How did Alisaie know? [Before the Fall]

[Nalien]

The latter was sort of my assumption. Remember, there was a good deal of travel time after we emerged from the tunnels. First, the merchant delivered us to Black Brush Station. Then Cid flew us all the way to Coerthas. I had assumed while we were escaping, Tataru and the others were also attacked. And then while we traveled first to Black Brush, then Coerthas, Tataru and Yugiri hit Vesper Bay before moving on themselves.

Well, we went from Black Brush to Coerthas via (the fastest?) Airship, so that would significantly cut down our travel time. Tataru and Yugiri would have had to cross the ocean to arrive at Vesper Bay, then presumably take a carriage to Coerthas. That's a significantly longer journey than the one we took, so the simple fact is that they must have had a head start, meaning they were attacked earlier.

(Teleportation is a thing, so even just by porting to Revenant's Toll beating the Enterprise to Coerthas isn't that far-fetched. Even more so if Tataru actually attuned to the Camp Dragonhead aetheryte at some point. I'm assuming Yugiri attunned to it since she was in Coerthas during Dreams of Ice.)

I really don't think NPCs (or ourselves) teleport the same way we do during gameplay... If they could... Well, the entire escape from Ul'dah sequence makes zero sense... We'd all have just teleported out, instead we had one case of someone attempting that and it going horribly wrong...

And I also think it's odd *no one*, sans the merchant, mentioned her during the events. I would think Tataru informing Alisaie of what was happening would at least warrant a passing mention.

Perhaps he was the only one who spoke to Alisaie? Tataru and Yugiri spoke to Urianger. Urianger casts his glamour, and sends Tataru/Yugiri to Coerthas as a safe meeting place (and probably contacts Cid, IDR why Cid showed up, come to think of it), then informs Alisaie, who sends the merchant to try and help and he runs into us.