She's stepped outside of the house for maybe ten seconds before the snake-shaped portal pounces, not even having the decency to jump at her front-on.
...At least she has her vacation essentials - clothes, electronics, snacks...
But they're probably not going to do her too much good, wherever she's ended up!
...so yeah, she'll just...
"I'm horribly sorry for bothering you, but, well, I've got a letter that's supposed to go to someone in the palace and I'm kind of freaking out about going anywhere near said palace because I have not in fact ever done anything that could possibly bring me to the attention of someone who could crush me with their pinkie finger if they so chose, before? And I mean, I need to actually do it myself, I have necessary context that also needs delivering, but, uhh...aaah."
The woman looks surprised.
"Don't worry! They don't crush anyone there. Is this your first time in the city?"
"Of course they don't, not normally, but they still could. Which...my nerves really don't like the idea of. ...It's my first time in this city, at least. I've been in others before. Just...not one with the Palace in it, y'know?"
She purses her lips, confused but curious. "I don't know what to say. I suppose maybe you could hand the letter to someone at the gate and then come back for the context later?"
"...Thank you so very much; that's enough plausible deniability for my brain to stop screaming."
"You're welcome!"
The cobblestone street outside the station is somewhat wider than they looked from the spellwagon, but still crowded with people on foot and the occasional horse. (Almost everyone is better-dressed here than in Appledore.) She can see one of the towers of the palace down at one end of the street, maybe six blocks away.
The large palace gate is open, showing a courtyard inside with flowerbeds separating several different buildings (some statelier than others). At the gate, there're three men standing there in what has so many cockades and ruffles that it has to be a dress uniform, armed with swords and wands - but they look somewhat bored, and the hilts of the swords are jeweled enough that they might never have actually been used, and if Mira waits a couple minutes she can see some people going in and out with the guards barely paying attention to them.
...she will nonetheless roll up to one of them! "Uh, hi, I have a letter to deliver to a Tilda, works...somewhere in here?"
He looks unsure, but one of the other guards smiles. "Yes, that's her. Are you from Appledore?"
The second guard nods. "Oh, we'll see she gets the letter, if you want to leave it with us."
"Oh - well, I'm sure you know she's busy, but you can wait in one of the reception halls if you want?"
"I'll take her," says the second guard.
The first guard nods.
The second guard leads her past several flowerbeds - every color of the rainbow, plus multicolored flowers, with some literally rainbow-striped in ways that would never be seen on Earth - to open a door to a wood-paneled hall. Inside, it's obviously a waiting and reception room, with three secretaries seated at desks busy writing longhand. They look up when Mira and the guard walk in, and one of them says "Hello?"
"She came from Appledore, miss," the guard adds to the secretary.
The secretary nods. "She's currently with the Research Mages, I think, talking about Aeslin's latest supplies request. How urgent is this letter?"
"She will quite probably want to see it sooner rather than later. And definitely see it today, rather than tomorrow."
"I'll see that she gets it when she comes back here, if she has some time before the royal audience at noon... Family matters?"
"Well, you can sit in here" (she points to a couch on the other side of the room) "or wait outside if you want, but no promises on the schedule; as I'm sure you know, she's very busy..." She shakes her head and glances back down at whatever she was writing before Mira came in.
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