On my present playthrough, on my way to the rat-way in Riften to retrieve Esbern I ran into said cat-lady in the streets of Riften. I got a bit of a brush-off trying to speak to her, but decided "credit where credit's due", she's the only other Khajiit who can stroll about in town, and as I was playing as a Khajiit agent for the Empire (in my head at least), I'd extend her the professional courtesy of not killing her on my way out with Esbern... it's what Bond would do... if he were a Khajiit... I suppose.

I've managed to sneak all the way to the rat-way exit, only to have her pop up at the door upon exiting... she declares "There they are...", and even if I try sneaking away, or for that matter running away, either Esbern will zap her, or Kharjo (who's along for the ride) will cave her skull in. Reasonably enough, they don't seem to have much tolerance for filthy Thalmor spies. I've also tried sneaking up on her while still in the rat-way and using the 'Dismay' shout (Boo!) in hopes she'll run away... no dice. 'Paralyse' doesn't hold her long, as a poison or an enchantment... I've even tried givin'er a blast of the wabbajack to no effect.

The only other thing I can think of is to exit the rat-way without passing her... not being a member of the thieves guild, I can't go out through the cistern... is there some other exit back in the warrens? Could I use Stamina poisons on my bow as a sort of tranquilizer dart? If anyone else has managed to bypass her in some way I'd love to know how... otherwise I find myself (ten reloads and counting) at rather an RP impasse.

Your an Imperial Agent she's a Thalmor Agent how do you think it could end.

Ideally with a sort of 'Smiley's People' type nod of respect, or a handshake... sadly that doesn't seem to be an option.

I suppose I could stick on an 'Amulet of Mara' and hope for a more 007 type outcome... but I doubt that would work either.

Fus Do Rah into the water, then run away from Riften, perhaps.

That's a thought!... it might be a bit of a trick to do it without blowing Esbern and Kharjo into the drink as well... I'll definitely try it tomorrow. There'd be something cinematic about leaving her paddling about in the canol, while my merry band retires to the Bee-and-Barb.

Yeah, try that, but I have a bad feeling she's scripted to die like Roggvir and either Esbern or Kharjo will finish her with magic or Archery respectively or she'll just appear the next time you zone.

Stamina poisons don't work properly on NPCs. I also seem to remember that I calmed her or avoided attacking her somehow, but she got killed by guards in my game. You could try making Esbern and Kharjo wait inside while you run out and draw her away then try to wrangle some strategy to de-aggro her. If you could lose her and sneak up and reverse pick pocket a stack of paralysis potions into her inventory it might put her down long enough for you to get the other guys out. You'd need the Poisoned perk though, or else the potion won't do anything. And you could RP a Bond tip of the hat, but think she'll be gone from your game in some way eventually.

Actually, I don't think she confronted me until I came out of Mistveil Keep one time, so I did manage to avoid her when I was getting Esbern out.

Her mission is to kill you, so you'll probably be stuck having to pacify her in some way every time you visit Riften, even if you manage to elude her while getting Esbern out.

You could always RP her as a worthy opponent whom you are forced to kill: that's just as much of a http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WorthyOpponent as the Bond tip of the hat.

You could try a Calm spell. Though if the Dismay shout failed, that might not either.

I've always eluded her in Riften and never encountered her in the ratway... or I killed her and never realized in the heat of battle that I had.