#:starter call [ RYLEN ]

[frightesa]

this is a lyric starter call for test / underused muses : camille preaker, peter parker, alice liddel, melody rylen, antonin dolahev, gale weathers, monica geller, jackie burkhart, and donna pinciotti

[ofvaliantheart]

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[pikapeppa]

Where The Winds Of Fortune Take Me: Complete

Chapters 38 & 39 of my and @schoute​‘s beloved Cullen/Lavellan and FenHawke pirate AU are up on AO3!!

In which something special happens and WE’RE VERY EXCITED and I’m maybe a little scare because I HOPE I HAVE DONE WELL BY SCHOUTE’S BABES, AHHHH. 

First chapter is ~5350 words. Read both chapters on AO3 instead.

***********************

- CULLEN -

Two weeks later... 

“Wake up, Golden Boy,” Piper whispered.

He smiled sleepily and opened his eyes. Piper was naked and splayed across his hips, and brilliant rays of the morning sun were slicing through the windows and bringing out the silver of her wild hair. 

“Good morning, Piper,” he murmured.

She smoothed a stray lock of hair back from his forehead. “It’s a good morning indeed,” she said cheerfully. “In fact, this is a morning you’ll never forget. D’you know why?”

Of course he knew why this was a special morning; he’d been looking forward to this morning since they’d left the Arlathan Forest ten days ago. But he tucked his arm behind his head and gave her a quizzical look. “I’m not sure. You may have to remind me.” 

She clicked her tongue and playfully pinched his ear. “Some first mate you are. This, Golden Boy, is the day that you make an honest woman out of Captain Piper Lavellan.” She shifted her hips slightly – just a subtle shifting of her hips, but it was enough to make his early morning wood pulse with interest.

He breathed in slowly. “You’re already an honest woman, Piper. Marrying me won’t change that.” He slowly slid his palms along her thighs.

She barked out a laugh. “Captain ‘Honest’ Piper? I don’t know her.” She rolled her hips slowly over his, and another pulse of pleasure rippled through his abdomen.

She continued to talk in a sultry voice. “Captain ‘Mad’ Piper, certainly. Captain ‘Dangerous’ Piper, absolutely.” She pressed herself firmly against his hardened shaft. “Captain ‘Honest’ Piper? I don’t think so.” 

He exhaled shakily. His drowsiness had completely evaporated, leaving him fully alert and awake and wanting: wanting more of the slick warmth that Piper was smoothing over his manhood with every wavelike roll of her hips. 

He slid his hands up to her hips. “You are an honest woman,” he insisted breathlessly. “The most honest pirate I have ever met.”

She threw her head back and let out a throaty laugh. “Cullen, you naughty boy. You’d better keep this slanderous talk between us, or you’ll have my ruined reputation on your conscience.” Then, to his surprise, she pushed his hands away and started rolling off of him. 

“Wait,” he protested. “Where are you going?” 

“Getting ready for our wedding, of course!” she said. “I have to get all tarted up for you.” She gave him a roguish wink.

He stared at her, muddled by the sight of her naked body and the fact that she was walking away from him. “Tarted…? What do you mean?”

She rolled her eyes and planted her hands on her hips – her bare hips, which were as bare as the rest of her lithe and tempting body. “I have to get dressed up like a fancy bitch for the wedding. So you need to get up.” She snapped her fingers at him. “Up, up! And not just that kind of up.” She grinned and eyed the tented sheets over his groin.

Cullen gazed at her imploringly. “But–”

There was a knock at the door. Cullen flinched and pulled the sheet up to cover his naked chest. “Who in the Maker’s name is that?” he demanded.

Piper laughed loudly, then called through the door. “Who is it?”

Hawke’s bright voice replied. “Me and Merrill! Your handmaidens for the day!” she chirped. “Well, us and–”

“And myself,” Dorian cut in. “I’ll be supervising the preparation, if you don’t mind. And even if you do, well, that’s too bad. I’m not missing out.”

Piper raised her eyebrows at Cullen. “Well?” she said expectantly. “Am I letting them in to see your morning glory, or are you getting out?”

“I’m – I will get out, of course,” he stammered. He slid out of the bed and hurried over to the armoire, then tried his best to dress quickly in the clean and pressed clothes that he’d selected for the wedding. 

