The Amell Legacy: Transgressions

[Marian Hawke]

"I know her," she says softly. "I've never seen her before but I know her. She's holy."

[Haliel Lightsong]

"You don't know who she is?" Haliel asks curiously. Holy. Is that because you were part of this or because of something else?

[Marian Hawke]

"No... yes. I don't know. She seems... I... I don't know."

[Haliel Lightsong]

"She's the Herald of Adoration. Andraste," Haliel says quietly. "She's the one that I bargained with."

[Marian Hawke]

"Andraste," whispers Marian, reaching out to gently touch the figure's painted hair.

[Haliel Lightsong]

Haliel tenses but doesn't stop her. "Still with me?" 

[Marian Hawke]

"I-- yes. I can-- I can feel your intent, your passion, your focus. It's.. it's distracting."

[Haliel Lightsong]

"Can you describe it? Both what you're feeling and how it feels to you?"

[Marian Hawke]

"It-- I feel... Love," she says quietly, and a tear slides down her cheek. 

[Haliel Lightsong]

"From the painting itself?" Haliel asks quietly, trying to keep her voice unobtrusive. "Or from your... memories?"

[Marian Hawke]

"From you. From the painting. The painting feels like you, like... " She shakes her head, wiping at her eyes. "I don't know how to love. How to be loved. It hurts."

[Haliel Lightsong]

"It can," Haliel agrees softly. "Love is powerful. But it doesn't have to. It wasn't love that-- that pushed us both to offer our lives for the other, but a lack of love. Or... maybe a lack of balance in love. Neither of us are very good at loving ourselves. You because you've been told so very often you're without value or worth, because you were tossed away and left to fend for yourself. Me, because I was told my only value was in service to others, because I was, well, tossed away and left to be taught instead of raised."

[Marian Hawke]

"I have to pick a deity," she says abruptly. "Soon. I just can't shake the feeling that once I do, it'll be more permanent than ever before."

[Haliel Lightsong]

"You're probably right. Outsiders don't change their allegiances willingly. Ever. They can assist the causes and followers of other deities, sometimes for thousands of years, but they're always still faithful to their creator, their deity. They can be taken, broken and reshaped but..." Haliel shakes her head. "You're not an true outsider, not any more than I am. But a part of us is, and that makes us different."

[Marian Hawke]

"Can we? Change, I mean."