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Ren lay next to her lover, looking up at the stars. By any account it was a perfect night. Blissfully warm, with the ocean breeze gently playing over their faces, the sound of the waves crashing into the shore as the backdrop for their earlier lovemaking, the sand warm beneath them—and no clothes for it to catch in and become itchy.

Yes, it was absolutely perfect. And she should have been content. But instead she felt restless. Full of energy. Unable to lie still, she rolled to her side and poked the Iron Bull in the shoulder.

"You need something, kadan?"

That was just it. She did need something, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Then it came to her in a sudden flash. "Let's be pirates."

He chuckled. "We're already mercs. What's the difference?"

"Well, a pirate sails on a ship, and … they fight other pirates."

"We could fight other mercs. New band just moved in to the south, I'm sure Teyrn Cousland would be happy if we got rid of them."

Ren frowned. "It's not the same."

The Iron Bull opened his eye and looked at her, his sleepy satedness beginning to fade away under the pressure of her discontent. "We could use cutlasses."

She considered that. "No, still not the same."

"I could wear the shirt."

It was a big concession—he wasn't wild about wearing clothes, despite how sexy he looked in them, and how much Ren enjoyed taking them off of him. The image of him in one of those open-throated pirate shirts, the sleeves billowing in the wind, rather took Ren's breath away. But while that kind of roleplay might be fun for a night, it didn't really resolve her restlessness. "Tempting, but not quite what I'm looking for."

"You bored, kadan?"

"I mean … no …" She really shouldn't be. The Bull's Chargers had enough work that they had two companies running at all times, one under Krem's leadership and the other under Rocky's. Ren and the Iron Bull could jump in with either one any time they felt like it. If they wanted more intrigue, Divine Victoria almost certainly had spy work they could do. And if they wanted work of world-saving importance, there was the secret Inquisition, currently involved in trying to track down Solas and find out what his plans were for destroying the Veil and killing off everyone in Thedas who wasn't an elf.

But none of those had quite the flavor of adventure Ren suddenly found herself longing for.

"Pirate ship's not much fun," the Iron Bull remarked, studying the stars while he thought it through. "Lot of boredom, constant cleaning, the same food day in and day out, sharing a hold with the rest of the crew, waiting for a ship to come in sight that you can chase down …"

"Speaking of not much fun," Ren said grumpily, sitting up and frowning at the ocean. "What about the thrill of the chase? The wind in your hair, the sails flapping overhead, the ship on the horizon coming closer and closer, readying the weapons … Lucas said—"

The Iron Bull sat up suddenly, his eye narrowing. "Lucas Hawke?"

"Yes, his last letter was all about capturing a Nevarran brig and—"

He watched her animated face as she recounted the story, an icy hand closing around his heart. Of all the men in Thedas for her to have struck up a friendship with, did it have to be the former Champion of Kirkwall? The very good-looking, very human, very friendly Champion of Kirkwall? Oh, yes, said Champion was in a long-standing relationship with the pirate captain Isabela, but everything the Iron Bull had ever heard about Isabela indicated she might well be willing to overlook her lover's dalliances. Or join in them. Which had possibilities, he had to admit.

But none of that solved the current problem, which was that the Iron Bull's kadan, his whole heart, was feeling unsatisfied with their life together.

It didn't surprise him entirely—he had been expecting something of the sort once she got used to having lost her left arm and felt like she was back to full fighting strength. Her long period of retraining had worn on both of them, and the comedown from constantly being tasked with saving the world to occasionally saving some noble some coin was a big step.

"What about Orzammar? Or Kal'Sharock? The Deep Roads?" he suggested.

Ren frowned at him. "Are you crazy? Stuck underground fighting darkspawn instead of being on the open sea, grappling hand-to-hand with other pirates?"

"Mostly merchantmen," the Iron Bull corrected. "Other pirates are too much challenge, not enough treasure. What about dragons? There must be some left we haven't killed."

"I always feel a little badly killing a dragon. I mean, it's exhilarating, and sexy, but—I wouldn't want to drive dragons completely extinct."

"We could go to Tevinter and help Dorian clean house in the Magisterium."

She laughed. "Possibly the two most recognizable foes of the Imperium walking into Minrathous? That would be suicidal."

"Not boring, though."

"So, no piracy, then, if you're willing to launch yourself into the Imperium to avoid it?" Ren sighed. "You ever wonder what we would do if all of Thedas was suddenly at peace?"

The Iron Bull shook his head. "I can't imagine that ever happening, so I don't worry about it."

"Lucas says he wishes all of Thedas was at peace, that he'd be happy with nothing but the open sea, and letting his sword get rusty above the cabin door."

"Not you, though, kadan." That was part of what he loved about her, the way she threw herself into combat. He put an arm around her. "I think there are still some giants in Orlais we could go after."

"Giants are okay," she agreed, tucking her head into his shoulder. "Ashkaari? It's not you, you know that. It's just …"

"Hard to settle in to everyday life after everything we've been through. I know." He nuzzled her hair, relieved by her words even if he didn't admit it. "One thing that seems to be true about Thedas—wait long enough, and something will come up."

"I suppose. Hate to think of it being this whole Solas thing, but that seems most likely."

"You never know. Could be some new race falls out of the sky and tries to take over the world."

"Hm," Ren agreed, tilting her head up toward the stars."That would be interesting." She lay listening to her lover breathe, the evening still perfect, her restlessness sated for the moment.