He dragged his trousers on halfway and pulled the white linen shirt over his head, then struggled to button the trousers over his damnably hard shaft. Piper, meanwhile, was sauntering toward him, and as he tried to fumble with his blasted buttons, she slid her arms around him from behind.

“Need help?” she asked, and she slid her hand down over his belly. 

He choked out a gasp. Her fingers were sliding into his trousers. Given the present situation, he genuinely couldn’t decide if he wanted her to stop or to keep going.

“Piper,” he begged. 

She chuckled. Then someone banged on the door more insistently. “Excuse me,” Dorian called, “but we’re still standing here, and I’d certainly like to come inside and have a glass of champagne with the bride.”

“Me too,” Hawke said.

“Me three!” Merrill chirped.

“Coming,” Piper yelled. Then she turned back to Cullen. “Not you yet though, Golden Boy,” she purred, and she stroked his manhood. 

He gasped, and Piper pulled her hand out of his trousers. Lightheaded with lust now, he braced his palm on the armoire and shot Piper a pleading look. “Is there a reason you’re choosing to torture me?” he asked breathlessly.

She grinned at him. “So you can make an honest woman of me later,” she said. She gave his bottom a smack. “Now go on and get out so the others can make me beautiful.”

He pulled on his vest and gave her a resentful look. “You are already beautiful, Piper. Cruel and beautiful, like a siren from one of your tales.”

She laughed. “That might be the best compliment I’ve had all month.”

He shot her a chiding little smile, then stuck his feet into his boots. By the time he was fully – if haphazardly – dressed, Piper’s nakedness was hidden by a fine silk robe, and she was standing by the door.

Her face was wreathed in the most wicked grin, and he shook his head as he approached her. “Captain ‘Minx’ Piper,” he murmured. “That’s what they should call you.”

She let out a soft and sultry laugh. “That’s what you can call me.” 

“Hmph,” he said, and he reached for the doorknob. Then, on a whim, he wrapped his arm around her instead and pulled her into a kiss. 

She gasped in surprise and clutched his shoulder, and he hungrily dipped his tongue into her mouth. Then Dorian called out again. “Come now, Piper, we have a lot of work to do. Your hair, for starters – I’m fairly sure I saw a twig in it yesterday. I fear there may be an entire family of birds roosting there.”

Piper grinned against Cullen’s lips, then leaned away from him. “Now who’s the minx?” she breathed.

“It is still you,” he whispered. “I’m simply serving justice.” He released her and smoothed his hand fondly over her hair, then opened the door. 

Hawke was holding what looked like a bundle of clothing wrapped in a sheet, and Merrill had a basket of gold-handled combs and brushes and other cosmetic tools hanging from her arm. She clasped her hands together when she saw him. “Oh Cullen, your hair is so curly! It looks very sweet!”

“Yes, very sweet,” Hawke said. Her tone and her grin were heavy with innuendo. “Should we come back later?”

Cullen raised his eyebrows. Had that been an option? “Yes, if you wouldn’t mind–”

Dorian pushed past him into the captain’s quarters. “No, Hawke, that just won’t do,” he said loudly. “Cullen, thank you, please be gone. Piper, sit down, we have work to do.” He plonked a bottle of champagne on the table. 

Piper chuckled. “Insolent swine. This will be the one and only day I let you give me any orders.” She winked at Cullen, and a moment later, he found himself staring at the closed door to her cabin. 

He sighed, then ran a hand through his dishevelled hair and made his way up to the poop deck. The helm was unmanned, given that they’d been anchored in the Rialto Bay since their arrival yesterday evening, but Varric and Fenris were sitting at the table behind the helm playing wicked grace with Anders, Rylen and Sera. 

Sera cackled when she saw him. “Who made a nest on your head?” she asked.

Cullen self-consciously ran a hand over his hair. “I’m aware that it looks like a bird’s nest, thank you,” he mumbled, and he took a seat beside Rylen.

Varric chuckled as he arranged his cards. “Rough morning, Curly?”

“He’s really curly today!” Sera said.

Cullen shot her a resentful glance. “I was ejected rather unceremoniously from the captain’s quarters,” he said. “I didn’t have time to, er, prepare.”

Rylen shrugged and picked a card from the deck. “It looks just fine to me.”

Sera laughed again. “Only because yours is even more nesty.”

Rylen shrugged again. “Says the lass whose hair looks like a bundle of seaweed washed up on shore.”

