Bless Poco, but she wasn't the brightest cat.

The Kings had sent her out for a rod, and what is a rod she really didn't know.

So she bounded through Orion - ooo sparkly stars! - chirruping at the Lessers that shrilled their alarms and fled in fear, looking for... well, she wasn't quite sure what.

backdated to The Three Kings

Something long, she knew that. And rounded? Maybe?

What is a rod?

Well, she wasn't sure. But if you asked Poco, she'd know when she saw it. So she didn't quite stop to look, but just kept running, leaping over stones and staring up at the stars.

How she managed not to break her face was sheer Poco luck.

Over a rock, over another rock, over another rock.

Oh hello stick!

Wait no not a stick, that was a stick made of a rock! And a funny one, too, long and blunt. But she didn't like it, it was funny and green and shiny, so she sneezed and walloped it - oh it made a funny noise! So she stopped, and played for a while, giggling at the clattering noises it made.

Finally, it gave a loud crunch, and exploded when she whacked it. It crumpled into tiny little shards, and her third eye squinted to keep from getting pierced, and she tilted her head when she found a thin line inside it of... she thought that was rock? Maybe?

Certainly not a rod, definitely not. She didn't know what a rod was but that was not it.

The thin rod was whacked away, and she laughed as it clattered, before bounding away in a manner that fit a doe more than a cat.

Over a rock. Over another rock. Over a ruin. Through the ruins. This was fun!

She was getting tired but so what?

Fall down some of the ruins and "Wheee!"

kick a rod as she fell.

She got to her paws and shook herself off, reaching up to scratch an ear. That had kinda hurt... but it was also really fun, and maybe she could do it again?

Her paw slipped on a long, round rock as she bolted back up, trying to find the just right spot so she could do it again.

She reached the top, found where pawprints turned into skid-marks, and threw herself down again.

Tumbled head over paws with a shrill "WheEEEeeeEEEeeEE!" interspersed with giggles until she hit flat ground and came undone, rolling along the ground with a series of grunts before starting to laugh anew "AWESOME!" and looking back up to the top.

But, no, she had a job to do.

Despite her compulsion, she'd go back and do it later. Have fun to reward herself!

So she turned and began to trot away, head tilted up to stare at the star-flecked ceiling. Oh, it was so pretty! If only she could pull one down and take it with her!

She leaped up, batted as though to grab one, and was legitimately disappointed when the stars far overhead did not, in fact, come down into her paw. Bless her heart, y'all, bless it so much.

And, naturally, she leaped up and tried again. And again, and again. And again, and again.

And again, and again.

Until she landed wrong, and toppled onto her back.

With a giggle, she clambered onto her feet, eyes crossing, third eye rolling. Oh, that was weird, though she was sad she hadn't stolen her star.

She had, though, knocked a rod free, and sent it scattering.