A Lovely Gift

One cool autumn evening, Maharaja was making His way home from the market. The wind rustled the leaves in the trees, causing some of them to come loose and flutter down to the path below. Maha watched as He walked, marveling at nature's beautiful display of color. Today had been such a nice day. He'd found everything He needed at the market, and a few other nice surprises as well.

As He made His way deeper Into the forest and closer to home, Maha was shaken from His reverie by a loud, pained mewling noise. He frowned, listening. The sound was coming from nearby. He strayed off the path and made His way through the undergrowth toward the noise.

Finally He found what was making the noise. It was a Cakepop. A Royal Cakepop, in fact. The poor thing had gotten stuck in a nasty patch of brambles and was desperately scrambling, trying to get out.

Maha set down His basket and approached the Cakepop slowly.

"Shh, it's alright. Let me help you."

But the Cakepop was too scared. The closer Maha got, the more it struggled.

Maha thought for a moment before heading back over to His basket and digging through it. There. He made His way back over to the Cakepop slowly, holding out a berry.

"See? Look, it's okay."

The Cakepop stopped struggling, sniffing at the berry. When the Paca got close enough, she took the berry and started nibbling on it.

This was enough of a distraction for Maha to be able to untangle the Cakepop from the brambles. He smiled and patted her on the head.

"Stay out of trouble, now."

With that, He picked up His basket and started making His way back toward the path to head home. But He had only gone a few steps when He heard a sad mewling behind Him. He turned to look.

The Cakepop was following Him, scrambling to keep up.

"Aw, what's wrong? I was just heading home, sweetheart." He scritched her behind the ears. She was so cute! He couldn't help Himself.

The Cakepop purred and nuzzled His hand before bounding off ahead of Him.

The Paca turned to watch her, amused.

"Oh, are you coming along?"

The Cakepop mewed excitedly and ran over to Him. Maharaja took that as a yes, and led the way home. He'd have to decide what to call her. He thought about it as they walked.

"What about Kaeleigh?" He stopped and picked up the Cakepop, who looked at Him in confusion. Maharaja laughed.

"For a name. For me to call you. What do you think of Kaeleigh?"

The Cakepop mewed and nuzzled His hand. Maharaja smiled as they rounded a bend and His house became visible.

"Well then," He said, setting her down as they reached His garden.

"Welcome home, Kaeleigh."