Maleficent's POV

Last I recalled, I was drifting off as I fell asleep shortly after.

What I don't recall was somehow ending up in my own nest-made bed.

New feathers filled any spots that were starting to lack cushion.

My hand grazed the end of my nest as I took in the scene around me.

Light dappled the earthy floor of my nest as the sun's rays sneaked in.

A fresh rose the color of winter was placed near me.

If Diaval was trying to get away with me not finding out it was him...he ruined any chance of it being a secret by just the rose alone.

I took ahold of the flower as I removed its thorns.

A rose really was completely defenseless without its thorns.

Thorns that not only kept the flower from harm but also preserved its very essence of beauty.

I lifted the rose to my nose as I smelled the velvety fragrance, a slight sweet smell escaped from it as I gently twirled the flower to my lips.

As it slightly grazed my lips I could feel the very softness of the petals.

And without much thought a smile was shyly appearing on my usually composed face.

"That Raven."

———

After a while on pondering and wondering at the sunrise I finally arose from my place of rest as I changed into a black gown as black as midnight that gracefully draped down my pale figure as I stayed barefoot.

Feeling a slight breeze upon my back from the open area of the dress where it tied, I decided it best to let my hair loose to cover the back area of my dress that exposed the scars of my no longer existing wings.

———

Today I was planning to take a day for myself.

To think and ponder.

With the thornless rose in hand I wondered the deeper parts of the Moors in which I never really cared to explore before.

The part of the Moors that my late parents once roamed.

Where they cared for me the most when I was just an infant.

Where they were also killed.

I walked with no hurry, along a very mossy path in which led to an almost ancient tree.

Its bark peeled over to show the bare wood hidden beneath, roots sprawled out like dead long-legged spiders upon the patches of grass.

Leaves were no longer able to grow on such a tree from just how lifeless and dead it was.

The tree also was what was left of any memory of my parents I had and was about the only thing that had much sentimental value to me.

After some time of taking in what was left of the tree I finally stood up, leaving the white rose behind as I walked along the stream which would eventually lead me back to where Diaval and the others would be.

Soon.

Very soon.

I will have to face Stefan and his army of iron.

I will have to confront him and when I do, I'll have to be ready to accept the fact that I'll have to come against him in a fight that I have to win no matter what.

———

Diaval's POV

Once I left the Mistress's home I took a visit
to the small cottage where Aurora was hanging clothes to dry.

"Hello Diaval how are you this beautiful morning?"

I curtsied toward her before I said anything.

"Doing well as always, how about you?"

She gave a small frown but was quickly turned into a gentle smile as her arms went into a basket to retrieve a linen sheet to dry next.

"My birthday is coming up soon. My sixteenth birthday to be exact...I'm sure my aunties have forgotten all about it...like they usually do."

"Well then, let's make them remember. After all sixteen is an important age. A celebration for lady hood."

Aurora seemed to have been struggling with hanging up the sheet so I quickly stepped in before she was engulfed by the sheet.

She gave a soft laugh that seemed to lighten her mood as she finished pinning the sheet to the clothes line.

"Maybe even find a suitor one day to fall in love with." I hinted hoping she was open to it.

She gave me a confused look and only shyly smiled.

"I don't think that's possible. There's only fairies here. No one here is like me besides you."

"Maybe so, but it's never impossible."

"Speaking of impossible. The other day...I seen a human-looking fairy dressed in black with beautiful horns and sadly...no wings...I didn't know that was possible. A fairy without wings." Her bright blue eyes dimmed to a foggy blue as she spoke about the Mistress.

"Her...she's a fairy in a way yes...but her story is much more complicated to tell. So there's not much I can say because it's not my story to tell."

"Is she my Fairy Godmother?" Her eyes brightened once more as she looked at me so hopeful that I couldn't say no.

I also had to seize myself from laughing aloud.

The Mistress? A Fairy Godmother?

With that smile less face and scowl of the Mistress's...she'd be more likely to scare the poor child away.

"Perhaps." Was all I could manage.

"When could I meet her?"

"She's not one to keep company. Especially that of a human's."

"Does she keep yours?"

"I'm not human remember, I'm a Raven. A bird."

"Lucky. It would've been nice to meet her officially. Unless...does she not like me?"

"I don't think she hates you."

"That's not very reassuring now is it?" She laughed once more.

"She does seem to be a bit shy doesn't she? I can tell in the way she never really shows her face to me but yet I know she watches from afar. Someone like that surely can't hate me right?"

She had a very valid point.

Maybe before her birthday arrives...I do hope the Mistress is able to warm up to her.

Because if anything, maybe just like me...the Mistress would learn to care for Aurora as I have.

But thinking of it now, could there have been guilt in the Mistress's heart even though she seemed to have been hiding it over with her usual coldness?

Maybe I don't know the Mistress as I thought I had.

Maybe the Mistress was right.

I didn't know her at all.

But as if a woodpecker to a tree...I wanted to know more until I got my answer.

How warm-hearted was she really?

My inquisitiveness was far too great to let it go.

Because it wouldn't make enough sense to just hate Aurora even if she was the daughter of the man the Mistress once knew.

And in part...I shouldn't be so quick to say what I said to her.

Calling her cold-hearted...maybe she was at times but deep down...she couldn't be.

Even if she saved me to be her wings in the end. She still saved me.

No one truly evil would sincerely save another.

But she did.

And not just once.

When she had surprised me as I swam in the stream she offered her hand to me.

So calling her cold-hearted was truly an overstatement.

But again I wondered if she could ever see Aurora...as someone to care for.

Because I could.

And then a thought came to mind.

What if I also cared for the Mistress?

I thought I couldn't as I had only thought of her as well...my Mistress.

Nothing more than having acknowledgment and respect toward one another.

Friends maybe, but romantically?...

Even if my curiosity was growing into something more...would she even consider it?

No.

There was no way the Mistress, Protector and Queen of the Moors would ever even consider looking toward someone like me like that.

Let alone the fact that she herself was doubtlessly still healing from King Stefan's cruelty toward her.

After all.

He did abandon her for another.

Oddly enough, just thinking about how she was hurt lit a raging fire deep down in my gut.

To the point where if I so much as met Stefan's eyes...I'd maybe try and strangle him myself if I got the chance.

That's if I was even strong enough to.

But truly even he didn't matter.

What mattered most was seeing through to the end that the Mistress was truly okay.

That she could finally move on from what scars she had.

And finally be free of it all.

So maybe at the end of the day...I could say my curiosity wasn't merely just curiosity anymore.