Jamal walked passionately through the thick crowds, as Hops carefully kept pace. Who knew Fuishem would be this packed, especially for a city-state this large. A whole 100 square miles, or so Hops had told him. But the details didn't concern him, only finding Leon did for the moment.
"Jamal, slow down. We don't even know where to start looking for him, and we've been here for a day already. We need to plan this out better." Jamal was able to make out from Hops.
Turning around, he could see Hops struggling through the crowd before he found a gap to push through to catch up to him.
"We have plenty of time. We'll be fine. But I do need some food though, I'm a bit hungry." Jamal noted as he saw a restaurant in the distance. "Let's go there."
Hops huffed, as Jamal picked up the pace towards it. Of course, the best place to find people were in these types of establishments, with people always willing to share information, or so he assumed. As it took several minutes to get through the crowd, before they both finally made it inside, and took a look around. Even inside here, it was semi-packed, although Jamal was able to catch two open seats for them in the corner.
As he made his way there, he glanced around to see everyone minding their own business, and not batting an eye towards them. A good sign, he would assume, as it wouldn't stir into trouble. The thought caused him to smirk as he took a seat, Hops following suit.
"So what's your new plan?" Hops began to ask until a waitress came to ask what they wanted to order.
Jamal did have to take note of their options before he responded back. It was similar to what they would have had back in Saputa, although he wondered if the culture changed much since then. After they ordered what they thought best, Jamal answered his question.
"Well, we could start asking aroun-" Jamal began to make his point, until he noticed someone behind Hops.
Of course, he left out everyone in the room, or he just didn't notice. Jamal could see her sitting by the restaurant's bar, watching him from the corner of her eye. She appeared to be around their age with blonde curly hair that went down to her shoulders. He just watched as she continued drinking whatever was in the glass, before placing it towards a bartender. What piqued his attention, was that she had a book next to her waist wrapped tightly towards her leg, as if it was a knife. Some strange people here indeed, but he could tell that she might have some answers.
"Jamal, what are you even looking at?" Hops brought him back to reality, before turning around towards where he was looking at. "Damn, I can't wait to tell Ula this!"
"And look what you did." Jamal sighed, as she quickly paid and walked out the door once she saw them both looking at her. "Could have given us some answers, only for it to be taken away now."
"Imagine if Ula wasn't yours, you would have tried." Hops chuckled to himself.
"Shut the fu-" Jamal was about to curse him out, until the waitress returned with the meals they had ordered early.
"I don't cheat, unlike you probably." Jamal got out once the waiter walked away.
"Mmm, try again. I saw what you were looking at."
"She had a book strapped to her leg, like a pocketknife. You wouldn't think that was strange?"
"I don't know, but whatever it is, it's probably important to them."
"We still got to look around for answers, we can't be here every day looking for answers. The next ship comes next Monday, and it's already Wednesday so we have little time to waste." Jamal fumed, "Now, we need to find a way to ask about Leon's whereabouts."
"Speaking of whereabouts, I think someone might be interested in helping us out." Hops grinned, as he stared outside.
Jamal looked towards where he was staring and almost smirked. He could see through the window the woman from inside the bar was staring back at them across the street with little traffic, before dashing away quickly. If something wasn't up, this would be it.
"Well, hope you can pay for the bill," Jamal slammed a wad of Suruthum cash on the table, "Because it appears that a possible lead is on the run."
Hops just watched as Jamal rushed outside, before beginning to give chase to the lady. Of course, he was going to have all the fun, he sighed, as he continued eating his meal, before sliding Jamal's untouched lunch on top of his platter.