Puss and Kitty had met up in the woods after sunset multiple times since that night, nearly a whole year had passed by now and it was this March that little Karma would be celebrating her third birthday.

In fact, this was the day before her third birthday, and Puss was rushing to find a present for her. He knew exactly what to get her.

So, when Karma had been called inside for bed, Puss met up with Kitty in their usual spot.

"Good evening, Kitty." He said with a joking bow. "Would you mind helping me find a nice rock?"

"A rock?" Kitty echoed in disbelief. "What do you need help finding a rock for?"

"Well my little sister is absolutely obsessed with rocks, you see, and her birthday is coming up. So, I want to give her a rock ing birthday gift."

"But why do you need help? There's plenty of rocks around here."

"I want to find the perfect one. It's got to be big enough we won't lose it, and not too sharp so she won't get cut on it, and not too smooth or it'll slip right out of her paws into some mud puddle and we'll never find it again."

Kitty didn't bother correcting his grammar.

"Oh and it can't be too big or she won't be able to carry it." Puss added.

"All right, well, not too many requirements there. Should be plenty of rocks around here that fit that description."

It turned out, however, that there were not actually enough rocks around that fit every requirement.

Most of the rocks they found were too smooth, others were too sharp, the rest of them had other issues aside from many being too small. One of them happened to house a garter snake, another a colony of ants, luckily nothing dangerous came out from under any of the rocks.

It took nearly all night to find the perfect one.

At last, Kitty spotted a shimmering pinkish coloured one by the bed of a small stream. It wasn't too small, definitely not too heavy, it had just the right amount of bumpy shape to it that anyone could hold onto it, and it didn't house any unusual critters.

"There's only one problem." Puss said, mostly joking, as they headed back. "Although I'm not sure Karma will see it. I'll feel sorry for the pretty rock when she inevitably gets it muddy."

Karma woke early the next morning, the sun hadn't even begun to rise yet, she hurried to untangle herself from her knot of blankets and open the frosty window. The cool early-spring breeze brought with it the scent of the forest, the tangy pines, sweet maples, flowery- well, flowers, and a faint hint of skunk. She ran her paws along the edges of the window sill, the crystals from the frost melting into her paw fur at the slightest touch. It was sure to be a beautiful day.

Karma was too short to see through the window, normally, but she was sitting on her brother's desk. She would be in trouble if she was caught, but it was totally worth it.

She didn't know how long she'd been sitting there by the time the sun finally started to rise. She'd been staring wistfully into the woods, hoping to catch sight of some magical creature like a phoenix or a fairy flying out. One day, she vowed, she would befriend a unicorn, the only magical creature so far proven to exist.

Puss stirred as the sunlight fell upon his face and Karma scrambled off the desk.

She forgot to close the window, of course, and that was evidence enough that she'd been up there in the first place. Puss thought it lucky, however, that Karma had spent her early morning staring out the window rather than snooping about under their beds. Under the bed was where he'd hidden her rock.

The two kittens raced downstairs on all fours to be the first to the kitchen for breakfast, where they could smell pancakes, breakfast sausages, and maple syrup. Mother scrambled an egg for the two to share and cut Karma's pancake into bite sized pieces for her.

After breakfast Puss had chores to do, and after that it was present time. They gathered in the garden, gifts hidden behind their backs. Mother presented hers first, a blue ribbon that matched Karma's eyes. She tied it around Karma's neck.

Karma loved the rock, eyes sparkling nearly as much as it did. She named it Rock. She also happened to own a plush rock Mother had sewn for her previous birthday. It was also named Rock. Every rock Karma owned was named Rock. This one was specifically Pretty Rock.

Puss thought her rock collection was big enough to be a whole Rock Family Tree.

So the day was spent watching Karma play with all her rocks, and that night they had a rock-shaped birthday cake, which had been very easy to accidentally-on-purpose mess up so that it looked more natural.

Over all, Puss would say it was a rocking success. Although he did manage to finally run out of rock puns.