It was not that Maleficent didn't care how Aurora felt. No, the problem was she cared far too much.
The dark fairy scowled at nothing in particular as she walked alone through dense trees, her irked state of mind a palpable thing that caused lesser creatures of the forest to give her passage a wide berth. Maleficent's thoughts turned once again to certain events leading up to the argument that had sent Aurora storming off in a teary-eyed snit several minutes earlier.
Though she had been named Queen of the Moors many months ago, in the realm of men Aurora was still crown princess for some time yet. After Stefan's demise it would have been a simple enough matter to take the throne by force (and in this Maleficent would have relished aiding the rightful heir, having no shortage of unpleasant surprises up her sleeve to do so), but it was Aurora who insisted against further bloodshed in a kingdom on the brink of civil war, and Aurora who willingly ceded regency to the head of the king's council until she came of age at eighteen.
As expected, it took no time at all for life at court to return to normal — that is to say, a persistent state of foolish nonsense and vainglorious jockeying for power. What Maleficent was once content to sneer at from afar as the follies of men had now become a constant source of discord with Aurora at its center.
"It's only empty words! They can't harm anyone by it," the young woman contended when Maleficent harshly rebuked her latest recounting of a visiting nobleman's crass innuendo veiled as flattery.
"Only empty words!" Maleficent echoed incredulously. "There is no such thing. They mean to test you, and exploit weakness wherever it's found."
Aurora threw up her hands at that. "And just what am I supposed to do about it? I can't exactly blast them into oblivion like you might!"
"No, but you can do more than sit there and accept it with a pretty smile."
Aurora stopped walking with an angry gasp, and Maleficent realized a beat too late that her words had more potential to hurt than all the sorry excuses for nobility combined.
"Every day," said Aurora, not quite able to hide the waver in her voice, "I am trying so incredibly hard to be the person everyone expects me to be, of which a great many would enjoy nothing more than to laugh at my failure. I wear the mask because I must, not because I choose to!" Without waiting for a response, she whirled around and stalked off through the trees.
Maleficent let her go. It was unlikely there was anything she could say to improve the situation, so she resolved to give Aurora the space she desired until she came back of her own accord.
Her resolve lasted until the first drops of rain fell, and came apart entirely when the light shower intensified to a heavy downpour.
Maleficent turned and with a quickened pace headed in the direction Aurora had gone. It was raining too hard to take to the air, and the thick foliage would have obscured her view besides. One of the advantages of being uncommonly tall for a fairy, at least, was possessing a lengthy stride, and Maleficent had nearly two decades to practice it. And so locating and catching up to Aurora was a simple matter, especially with her crashing about in a most unseemly fashion while engaged in a fruitless search for cover from the elements.
Mouth twitching at the sight, Maleficent closed the distance between them and swooped one of her wings over Aurora's head. Though Maleficent never touched her, the sudden absence of raindrops pelting her from above was cause enough for Aurora to turn in confusion. And when she caught sight of Maleficent, the frustration in her eyes melted as she looked up from the fairy's face to her outstretched wing and back again.
Maleficent raised an eyebrow, a question and a challenge rolled in one.
Aurora simply sighed and wrapped her hands around Maleficent's arm, leaning into her and guiding both their steps homeward.
Sometimes, no words were needed at all.