(Hehe, confronting things is good for you. But... Just in case, Tamamo will very quietly start "adjusting" some "things" in that place between places you call the Woods Between. As a prank, see. Not because she's feeling protective. Definitely.)

Weiss is collected by an imposing woman in full plate armor with a bright red plume and cloak, one that stands in contrast to the more somber tones of the marines and guards of the city. 

"Sabina Merrin," she introduces herself curtly. "My queen will see you now."

She turns and marches up the steps, expecting Weiss to follow. Unlike all the other Golarionites she's met, Sabina moves with the confidence that she would be the one to win if it came to violence.

The main stairs lead up through an archway landing, designed as a chokepoint against invaders with a portcullis and murder holes. Through there, they turn a corner and rise another story, onto a lavish floor of magnificent tapestries and polished marble stonework. A spacious and well-lit entrance hall is lined with busts of stern-faced statespeople. 

Sabina pauses for a moment before the final doorway. 

"My queen is to be greeted with a curtsey, addressed first as Your Majesty and then ma'am if she should grace you with conversation. Do you have a title by which you should be announced?"

Thankfully, she had changed out of her 'casual outfit' into a 'city outfit' in the Woods Between. It's essentially a nice sundress, white with blue trim. With pockets (that she doesn't need) because NYAH, an unobtrusive hole for her tail, and a hem about halfway up the thigh. And unobtrusive high socks and shoes, hair tied back, and a simple silver bracelet on each wrist. No bags, Tail of Holding and all.

Noble Shit always makes her so incredibly twitchy but, like, reward. And if it's longer than a brief audience, there's usually food and maybe the food will be nice. And it'll be over sooner or later either way.

She does a curtsey in Notal style, skirt flare duck down and head point down, hold for a moment, and back up. "Like so? Mmh. If one is required for formality, perhaps I can come up with something but I'd as soon not."

That is evidently satisfactory for Sabina, because she pushes open the double doors and steps aside for Weiss to enter. 

"Presenting to her Royal Majesty, the Radiant Queen Ileosa, Weiss Faron!"

The throne room is opulent and grand, the light through the stained-glass windows soaked up by the deep red drapes framing the iron throne.

Upon it sits Queen Ileosa, a vision of beauty even through her black mourning veil. 

"Rise."

Her eyes are red-rimmed, flickering between the ears and tail before she regards Weiss with warmth. A small silver coffer rests in the lap of her black mourning dress. 

"Here on my darkest day, you come before me as a glimmer of hope. Tell me, are you indeed the mysterious fox that has been quelling riots and rescuing my citizens from harm?"

Most kitsunes turn out somewhere in that general region of pretty, it doesn't seem especially remarkable to her, though maybe it makes her a tad more comfortable.

Let's get this over with.

Curtsey. "Your Majesty, I know not the rumors which swirl around me but it seems so. I can, and did indeed, take the form of a large fox, and I did seek to preserve lives and peace during the chaos yesterday by driving belligerents apart."

"Then you have done me a great service. Please, accept this reward as a token of my appreciation."

Sabine had silently taken up a position at the queen's left hand. She takes the small silver chest and presents it to Weiss. The warmth of the queen's touch lingers on the metal, and the dense contents give it a significant weight: Inside the red-velvet-lined interior rest 12 gold ingots imprinted with the royal seal of Korvosa.

"Tell me, where do you hail from? What has brought you to my fair city?"

There is a fascinating rhythm to her words, though they are phrased as gentle inquiry. The monarch of Korvosa has her full attention fixed upon Weiss, and that is an intense experience even when no words are exchanged. 

"Thank you, ma'am, I-"

-huh. This. Is sort of like Crpytid bounties perhaps. Okay. She immediately tries to convert it to gp, mentally.

And then- How much to say? This place is strange, and also strangely familiar, and a little scary. They know about different planets and different planes and portals, those came up in her - well it's not a wiki walk if it's another person- uh-

She considers lying for a moment, but she's bad at it in most cases and it feels weird and wrong here. She can be vague about certain things, maybe.

"On the planet Tirra it is a known but rare phenomenon for magic to build up to a high level. It's... Relaxing and restorative to some to be near those places. But occasionally it builds up to a level such that... Passages form, lasting anywhere from moments to months. I fell through one." Shrug.

She should... Probably try to keep some of the things she can do secret, thinking about it... Nobles are nobles and kitsunes are kitsunes...

