What Will Be | Side Chapter: Bella and Tulos (Patreon)

Author's Note: Thank you all for your continued support! It means the world to me! This is a chapter I also want to really tighten up in the edits later because it gets a bit funky conceptually, but I think the ideas all come across. I'd love to hear feedback on this one. Thanks for reading!

“What makes for a more effective teacher, I wonder? There is a Teaching Skill, but would it not be better to be taught by someone well versed and highly leveled in the Skill you wish to learn? Of course, ideally, one would be taught by someone with both.”

~Unknown

Bella 

Every morning the rooster crowed. The rooster was in charge of the chickens. Bella liked the chickens; they laid eggs and eggs were delicious. Sometimes, Bella did not like the rooster because it was loud and annoying. 

“Lionneeeellll, be quiet please,” Bella grumbled as she pulled her blanket up over her head to hide from the noise. The rooster, Lionel, simply crowed again which was very rude. Bella decided she would complain later, when Aunty Tina came to visit. For some reason, Will’s mommy always chortled when Bella complained about Lionel in front of her. Bella liked it when people were happy and-   

Will is coming to visit today! 

When little girls are sleepy, sometimes they don’t always remember their plans for the day. Bella remembered though, even if it wasn’t straight away. The warmth of her blankets tried to tempt her into staying in bed, but excitement was even more special than warmth. With a giggle, Bella threw off her blankets and hopped out of bed. 

There was a little box next to the window for her to stand on, and she scurried over to it. The box let her reach the latch on her window. Light was already trying to sneak in through the gaps and edges. Sometimes the latch was tricky and got stuck, but that morning Bella was feeling confident. Practice made perfect, and with a triumphant grin she opened up the window on her first attempt. 

Light bathed her room and the various, unfinished projects scattered throughout. Her most recent obsession was knitting. Knitting was tricky, even trickier than the window latch, even though Bella’s mama tried her best to teach her. A pair of wooden needles lay discarded by a bundle of tangled wool. Bella took in a deep breath as the cool, morning air crossed her face. It tickled the gap in her mouth where one of her baby teeth had fallen out. 

“GOOD MORNING EVERYONE!” Even though the rooster was annoying sometimes, Bella still decided it was nice to say good morning to everyone. 

Off in the distance, one of her papa’s sheep bleated. 

Today is going to be a good day! 

Tulos

Parenting a newborn was exhausting. Perhaps naively, Tulos initially thought that, having gone through the experience with Will, that he’d be better equipped to manage Marco. While it was true that many of the more confronting realities of caring for a newborn were no longer a surprise, it didn’t make the physical or emotional toll any easier. 

Sleep was regularly interrupted; even when it was not Tulos’ ‘turn’ to check on the baby, disjointed rest left its mark. The bags under his eyes had grown more pronounced over the last few weeks, for unlike his beloved, Tulos had not Advanced enough to forestall the signs of exhaustion. 

That is why Tulos was so excited to have a day to himself. Tina was taking Marco to visit Lianda and Will was going with her; naturally, Vigil and Fudge would also accompany them. There would be peace and there would be quiet. It was a luxury he had come to long for as many parents did. 

Not that he’d trade his family for anything in the world, of course; they were worth all of the hardships and more. Still, he could appreciate the value of some alone time.

For the first time in weeks, there was almost a bounce to Tulos’ steps as he hurried through his morning chores. As his axe sliced through a section of log like a hot knife through butter, he caught sight of Will jogging around the property. 

Every morning he does that… Most people caught ‘the bug’ at some point in their lives, becoming possessed by a drive to Advance; Will had just done so earlier than most.  

Similarly, most people also eventually settled into an equilibrium, of sorts, when the demands of life - romance, usually - became a higher priority than Advancement. 

His Core Skill worries me, though… Perseverance had already caused Will to lose out on so much. His childhood was cut short, lost to the demands of the Skill. The whole thing made Tulos feel like… like he was becoming irrelevant. The boy had almost Advanced as much as he had, and after the whole incident with the dog’s Advancement even Tina had been deliberately vague regarding the details. 

