nature held me close and found no fault with me

"Hmm. Guess you don't have to worry about being able to walk after," said Sera, apropos of nothing, as she and Anaelle were sitting at a table in the Herald's Rest.

Anaelle paused with her wine glass halfway to her mouth and narrowed her eyes. "I beg your pardon? What are you talking about?"

"You and Bull."

Her face heated. "Wh—I—that is none of your business!"

"It's my business when you're screaming like a fox in the middle of the bloody night," said Sera. "Just saying it makes sense."

Anaelle wanted to sink into the floor and disappear. She put her face in her hands. "I sincerely apologize for being a disturbance," she said, tilting her head up to peek over her fingertips, "but there is no 'me and Bull.' We are just friends." 'It makes sense'?

It made very little sense to her. They were compatible between the sheets, certainly, but Anaelle did not entirely understand why the Iron Bull liked being around her otherwise. He seemed easygoing, whereas she was uptight. He was charismatic, she was awkward and off-putting. He was usually jovial, and she was grumpy by nature. His company brightened her days, but she had no idea what he got out of their friendship.

Not to mention that she was foolishly harboring romantic feelings for someone who could most likely never reciprocate. Not just 'wouldn't,' but 'couldn't'—he did not even have the cultural context to do so. In that way, it made no sense at all.

Sera snorted. "Sure, you're just friends, and a dragon's just a bitey lizard."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Anaelle demanded. "Has—has he said something?"

"He didn't have to, you tit," Sera said, which Anaelle noted wasn't a no. She was going to have to figure out how to ask about that again sometime. Without seeming like she was overly invested in the answer. "You actually smile now. Either you like him or you got hit on the head. Maybe both."

"I have always been able to smile," Anaelle huffed. She took a gulp of wine.

Sera wasn't listening, continuing like she was having a conversation more with herself than Anaelle. "Hmm…probably not by him, though. I know there's rules about that pish."

"I am so glad you are aware that the Iron Bull would not subject me to head trauma during sex," said Anaelle dryly.

"Aht!" Sera pointed accusatorily. "It's shite like that. You always say 'the Iron Bull.'"

"That is his name."

"Yeah, but normal people shorten it. You almost always say the whole thing."

Anaelle slumped self-consciously. "He said the article is important."

"I see your mouth saying those words, but all I hear is 'ooh, the Iron Bull! I want him to have my babies!'" She leaned in, making loud, wet kissing noises right in Anaelle's ear, and Anaelle pushed her away, laughing in spite of herself.

"I think you have that backwards."

"No, I said what I said," said Sera. "You'd want him to have your babies."

Anaelle had idly thought more than once that she would not mind having a biological child someday if she did not have to be the one to carry it, but she had no idea how in the Void Sera had figured that out. "Andraste's tits. No babies are being had. You have jumped ten years down a road that does not exist." She was very uncomfortable with this line of conversation, so she had to turn it around. "Let us go back to your initial remark. That I do not have to worry about being able to walk after. You assume that I am the one that has to worry about it."

"You mean he—"

"Sometimes. You are not the only one who has been elbow-deep in circumstances."

To Anaelle's disappointment, she didn't look disgusted, just surprised and a little amused. "Huh. Would have thought you were too prissy to tap someone's bunghole!"

"Sera, I am a medical professional. I have done things to people's bodies that would make your stomach turn."

Sera made a face. There we go. "Eugh. Don't be weird."

Anaelle grinned. "Would you like to hear about the time I had to relocate a man's collarbone?"

Sera looked troubled by the phrase alone. "Relocate? Where'd it go?"

"It was dislocated severely enough that it was compressing his airway."

Her instant regret was apparent. "Wait, no, don't wanna know—"

"So, when that happens, you have to—"

Sera stuck her fingers in her ears. "La la la, not listening!"

Anaelle laughed. "I will spare you, if you give it a rest."

"Can't hear you!"

"I SAID, I WILL SPARE YOU IF YOU GIVE IT A REST."

Sera unplugged her ears. "Fine. But you have to stop being stupid about it sometime."

"I am not being stupid. I am being…polite. He has no interest in anything deeper, I am sure."

"Have you asked?"

"…No."

"Then you're not sure, stupid."

She sighed. "I will consider it," she said, which was technically true. She was never going to say anything to the Iron Bull, but she would think about it. Far too much. "Thank you for not saying something crass about 'deeper.'"

Sera snickered. "Hardest thing I've ever done. That's friendship."

It was nice to hear it said out loud, made Anaelle feel warm inside. She did not have many friends. Which made it rather silly to downplay it in comparison to romance, it reminded her—friendship wasn't nothing. It was important too.