Two

Aurora was waiting for her on the river bank, beneath the canopy of the willow tree. Maleficent cast a last, lingering look at the sky and then glided down to meet her.

In the warm early afternoon sunshine the valley was alive with activity. Water sprites were clustered on the river, diving into the foaming water at the base of the waterfall and letting it carry them down the stream. Their chaotic, high pitched chatter could be heard high into the air. There were goblins, playing on the edge of the woods, clustered about something she could not see, and a group of cheeps were arguing noisily. The very air seemed to buzz. The moor had not been this alive in a long time and Maleficent could not help but notice that wherever Aurora went, the creatures tended to follow. They were as trusting of Aurora as they were wary of her.

Her arrival caused a stir. She landed in the clearing, right in the very centre of the activity, and at once she felt the current of uncertainty that swept through the creatures. In the years since she had lost her wings they had grown to fear her, and the easy trust that had once existed between them was long gone.

Slowly she walked over to the goblins, who stopped their play and stood back to watch her approach, all of them shuffling to try and get behind each other. When she was several feet away she stopped and bent down. She brought a handful of acorns out from her pocket and gently offered them to the goblins. The glanced at each other uneasily before one of them worked up the courage to step forward and take the acorns from her. Maleficent curved her hand over her sternum and inclined her head, in the old sign of respect. When they tried to return the gesture she held out a hand for them to stop and shook her head. She spoke softly in the language of the moors, a strange mellifluous language that sounded almost like song. "I have wronged you," she said. "and am in your debt." She had spoken the words many times in the past several days, and would continue to say them for a long time to come.

She got back to her feet, leaning on her staff more out of habit that necessity, turned, and walked away. The evil that had touched the moors had been brought by her. The creatures were not supposed to be enslaved; it was part of their very nature to be free. Her anger had forced yolks around their necks and she would be their servant until she had righted that wrong.

"How was it?" Aurora called eagerly as Maleficent approached the willow tree. She asked the same question after every flight, and Maleficent's response was always the same.

"Wonderful," Maleficent swept aside the trailing leaves of the willow to duck beneath them. "The winds were cool, and the sky more blue than you could ever imagine. I went above the clouds and there was nothing but endless sky and sunlight."

"I wish I had wings," Aurora replied wistfully. She was lying on her stomach beside the river, trailing a finger idly through the water. Her hair was wet, and her dress splashed with water. Maleficent guessed that she had been playing with the sprites "I would never come back down to the ground!"

"Sometimes I wish I could stay up there forever," Maleficent smiled.

"Does it still hurt?"

"A little. It's getting easier."

The healing process was rapid, but not nearly as rapid as Maleficent would have liked. Her shoulders hurt constantly with the unfamiliar weight, the pain growing worse after each flight as the muscles strained to adapt. In the three days since their escape from the castle Maleficent had flown almost constantly. Partly because, as she had said, she wanted nothing more than to remain above the clouds forever, feeling the sunlight and the wind, revelling in the return of something she had thought that she had lost forever. The other reason was that she wanted her wings back to peak condition as soon as possible, and the best way to do that was to exercise them. Already the old wound was healed, the scar tissue so faint that it was almost impossible to detect. Although it still pained her, she was hopeful that within several weeks it would be as though she and her wings had never been parted.

"I got you something." Maleficent withdrew a small purse from the folds of her dress and untied it. "I found them by the brook." Carefully she handed them to Aurora and settled herself against the base of the tree to watch as the girl pulled open the pouch and made a small noise of delight.

"Where did you get them? I thought that they had gone out of season!"

"They have," Maleficent replied, smiling to herself. "The moors have many secrets."

She did not say that she had spent the past three days coaxing the blackberry bush into yielding its fruits early, or that she had had to endure the sprites constant nagging about disrupting the balance. It was worth it. Instead she just hitched her dress up to her knees and dipped her feet into the cool river.

"Do you know them all, godmother?" Aurora asked. "The moors secrets?"

"Not half of them," Maleficent laughed. Only a human could ask such a question. "I don't wish to. And how many times must I ask you not to call me that?"

Aurora raised herself onto her knees and shuffled towards her. She dipped her hand into the pouch and pulled out a blackberry, offering it to Maleficent, who took it with a small smile of thanks. They were not as sweet as the naturally grown ones, not as good. But Aurora didn't seem to mind as she settled back on her heels and popped one into her mouth. Maleficent closed her eyes and rested her head back against the rough bark, unable to stop herself from smiling at the simple delight of having pleased the girl.

"Tell me one. A secret."

Maleficent raised an eyebrow without opening her eyes. "I have never told a human the secrets of the moors."

"Not one?"

"Never."

"Oh." The word exuded disappointment.

Maleficent opened her eyes and then asked playfully "What will you give me in exchange?"

Aurora's brow furrowed in surprise. She looked at Maleficent for a moment and then dropped her eyes to her lap, evidently thinking hard. When she looked back up again she was grinning. She held out the pouch and said "Blackberries?"

Maleficent laughed so loudly that the nearby water sprites turned in surprise. They slid over the river, chattering noisily amongst themselves, to flit about the two of them in curiosity. They only left when Maleficent shooed them gently away. "You'll trade me my own blackberries?" She flicked her foot forwards, sending an arch of water splashing over the girl. Aurora shrieked and reached down to plunge her hand into the river. "Don't you dare."

Aurora hesitated, hand still in the water, watching Maleficent with narrowed eyes. Maleficent raised a challenging eyebrow. Slowly, and with obvious reluctance, Aurora withdrew her hand. "Fine then. What do you want in exchange?"

