I Know You

5

"CAWR!"

Lifting her head up to look at the raven in the branches above her nest, Maleficent fixed him with a glare.

"What?"

The bird's only response was something akin to a chuckling sound, as he surveyed the picture before him- his mistress, the most feared in the kingdom, settled back against the trunk of the great tree with her wings wrapped protectively around the sleeping girl.

"The little beast ambushed me," she said simply, having long since given up on escaping from the entanglement of limbs that she had found herself in sometime earlier, having returned from her usual nightly patrol of the moors.

Fairies did not need to sleep for incessant amounts of time, and Maleficent had never been much of a deep sleeper anyway. Not since...

Long after Aurora had dozed off to sleep in her usual spot, Maleficent had taken to the skies, wanting to be sure that everything was at it should be.

She had not stayed up long however. Sensing the girl had stirred somewhere down below, Maleficent returned to the nest in time to find Aurora sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

Before she could do anything about it, the girl had scooted over to invade her personal space, settling against her and requesting that she not leave again that night.

The brat.

Another knowing chirp from the branch above was all it took for the fairy to send a little stinging curse the bird's way.

"AWWWWWWK!"

The raven disappeared from view (and hopefully earshot), and Maleficent wrapped her wings tighter around the girl, aware of the late night chill.

Subconsciously, Aurora curled closer to her with a contented sigh, grabbing a fistful of the fairy's clothing in her left hand as she did so.

"Do not become accustomed to this, Beastie," Maleficent whispered, closing her eyes again.

And yet, despite her own reservations around such closeness, the fairy could see how one might.

Ω Ω Ω Ω

Maleficent did not recall dozing off, and was surprised to find the first signs of daylight in the sky when she next opened her eyes.

Something had stirred her, she knew, and her eyes quickly fell upon the raven perched tentatively on the edge of the closest tree branch.

"How's your backside?" she asked with a small smile, propping herself up into a sitting position, careful not to awaken the sleeping girl beside her. "Into a man."

Diaval glared at her, hands rubbing his behind. "Totally uncalled for, Mistress."

She arched an eyebrow but did not respond, instead glancing down at Aurora, still curled up beside her, deep in the land of dreams.

"How is she?" he asked.

"She will recover," Maleficent told him.

"Abdicating the throne like that... that was..." Diaval began, shaking his head.

"Foolish?" she guessed, ready for a lecture on standing in the way of the Princess' true fate. "Impulsive?"

"I was going to say brave, Mistress," he responded softly. "Brave, and incredibly loyal. She loves you very much."

He was met with silence, but didn't fail to notice the fairy's hand, brushing gently at the girl's hair.

"Who do you think will take the crown?" Diaval asked, looking out over the moors in the direction of the distant castle.

"Your guess is as good as mine. Knowing the greed of their kind, they're likely hacking each other to bits for the privilege as we speak," Maleficent said curtly. "Whoever it is, we will be wise to be ready for them."

Diaval turned to look at her. "Do you think they'll come back for Aurora again?"

"Aurora? Perhaps not. But we would be fools to think that this is an end to it," she told him. "No, this is simply the calm before the storm. A war is coming."

But Maleficent was brought from her thoughts before they deepened, suddenly aware of a sensation against her left wing.

Glancing down, she realised that the girl was awake, running one finger across the soft feathers that enveloped her.

It was not a sensation that the fairy was entirely comfortable with, given her past, yet she resisted the urge to pull back as a bright smile spread across the young girl's face.

"Good morning, Godmother."

"Good morning, Beastie."

And all thoughts of darkness and war were replaced by sunshine and warmth. If only for a little while.

Ω Ω Ω Ω