The cat should have figured that he would find a way out of his oath. He had promised her on his powers as The Erlking, The Hunter, and Annwn that he wouldn't ever interfere with her again. But he was no longer those things. He was just Eamon now, courtless Sidhe without alliances. He owed no favors. To anyone. He had cut his ties with the Unseelie Queen when he'd thrown his sword at her feet and renounced the titles she'd given him. Let her call a different Hunter if she wanted. He was done with the politicking and the duplicity and the backstabbing.

He returned to the strange little world of Rhydin. He walked the streets once more but saw them with different eyes. Diminished eyes. He felt naked without his Power. He still had his glamour and his fighting skills. But the other-worldly Power that came with the titles was gone. Stripped from him by Maeve.

He sat night after night for a week in the Inn and watched the crowd for the cat or the siren. Neither of them showed. He listened to conversations. He drank. He plotted a way to seek the forgiveness of the cat and a way back into the siren's bed. One taste of that honeyed skin had been too much. The siren might have freed him from his slavery but not from his addiction.

And then he heard from a Red Cap who heard from a Hag who heard from Brownie who heard from a Pixie that Sevier had contacted Nerida the Dryad about Aolani, Riley and himself. The Queen was still nosing about. Of course that was an assumption but Bane was indeed the Queen's man. Two plus two always adds up to four.

He would seek out Sevier. To figure out what the Queen wanted. The bargain had been struck. The cat had been released. The Erlking was no more. Why the interest still? Sevier would have the answers. Eamon was certain of that.

((Adapted from live roleplay. Thank you to the players of Daniel Tej and RileyORourke.))

Daily shopping had suddenly become a way of life. Every day, between classes and right around lunchtime, Riley found herself in the Marketplace, finding food for that night's dinner. Fresh veggies and fruit, fish, sometimes a nice fillet - these all made their way into her basket. Today was no different.

Eamon remembered her building of course. He had been standing on the street opposite it masked in his glamour when she left this afternoon. Now he was following her through the Marketplace. She seemed different somehow. Not quite what he expected. He had witnessed her torture, and he expected her to be a shell, quaking and shivering. She was happy. Alive. It made him smile.

She was, indeed, happy. Happier than she'd been in a very long time. She'd laid the ghosts of her past, seen her parents, spent time in her hometown. She felt optimistic about her life for the first time since graduating from law school.

He stood in the shadows of a jeweler's cart. Running his fingers over a selection of semi-precious stone necklaces. The green, blue, and purple one. He pointed to it and handed the jeweler's girl a bit of dross that would quickly turn to a leaf after he left.

Business at the cafe was slow this afternoon, so Daniel felt comfortable leaving it in Anisha's capable hands, even during the lunch rush. He decided to head over to the Marketplace, since she went there everyday around this time to get food for the day. He figured it would be a nice surprise to catch her there. He headed towards her favorite stalls, scenting the air, casting about for her trail.

With a thoughtful moue on her face, she stood looking down at a display of early vegetables. Carrots, corn, some cabbages. Mushrooms. Did Danny like mushrooms? Hmmm...

Eamon approached her carefully, looking like a blandly handsome man. "Excuse me, miss?" he said, careful to disguise his real voice. Bland. Forgettable. That was what he was right now. Except for his eyes. He couldn't hide the centuries of existence in his eyes. They had always been his giveaway.

And there was her trail. Daniel grinned when the first hint of her scent reached his nose, and sped up a bit, following the path.

Attention captured both by the approach of the Leopard and the cute, polite guy, she cocked her head to the side and studied the newcomer. She figured he was asking for directions or something. "Yes? Can I help you?" she asked him. She was too distracted by mushrooms and Danny to notice his eyes.

Eamon held the necklace up to her. "It goes so well with your coloring, miss. Would you accept it?" He smiled safely. He was just a random guy on the street, chatting up a pretty girl, hoping for at least her name.

Daniel didn't recognize the guy talking to her, but he looked pretty unremarkable. His scent matched his appearance, too. Unremarkable. He stopped next to her, but didn't interrupt.

She looked at the necklace in his hand and then back up into his eyes. She blinked and took an involuntary step back. Something familiar about those eyes... She took a step closer to Danny when he arrived at her side. "No, no thank you. You're sweet and it is a lovely necklace, but I can't accept it. I don't even know you."