"Does that passage remain open?"

Wild magic that casts Gate? That's not something she's ever heard of, but there are all sorts of strange stories from the Mana Wastes, and wizards say that there are other planets with people living on them. Being from another planet would explain the ears and the language barrier.

"I don't actually know because the moment I arrived I saw a Sable Company marine fall to a probable death on that street with the arm statues, and busied myself trying to save her and then with the riot, and forgot until now. I suspect not. It'd be visible and you'd have gotten reports of it."

"You saved her life. Part of your reward is in gratitude for that."

She pauses in thought, glancing away.

"We have had no such reports. Do you have another way to return to... Tirra?"

This person is not: A, a kitsune. Or B, a priestess of the light gods. Or C, cleared by a trustworthy kitsune or priestess as 'cool'. So the immediate instinctual result for things that touch on the Spirit World is: Deflect.

"She seemed stable at the temple of Abadar but I'm glad! Oh, don't worry about me on that front."

The queen nods and looks aside wistfully, gazing at or out through one of the stained-glass images of a previous monarch.

"It was necessity that brought me here, at first. I have grown to love my city, but some days the pangs of homesickness return."

"My husband loved Korvosa as I do. His death has shocked the city as it has me, but I will not see his legacy destroyed in death, and I shall not see my city torn apart. For as long as you choose to remain here, I hope you will continue to serve the crown."

Oh boy, here comes the difficult bit. They sometimes react badly to this.

"I usually serve the good of the people, not that of the crown. But these are not necessarily unaligned."

"Indeed."

Ileosa is silent for a moment, as though considering whether to confide in her. 

"My seneschal has vanished; whether he has died or fled is unknown, some even say he was my husband's murderer! Without a seneschal, the Sable Company are accountable to none and cannot be ordered to defend the castle or the people. Their commandant is reluctant to appoint a replacement, delaying as long as possible in claimed anticipation of his return."

"The guard are little better. Already, groups of them have deserted, claiming territory like brigands." Her tone is bitter with frustration. 

She draws herself up and collects herself.

"This civil strife serves nobody. Sabina, take her to the reception room. Perhaps you can suggest some opportunities for Weiss to serve crown and citizens alike. I need to retire to my chambers—my grief has drained me."

That was not terrible actually.  And the gold will buy more dang translation spells and maybe help the needy.

('The Needy', that awful abstract appellation. The Needy is her some number of decades ago, in the moldy apartment with the deadbeat dad and the cold shower. The Needy is Arwen Bechter, a fifteen year old child of two brickmakers who dreams of learning magic but likely never will, even with her gift of a forged letter of recommendation. The Needy is Xin Wu Shao nee Kong, a woman who married a man she barely tolerates out of social pressure, to keep her old house, to keep her slightly more comfortable lifestyle, out of fear of breaking her back working the fields. The Needy is the hordes and hordes of people crowded into every nook and cranny in the cities of Noten, afraid of the monsters and danger on the frontiers, those lost in the cracks the priestesses cannot all cover. The Needy is everyone who languishes without cheap food, cheap metal, cheap transportation, and cheap fuel, all due to the lack of a true industrial revolution.

She is aware that she is kind of... Hypocritical claiming to be good and kind but not throwing her entire self into it. But, again, that just snaps you in two.)

...Curtsey to the Queen again and then look to the slightly scary Knight for what next?

With a whirl of the hem of her mourning dress, Queen Ileosa is gone from sight. 

Sabina escorts her through to the next room, a chamber decorated with tapestries and florid fretwork on the ceiling. A long dining table stands in the middle, without a chair to be seen.

Some food has already been left ready for them beneath cloches; Sabina lifts them to reveal steaming soft-boiled oysters, deep-fried strips of clam meat arrayed around a bowl of what smells like a spiced hummus, and a pyramid of more fried balls of what might be crab meat drizzled with a brown sauce smelling of cinnamon and mint.

"Have you eaten?"

In a motion not unlike the lifting of a cloche, Sabina doffs her helmet to reveal a scarred face and starts consuming some of the Korvosan delicacies herself. She eats with a soldier's mechanical efficiency, paying little mind to the taste of her sustenance.

Meanwhile, in the Domina's Study...

"You never told me she's adorable⁴. Those ears! We could have a whole conversation without her needing to say a thing. Are your minions already checking whether her Gate is still there?"

⁴ Lit. 'pathetic'.