"... I think so?" Lady Celestia would have mentioned if this message was that time-sensitive, probably.

"Great." 

He turns back to his conversation about which areas of the forest these knights have scouted for possible bandit hideouts. 

Ooookay. What...is she supposed to do now.

Does she just stand here like she's in a queue to talk to this guy? It's not as though she has anywhere better to be, per se, but this courtyard is loud and busy and smelly and she would rather not be here any longer than necessary. 

She has a feeling she'll lose her place in the queue if she leaves, though, so she keeps standing there looking incredibly uncomfortable and waiting for Captain Rolith to get back to her. 

Maybe a minute passes before another knight rushes up to Rolith. 

"Captain! We need to do something about these vermin—"

"Report." 

Hmm. What kind of vermin problem is serious enough to get the captain involved when he's already busy dealing with at least three other problems? Something more like mals than rats or bugs, maybe? Saira listens in a bit more intentionally. 

"...scouts ran into a group of scavengers in the woods near the Keep, and tracked them back to that bridge—you remember, Captain, the one they were repairing? Well, seems like they finished it, and now they've got a highway over to our side of the cliffs!" 

"And ten to one the vermin have it rigged to blow if we dare to cross it to root them out at the source," Rolith muses. "There might be a way to use that, though; perhaps if we can trigger the explosives ourselves...?"

He diverts a passing servant to fetch someone called Sir Vivor. 

What kind of vermin repair bridges and rig explosives?

—oh no, oh no, they're talking about people—

Saira doesn't like this dream anymore. She wants to wake up. 

Failing that, she wants to help those people. But what can she do? The knights won't even let her deliver a message; they probably won't listen to her about their enemies being people. They probably know that already and just don't care. She doesn't have enough information here to know how to start fixing this. 

...what she does have is a translation spell that will let her talk to anyone she meets. Maybe she could go and talk to some of the "vermin"? She could even offer to take a message from the knights, which would also give her more information about how they view the situation. 

While Saira was thinking, Rolith pivoted to a completely different conversation with some servants about supply logistics and the food stores in the keep. He's now quizzing them about what they'll run out of first if "the current situation" goes on for another month. (The answer is apparently flour, "although it depends how much damage there's been to the garden".) 

Well, that's also somewhat concerning. It doesn't sound like a pressing emergency, though. She mostly tunes them out and starts workshopping what she's going to say to Captain Rolith once it's her turn. 

The supplies conversation is interrupted by Sir Vivor showing up and drawing Rolith back into the discussion about the "vermin". He shows no signs of remembering Saira's existence any time soon.

How long is she prepared to wait? 

She doesn't exactly have a reliable method of timekeeping available, but he said a few minutes and it's been a few minutes. She'll...try to jump in when this conversation ends? And in the meantime eavesdrop some more to try and get more context on the "vermin". 

The knights are frustrated that they haven't been able to pin down where in "the ruins" the vermin have their lair (or lairs; Sir Vivor thinks there could be more than one nest). They're debating whether to blow up the bridge so the vermin can't use it or set an ambush for the next raiding party that crosses it.

Rolith points out that they can always blow up the bridge later, whereas they can't use it for an ambush after blowing it up. That seems to settle that argument, and they move on to discussing the logistics of an ambush. 

What can she contribute here? Saira doesn't have any particular skill at blowing up bridges, and she doesn't think her basic make-and-mend spells would be up to the task of repairing one. Could she find a hidden lair that a keep full of knights hasn't been able to track down? Maybe, but she doesn't want to count on it. She might just have to wander around the ruins not looking like a knight, and see if anyone wants to talk to her. 

She's reasonably confident that she can defend herself against mundane explosions, especially if she can get her hands on more mana potions, and it doesn't sound like the "vermin" have magic. So this plan seems relatively safe unless there are dangers she doesn't know about...which there almost certainly are. She's been in this world less than a day. 

"Captain Rolith, sir!" 

Ugh, did she miss her chance to jump in again?

At Rolith's nod, the newly-arrived knight launches into his report. 

"I have the latest reports on the hydra situation, captain. Bad news: judging by the latest sightings from our patrols, it's still actively hunting in the region around the bridge. Good news: there haven't been any new attacks on people since we closed off the bridge and stopped wheeling wagons of food directly over its lair. Bad news again: we still haven't found a way into its lair." 

"So the situation is stable for now, good." That puts it above most of the other ongoing crises. "Keep searching for a back way into its lair, but I'll send to the capital for water-breathing potions in case there isn't one. I want that bridge back in operation within the month." 

"Yes, sir!"

They have a hydra problem? Wait, no, don't get distracted, this could be her opening to jump in. 

"Captain Rolith? Do you have a moment to hear my message now?" 

Hmm? Oh, right, this girl. How long has she been waiting...? Eh, he can probably spare her a few minutes. 

"What's the message?" 

Deep breath. 

"Lady Celestia sent me to tell you that she and Twilly are taking a shortcut through the woods, and won't be stopping at the keep." 

The moment she says Lady Celestia's name, she has Rolith's full attention. This is more focused than she's seen him be on any one thing so far. 

"What?! Lady Celestia sent you? You should have led with that!" 

His face pales as he takes in the content of the message. "...she isn't going to stop at the keep? The forest is crawling with bandits that are looking for her. The Priestess is in grave danger—we must go after her! Can you show me which way she went?"