Muriel had never considered that Gull might run. She held him in too bright and beautiful a light, and perhaps she had placed her faith rightfully if his continued presence was anything to go by. The only absence she felt as she retrieved their son was the one that had always ached the moment they'd been separated. The one she hardly dared to admit to, much less analyse. Instead, she turned her eyes upon her son, her greatest achievement and gift in life. The gods had never favored Muriel, on Janat or in Helovia. She was plain and inconspicuous, despite her appearance, her personality, her ideology. Muriel was content to simply be, to allow life to revolve around her and instead form her own little world where she could. Like a bird she created a nest, a safe haven where she could freely share her love and not feel the sting of retribution and disdain. Perhaps she was childlike in that aspect, hiding away and surrounding herself only with the good in life. But it had served her well.

"Mum." Her smile is beatific, and she does not hesitate to drape her wing in a temporary embrace across his little, growing body. He could charm her with a single syllable, her own title no less. His indecision and worry was clear on his little face, his expressive eyes. Perhaps in time he would learn to conceal his reactions, but Muriel quietly hoped he would take more after her than Gull in that aspect. It had not always served her well, but the beautiful maiden had never appreciated dishonesty in any form or figure, draped as it was in supposed well-intentions. "All is well," she assured softly, nuzzling his little ears. It was hard to stop touching, Muriel often found. Having him near seemed to erase every single little worry in her life, her heart. Perhaps she smothered him at times, but she prayed that when the day came where she was taken from his side, that he would remember the memories of her touch and her love.

The tension is palpable, obvious to the mare, but a mother's instincts did not often fail. Instead she merely smiled, a little bit teasingly, back at Gull when he looked to her for help and guidance. Oh no, her grin was saying, this is all you right now. Even though her heart ached to hear her son ask such sad, desperate questions, she awaited Gull's words before adding any of her own. Without taking her eyes off Gull at first, she let them roll from her tongue. Gull may have tried to make the words more understandable, but Muriel knew her son was bright, and he would more than comprehend a better explanation. "There was a horrible event that shook the earth apart, and we were separated. I searched for him, and he for us, but we could not find one another. It was not his fault that he could not be there when you were born, my love." Voice dipped into a quieter register, eyes soft and sympathetic as they turned to her son.

He whispers words up to her, meant solely for her ears, and Muriel's eyes filled with tears she did not let fall. "I know baby," she whispered back, voice valiant but breaking subtly. "You don't have to love him, I know it's strange. But try to give him a chance, okay? We never forget, but we always try to forgive," she reminded him, a motto she'd always repeated to him as he was growing. It was the one she'd lived by her entire life, after all. Eyes lifted to Gull, an encouraging smile on her lips, a little tremulous but hearty and homey. "It will take time. But...but you are more than welcome to stay with us, or see us however often you want if you desire your distance to come to terms." It was the best she could offer him, but she prayed he would stay. He was Brigand's father, after all. She and Leliel did the best they could, but it would never really be the same.

@[Brigand] @[Gull]