The Moors were beautiful again and with the crowning of Aurora as the Queen of both kingdoms, peace prevailed on the land. Her joy and beauty, though, did not mean she was fit to be the ruler of two kingdoms. Maleficent or 'fairy godmother' was always by Aurora's side as she slowly, but surely, figured out how to be queen. The burden, though it was heavy, laid like a bag of cotton upon her pretty little shoulders. Maleficent had underestimated the child's abilities. Aurora's immense and insatiable curiosity also made her learning all the more pleasant and easy. Having Prince Phillip show her what royalty was like helped a little, too.
Maleficent was in her tree, the one she had lain in even when she was a girl, watching Aurora walk 'round the pond once more with Phillip. They had been around the pond twice now, but never seemed to notice the passing of time. She glanced to her right and saw that Diaval also watched quietly beside her. A sudden thought came to her mind, unprovoked. There were many humans, ravens, faeries and trolls, but only one of the whole Moors was like him. Out of her selfish cruelty Maleficent had made Diaval to be her servant, not giving a thought to his life afterward. How must other ravens look upon him now, forever bound to a faerie in servitude, only able to fly by her choice. She shifted her wings, thinking of how trapped he must feel, only being a raven when she wanted. Maleficent rolled and tossed these thoughts about in her mind until a few of them spilled over her tongue.
"There should be others like you." she said, almost too quiet to be heard by anyone other than herself.
"What was that?" Diaval answered. He turned to look at her, coming out of his silent daze.
"I said, there should be others like you." She answered, trying to sound a little annoyed by his temporary deafness.
"There are others like me, they just don't have you to change them." he said simply, as if the fact were obvious.
This sent Maleficent into another trail of thoughts. She couldn't possibly change every raven, or even be there for the ravens she chose to change. She would need other faeries to change them for her, but that would also be restraining, always needing to return to your faerie to be changed. She could bestow power to every raven in the Moors to change, but no, that would be far too many changelings. Then she had another idea, one she turned over and over in her head like examining a precious jewel, but found no fatal flaws.
"What if you had the power to change yourself?" Maleficent offered.
"Change myself? I can't do that, I'm not a faerie like you, I haven't any magic."
"What if you could carry magic with you, though, like an enchantment."
Diaval shifted towards her and his face lightened slightly. "Is that even possible?" he asked.
"I'm sure I could find a way. These are the Moors after all." With that, Maleficent spread her wings and soared out of the tree, leaving Diaval sitting on the branch. She flew through the towers of stone and 'round the waterfalls to the Pool of Jewels. Perching on a large stone, she gazed into the collection of sparkling stones. She reached in and selected a small, but evenly shaped crystal and with her magic, shaped it to be a perfectly polished oval stone, clear as a dewdrop and smooth as a midnight pond. Quickly, she flew back to Diaval who still sat in the tree as if she had never left. She landed and presented the stone to him. Diaval turned the stone in his hands and looked confusedly at Maleficent.
"It's a beautiful stone, but how will this help me change by myself?" He held the stone up to the sunlight, letting a bright beam of light refract and bend along its surface.
Maleficent took the stone back and with a nearby vine, fashioned a pendant from it. She placed the vine around Diaval's neck and held the stone in her palm. With a deep breath, she focused on the stone and channeled a small amount of magic into it, causing the stone to shimmer and glow as if someone had poured gold flakes and fireflies into it. She put the stone back down and saw the expectant look on Diaval's face.
"Now think of something you want to change into." She said.
Diaval closed his eyes and nodded. "I want to be a raven again." he said, smiling.
"Focus on the image of a raven and say your intent however you wish."
Dival took a deep breath and bit his lip with excitement. As the image clarified in his mind, the stone brightened. "To a raven." He nearly mumbled and almost immediately, his arms and legs pulled up, his face lengthened and feathers sprouted. In a second, a shiny black raven had taken Diaval's place on the branch. He cawed with joy and fluttered exuberantly around the tree a few times while Maleficent looked on, smiling contentedly.
Diaval came and perched again and concentrated on the figure of a man, he gave a low caw meant to be 'to a man' and his feathers were traded for hair and skin. He grinned widely and flung his arms about Maleficent's neck. He thanked her over and over for giving him such freedom and sat back to stare at the stone. He closed his eyes and the stone brightened as another image came to his mind.
"Don't be too free with that stone." Maleficent warned ominously. "It is only a stone and I can only give it power once per week. I have given it speci-" but Dival had already turned back to a raven and flew off. She got up from the branch and searched for where he might be going, but found none. That sort of power had to be used wisely and she could not trust Diaval to do so. Maleficent took off in the same direction, carefully looking through the trees to find him or a shimmer of his pendant. Such magic had rules and he did not know them.