Aleu was running late! Of course was it, it was just her luck. Her training session had gone long that morning which meant her muscles were already aching brutally but her pace didn’t dip below ‘rushed’ as she made her way across the savannah. The forest which she had been training inside was long gone, far behind her and far from her destination.It didn’t take her long to spot a familiar pale figure in the distance. She grinned to herself, yipping out a greeting as she crossed the distance between them.
Pan’eira turned at the sound and a grin crossed her face. “Aleu!” She called out cheerfully. “You made it!”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world babe!” Aleu laughed, panting as she slowed to a hault before her friend. They exchanged a quick nuzzle of greeting before the conversation turned to the last person missing. “I beat Kaneika?”
“You did,” Pan’eira huffed. “She’s gone crazy, Aleu. You have to talk to her.”
“Why? What is she doing?” Aleu was confused. Kaneika was the sensible one.
“Just wait,” she sulked. “Just wait.”
“I think I can see her now, must have just beat her,” Aleu mentioned, and yipped a greeting to the approaching blob of purple which soon formed the shape of their friend as she came closer.
The purple wild dog barked back, greeting them excitedly. “Aleu!” Kaneika called out in greeting. “It’s been too long! I’m so glad you could make it.”
“You girls act like it’s been years since we’ve seen each other,” Aleu laughed but didn’t deny the nuzzle that Kaneika gave her. Who would turn down free nuzzles? Crazy people, that’s what.
And speaking of crazy.
“Eira’s telling me you’re going crazy, Eika!” Aleu pointed out. “What’s happening?”
Kaneika shot the pale dog a dark look. “Eira is just being dramatic like always, Aleu. It’s nothing as bad as what she’s saying!”
“Just tell her, Eika,” Pan’eira snapped. “Don’t beat around the bush.”
Aleu was starting to get worried now, glancing between her friends with a look of growing concern. Oh no, was Eika dying?
Kaneika heaved a heavy sigh, as if weighted down by the sheer frustration she was feeling for her friend. “Fine,” she grumbled to Pan’eira before turning back to Aleu. “I have decided that I am no longer a young lady anymore, I am getting on in years –“
“Oh you are not,” Aleu objected but Kaneika simply talked over her.
“And it looks like things in the love department aren’t going to go my way, judging by the sheer lack of any sort of male interest,” she rambled, “and so I have decided that I am going to find a suitable male…and I am going to have pups. On my own. I won’t tell the guy. I don’t want some random mate who thinks he owes me for knocking me up.” She rolled her eyes, as if that was ridiculous.
Aleu gaped at her friend with a look of utter confusion. “But…Eika, you don’t have a pack, or a home, or a…or a family really! You can’t just bring pups into this world completely unprepared like this! I mean, Eira would probably lose them in a second!”
“Eira will not be looking after my pups,” Eika said offended. “I am not stupid!”
“Hey!” Pan’eira protested but didn’t really deny that she would likely lose the pups. She wasn’t the most attentive creature, especially since she was so easily distracted by things.
“I just want a family, Aleu, that’s the point,” Kaneika explained, sighing. “I miss having a home, and I can’t make a home with just me – that’s just depressing!”
“It’s not that bad, Eika,” Aleu tried to reassure. “And hey, you’re not alone. You’ve got us!”
Eika looked at the brawny Aleu, then the spoilt and girlish Eira and winced slightly. “No offence girls, but I think having pups is the slightly more sane option than make a home with you three.”
Eira was fed up, finally, and burst out with; “you can’t get pregnant, Eika! You can barely look after yourself and what will you do with them? Just have them on the savannah and and what if you need ot hunt? Who will watch them? You haven’t thought this through!” The two other dogs stared at Eira until she huffed. “Ok, that’s rich coming from me but still, Eika, you’re the responsible one! How is getting pregnant without a mate in any way responsible?”
“It’s not,” Eika admitted, staring down at her paws. “But it’s the only way I can foresee me having pups anytime before I die.”
“Oh Eik, you’ll find a mate some day,” Aleu tried to reassure, and Eika smiled, somewhat sadly.
“Maybe, but I can’t spend my entire life waiting on a ‘some day’ or an ‘if’. I want a home, and a family, and this is how I can do that. I’m not asking you girls to support me, or encourage me to do this, but I want you to accept that it’s what I’m doing, and I hope that you’ll visit me and your nieces and nephews?” She looked hopeful at the two women who had formed the majority of her family for the longest time recently, and who she hoped would still be part of her family when the pups came.
Eira was the first to cave, nuzzling her friend gently. “I still think you’re crazy,” she admitted but her gaze was softer. “You will have adorable pups, Eik.”
Aleu wasn’t far behind Eira, moving over to nuzzle Eika as well. “The cutest pups ever. I have to admit, I don’t think it’s wise but I’ll support you. I’ll teach them to fight!” Aleu grinned, teeth jagged and dangerous and her brawny muscle giving that statement truth.
“Oh, oh!” Pan’eira squealed. “I can show them how to make flower crowns. They’ll be even prettier that way! Oooh, and I can make them necklaces. Won’t that be beautiful, Eika?”
The two females stared at her expectantly and Kaneika almost groaned. What had she let herself into, telling these two females of her plan? She was crazy! Absolutely crazy!
“No fighting, and no flower crowns!” Kaneika protested. “I want these pups to grow up normal!”
The three were silent for a bit, before Aleu and Pan’eira began to laugh, loudly. Kaneika lasted a few moments before joining in, realising the ridiculousness of her statement.
“Oh who am I kidding. They’re gonna be the weirdest and fiercest wild dogs to ever fight in a flower crown.”
- Fin.
(WC: 1093words)