‘Tamer business.’ Tulos frowned at the thought. It carried an implication that he wouldn’t be able to understand the difficulties and challenges his son was going through enough to offer any valuable insight. The worst part? It was probably accurate. 

The giant of a man sighed and gently set his axe down before scooping up the armful of chopped wood he’d been working on. It wasn’t as much as he usually did, but it would be enough. Probably.  

Today was supposed to be a good day… 

Bella

Aunty Tina’s new baby was so cute! His name was Marco and he made little drool bubbles whenever he wasn’t crying. He cried a lot though. Sometimes the cries were because he was hungry, or sometimes it was because he needed to be burped, and other times it was because he needed to poop. Aunty Tina was usually good at telling the different cries apart, but sometimes Bella chimed in to correct her. She was good at understanding what the baby wanted. 

Aunty Tina and Bella’s mama always looked impressed when she did so, which made Bella preen like a happy parrot. Will always looked a little uncomfortable, though. Bella didn’t like the way he looked at her sometimes, like he was scared of her. When Will said he was going to go play outside with Fudge, who was now a sparkly amazing rainbow dog, Bella decided to go with him. 

Bella’s mama gave her permission, but Will just looked worried again. It was the way his lip did the wiggly thing; it was a small, wiggly thing, but to Bella it made his feelings super obvious. 

Outside, Vigil and Fudge were playing with Jacket. Jacket was a dog Tina trained to help Bella’s papa look after the sheep. Jacket was a good dog, but Bella wasn’t allowed to play with her most days. Working dogs should not be distracted while they are working, or so Bella’s papa often said. 

Figuello still let his daughter play with her sometimes, though, if she asked sweetly enough. Bella knew her papa didn’t like saying no to her. 

When Will whistled, Fudge ran up to sit with him, so Bella decided to sit next to Will on the other side. They were facing the paddock where some sheep were eating the grass; they would need to get haircuts soon. There was a special word for sheep haircuts. Shearing. It was a special word and Bella was proud that she knew it. 

“Hey Will, do you know what they call sheep haircuts?” She would impress him with her knowledge. Will knew lots of things, but there was no way he could know the special word. Bella straightened her shoulders and tried not to look too smug. 

Fudge’s pretty fur was distracting, so her eyes kept flicking towards it, largely breaking the illusion of suspense. Bella’s mama had been surprised to see that Fudge had changed. Bella had so many questions about Fudge but had been told to wait for answers. 

Maybe Will will teach me after I tell him about shearing, she thought. He would probably- 

“Sheep haircuts? You mean shearing? Yeah, it is how farmers collect the wool from their sheep.” Will answered without looking away from Fudge. “What about it?” 

Bella shot her best glare in Will’s direction, but he didn’t seem to notice it. She puffed up her cheeks in frustration. 

“Nothing!” Bella snapped and crossed her arms, annoyed that, once again, Will knew everything. It was hard to be friends with Will sometimes. He always seemed more interested in playing with Fudge or talking to the adults than playing with her. He was more fun when they were little-er. 

…

Lucky for her, Fudge didn’t join Will that day. The sparkly- 

Sparkly? Right, Will had told her about-

Did he? Bella squinted as she tried to remember. Something wasn’t quite right. 

“I think Fudge is hungry,” Will mumbled to himself, which was a silly thing to say. How could he possibly know if Fudge was hungry? He’d sat up to stretch before leaning back down to keep on watching the clouds, which is what they’d come outside to do. 

“That one looks like a sheep!” Bella called out and pointed at the cloud in question. She’d spotted a lot of sheep already and-

Will was telling the truth just now, she realized. So he did actually think that Fudge was hungry. Weird.    

“Yeah, it sure… does…” Will didn’t sound impressed. If anything, he sounded confused. There was a sudden weariness to his voice, as well, like he was tired. 

Bella sat up and looked down at her friend. He was glancing around and blinking rapidly. There was a special word for that, too. Dizorentated. 

“Are you okay?” It was a question asked out of politeness; she already knew the answer.

“I… yeah, I am fine,” Will lied, which prompted a frown from Bella. She hated when he did that.  

Tulos

Tulos told himself that he would rest and relax while his family was away, but thus far he had yet to do so. Since the baby had been born, there had been an undeniable lapse in the quality of the housework. That was fine, of course. Understandable, even… even so, what started with a brief tidy rapidly became a deep clean. 

