✎ 1x1 ✐ discussion

Ryker sat in the Blue Rooster Inn, watching the pretty blonde with the fiddle play on stage with two guys. She was totally carrying the performance, dancing like one of the fairies in the stories he'd enjoyed as a child. He'd managed to get her attention earlier and she'd winked. Now he was waiting for her set top end so he could ask her out. He'd picked some beautiful flowers from the outside garden boxes and set them on the table in a decorative vase he'd found in one of the upstairs bedrooms. A linen sheet served as a table cloth and a few coppers had bought wine and a few wax candle sticks from the barkeep.

Sienna entered the inn, scanning the other patrons at the tables as she tried to guess who it was she was meeting. This was her first time at the Blue Rooster Inn, but she had heard of it before. The inn itself was odd. In the Fae realm it sat on the border of Winter and Summer lands, but it was one of few places that existed in both the mortal and Fae worlds. Most of the Fae customers would be invisible to the mortals unless they chose to show themselves, or if the mortal was one of those born with The Sight, and many of those had Fae blood somewhere in their ancestry. There were a handful of other Fae currently there, for now she stayed near the entrance and leaned against a post, watching the room.

The woman finished for the night and, after collecting her tips and stowing her instrument, hopped off the stage and skipped toward the door, like a young girl. Ryker had tried to get her attention, but she didn't seem to notice and she left in a hurry. He hung his head, then, after a bit, rested his hand under his chin. His signet ring was visible, telling anyone who knew what to look for a sign that he was here for a job.

((My apologies for how long this took. I've got no excuse.))

((Don't worry about it. I get too busy to reply sometimes too.))

Ah, there he is She thought to herself as she noticed the ring. It was the only one in the inn so this had to be the mercenary she was meeting. When Mab had contacted her to hunt down the escapee she had been told she'd have to work with Summer on this. She didn't know if Mab or one of her people had seen something and knew she'd find the Summer Fae here, or if he'd been sent by the Summer Queen. She guessed it really didn't matter one way or the other. Pushing off the pole she made her way over to where he was sitting and took a seat next to him, she nodded for the barkeep to bring her a drink before turning to face him. "Heard the news?"

"Yeah." Ryker said gloomily looking at the tablecloth and avoiding the strangers eye. He grabbed his glass of wine and downed it in a single gulp, then looked at it with a scowl. He grabbed the bottle, poured another glass and took a swig straight from the bottle. (An overused bit, but very good and I love it.) "She's not interested. Go figure, huh?" He pushed the glass toward her. "Would you be?"

She already had her drink at this point, but shrugged and took the offered glass as well. After taking a swig she shot him a grin. "I might be, but right now I want to know if you want the job to help me hunt him down before he finds his way back to the mortal world."

"Oh," Ryker said in a detached sort of voice, as if his mind was anywhere else but here. "That news. I suppose it might do me some good to get out. At the very least, it'll put some coin in my pocket so I can buy another bloody bottle to forget tonight ever happened." He sighed and stood, groaning as he stretched sore muscles that had been idle too long.

"What news did you think I was talking about?" Sienna asked, quickly drinking the one that she ordered before standing as well. Was there more interesting news coming from the Summer Court aside from the poisoner that affected them both? Was this really the guy that Mab wanted her to work with? He didn't seem like he was going to be too effective. She scanned the others in the room, wondering if she had spoken to the wrong fae.

Ryker straightened and a strange sense of sudden sobriety emanated from his as his mind cleared, seemingly at will. "I'm afraid I've said too much. I haven't had quite enough alcohol to give up all my secrets." He grabbed a large leather backpack and slung it over his shoulder, then put the bottle of wine in a satchel at his side. "Alright. Let's go. Where too?"

"I say we start looking where he dissappeared from. See if we can spot any clues as to how he might have gotten away, if there's anything others might have missed." There was no way he would have been able to do it on his own. He must have had help, but from who? Who within the Courts would have benefited from something like this? He had been leaving Winter's possession and going to Summer's. The guards who had been transporting him, those from both courts had been found dead with the prisoner nowhere to be seen.