Dragon Blood: Tosten question

[Elle]

Hi Patty, I guess this is more along the lines of a speculation query really.

This bit from page 13 of "Dragon Blood" where Ward is asking Oreg to not tweak at Tosten...

"I frighten him, " Oreg corrected, and even his mouth was serious. I must have looked unconvinced, because he shook his head and said, "I'm no threat to his relationship with you, and he knows that. It hasn't been about that for some time." Oreg smiled again, but this time it was a genuine one. "Poor lad's fighting dragons."

It was an old Shavig saying about someone who was displaying rash bravery impelled by fear.

When I first read DB and came across that exchange with Oreg and Ward, it jumped into my head that Tosten had the ability to become a dragon but that he was afraid to acknowledge it or was choosing to ignore it. Oreg knows and it adds another level, not of animosity, but of kinship that Tosten is reluctant to admit to and Oreg can't help but bait him about it.

Did I totally read my own character desires into that exchange? (Wouldn't be the first time )Or might there be a kernal of something there?

Combined with this from the last chat:

Patty I might also tell the story from Oreg or Ward's younger legitimate brother's viewpoint
Patty Mostly because part of me would like to say that Ward is too happy to be the protagonist of another book

I love Ward. He's my favorite character that you've written, but I'd love to see another Hurog book that delved into the return of the dragons to Shavig. Focusing on Oreg and Tosten...with lots of Ward in there as their balance. 

[Patty Briggs]

Tosten, like all the sons of the last Hurogmeten, has a lot of issues to deal with.  All the Hurogs have some dragon blood in them, but it has been a long, long time since any of them actually was able to change (something that cost Oreg a lot of pain in the early years).  I don't know if Tosten will overcome that or not.

I wrote that in, though, to indicate that the Oreg who Ward knows and loves, might not be the Oreg everyone else sees.  He's actually a lot scarier that Ward ever notices.  And one thing that Tosten can't stand is to be afraid -- he reacts poorly to it.

Fun stuff, thanks.  Yes, I'm going to have to get time to play with Hurog again . . .