Summary: Tempest's training continues. He tries to talk to Ornstein. He learns some interesting facts about Seath.
(Author's note: A fair warning, this chapter contains a few very special headcanons about Seath and it could give you weird mental images in your head.
Also please look at this amazing piece of fanart the wonderful Velvialines from tumblr did for me: post/184978157488/littlest-storm-a-piece-of-fanart)
"Your stance is all wrong."
Their swords clung at each other while Ornstein was forcing Tempest against the wall.
"Unnecessary movement.", Ornstein shouted while Tempest tried to lift his sword for a counter attack when Ornstein had removed his own for the next strike.
"And dead again.", Ornstein finished, when he had managed to force Tempest on the ground, sword on his throat. The Undead slowly got up, growling.
"It would be easier when you would let me dodge.", he complained.
"I am teaching you correct swordplay, little storm. I never said it would be easy." Ornstein picked up the sword and tossed it to Tempest. "Again."
Tempest mindlessly caught the sword and got into stance. Since they had left the archives around four days had passed and Ornstein gave his all to train Tempest, drilling everything into the mind of the small Undead.
"How much longer do we have to do this?", Tempest asked and watched as his sword was sent flying.
"Now would have been the time to evade, you are unarmed.", Ornstein hissed. "And dead.", he said when once again his sword touched a vital point of Tempest. Tempest himself was grateful that Ornstein didn't actually kill him, even though he would come back to life. Ornstein probably preferred training someone who didn't look like a dried out raisin all the time.
"And for your question, how long we have to do this, as long as it takes.", Ornstein continued. "The more you try, the faster we are done."
Tempest sighed and picked up his sword again, turning around and countering the first attack of Ornstein, because in the meantime he had learned that Ornstein wouldn't wait for him to declare that he's ready.
"Oh, little storm, you are learning." Tempest was sure Ornstein had a grin under this helmet of his and actually felt a little bit of pride swelling up in his chest, which got into panic quickly when the next attack of the dragon slayer hit and ripped a large wound.
Even though Ornstein wasn't killing Tempest, he wasn't holding back when it came to attacking and so Tempest Estus was constantly used during this training sessions.
"In a real fight you won't have time to fumble for this thing to drink. You need to wait for the right moment when you have something like a healing potion.", Ornstein explained, while he waited for the wound to heal. Tempest had the assumption in the future Ornstein wouldn't let him drink the Estus freely anymore, but would apply more pressure on him.
Tempest fell onto the ground after the wound healed, panting. "I am done for. Can we stop for now?", he begged.
"Hmph, it isn't even dark yet.", Ornstein said, but a loud growling of his stomach betrayed the dragon slayer. Tempest couldn't help but grin at the sound, it showed that the dragon slayer was very much a living person and not some kind of unreachable legend from the histories.
"You haven't heard anything.", Ornstein growled and Tempest was sure the face of the dragon slayer was as red as his hair under his helmet. He got awfully easy embarrassed. That was the first thing Tempest had learned about Ornstein in this few days.
"Let's call it a day and continue tomorrow." Ornstein collected the swords and brought them to a nearby weapons stand, then turned around to head for the cathedral.
"It is boring training with swords all the time, can't we train with spears tomorrow?", Tempest casually asked as they went back to the cathedral.
"You haven't even mastered the sword yet."
"Maybe I am just suited for spears better, who knows?"
"If you insist. But you are gonna regret this."
This time, Tempest was sure that a grin had washed over the dragon slayer's face.
At first when Tempest had made the meals for Ornstein, he had retreated and watched from the kitchen door, which had annoyed the dragon slayer and so he had stepped to the side so that he wasn't in sight anymore, but still tried to watch Ornstein. Which hadn't worked, because the dragon slayer had come to the door and just stared him down with crossed arms and then said, if Tempest wanted company, he should just come sit at the table.
This was when Tempest assumed that Ornstein maybe was the one who wanted the company, but of course the dragon slayer wouldn't admit it. And so it had become common for Tempest to accompany the dragon slayer during his meals. Tempest himself couldn't taste anything anymore and he also was never feeling hungry since he became Undead, but he very much enjoyed the reactions the dragon slayer had about his meals. Also, meal time was a good opportunity for some small talk.
"It is amazing that you have so many supplies left even after several hundreds year.", Tempest had said one day while cooking.
