The sky was dark, but the night young. Deep scarlet eyes peered into the darkness. She was alone.It had been a long time since she left her sea of thirteen other siblings. Indeed, many looked like... some were paired, even, and some nearly had another identical twin. She nearly had one herself, save for the change in pigmentation. But yes - they were all very much alike each other in every way, all part of the biggest family she had seen in the savanna. They were all raised with love, and departed when they were old enough to set out on their own.
It was the wild dog's life, wasn't it?
Even Ereshkigal was gone.
Pulika yowled into the air, singing for her lost twin. She had missed her, but they departed on good terms. Ereshkigal had a great plan; she set out by herself to look for it. Pulika wasn't even sure how her twin sister would obtain that. But she always left the intelligence up to Ereshkigal - it had just been that way, even though the brown twin was the youngest of their litter. Now, there was no more shoulder of Pulika's to lean on when there was a problem. Pulika would not be there to reason out anything. But it was for the best.
She looked over the moonlight, feeling a sense of reverie. Ereshkigal always favored the light at this time of night. Sometimes Ereshkigal joked about Pulika having the same silvery reflection on her fur. She smiled, even spouting out a small giggle to herself; her sister always did have the funniest and yet creative things to say.
With each passing day, the wild dog found that she spent less and less of her time lamenting over the loss of her family members. They had all spread, yes, and were all now coming up with their own lives. It was a given - how could all fourteen members, not including their parents, stick together? It surely was not possible to form a pack together. No, indeed it would have been detrimental to do such a thing.
But now she had no one to remind about the rules! Yet... were there any rules in these barren lands? Individually, did he have any? Pulika was always the one to remember what their parents wanted. The responsible one, the trustworthy one, and the honest one was she. She had always been there surely for her other siblings, and she knew they respected her for that, even if she did spoil some of the fun. To be honest, it was a little stressful managing the other thirteen of them. They all knew they could overwhelm their parents easily with chaos, but Pulika was there to help maintain it all. Sure, she was not the only responsible pup of the litter, and definitely had some help. She even had to keep Ereshkigal quiet most of the time! But nonetheless, her obedient and organized manners kept the family going until they were grown up and ready to leave. In a way, Pulika had matured rapidly because of these things.
So now it was time for the obedient wild dog to pursue her own life, her own goals, her own family. But where? For some reason, it felt like each of the siblings had made a pact to separate to places as far from each other as possible. Perhaps it was the best for them all to spread their family, their lineage, their legacy everywhere. She had heard word from one of the birds that one of her sisters had already found refuge within a very tight-knit, family-oriented place. She sighed wistfully - that would have been a good option for her, but still, it didn't seem... right for Pulika to join. Though she respected structure and order, she still was a wild dog of the wild lands. And here was her home, and had been her home - with Ereshkigal. Perhaps, with time, since her sister departed... Pulika could one day find a home. But it was just not time yet.
And so she waited, sitting in the moonlight. No one would come, as usual. No passing sibling, no lost Ereshkigal. It was all up to her to bide her time until the right moment came.
Did she lose her adventures? She definitely did with the type of adventures Ereshkigal enjoyed in partaking, bringing Pulika along for the ride. However, it was time to find her own. Pulika was ready to start a new chapter of her life separate from a bunch of thirteen other siblings. She sighed again, smile lacing her lips in remembrance of them.
...It was nice at times, she had to admit, to be free from the stress and voices and hubbub all of them brought home. But now there were no voices. Not even her own. Who speaks to oneself? Surely not her, the quiet, responsible Pulika. Not even she was crazy despite the rampant activity throughout her early life and childhood.
But she did find time to reflect, and reflect well she did. She wondered if Ereshkigal did the same thing. With that mind of hers... did the brown twin have time to think of Pulika?
Pulika knew; she smiled as she acknowledged this memory. One of the last things Ereshkigal had said to her before she ran off on her merry little way was, "Don't forget me, Pulika... Because... Because well, I won't forget about you, so you better remember me!"
It was just like Ereshkigal to say that. Whenever Pulika led the two out of harm's way, Ereshkigal was aggressive in even thanking Pulika for the solution. It was just one of those quirks that kept the two's spirits lively and continuously together.
She stood up then, bold, proud, and confident. She was alone now, and nothing would change that. It was her time to write a separate branch of tale for her family - to add to the thirteen other tales that would unfold in each one of their lives. Pulika was ready, and she could only hope the world was ready to take her in as well.
