Emmaline arched a sculpted eyebrow, impressed by the show of dexterity. It was only fair after she had shown off with her magic. She took a piece of dried meat and popped it into her mouth and began to chew. It was salty but not unpleasantly so. She hoped there was ale or something else to drink but she supposed they would make do.

"Well given that you haven't run screaming and left me to die, I'd say you are a whole wagons length ahead," she admitted. Secretly she wasn't too unhappy with the way things had worked out. It was always difficult to break off after a con, but now if Otto started ranting about how an imaginary Marguerite von Vissenbach had been killed, it would only make his complaints that he had been robbed seem that much less credible.

"So," Emmaline began around a mouthful of dried meat, "you are a criminal and an engineer? I take it you are a real engineer?" It was a serious question, Emmaline had impersonated everything from nobles to farm wives to members of the clergy over the past few years. She plucked an apple from the basket and bit into it with relish.