"Gwyndolin has their methods.", Ornstein replied to this, watching from the kitchen door.
Today, also, Ornstein was standing in the kitchen door, watching as Tempest prepared the meal. And that after Ornstein himself had gotten annoyed when Tempest had done this.
"You can come in, you know.", Tempest said while cutting vegetables.
"I can't.", Ornstein simply replied. "It's to soon.", he added, very quietly. Tempest shrugged. Ornstein seemed to have his reason. The small Undead was already contempt with Ornstein being much more accommodating these last few days. The dragon slayer genuinely seemed to enjoy training Tempest, even though he acted like it was the most annoying thing during training sessions. Tempest felt that he already had looked through the thick shell of armour the dragon slayer wore. The man behind this armour was much softer than anyone would think and Tempest felt determined to get this shell to crack one day.
"We are going to be friends.. and maybe.. more than that...", Tempest murmured into the pot and dreamily stirred the contents.
"What are you murmuring about?", Ornstein asked from the door, startling Tempest who managed to knock the pot down. With a flash, Ornstein was at his side and caught the pot, saying: "Be more careful. You are only making a mess like this."
"Thank you.", Tempest said, flabbergasted, the spoon that he used to stir high up in the air. Even though any injuries he had could be healed with a few sips from his estus flask, getting a pot of scalding hot soup over him would have hurt a lot.
"I didn't save you, I just didn't want to waste the food.", Ornstein murmured, setting the pot back down on the stove, averting his gaze. "Also, I didn't want to clean up a mess.", he added, wanderin back to stand in the kitchen door.
"Don't worry, you can leave any mess to me. I am quite good at houseworks.", Tempest cheerfully said and put the prepared spices into the soup. He then put the lid onto the pot, jumped down from the footstool and wandered over to the table.
"It will need to cook a while before it is ready."
Reluctantly Ornstein came in and seated himself down opposite from Tempest.
"So.", Tempest started. Ornstein rarely ever started a conversation. "I know you are still training me and I am already thankful for that, but one day we have to go back and eventually slay this dragon, Seath, right?"
Tempest saw how Ornstein's green eyes locked on him, very good, he had his attention.
"Yes? That is the task you have been assigned to. Collecting the fragments of the lord soul and Seath has one of them."
"Yes, I know, we have gone over this already. It is just... you know a lot more about this world and the lords than me or any history book could tell me. What can you tell me about Seath?"
Ornstein seemed to consider a short while, before crossing his arms and speaking: "The first thing that comes to mind when it comes to Seath is, that he was a traitor to his own race. Granted, with his information we were able to win the dragon war and that was also the reason he was granted dukedom and the archives."
"I know, that is in every history book.", Tempest said, glancing back to the pot to see if he would need to intervene.
"I never liked Seath.", Ornstein continued. "I don't know everything he did in these archives, but it were surely some atrocious things. Sometimes maiden vanished and we could never proof it, but I am sure Seath took them. When we asked him to hoard Undead before they got send to the asylum, I am sure we got less back then we originally handed over. Oh sorry, that must be a sour spot."
Tempest had looked at Ornstein with a blank look. Being undead himself and having brought to the asylum, it was indeed a sore spot. But it wasn't like Tempest couldn't understand their reasons. Seeing what a dangerous land Lordran was, now that it was swarmed with hollows... "Don't worry about it, please continue."
"Seath misses scales, I am sure you have seen this when you barged into his study room.", Ornstein said and glared at Tempest before adding a "little storm."
"I have seen that he was covered by crystals .", Tempest answered. "That was before I got killed by his crystal breath."
"This information is new.", Ornstein murmured. "He must have tried to replace his scales with twinkling titanite. Seath kind of obsessed over it. The crystal golem we fought must have been a side effect of his studies, as well as all the crystallized hollows."
Tempest grew impatient: "These are all hard facts. What about Seath's character? Like he acts or what he does? Is there something we can use against him?"
"Seath is a cautious one.", Ornstein continued. "I once heard him say that he finally has found the way to immortality, but that has been long ago. I have to assume that he has an item or something hidden somewhere tied to it."
Tempest nodded. "Anything else?"
Ornstein stayed silent for a while before opening his mouth again: "Seath did had almost everyone in Anor Londo inside him or was inside them, but I don't know how we should use this against him."
