[Maybe it's because no one actually pressed for the specifics, she muses, but elects not to voice the thought aloud.]

In that case, the Emperor and people in the castle aren't going to be of any more help than before. [For what amounts to "help," anyway, which is quite little.] Are you planning on contacting the Court's soldiers, then? If we must fight, we'll have to know just who we are supposed to work with.