Fuuuuuuuck who are these people he really needs to pay more attention to the Anglos

"We're interested in help from anyone who wants to offer," Lan Xichen says noncommittally in the hopes that Meng Yao will tell him who these people are.

They seem - more confused than he'd expect. Would they know...?

"Ah. We have some expertise. As you may remember, my enclave is all experienced in the - sane - use of malia. This has some benefits when hunting for less stable maleficers."

That exists???

"Of course," he says smoothly, "and the existence of a less well-regulated maleficer leads to all sorts of-- misunderstandings. For a while, New York even thought the maleficer was a Shanghai ally!"

If Pisa is what their representative says they are, they should talk to Masozi to clear up his misunderstandings about malia, he would be very interested. Lan Xichen should ask around about this-- Hitomi might know more, or know who to ask about it. But this is a longer term plan for the maleficer is caught. If New York catches wind of Shanghai talking to sane maleficers they're going to assume Shanghai is planning to use malia.

They either had forgotten about Pisa or didn't know. Better not presume more, though.

"We noticed their commotion, I'm glad the confusion was cleared up. I'd assume you'll be leading a search? My senior cousins have more discernment for distinguishing maleficers from a distance than most. Sadly, my cousins here are only spell-competent with Mandarin, but they do want to help."

"We have to coordinate with New York but we're planning to sweep shop classes, so with luck we find them within week. Jaipur is already flagging people they think are suspicious, having second eye on that is good."

"You both have unique perspectives," Meng Yao says, "with Jaipur being very anti-malia and yourselves using it."

Subtext: Please don't talk to Jaipur.

He nods to Meng Yao, "They certainly think so. I might have hoped that our traditions would reassure them eventually, but at this point, they clearly feel their own traditions forbid it. Sweeping the shop classes makes sense and I'm sure our seniors will be happy to assist."

Subtext: Yeah we know about Jaipur, and, therefore, Luca is leaning toward you not knowing much about Pisa.

Yes, Meng Yao's lack of omniscience here is embarrassing for everyone involved.

"Anything you happen to come across is very valuable."

Luca nods. "You'll see them later today, then. If Shanghai needs anything else from us in the future, don't hesitate to ask. Our reading room is" - he gives directions. "If there isn't anything else at the moment?"

"Not at moment, thank you."

He stands, bows again. "Good luck to you all."

Then he backs away and returns to his cousins.

"That might be worth investigating more," he says to Meng Yao.

"Of course, er-ge."

"Your creepy telepathy is incredibly creepy."

"Do you want me to explain?"

"No, absolutely not, if there's one thing I've learned in the past six months it's that it's very useful to have no idea what Meng Yao is up to."

"Not everything I do is sketchy."

"I'm sure all your actions meet the highest standards of morality and justice."