Sera guffawed. Anders smirked at them, then glanced at Cullen. “Don’t worry about your hair. No one will be looking at you anyway.” He put down a card and selected a new one, then raised his eyebrows. “Oh, I don’t mean that in a rude way. I just meant — er, nothing.”

Cullen frowned in confusion, but Varric chuckled again. “You can’t say something like that and just leave it hanging, Blondie.”

Anders sighed. “Fine, fine. I just heard what the dress looks like, that’s all.”

Cullen looked up in surprise. “You did?” he asked. He was very eager to see Piper’s wedding dress.  All he knew was that it wouldn’t be anything like a traditional wedding dress, but Piper and Merrill and Hawke had refused to tell him anything more. 

“Yes,” Anders said. “Hawke described it to me. She’s pretty excited about it.” He glanced at Fenris. “Did she tell you about it?”

“No,” Fenris said, and he threw down a card. “I saw it. Also, I win this hand. Give me the pot.”

Anders’s eyebrows jumped up on his forehead. “You saw the dress?”

“I did,” Fenris said. “Hawke and Merrill were working on it in my quarters. Now give me the pot.” His tone was very neutral, but there was a hint of a smirk on his lips. 

Anders grunted and shoved the pile of coin on the table toward him. Cullen shifted restlessly in his seat and glanced at Fenris. “So, the, er, dress,” he said tentatively. “What does it —”

“No!” Sera blurted. “Don’t ask, don’t tell. Bad luck for the bride. Don’t tell ‘im, Fenny, or she’ll fall on her face.” She paused, then snickered. “Actually, maybe tell. That could be fun. Bet she’d swear up a storm.”

Fenris ignored her and raised an eyebrow at Cullen. “Do you truly wish to know?”

Cullen sighed and sat back in his chair. “No, that’s all right. It would ruin the surprise.”

Varric tapped the deck of cards on the table and started shuffling. “All right, Curly. Can I deal you in, or are you too nervous to play a hand?”

“I’m not nervous,” Cullen said. But even as he said it, a little jolt of nerves tweaked in his belly.

Anders raised his eyebrows. “You’re not? Maker, I would be. Marrying Mad Piper Lavellan? I’d be shaking in my boots.”

Fenris and Sera snorted, and Rylen squeezed Cullen’s shoulder. “He’s got no reason to be nervous. The vows are nice. Short but sweet, just how I’d like them.”

Sera gaped at Rylen. “You heard ‘em already?” she said.

“I had a look,” Rylen said. “Made sure they’re all right.” He smiled at Cullen. “They’re finer words than any speech you gave us in the barracks.”

Cullen smiled faintly in return. “I certainly hope so,” he said. These words would matter far more than any navy speech he’d ever given. These words — his marriage vows to Piper: these would be the words he used to tell her what she meant to him, and to bind them together for the rest of their lives and beyond. Truthfully, he had lost a few nights’ worth of sleep fretting over these vows, and it had taken Rylen’s calm and pragmatic eye for him to trust his judgment that his vows were both sufficient and succinct. 

“So, Curly?” Varric said. “You going to play a hand with us?”

“I would, but…” He grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck. “I would still like to be presentable. Varric, might I borrow your quarters–”

“You can use mine,” Dorian said as he sauntered up the stairs to join them. “I’ve got two mirrors, combs, and any kind of unguent you might wish to keep those lovely locks of yours in place.”

Fenris shot him a dismissive look. “What are you doing here? I thought you were supervising.”

“Don’t criticize me, Fenris, I do as I like,” Dorian said airily. He pulled up a chair between Fenris and Anders. “Deal me in, would you? Your bride looks beautiful, by the way,” he said to Cullen.

Cullen perked up, but Fenris snorted. “Did Piper kick you out for your incessant commentary?”

Dorian shot him an annoyed look. “As I said, I do as I like. Including taking your cards, since Varric won’t deal me in.” He reached for Fenris’s cards.

Fenris shirked away from him. “Get your own,” he complained. “Or take Anders’s hand.”

Anders jerked his cards out of Dorian’s reach. “I don’t think so. I’ve got a great hand.” Then his face fell. “Oh, Andraste’s pants.”

Fenris, Sera and Dorian chuckled, and Varric ruefully shook his head. “All right, Blondie blew the round. Everyone give me back your cards.”

Fenris frowned. “Wait a minute. That is hardly fair. Why should we be punished for the doctor’s indiscretion?”