Eamon looked to the other cat. The same one who had been at her side on his last night as the Huntsman. "Please, miss? You remind me of my late wife." It wasn't a lie, not a complete lie. She did look like someone he had once loved. Someone who had been his wife when he was mortal.

Daniel nodded politely to the man, but still didn't say anything, just brushed his shoulder against her arm and raised a brow at the late wife comment. That was an interesting way to strike up a conversation.

She glanced sidelong at Danny, a brow raised. Then she turned back to Mr Blandly Handsome and nodded a little, reaching for the necklace. It was beautiful and would perfectly accentuate the dress she'd picked out for Lilliana's pre-Beltane bash. "Thank you," she said softly. "I'm...I'm sorry to hear about her death." And it was true - she knew what it was like to lose someone with whom you were in love.

Eamon's fingers brushed against hers as she took the necklace from him. His control slipped a little and his image wavered. Like a mirage in the dessert. For a split second he was Eamon.

"No," she said and took another step back, bumping into Danny, the necklace falling from her hand. "You swore!" She could feel the Jaguar waking and pressing against her, filling her head with growls and the soft brush of fur.

Daniel looked over at her and shrugged a bit. There didn't seem to be any harm in accepting the gift. When he looked back, however, and saw the man's form suddenly shift like a bad TV image, he tensed and a low growl involuntarily escaped his lips. He stepped forward, weaving around her when she backed up, putting himself in between them.

He dropped the glamour all together. He was himself once more. But less. He no longer had the Power of his place as Huntsman. He didn't reek of the stuff now. He was just a courtless Sidhe now. Powerful but not scary. He glared at the other cat as he stood between them. "This is none of your business."

She peered at Eamon over Danny's shoulder, both grateful for the Leopard's protection and finding that it chafed a little, too. "You are an oathbreaker. I name you oathbreaker!" She could feel the air around them still - like the world was holding its breath to see how the Fae responded. She was completely unaware of the diminished power. He was still Eamon, her Betrayer.

"I swore on my Power as the Huntsman. As the Erlking. As Annwn. I am those things no longer. I am not an Oathbreaker. I am courtless now. Because of you." The world exhaled. The Fae had spoken truly.

"Not my business?? Daniel growled. ?I was there when you swore to leave her alone. If nothing else, I'm a witness to your oath."

She frowned, a little shocked at this news. "What do you mean, because of me? I didn't do anything to you." She stopped when Danny spoke up. Yeah, she thought. What he said.

"I am not interfering. That was my oath. Not to interfere with her." He looked to Riley again. A sad and tired expression on his face. "When I saw the way she treated you I left. I threw my sword at her feet, and I renounced my titles. I am courtless. Bound to no one but myself."

"Well, whoopie-doo for you." Then the rest of his statement caught up with her and her eyes burned with outrage. "The way she treated me?! You delivered me to her! You sent me into that sh*t hole!" She tried to push past Danny to gut the Fae as he stood there.

He knew what she dreamed of. He knew what spirits and specters haunted her nights. He could feel the feverish buzzing of her dream self when it went traveling into the Nevernever. He could even see it when she dreamed of Faeries and demons. He felt her agony and confusion when the succubus's sentinel killed her dream self. He knew when her will diminished under Maeve's heavy handed force and when it made its triumphant resurgence.

And then there came the curious day when she entered Faerie. Her presence rang out with the clear clarion call of a church bell. He rushed to the spot only to see her shoved back into reality by a stranger who himself them disappeared by going deeper into the Nevernever. The former leader of the Wild Hunt was confused by this. Why had she been in Faerie and who was the stranger who had apparently shoved her back out into safety?

Eamon himself could not enter reality until after the Summer Solstice. Despite renouncing his titles and leaving the Winter Court, he was still bound by their laws somehow. He was still at his core Unseelie and now was the Summer Court's time. Their powers were at their strongest from Spring Equinox until Fall Equinox. However these powers began waning enough for the Unseelie to move through the Veil after the Solstice. He would wait and bide his time until he could see her once more. He would watch for her though, hoping she came back to Faerie and stayed long enough for him to find her.