Since they had left the Sanctuary, the pair had grown steadily closer. It was amusing and endearing in equal parts to see Leliel try to fight it, even as it happened naturally. He attempted to appear sour, but as the days went on she could see the smiles creeping through. Her sweetness had countered his inherently sour nature, and it warmed her heart to see him truly enjoying time with her. Maybe she really could teach him how to love? It was such an odd phrase, but she was caught between wanting him to be himself and wanting him to feel for her what she had always felt for him. It was with reluctance that she had started leading them to a herdland, having enjoyed the time she spent with just him and almost fearing the possibility of him meeting someone he preferred the company of in a herd and leaving her behind for the countless time. Her heart had been his since the beginning, she could hardly stand the possibility of him loving her after all that time and then losing him.

In the sweltering heat, it was hard to think of anything else. But with his midnight coat, he was suffering far more than she, and Muriel knew he would never dare to speak of his discomfort. So instead she gently pressed her wings on her left side against his canvas to guide him, smiling softly to herself to see him relax under the shade of the pines, clearly grateful for the sudden drop in temperature. One word drifts from his lips, a query, and she is so used to his sightless state by then that she no longer nods. "Yes, the World's Edge approaches, so the pines are thicker here. I thought you might need the shade with your darker coat, even if you wouldn't have told me," she teases softly, laughing quietly between the two of them. It's an answer to both questions, as well.

Of course it would just so happen that her secondary wing would snag on one of the branches hanging down, and cursing softly- truly, Leliel was beginning to be a bad influence on her- that Leliel would blindly wander past the borders. When she glanced back up after untangling herself, fear gripped her heart. "Leliel no, wait! The border!" She races after him, but another has already interceded, vile words snapping out of her mouth. The girl reminds Muriel of Antheia, when she had been attacking Onni with her awful words and foul atmosphere in the Veins. Like a cat she bristles, ears slamming into her cranium even as she reaches Leliel, shoving him backwards and letting both wings flare out to shield him from view.

"He's blind you fucking idiot! Can't you see that?" she snaps, walking them backwards towards the border once more. Only once she has paced them back enough to feel comfortable does her temper begin to soothe and smoothen out. "He didn't mean to, I was caught up, I'm sorry. We didn't mean to trespass." As much as it kills her to have to bow her head submissively to this rude child, these are her lands and she clearly has some sort of power, and Muriel cannot jeopardize their potential home with her anger towards the mare. Doesn't she see the fucking scars on Leliel's face? The sightless way he turns his head?

"It's automatic to be defensive when it comes to him...please excuse my temper. We were here to seek shade, and maybe learn of your herd. My name is Muriel, this is Leliel." Despite the desire to bow as she normally would have she refrains, still stung by the babe's insolent attitude. A Seer? She was hardly off the teat! But Muriel says nothing for once, knowing they were at her mercy, that the herd would side with her more readily than the pair of them. Turning, she reaches to brush her muzzle lovingly across Leliel's cheek, breathing out her nostrils to warn him of her approach. "Are you feeling better, love? Is the shade helping?" Her tone is full of the purest, deepest love. It is the only way she has ever spoken to him, after all, and it is unlikely to change. Plum eyes are full of warmth as she gazes at him, hoping to discern the truth should he try to lie to make her feel better as he often tried to. Dual wings lift to brush tenderly against his own, a sign that she's there and won't allow anything bad to happen to the two of them, after all it had been her fault that she hadn't been more aware. "I'm sorry, dear. I didn't mean to lose touch with you." Muriel guided him most often with her wings, and without that feathered touch between the two of them she couldn't stop him or warn him of the approaching border.

It doesn't matter to her that Aurelia is present to hear such intimate, loving phrases. Her love is not shameful, and she will not hide it.