Tempest jaw dropped. "What?!", he started, face flushing to red. From all the things he would have expected, this was the least and even more, the least words he would have expected out of the mouth of the dragon slayer. Still trying to process this information, Tempest continued: "Have you...?"
"No.", Ornstein shut him off before he could even finish the question. "I said almost everyone. I wasn't one of them.", he huffed, crossed his arms and turned away. "What do you take for me, seeking to share the bed with a dragon?"
"I am sorry.", Tempest shrunk down, but then curiosity take over again. "Just how?"
Ornstein deeply sighed. "I shouldn't have said anything, but I have brought this about myself, so I will explain it to you.
Seath invented a magic that made his form closer to that of a god or a divine. This is how he did it."
"A magic like this exists?!", Tempest asked excitedly. "And Seath used it to..."
"Yes.", Ornstein nodded before Tempest could even finish the sentence.
"...How did you find out?"
"When your silver knights flock to the archives every evening, you are starting to get suspicious.", Ornstein started to tell. "So one day I followed them silently and when I finally had my turn to speak with Seath, the dragon was far too delighted. As if he wasn't expecting to see me at all. Well, I hadn't any intention to go there normally, he is still a dragon and playing chess with him was just awful."
Tempest now hung on the lips of the dragon slayer. A story from his time in an age where Anor Londo was still in bloom and even though the content was... questionable to say the least.. Tempest already was invested in it. And it was rare to get the dragon slayer so talkative.
"And then he asked me how I preferred it and that was when I understood.", Ornstein continued. "Of course I denied. Seath still tried to persuade me, but he didn't succeed. He stopped when I threatened to put my spear between his eyes." Ornstein briefly paused. "Of course Seath was under Lord Gwyn's protection but the threat still worked. Seath probably knew that I would have done it even when it would have meant punishment.
And thus I found out what it was my silver knights were doing in the archives." He averted his eyes and Tempest could see the hue of red on his cheeks. Of course it had been embarrassing for Ornstein to speak about this.
"It is kind of impressive for him to run a one-dragon-brothel.", Tempest dropped without thinking and caught Ornstein's glare, shrinking down again, quickly hurrying to the pot to check the temperature.
"I would like to give you a knock for this, but sadly you are right. In short, Seath was one thirsty dragon.", Ornstein said. "But like I said, how should we use this against him? I for sure, won't strip my armour in front of him and lie lascivious on the ground."
The thought of Ornstein lying lascivious on the ground without his armour almost gave Tempest a nose bleed and he quickly stirred the soup while pressing a hand against his nose, trying to get the hotness in his head away.
"That is the least bit of facts about Seath I would have expected.", Tempest said, preparing a plate to put the soup in.
"You asked for it, now don't blame me when you can't get the mental image out of your head.", Ornstein said. Tempest came over and put the soup down in front of Ornstein. "Enjoy your meal.", he said and sat down at the opposite of Ornstein again.
After a while of silent eating, Ornstein suddenly spoke: "What's wrong? Your face looks kind of cramped."
"Huh?", Tempest hadn't even noticed that he had made a face. "Oh, I am just processing the fact you told me that Seath is basically a hoe."
"Yes, you can call him that, in a blunt way.", Ornstein said, taking another sip of the soup. "There were rumours he did it to make Lord Gwyn jealous. Seath had this very obvious, large crush on our Lord and he was the only one to not notice it."
Tempest was glad that he didn't eat or drink anything, because he would have spat it out otherwise: "Excuse me?!"
"Seath had a crush on Lord Gwyn, how hard is that to understand?", Ornstein said, an annoying glance fell into Tempest's direction. "Or have you never heard that a men could be attracted to another men?"
"No, that's not it." Far from it actually, Tempest very well knew how it was to feel attracted to another men. After all, it had been like this for him his entire life. Also, it was more a dragon having a crush on a god, but Tempest felt like he shouldn't point this out.
"It is just, Gw.. Lord Gwyn had children and a wife. That is very well known."
"Correct and this is the reason why Gwyn never spared another glance at Seath. He was heartbroken after his wife died and never wanted to enter another relationship."
"... Also, Seath probably wouldn't have been the best choice. With him, you know..." Tempest made a respective gesture.
"Now you are getting the gist of it.", Ornstein grinned.