Varric smirked. “So you admit that you had a good hand too.”

Fenris blinked, then hunched his shoulders defensively. “Kaffas,” he muttered.

Dorian, Sera and Anders laughed. Cullen exchanged a smile with Rylen, then went to Dorian’s quarters to fix his hair. Once his hair was blessedly in order, he went to the galley to find a cup of tea and emerged laden with a tray of tea, coffee, biscuits and fruit plied on him by the crew who were helping in the kitchen while Merrill was otherwise occupied.

He took the tray back to the poop deck to share with the others and promptly got pulled into a round of wicked grace. Some time later, Kaaras called down to them from the crow’s nest. “Small craft on the approach on the starboard side!” 

Cullen straightened, and Varric looked up distractedly. “Small craft? Did Piper invite someone from the mainland?” 

“I don’t believe so, but I did,” Cullen said. He rose from the table and went to the starboard taffrail to look, and he smiled: there was a small dinghy on the approach, and its occupants waved as they glimpsed him. 

He raised a hand in greeting, then made his way to the deck and threw down the rope ladder so they could board the ship. A few minutes later, he was holding out a hand to help a smiling Aemeris onto the deck. 

“Avanna, Cullen,” she said warmly. “And congratulations.” She greeted him with a gentle kiss to both cheeks.

“Don’t congratulate him yet!” Deshanna said. “Piper hasn’t reeled him all the way in. He still might escape her.” He was carrying Jos in a sling on his back, and he grinned at Cullen as Aemeris lifted Jos out of the sling.

Cullen smiled and bowed his head. “You have nothing to worry about there,” he said, and he held out his hand to shake.

Deshanna let out a rolling belly laugh. “Don’t give me those manners. Get over here and give us a hug like a real man.”

Cullen smiled sheepishly and hugged Deshanna, who clapped him heartily on the back. A moment later, a number of the crew were crowding around to greet their former captain and his wife and to fuss over little Jos, who was clutching Aemeris’s collar and gazing wide-eyed at all the new faces. 

Cullen sidled up to Aemeris and Jos. “Hello, Jos,” he said politely. “Do you remember me—?” 

He broke off in surprise; Jos was reaching eagerly for him. 

Aemeris laughed softly. “All right, amatus, hold on,” she crooned, and she handed the toddler to Cullen. 

Cullen hefted Jos on his hip and smiled. “Welcome to the Lady Luck,” he said softly. “It’s the finest ship in all of Thedas.” 

Jos stared at Cullen and tucked his thumb in his mouth. Then a loud voice called out from the entrance to the officers’ quarters. “What’s going on here? A mutiny on my wedding day? It better not be! What’s—” Piper broke off suddenly, and Cullen looked up with a smile. 

And his belly burst into a breathless storm of butterflies. Piper was barefoot and wearing a floor-length dress made of some light and flowing fabric that was painted with a geometric pattern of warm olive and rust tones. The dress was sleeveless and appeared to tie around the neck, and it was so low in the neckline that her tattooed breastbone was visible. Her hair was more lustrous and wavelike than ever and studded with what looked like tiny silver cuffs, and she was… 

Maker, she was absolutely radiant. Cullen had never seen a more perfectly beautiful woman in his entire life.

And her face was a perfect picture of surprise. “Deshanna? Aemeris?” she gasped. “What are you—?”

“Seapup!” Deshanna exclaimed, and he opened his arms. 

A second later, Piper smashed into him in a full-body hug. She buried her face against Deshanna’s shoulder, and Cullen and Aemeris exchanged a smile. 

Piper pulled away and hugged Aemeris as well. “It’s great to see you! What the fuck are you doing here? Oops, sorry Jossie,” she said hastily, and she gave Jos a noisy kiss on the cheek. 

Jos chortled and pulled her hair, and Deshanna gave her a chiding smile. “You thought you could tie the knot without us? It’s a good thing Cullen wrote to us.”

Piper turned to Cullen with wide eyes. “You wrote to them?” she asked.

Her eyes were shiny with tears, and Cullen suddenly felt nervous. “Yes,” he said. “When we stopped for supplies in Seere. I thought you might like – well, I hope it’s all right that I asked them to come–”

“Yes, of course!” Piper exclaimed. She hastily dabbed her eyes with her left wrist. “It’s — I didn’t even… fenedhis, I didn’t even think about it.” She looked up at Deshanna. “I didn’t even think about it! How shitty is that? Ah, sorry Jos…” She winced and ruffled the toddler’s hair.

