You have 16 Days Until Your Place of Business is Shut Down

>That line is technically the safest bet...Plus there are two of you. One of you can stay in line and the other can do a quick peek around to try and find another knight. Make sure to stay in sight of each other though, don't want to get separated.

> One of you talk to a knight. The other one make a run for it, and search for the king!
> If things go wrong, you can always pretend that you don't know each other.
> I'm sure you'll think on your feet. The number of times you two have been in trouble together? You'll have been in much more stressful situations than this.

"Hmm..hold a place in line for me," you say "If you get to the front before I get back, tell them we're here about the alchemy shop, I'm sure they'll figure it out."
"What are you gonna do?"
"Well, this paper says it's by the order of the king, right? So maybe I should go talk to him about it. I have a perfectly good excuse to wander the halls looking for the lady who gave me this thing anyway."
Dave quirks an eyebrow. "Do you even know what the king looks like?"
"Do you?"
He shrugs. "Fine, have fun." And then heads over to get in line.

You decide to try walking into the nearest hallway as if you know what you're doing; there's plenty of crowd to blend in with, and nobody really tries to stop you. But after a bit of walking, poking your head into rooms periodically to find empty rooms or people having boring meetings, you soon find yourself back in the entry room.
This castle is a bit of a maze. You check in on the line and Dave, about a third of the way through, gives you a thumbs-up. You try another hallway on the opposite end of the room, and about the fifth room you poke your head inside of this time contains the knight who showed up at your doorstep this morning. Her head's leaning forward so her hair hangs over her eyes, but you think she might be...asleep?

>

SpoilerShow

Well hi Derelict! Haven't seen you since the collapse.