When he was sitting still, he felt guilty. Tina didn’t get a day off, so why should he? It didn’t seem fair, and a clean house would be a nice gesture. Some people hummed while they worked, but Tulos just moved from task to task with a quiet efficiency. The mop bucket was filled, the dust rag grew dusty, and steadily the home returned to some semblance of normalcy. 

It wouldn’t last, but it never did. That wasn’t the point. It was just nice to feel useful. 

When it was time for lunch, Tulos prepared it in a spotless kitchen. More mess would be created, but such was the way of things, and it could always be cleaned again. A loaf of bread was split in half and a selection of salted meats were carefully sliced into sandwich-appropriate strips. Naturally, he wielded his kitchen hatchet for the task. 

…

The dull thudding of a wagging tail drew Tulos’ attention.

Fudge had wandered over to watch him work. It was odd that Will had left him at home, but he could only assume that it was somehow connected to Tina’s curriculum. Normally, Fudge knew better than to beg for food, but evidently without Will present he’d grown bold. The way the young dog eyed the meat was telling. 

“This will need to be our little secret, you hear?” Naturally, Fudge did not respond, but he’d remained largely unobtrusive while Tulos worked, which he decided warranted a reward. 

That and I suspect he will drool on my clean floors if I do not feed him. 

Tulos threw a handful of off-cuts and a few nicer pieces of meat for Fudge to snatch out of the air, which the prismatic pup did with gusto. Though to continue calling Fudge a pup was, perhaps, not quite accurate. He was young mentally, sure, but physically he was practically fully grown. 

In many ways, Tulos considered him the opposite to Will in that regard. 

Fudge padded away to another room of the house, seemingly content now that he’d been fed. 

…

Tulos returned to assembling his sandwich, trying not to be too disappointed that he’d had to throw out some of the meat he’d been planning to use. It was a shame that some cuts had gone bad. He- 

Wait, is that right? Tulos had the weirdest sense that something strange had happened, but he couldn’t figure out what it was. Before he could dwell on it too much, he put his hatchet down with a sigh. 

I could have sworn I did not miss a spot. Living with dogs meant that dog hairs were a constant presence, but with the two main culprits away for the day, Tulos made an effort to be thorough in his cleaning. A small collection of Fudge’s fur near the kitchen area meant that even that had not been sufficient.  

Lunch could wait another few minutes, he decided. At that point it was a matter of principle. 

Bella 

Bella watched Fudge through narrowed eyes as he returned. He’d wandered off at some point and disappeared behind the other side of her house. While he was gone, Will had agreed to look at the clouds with her and-

No. That’s not true. Something about Bella’s recollection of events was bothering her. It was like she was lying to herself and the experience made her visibly uncomfortable. 

“WIll, my tummy feels… funny,” she whined. The word she had been searching for was nauseous, but bigger words, much like latches and knitting, were tricky sometimes. 

“Is it something you… ate?” Will trailed off as he asked the question. Fudge was wagging his tail while Will administered pats. When Will finished speaking, he sniffed audibly at the air. There was a moment’s pause before he put his face right near Fudge’s mouth and sniffed again. 

Bella watched as a flurry of emotions passed over Will’s face. Surprise. Concern. Excitement. Worry. Excitement again. It was weird that he looked that way after smelling dog breath. Dog breath was icky. He also stared down - or more accurately, stared up - at Fudge with a scrutinous look. To Bella’s surprise, it was enough to make the dog wither. His ears pressed down flat and his body was quick to follow. Even so, there was a slow wag in his tail. Despite being silently chastised, Fudge was still happy about something.

“You can go inside if your tummy feels funny,” Will said offhandedly. He didn’t take his eyes off of Fudge, which Bella found annoying. It was like he didn’t even care. 

“Fine!” She snapped. There was a lot happening, things were strange, and just like big words, sometimes big emotions were challenging for Bella as well. She stormed off, fully prepared to complain to Will’s mommy. 

After a few steps, she looked back, hoping to see a reaction. Again, Will didn’t even seem to notice. It was infuriating.