Deshanna chuckled softly. “Don’t be sorry. You had other things to think about.” His eyes were on Piper’s left stump, and his expression was sympathetic.

Piper, of course, noticed and reacted as Cullen expected: she laughed and waved the stump in a cavalier manner. “Yeah, other things like this dress. What do you think?” She batted her eyelashes in a very Hawke-like way and swayed back and forth.

“It’s lovely,” Aemeris said warmly. “I never thought we’d see you in a dress.”

Piper laughed. “Don’t be fooled. I’ve got two daggers strapped to my thigh under this thing.”

Cullen double-taked at her, and Deshanna let out another loud laugh. “Ah, seapup. You wouldn’t be Mad Piper if you didn’t have two daggers on your thigh on your wedding day.”

“Damn right,” Piper said cheerfully. Then she hugged Deshanna once more. “I’m so happy you’re here,” she said softly. She pulled away and kissed Aemeris and Jos, then gestured to the crew. “Come on, you salty sea dogs,” she yelled. “Come help the second-best-ever captain of the Lady Luck to get settled in!”

There was an uproar of jeers and laughter and cheering, and Deshanna laughed again and chucked Piper’s chin. “An ungrateful monster, you are. All right, Aemeris, let’s get comfortable.” He took Jos back from Cullen, and they joined the happily chattering crew.

Cullen turned to Piper. “You look–”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Surprised and delighted, he happily returned her kiss until she pulled away with a grin.

“You sweet man,” she murmured. “I can’t believe you thought to write him.”

“O-of course,” he stammered. “I thought you would, er, like them to be present.”

She laughed. “Cullen, my eyes are up here.”

He dragged his wayward eyes from her dress up to her face. “I apologize,” he said. “It’s simply – you look wonderful, Piper.”

She beamed at him. “Keep up the compliments, Golden Boy, and you’ll get all kinds of rewards later.” She tilted her head. “Did you write to your family, too?”

He froze. “Oh. Er.”

She burst out laughing, and Cullen winced and rubbed the back of his neck. “Maker’s breath. Mia will murder me. I – well, I suppose it’s too late now.”

“She can’t murder you if a pirate captain is your wife,” Piper chuckled. She gave him one more quick kiss, then stepped back. “Well, I’ve got to get back to my cabin.”

“What?” Cullen blurted. “Why?” Everyone was here and waiting, and now that he’d seen her in her dress, he didn’t want her to walk away. 

“Ah, Rynne said something about doing something to my face,” she said cheerfully. “We’ll be out soon!” She turned on her heel and hurried back to the officer’s quarters, and Cullen realized with a heated jolt that her dress was backless. 

He stared stupidly at her back until she disappeared, then wandered up to the poop deck to wait with the others. Deshanna, Aemeris and Jos joined them soon after, and some time later, after Cullen had lost a few rounds of wicked grace and more than a few silver thanks to his distraction, he heard Hawke’s voice.

“I have a message from the Captain!” she yelled. “She said for everyone to pay attention and shut the fuck up, because she’s coming out.”

There was a wave of laughter from the crew. Cullen perked up, and Deshanna chuckled. “Easy, boy. I’ll bring her out to you.” He patted Cullen heartily on the shoulder and made his way down the stairs.

Varric smirked at Cullen. “We better get in place too, or she’ll skin us.”

“Yes, of course,” Cullen said quickly, and he followed Varric to the cleared deck space where the crew usually did their sparring practice.

The crew patted his back and his shoulders as he passed them by, and he smiled sheepishly as he took his place next to Varric. He forced himself to stand still as he waited, but as much as he hated to admit it, he was feeling rather jittery now.

Varric smirked at him. “Nervous yet?”

“Quiet,” Cullen muttered, and Varric chuckled. 

The chattering of the crew suddenly softened, and everyone turned to look at the officer’s quarters. 

Cullen straightened up. Breathless with anticipation now, he gazed toward the officer’s quarters until he spotted Deshanna’s taller head, and a hint of Piper’s silvery hair.

Then the crew parted to let them pass, and his heart lodged itself in his throat.

