about this dress it seems, should it get damaged somehow, I have every confidence that you will see it return to its orignal state." Ningguang wasn't wrong with such a fine gift as this Riven would do everything in her power to make sure that it will always look its best. Ningguang takes a step back and examine's Riven in her new outfit.
"Hmm, perhaps I was wrong about this dress; you look positively divine in that dress, much better then I ever would." Riven doubted that; Riven seriously doubted that. The complement still did get the warrior to blush a bit.
"Very well lady Ningguang." Riven gives the other girl a slight bow.
"I humbly accept your reward and promise to make sure it is properly taken care of." Ningguang chuckles a bit.
"Good, I would have been insulted had you turned this down." Riven exchanges goodbyes with Ningguang and her secretaries and makes her way out of the building wearing the new dress Ningguang had offered her.
"Riven Konte..." Ningguang returns to her desk and picks up the file containing all the information the Millelith could find on the girl.
"I wonder if you'll turn out to be like the last unknown traveler that had come to Liyue, I'll be sure to watch what you do with great intrest." Ningguang smiles setting the file down and lifting her pipe up once again.
"Yo, Ningguang!" Suddenly the door flies open, a dark-haired girl with an eye patch bursts in. Ningguang jumps a bit, her pipe fumbling in her hand from the bang of the door swinging open.
"What seems to be the problem this time?" Right, she called Beidou here as well. Ningguang was having such a pleasant day too.
"This feels so strange." As Riven walked out of the building she met Ningguang in, a hand reaches out and grabs at one of the dangling red fabrics attached to her dress. Riven couldn't really explain this feeling; her sword was missing, and now the clothes she had since the day of her exile had been disposed of. It was liberating in a sense as if the shackles of her past had been removed. However, without her blade, Riven felt incomplete. As though a part of her had been torn away, it held nothing but pain and anguish and was better off forgotten. That was the problem Riven couldn't forget the past. No matter how hard she tried too, how hard she wanted to, she NEEDED to remember. That doesn't mean she would let it hold her down though, she would move past the shadows of her past. If her blade was here she would find it, or it would find her, they seem to be tied together in one way or another.
"Thank you for your patronage." Riven could not justify sleeping in her new outfit as she could with that last one. This dress was a gift, one she promised Ningguang she would take proper care of. So before she returned 'home' she went to a tailor in Liyue and bought a pair of nightclothes. The clerk looked a tad confused by what Riven had picked out at first, seeing as what she purchased were for males, but they were cheaper than any of the female ones available. Riven did have to buy a slightly larger shirt as a smaller one would have been tight around her chest. Though it didn't often get too cold in Liyue, being by the ocean and sleeping in a tent at night, it was not rare for it to get rather chilly now and again; a pair of warm clothes to sleep in was a blessing. As Riven drifted off to sleep, she wondered why she hadn't done this earlier.