Tempest had gotten a room and a bed assigned by Ornstein, but since he was undead, he didn't need sleep. The dragon slayer however, still very much needed his sleep. Tempest found it excruciating boring to just wait the night lying on the bed, so he made it his habit to explore the cathedral in the nights.
The cathedral looked so much smaller when Tempest had searched his way to the great hall, to fight Ornstein and Smough. He hadn't even noticed how many hallways there have been, how large this building actually was. Or maybe he shouldn't have find them, maybe it was the doing of Dark Sun Gwyndolin and they simply had hidden every hallway he shouldn't find behind an illusion. After all, going through Anor Londo and receiving the lord vessel had been a mere test.
Thinking about this, while Tempest wandered the hallways, he started to feel incredible sorry for Ornstein. He must have been aware about this and was still tasked with fighting a battle he eventually had to lose. He probably had already found peace in dying at this place and then Tempest came and failed to give him the kill he desired. Tempest suddenly understood why the dragon slayer had been so mad at him.
After all, Tempest knew very well how it was not being able to die properly.
While Tempest was lost in his thoughts, he crossed a door that he hadn't seen before. Curiously, he opened it and slipped into the room.
Tempest gaze fell on a large table with a set of chairs next to it, one of them being particular large. A stack of paperwork was put down on the table, next to it were laying a few scattered pieces of paper, looking like notes, reminding Tempest of the orange soap stone messages Undeads from another world would carve into the ground.
But what was the most notable thing where the big wooden boards that stood around the table, along where the chairs where and when Tempest went to investigate, what stared at him were awesome accurate depictions of the knights of Gwyn.
Lord's Blade Ciaran, Artorias the Abysswalker and Hawkeye Gough were all staring at him, carefully painted, each stroke seemed to carry the weight of a thousand memories. Tempest slowly walked around them, taking them in. There wasn't a wooden board that depicted a painting of Ornstein.
"I wonder if he uses this room when he feels lonely.", Tempest mused, sitting down on the table and scanning the messages, taking one of them and folding it open to see the contents.
It were encouraging messages. Each and every one of them signed with a different name. Each and every one of them addressing the recipient as captain. Tempest flipped through a few more of them until he came to ones which weren't signed anymore. Instead, the handwriting was always the same and it were little messages and notes that encouraged the dragon slayer to partake in a certain activity.
Ornstein had mentioned that he and the executioner had been in a relationship, so Tempest assumed that these were from Smough. He quickly laid the notes back on the table, feeling a bit bad for having seen something that intimidate and quickly left the room.
Tempest continued his trek through the cathedral and stopped once he came at a place which probably had been used for the roll call, near the silver knights quarters. There was a big blackboard and a table with a wooden box on it, which had a slit, as if someone could put something into it. Tempest wondered if the notes he had found originated from this box.
It wasn't really important right now though and so he shrugged and decided to get a book to read until Ornstein awoke. The library of the cathedral paled in comparison to the dukes's archives, but there were still quite a few books there. Tempest mostly enjoyed reading the history books, totally intending to ask Ornstein about what was true and what was exaggerated .
The next day at breakfast, when Tempest had sat down at his usual position opposite from Ornstein, he asked the question he was the most curious about: "You were once the knight of the sunfirstborn, right? What was he like? He isn't mentioned in any book anymore. I wonder how people even knew he ever existed."
When Ornstein visibly froze, Tempest knew he had made a mistake.
"We don't talk about the master here.", Ornstein replied coldly. "And don't ever ask me about him again."
That must have been a touchy subject. Tempest muttered an apology and spent the rest of the breakfast half hidden under the table. He started to wonder if there had been something more between them. Ornstein was around a thousand years old, Tempest hardly could believe that he had only one partner. On the other hand, looking at Ornstein, Tempest could very well believe that this guy would stay abstinent for hundreds of years. He just eradicated that aura of correctness, mostly when in armour. His composure only seemed to crack a tiny little bit when he was outside or when he thought that nobody watched him.
"It is as if dragon slayer Ornstein is a persona...", Tempest muttered, unaware, that he had said it out aloud when he felt Ornstein's piercing gaze on him.
"You better leave now.", Ornstein said and Tempest knew that he had screwed up, again. With another muttered apology, Tempest left and decided to wait at the training grounds, sighing internally, because he expected that Ornstein would be particular hard to him today.
