Does time elapse?

It's midday now, and I have to meet up with someone at night. If I do side quests for a while, will it eventually become night and allow me to fulfill that quest? Or do I specifically have to meditate for a while in order to change the time to night?

Turns out time does elapse. It's pretty slow, but when you have a quest that requires you perform an action at a certain time, make sure you're mindful because there's definitely the possibility that you miss it.

I'm not sure if you could just come back in yet another day or not, because I'm not risking that in my game right now.