I slumped onto the floor and let out a piteous meow. Bored bored bored.

Puren hurried out of a side room and over to me where he knelt on one knee. “You are feeling well, Lady Cat?”

I whipped my tail to and fro and meowed again with my eyes ever on where Dadan had gone.

The servant pursed his lips and stroked my back. “You cannot expect him to stay by your side every hour.”

I could hope I muttered to myself, but I regained some of my dignity by sitting up.

“I must get some work done now, Lady Cat,” Puren scolded me as he stood. “Please try to behave until His Lordship has returned.” He slipped back into the room, leaving me with only one thing.

My curiosity.

I hadn’t yet explored the vast and beautiful abode of the heavenly lord. There was the main corridor that I knew very well but the side rooms and courtyards were mysteries to me. I gathered what remained of my self-respect and trotted off to explore the vast estate. The late-morning sun invited me out to the courtyards where I beheld a vast array of flowers and trees, some of them bearing fruit.

Sitting in the shade of one of those trees, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the fruit that had brought me to this magical place. Was that hole still there with the unfinished fruit? What had the public works department done with that massive sinkhole?

Probably tarped it over I mumbled to myself. Or put a few cones around it.

The tree then intrigued me. I held up one paw and flexed my adorable toes. The sharp claws extended and retracted. The bark looked tempting.

I trotted over to the trunk and hunkered down where I wiggled my butt. All my muscles tensed and I leaped up. I slammed a little too hard against the trunk and had the wind knocked out of me, but my claws latched on.

Unfortunately, I had attached myself in the position of a stretched-out squirrel. My arms were too far apart for me to use my strength to climb any higher. I also found I couldn’t detach myself, so thoroughly had I stuck myself into the soft wood of the innocent and now harassed tree.

Hubris was quick to attack me.

The pain in my arms from holding up my body was also quick to remind me that I had to break free somehow. The wounds throbbed in protest, reminding me that I wasn’t yet healed from my first foray into the land realms. I yanked and thrashed about and earned one free paw. The claws popped out and left me hanging there for a few seconds before the claws on my other hand gave up holding my girth and I dropped to the ground. On my feet, of course. My sore, angry feet.

I licked my front paws one after the other as my eyes searched the area for something a little less adventurous. A nearby open window captured my attention. Puren scurried to and fro inside the room, exchanging one bundle of linen for another as he twisted to and fro. I tiptoed over and set my paws against the low wall to peek in through the window.

The room turned out to be a bedroom where a large but simple bed sat. Puren had changed out one set of silken linens for another. He bundled the pile into a basket and hefted it out of the room. I hopped through the window, wincing as I landed on my sore digits, and was struck by the scent in the room. More than any other part of the house, it smelled like Dadan. The blend of roses and the morning dew wrapped around me like a warm blanket.

I trotted around the room taking in the smells when my eyes caught sight of a tall ornate wardrobe. The tall standing closet was some ten feet wide. I used my nose to nudge one of the doors open and beheld a long line of white and purple robes. A whole closet full of his clothes.

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And they were all mine.

I jumped into the wardrobe and rubbed my body all over the bottom of the robes. My purr was loud enough to rumble the wooden casing as I exuberantly rolled and hopped into the clothes.

However, a dark shadow loomed over my fun. Literally. I froze and whipped my head up.

Puren stood in the open door his face a picture of horror. His mouth was agape and his eyes bulged out of his head. He let out a couple of strangled croaks before words finally burst out of his parted lips.

“What are you doing?” he yelled as he leaped forward and wrapped his arms around as many of the sets as he could manage. He yanked them up and out of my easy reach, but the girth of the bundles made him stagger to one side. His shoulder crashed into the back wall of the closet which led to me scampering out and taking up position at the end of the bed. “These are not for you to touch!”

Puren did a clumsy dance with the clothes, weaving and snatching as many as he could. He tossed some over their hangers but a few of them slapped back, hitting him full in the face. The poor outnumbered servant stumbled and tripped over some of the longer robes. He yelped as he fell forward and dragged a whole mess of clothes with him. The sudden addition of his weight was a little too much for the wooden bar that held the hangers. The support on one side snapped and the bar came tumbling down, dropping its hard body and the entirety of the clothes atop the servant. He vanished from view but arose as a new creature, one entangled in cloth and frustration.

I screeched as he stumbled out of the closet, a mess of clothes hangers and elegant robes. There was nothing elegant about Puren as he swayed to and fro trying to remove the clothes without mussing them. Quite the feat when a few of them were trying to strangle him.

I leaped to his defense and snatched as much cloth as I could in my mouth. Gravity did its work and pulled me down, yanking the robes down, as well. I dropped to the floor and the clothes fell on top of me. My burrowing instincts were strong and I managed to extract myself from the homicidal clothes.

Puren freed him at the same time and we found ourselves staring at one another. Both of us breathed hard and fast and a mountain of clothes lay about our persons.

One of my whiskers twitched. Then another. Puren slowed his breathing and the corners of his lips twitched upward. Slowly the two of us smiled, and then a guffaw escaped the stoic servant. I yowled with laughter as he howled and together we were overcome with humor at our ridiculous situation.

Puen used a finger to wipe away the tears from his eyes and his laughter sank into chortles. “You are a very troublesome cat, Lady Cat. Do you not know how to stay out of trouble for more than ten minutes?”

I puffed out my chest and shook my head.

He sighed and turned his attention to the closest. “This will need repairing before I can set the clothes straight.” I hopped out of my mountainous cavern and slithered my lithe form around his body. He cast a suspicious eye at me but his smile returned. “You will not be helping me with this task, Lady Cat. I ask that you find a sunny spot on the estate and sleep until His Lordship returns.”

A tempting offer that I couldn’t refuse. I trotted away from the chaos I had instigated and assumed my search for the perfect basking spot. I found it in the garden just shy of the tree that had trapped me so well and lay myself down for a nice, long nap.