Spots and stripes

During his travels, Harry found himself in need of a place to sleep. A fellow traveler he met in passing recommended he visit the Riftwall East tavern. The traveler mentioned that the innkeeper was someone he should meet. It was in the right direction, and Harry figured it would be much nicer than spending a the night in the woods.

He knocked on the heavy wooden door of the inn, and was greeted by a little snow leopardess girl with white hair. Harry's memories ran back to that fateful day when he was a boy, tumbling out of a tree. Aside from her white hair, this girl looked an awful lot like the one who stayed with Harry to cheer him up, and he felt a nostalgic smile tug at his face. The little girl looked surprised to see him, but he got that a lot being a tiger traveling alone. She invited him inside the tavern, and called for her mother.

Harry's jaw dropped when he saw who came around the corner. The raven black hair, the intense blue eyes, and the jewel shaped spots on her forehead-- it had to be her. She was a fully grown lady now, with a lithe and glamorous frame to match. After all these years of dreaming, he'd finally found her. And then he put it together-- if the little girl was hers, then surely her husband would be somewhere. A cloud hung over his heart, but he made sure not to let the leopardess or her daughter see it.

The adult leopardess gave the tiger a curious look. He would be surprised if she recognized him-- even though white tigers weren't terribly common, he suspected that day was much more important to him than it was to her. She sent her daughter, who she called Maeve off to the kitchen, and she came back with food and wine. Harry introduced himself properly, and was happy to finally learn his mystery girl's name-- Adira.

Adira was every bit as exquisite as Harry could have imagined, and hours passed as the two caught up on the half lifetime they had spent apart.  As it turned out, Adira was raising Maeve alone, much to Harry's surprise. When the subject came up of how long he would be staying in town, he wondered if Adira was inviting him to visit with her. Hours turned into days, days turned into weeks, until finally one night, harry found his hand circling with Adira's over a glass of wine. He hovered his face close to hers, and closed the gap between their lips.

That night, Adira brought Harry into her room and they explored each other, touching every pleasurable spot, fulfilling each other's every need. It was the first of many nights Harry would spend with Adira before she finally brought all of his things into her room, and rented his old room out to another guest. By now Harry was already earning his keep working the inn, and he rather enjoyed the new arrangement.

Adira asked Harry again about how long he would be staying, to which he told her "forever sounds pretty good." She embraced him tightly, and they kissed again. She was all he ever could have wanted, and every day he strove to be the man she and her daughter deserved.