Piper’s face was brilliant with happiness. Hawke had painted some sort of green pigment around her eyes, making them look bigger and more catlike than ever, and she was smiling at him so widely that she looked ready to break into laughter any second. Her left arm was looped through Deshanna’s, and in her right hand she was holding a simple bouquet of that elven flower: the felan’asahngar that had protected him and Dorian from the Dread Wolf, and that she’d given to him when she’d proposed.

He smiled back at her, completely helpless to do anything but smile at the sight of her face. As she drew closer step by step, a funny feeling of surreality stole over him: he, Cullen Rutherford, the former commander of the Kirkwall Navy, was about to marry a notorious pirate on a pirate ship just outside of the most notorious pirate city in Thedas. Agreeing to marry Captain Piper Lavellan was undoubtedly the most unusual and unexpected choice he had ever made in his life. It was certainly not a choice he would have imagined making even a year ago.

But no choice he had ever made before had ever felt this perfectly right, or this perfectly and entirely his. 

And now she was standing in front of him. She was kissing Deshanna’s cheek and handing her bouquet to Merrill, and then she was holding his hand and grinning at him so brightly that he couldn’t look away.

“You’re staring, Golden Boy,” she whispered.

He nodded. He couldn’t deny it; of course he was staring, because she was exquisite. 

“You’re wonderful,” he said dumbly. 

She laughed, and the tips of her precious ears began turning pink. Then Varric cleared his throat. “All right. Ladies and gentlemen–”

“Try again, Varric,” Piper interrupted. “There aren’t any of those on my crew, are there?”

The crew broke into a storm of cheering and stomping, and Cullen chuckled. When the noise died down, Varric smirked and started again.

“All right, fine. We, the rough and rowdy crew of the Lady Luck, both past and present, are gathered here today to witness the marriage of Cullen Rutherford and Piper Lavellan.” He raised his eyebrows knowingly at the crew. “Or, as it’ll be known in the captain’s log, Cullen Rutherford making the greatest decision and the greatest mistake of his life.”

Piper and the crew laughed, and Cullen ruefully shook his head. Varric smiled at them and tucked his thumbs in his pockets. “All right, it’s time for the vows. Piper, you’re up.”

“Excellent,” Piper said happily. “Actually, I don’t have vows, but I do have a story.”

A ripple of laughter rose from the crew. Cullen smiled and squeezed her hand. “I’m glad,” he told her softly. “You know I am fond of your stories.”

“Good, because this is a good one,” she said. Her tone was jaunty, but her hazel eyes were soft and warm and rendered more golden than ever by the delicate green makeup around her eyes, and Cullen’s heart pounded as he stared into her lovely eyes.

She launched into her tale. “There once was an elven girl who was the captain of the best ship in Thedas. She had dirty feet and tattoos from her neck down to her ass, and she had a hearty crew of the most fearsome fighters and drinkers in Thedas.”

The crew cheered and clapped briefly, and Piper’s smile broadened as she went on. “The captain was happy, because all she needed was the wind. She sailed her ship and she killed slavers with her crew, and she went where the winds of fortune took her.” She tilted her head. “One day, the winds carried her to a place called Kirkwall. And in Kirkwall, the captain met a commander who was handsome and fair and who tried – and failed! – to catch her for committing a crime.”

The crew laughed and Cullen scoffed, and Piper’s grin widened before growing soft. “From that day on, the captain’s life was never the same. Before she met the commander, the captain was happy. After the captain met the commander, after he left the navy and joined her ship, she wasn’t just happy. She was… complete.” 

Cullen’s breath caught in his throat. Piper broke off and rubbed her nose with her left wrist, and Cullen gently squeezed her hand. 

She looked up at him once more, and her bright hazel eyes were shining. “Cullen,” she said firmly, “the winds of fortune brought me to you, and I couldn’t be happier that they did. And you will always remember this as the day you finally caught Captain Piper Lavellan.” 

The crew chuckled softly and murmured their approval. Cullen gazed into her eyes, her brilliant eyes brimming with happiness, and he nodded, unable to speak for the lump of emotion that was swelling in his chest. 

“All right,” Varric said softly. “Curly, your turn.”

Cullen took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, then squeezed her hand once more. “Piper, you know I am a lawful man,” he said. “All my life, I have been accustomed to following the rule of the law. I believed laws and policies were there for a reason: to protect people and to keep order. I followed my commanding officers believing that they would keep the peace.” He smiled. “And then I met you.”