When the dragon slayer arrived a little bit later, Tempest was surprised to see that he actually had brought spears instead of swords. Ornstein tossed a spear to Tempest which the little Undead caught and nearly lost balance, quickly using the long shaft of the spear to readjust himself.
"So.", Ornstein started. "Even though I think it would be better to continue training with swords instead, I must admit, that it is a good idea to branch out to other weapons and see if you have a knack for them." He presented his own spear. Not the dragon slayer spear, a regular silver knight spear. Tempest noticed that he had been given a silver knightspear too.
"When it comes to spears, you lose some of the versatility of a sword.", Ornstein explained further. "But you gain a lot of range. And when you use a shield, it is easy to continue fighting even when you raise your shield." Ornstein stopped for a short while. "I don't use shields though, I always found them to be restricting. And instead of only talking, let me demonstrate what you can do with a spear."
"Yes, sir.", Tempest answered enthusiastically.
"Thrust attacks are the most common type of attacks with spears.", Ornstein said and thrusted his spear forward. "It is especially useful to get a mounted foe on the ground. It was also especially useful to stab a dragon in the eye with it."
"Next, you can also swipe with your spear.", Ornstein demonstrated the mentioned motion with a wide swing. "With swords, swipe attacks are more for cutting. With spears, it depends if you use the shaft or the blade. Either way, it is guaranteed to get your foe off balance.
When I think about it, in short, you can say that wielding a spear must feel like your arm has extended. You just need to use that extra range wisely. In my opinion, spears were the most useful weapon to fight dragons. While swords often recoiled at their leftover stone scales, a spear could could bore deep into their flesh and finish them off."
Ornstein finished the demonstration with a combo attack and a leap, things Tempest had seen him done in their battle.
"I don't expect you to be able to jump like that.", Ornstein said and faced Tempest, attacking without warning like usual.
Ornstein had been right. Tempest regretted proposing spears for training. When Ornstein was skilled with a sword, so had he reached absolute mastery with a spear. It only took the dragon slayer a few seconds to force the Undead on the ground and after a short while, Tempest Estus was already emptied and he felt a sharp pain in his chest. The next thing he knew, he awakened at the bonfire. Ornstein sat next to him.
"That has been too harsh of me, I am too used fighting with spears, so I accidentally inflicted a mortal wound.", Ornstein said, head to the side, as if he wasn't able to look Tempest in the eyes. It actually felt like he was sorry.
"I am used to the pain of dying now.", Tempest smiled. "Besides, I still have humanity left. I won't go hollow that quick anymore. At least for a while..."
"Still, we should get back to swords tomorrow.", Ornstein said. Apparently, the training session was already over. It didn't surprise Tempest. Appearing fully at the bonfire could take a good few hours. He was unconscious when it happened, but the ash his body turned into, probably needed some time to put it together again. Tempest wondered, if it was possible to observe this process from the outside.
After he had reversed his hollowing, the both of them ventured back to the cathedral where Tempest fulfilled his role of cooking a meal for Ornstein. The dragon slayer still hadn't showed any curiosity for why Tempest was able to cook so well. Whatever, Tempest was sure that he would ask eventually. Or maybe not. The dragon slayer was more willing to talk to Tempest nowadays, but he still didn't showed any interest in him at all besides making him into a warrior.
"Of course it is like this.", Tempest talked to himself while wandering the hallways after dinner was over. "In his eyes, you are just this puny Undead, nonetheless the one who killed his lover, failed to properly end his life and then came stumbling to him, asking for help.", Tempest sighed. "And still you wish it would be different, that you had his attention and that he would hold you. Why should he even fall in love with you? I am just a mess! I am not even a real soldier."
Tempest was far too frustrated to continue his trek through the cathedral right now and since Ornstein had given him his first bath in what had been probably month, Tempest realized how much he had missed that comfort. So he got a towel and soap, things he had found in the guest room, and walked into the changing room, where he got rid of his clothes and folded them neatly, laying his estus flask on top of them, before walking into the area with the public pool.
Tempest carefully entered the water and sat down, sighing when the hot water engulfed his sore muscles.
"Little storm?", a voice suddenly asked and Tempest jumped up in surprise, turning his head to see that Ornstein had been in the bath all along.
(Author's note: Lately we have been in Tempest mindset a lot, but I intend to go back to Ornstein eventually, maybe switching their POVs even in chapters. But you can be sure about one thing, the POVs will always be from the main couple, never from another character.)
