[ Minato nods and pushes back and slips away from the music circle without another word— rude, perhaps, but announcing their departure would likely only draw attention to them, curious questions about where they're leaving in such a rush, innocent attempts to keep them there, and Conner is right that they've been sitting here long enough.

Really, neither problem-solving and detective work are his strong suits, though not for the lack of talent; on his own, he wouldn't know where to start, or where to go from that starting point once he's found it, so Conner's presence is a comforting one which he can use as a benchmark to gauge whether his ideas are completely off-course, or if they're reasonable enough to be tested.

The idea he has in mind is probably a bad one, but it is, again, very direct: instead of swimming towards the palace entrance, his trajectory is more... skyward. ]

We could see if we can spot her through one of the windows, and not have to deal with guards and stuff. Think she wears a crown on her head?

[ What's all this about requesting an audience with the queen? There would be too many middlemen in the way, a pain to deal with on their own, but the official process for vying for the queen's time is probably a long one, and they have a weak case compared to all the other pressing concerns a kingdom naturally generates. ]