Amal might not like the way Albrecht treated Emmaline at first, but after a moment he realized the aging wizard reminded Amal of a lot of people he knew in Araby, with similar scavenging attitudes towards money. He supposed the Empire wasn't too different from his homeland in some regards.

"Shrew?" Amal echoed, wondering what the fellow meant. Albrecth's dramatic demeanor left when he began to chuckle at Amal's confusion.

"Well, I'm very glad you arrived apropos so you could regain your supposed earnings from me," Emmaline said, clasping her hands together and planting a smile on her face. "but if there is nothing else, would you leave me and my lover to enjoy our dinner? It's hard to eat with the smell of dead rat in the air, you understand."

"You will make quite the harridan one day, my dear." Albrecht marveled, still grinning at the prospect of receiving a ridiculous amount of cash within 48 hours, no matter what insults are thrown his way. "I will leave you to it then. I plan on meeting you right back here. Try not to get kicked out in the meantime, eh? If I have to look for you, that will be added down in interest."

[i]8 minutes later[/i] 

Despite the proclamation that they would need to eat, they had already had a quick bite just before Albrecht had scuttled in. Now with the door locked and the two in their room, Amal started the small fireplace up. It wasn't as cold as Albion was, but he still very much felt the northern crispness in the air. Amal watched the fire grow to life, and he backed himself up to sit on the comfortable chair set in the bedroom. 

"The way I see it, we have three choices, Em." The bandit remarked, leaning forward, long arms resting on his knees. "We could take the money we'll get from selling our items and pay him. We could kill him and run. Or we can take a third option." 

"Don't be coy," She said, not having sat down yet. 

"We could steal the Prince's seal, sell it, and implicate Albrecht in the theft." 
[@Penny]