"Maybe you are some kind of crossbreed."

Artorias and Ornstein had decided to take a break from their duties together, grabbing something to eat from one of the taverns located in Anor Londo's side street, so that statement from Artorias side came really surprising.

"What gives you that idea?", Ornstein asked.

"Your teeth.", Artorias came right to the point. "You have little fangs."

Oh yes, that... Honestly, Ornstein had almost completely forgotten about it. When he had been a kid he often had gotten weird looks, but after he became a knight and wore full amour pretty much all of the time, that wasn't an issue anymore. And he was used enough to see the reflection of his own face that he didn't notice it anymore.

"I know, this is weird.", he said, looking down, remembering how insecure about this he had been earlier. "But, having fangs doesn't have to mean that I am a crossbreed." Of course he couldn't know this. It could very well be. Because of his abandonment as a baby he had never known his heritage.

"You think they are weird? I always found them rather charming.", Artorias said smiling.

Now that was typical for Artorias. He was a force to reckon with on the battlefield, but turned into an absolute softie when he found something cute. Mostly animals. Ornstein realized that Artorias just had implied that he thought Ornstein was cute and quickly changed the subject: "Wait, you are not getting out of this that easily. What kind of crossbreed do you think I could be?"

Artorias wasted no time with the answer: "Dragon."

Ornstein nearly choked on his food. From all the things Artorias could have said, this was the least one he had expected. "Well, I don't know much about crossbreeds but from what I know dragon ones usually have things like a tail, scales or horns.", he said after having catched his breath.

"I can't say that I've ever seen you fully undressed. It may very well be that you have one of these things and just hide it from others.", Artorias said nonchalantly. Sooo... Artorias seemed to believe that he was hiding something. Ornstein didn't know what he should think about this. Of course he considered Artorias his friend and he would have probably told him about this... or would he? Ornstein wasn't sure. And while he was busy thinking about how in the world he could hide a tail in his armour, Artorias spoke again.

"I didn't mean like a full fledged half and half crossbreed. More like... it could be your heritage. Having some blood from another race is more common than one might think."

Ornstein got curious: "Could you elaborate this further?"

"Alright, I'll try to keep it simple. You are aware that there were cultures praying to the dragons earlier, mostly in an attempt to ease them down and not getting targeted by them. And then there was a village where a dragon actually listened to the prayers and gave the villagers a fragment of its power, transforming them into dragon like characters. And after a while some of them left the village and got kids with people who weren't transformed. The kids had dragon features too, but not as many. And this continued on and on. And after a while, the dragon aspect was watered down enough to not be obvious anymore."

Artorias took a break from talking and surveyed Ornstein.

"But there were still features left like having fangs..."

Obviously, Ornstein couldn't deny this.

"A unusual hair or eye colour..."

His eye colour was of a dark green and while rare, it wasn't unusual. His hair on the other hand... bright red, almost the colour of blood. There were other red haired people around but they had a more ginger tone, like the fur of a fox.

"Or a special power or skill far surpassing that of others."

Ornstein had this, his gliding step. It was actually so fast that nobody could catch up with him. At least he hadn't met somebody who could. Now having lost his appetite, he put down his fork.

"Artorias, you are implying that I slayed dozens of beings that could be my heritage. This thought is..."

"Kind of ironic, I know.", Artorias finished his sentence.

Ornstein shook his head: "I wanted to say scary."

Artorias looked a bit considerate: "This seems to have made you feel uncomfortable. I am sorry for bringing this up."

"No, it is fine. What you said actually made a lot of sense. I don't know about my heritage at all. Actually, having a child with dragon blood in it sounds like a legitimate reason to abandon it." He pondered a bit. "But why dragon blood though? How did you come up with that? Couldn't it also be the blood of another race?"

Artorias answered instantly: "That's easy. It is how comfortable and skilled you are in aerial battle. You aren't afraid of falling down or heights, you can land perfectly on your feet even from a high distance and you can jump really high and wide."

"Artorias, that doesn't convince me. You can do jumps like me too."

"Not with that grace and elegance. Have you ever noticed your landings? Mine are noisy and have to be done with full force. You can land with such a grace, it looks like you were born to fight like this. You even manage to hover a short while in the air before striking down. That is just impressive. And I don't think any human or divine could do this without the help of a bit special blood."

"... You certainly have given me some things to think about tonight..."

"It is just an assumption, Ornstein, we can't know if it is true. But I had it for a while now and wanted to tell you. Especially after you told me about that you got abandoned. But we should return to our duties now. We can talk further about this later."

They got up, paid for the food and continued to their patrol route.

"Artorias...", Ornstein asked. "How did you think I would have been able to hide a tail in my armour?"

"Are you seriously thinking about that?"