Ellie jogs one knee the way she does when she's thinking about something that bothers her and wants to tell him but has to order up the words right before she's satisfied, the corner of her mouth pulling down.
"In some places people believe that if they die, and there's no priest to perform the last rites, their sins won't be forgiven. That the sins'll weigh a soul down and it'll be stuck there. Unable to depart."
The last few words carry the weight of a quote. Somebody told her this, just as carefully.
"So the family would hire someone to come in, touch a piece of bread to the body, soak up the sins. Eat it. Consume them and carry them forward and release the soul."
Ellie wets her lips.
"I met somebody, once. Before Thedas, but after I left my world. I never saw her talk to anybody else. Sometimes I don't know if she even actually existed? But she called herself the OA. And she said she was a sin eater. And that it was her job, to sit with the dying. To listen. Not to absolve, but. To help carry it. Like she knew what I was carrying.
"She offered to touch me, and- carry some of it. And I didn't wanna do that to her, but... I let her take my hand. And she cried, and the first thing she said was you're not alone."
Maybe Ellie didn't meet Andraste, or a prophet, or anything like that. But she met something out there in the form of a young woman.
"I asked her why she would do this for me, and... she said it was done for her. The OA. The original angel. And... I don't believe in a lot of things, but. I believed her."
no subject
"In some places people believe that if they die, and there's no priest to perform the last rites, their sins won't be forgiven. That the sins'll weigh a soul down and it'll be stuck there. Unable to depart."
The last few words carry the weight of a quote. Somebody told her this, just as carefully.
"So the family would hire someone to come in, touch a piece of bread to the body, soak up the sins. Eat it. Consume them and carry them forward and release the soul."
Ellie wets her lips.
"I met somebody, once. Before Thedas, but after I left my world. I never saw her talk to anybody else. Sometimes I don't know if she even actually existed? But she called herself the OA. And she said she was a sin eater. And that it was her job, to sit with the dying. To listen. Not to absolve, but. To help carry it. Like she knew what I was carrying.
"She offered to touch me, and- carry some of it. And I didn't wanna do that to her, but... I let her take my hand. And she cried, and the first thing she said was you're not alone."
Maybe Ellie didn't meet Andraste, or a prophet, or anything like that. But she met something out there in the form of a young woman.
"I asked her why she would do this for me, and... she said it was done for her. The OA. The original angel. And... I don't believe in a lot of things, but. I believed her."