The crew laughed, and Piper grinned. Cullen returned her smile, then sobered as he went on. “You, Piper, follow no rules but your own. You follow your sense of right and wrong, and you do what is fair and just. With you as my captain, I… I no longer blindly follow the rules. Instead, I follow you. I would follow you to the world’s end, and not because you are the captain… but because following you means following my heart.” He released her hand and gently cupped her cheek. “Piper Lavellan: it is my honour to make you my wife, and I love you very much.”

She sniffled and beamed at him. “I love you too, Golden Boy,” she whispered. She glanced at Varric. “All right, can I kiss him already or what?”

Varric smirked and shook his head. “All right, all right. By my authority as the first mate on the Lady Luck, I pronounce you husband and wife. Go on and kiss–”

Piper leapt into Cullen’s arms and wrapped her left arm around his neck. He hastily supported her weight, and he barely had time to register her smile before she was kissing him. 

The crew burst into stomping and cheering and applause, and Cullen sank shamelessly into Piper’s eager kiss. But he couldn’t stop smiling and neither could she, and a moment later they broke apart laughing. 

He carefully set her on her feet, but before they could say anything else, Varric held up a hand. “Oh, hang on. Did you guys have rings or something?” he asked.

“They do,” Rylen said dryly. “Here.” He held out a small velvet pouch. 

“Oh shit,” Piper blurted. “I forgot about that.” She laughed raucously, and Cullen could feel his cheeks warming. He gave Rylen a sheepish smile as he took the pouch, then carefully tipped the rings into his hand: a simple gold band for himself, and a ridiculously gaudy gold-and-emerald cocktail ring that Piper had chosen from the Lady Luck’s treasure trove as a joke and would wear only until tomorrow, when she would have a more permanent analog tattooed onto her finger while they were in Rialto. 

He carefully slid the gaudy ring onto Piper’s right hand, and she slid the gold band onto Cullen’s left ring finger. Then she grinned at Varric. “Does this mean I can kiss him again, since we fucked it up the first time?”

Varric snorted and waved his hand. “You’re the captain. It’s up to you.”

“Damn right,” Piper said, and she pulled Cullen in by his collar and kissed him once more. 

Her kiss was sweeter and more passionate than before, and Cullen blissfully slid his fingers into the silken waves of her hair. The crew laughed and cheered and whistled, and Piper’s beringed hand was stroking his neck, and in this moment, he realized that Piper’s vows were absolutely and unequivocally correct. 

Here and now, with his pirate bride in his arms on the ship they both called home, Cullen wasn’t just happy. He was complete.  

Pop over to AO3 to read the second chapter! (Spoiler alert: it’s SMUTTY.)

[lillehavfrues]

@sokrovennyi​ liked for a starter

Melody found herself pacing. 

       Such a nervous, nasty, habit that made her dizzy. Her yellow gown swelled around her, always a few paces slower to the turn. It had been ages since they had invited anyone to the castle. She had found as a governing leader that she made quite a nervous and flighty host. Always babbling on about this, or that, too distracted by what she OUGHT to be doing that Melody often forgot to be herself. Puffed out cheeks let out a long sigh before all but collapsing onto a nearby chair. She looked down at her gown, feeling more like a big balloon than a queen. She smoothed out the creases in the dress, picking at the lint before resuming to her full height. At this point it couldn’t be helped, all the arrangements had been made, and the chefs in the kitchen had been cooking for hours. 

         It was only the loud knocking that came from the door that departed her from her worry. Melody smoothed out her hair as she headed for the door herself. That was one thing that she had learned; she was a fan of a personal entrance. She opened the heavy door and set eyes upon her guest. Melody had a smile on her features, the apple of cheeks in a pink hue as she engages in a curtsy. “Welcome !” Ah, a slight relief, that she knows will not last for long. “Come in, come in, we have been expecting you.” Melody moves to the side and allows the guest to walk in, moving in step with them. Behind her, someone shuts the front door and banished the cool air outside. She clasped her hands in front of herself, taking a deep breath. 

        “I suppose we haven’t properly met. I’m Queen Melody of Rylen, it’s a pleasure to make you acquaintance. Please call me Melody.” She insisted, the title bearing too much weight for her to be comfortable. “ I hope you had safe travels, I know the main meal will be ready soon.” 

[ofvaliantheart]

TAG DROP ! RYLEN.