"A secret."

"That's not fair!" Aurora exclaimed.

"And why not?"

"Because my secrets are personal. Yours are just about the moors…"

"Just about the moors? No human has ever known their secrets, and yet I am willing to trade them."

"I do. Some of them as least."

Maleficent smiled. A strange sensation slid through her, like heat. "Yes. I suppose you do."

There was a long, heavy pause. Maleficent pretended to watch the sprites at their play, whilst really watching Aurora. The girl had stopped eating, the pouch dropped onto her lap. She too was watching the sprites play, but with an unnatural intensity. "I'm scared." She said eventually "That's my secret."

Maleficent hesitated, and then asked "Of what?"

"Everything. I'm scared of what might happen. Being a princess. Becoming queen. Of the moors being attacked, and there being nothing I can do. Of you being hurt. Of marrying Phillip. Of finding out the truth about everything….Of you…"

"Me?"

Aurora nodded. Maleficent looked away. She felt as though the heat that had just been seeping through her had suddenly turned to ice.

"Because of the curse?" Her treacherous voice broke midway through the sentence, and Maleficent grimaced. She loathed such obvious displays of emotions.

Aurora nodded again.

"I won't hurt you, Aurora. I would rather die…"

"I know that but it makes no sense… I just….Everything feels so confused."

Gently, Maleficent reached out and touched her arm. She was grateful when Aurora didn't flinch away.

"You can ask me, Aurora. I know that you've wanted to for the last few days."

"I don't want to upset you,"

"You won't,"

"Then, tell me." She looked at Maleficent, face set in a determined line. There were tears in her eyes. "Tell me everything."

Maleficent shifted against the base of the tree. "Come here," she said softly. Aurora hesitated and then half crawled, half shuffled to kneel in front of her. Maleficent took her hand and gently eased the girl over to sit beside her against the tree. She unfurled her wings, wincing as one of the feathers caught on the bark, and, slowly she curled a wing around Aurora's shoulders. Aurora smiled. She settled back and pulled on it gently so that it wrapped around her and curled onto her lap. Idly she began to stroke the feathers.

"My parents died when I was very young – in the war against the humans-"

Maleficent had never told anyone of her childhood before. Stefan had known a little about it, but from Aurora she hid nothing. Most importantly, she did not have to hide her love of the moors. When she spoke of the trolls and the pixies and the sprites Aurora knew. Aurora knew what it was like to watch the sunset from her tree. She knew how it felt to nurse a faun, or to watch birds learn to fly. Maleficent did not have to hide herself. When she came to Stefan, Maleficent tried to explain her strange feelings for the boy that she herself had not understood. He was the only human she had ever seen, and the only being that looked anything like her, and so had held a strange attraction. That he had been kind had only strengthened it. She spoke of the hurt she had felt when he had first left her to join the humans. It had stung, but it had not been unexpected, and she now knew it to be nothing like the agony of heartbreak. But then he had come back. Here, Maleficent hesitated. The horror of it was too extreme, and she was aware that she was telling the girl about her father, the man who had brought her into existence. But once she started the words poured out.

"I had been naïve. I underestimated him. The people of the moors don't lie. I doubt that many of them would know how. So when Stefan came back and begged for my forgiveness I believed him without a thought. We talked, like we had done so many years before and I thought that he was truly sorry. After all, why would anyone lie to the one they claimed to love?"

"But I forgot that he was human, and had been tainted by their greed. He gave me drugged wine. The last thing I remember was sitting beside him and then…"

Her voice broke. She felt hot tears scald her eyelids when she tried to blink them away. Her stomach twisted violently and the join of her wings ached with a deep sympathetic pain. The ordeal had haunted her dreams for 17 years now, and in that time she had not spoken of it to a single soul.

"There was pain. Agony, worse than anything I had ever known. It obliterated everything. And then…I felt cold. Empty. I knew that something was missing, the weight of my wings was gone." The tears came before she could stop them. She turned to look at the river and fought to keep her voice steady. "My wings. My precious wings. I could never have imagined myself without them. I used to pity the humans that they could not fly. My wings were myself. They were who I was. And they had been torn from me…."

It was then she noticed Aurora. She had been so taken with her grief she had not felt it when the small body beside her had begun to tremble. Maleficent looked around. Aurora had drawn her knees up to her chest, arms wrapped around them, mostly hidden in the shelter of the wings. She had turned her face away and was sobbing silently into the soft feathers, clutching at them so tightly that it hurt.

"Aurora…" She said gently. She touched the girl's hair. Aurora turned and melted against her side, flinging an arm around her waist, sobbing into her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry," She managed to choke out. "I'm so sorry."

"It's hardly your fault, Aurora." She held the girl to her and waited for her sobs to die out, forcing her own eyes to remain dry. Eventually she stopped trembling and Aurora looked up at her, eyes still glistening with tears.

"My father became king because he took your wings, didn't he?"

"Yes."

"Then I was born because of what you lost."

"Yes. That…That was partly why I hated you so much. Stefan took the most precious thing I had, and from it he got a crown, a wife, and you. And I had nothing. Only my revenge."

"I understand."

"I hope you don't, Aurora. I sincerely hope that you never understand that much pain, that much hatred."

"I'm sorry that you had to,"

"As am I."

Aurora nestled against her side. Maleficent felt her take several, deep breaths before she said "Can you tell me the rest?"

"If you're sure…?"

"I need to know."

And so Maleficent continued. She told the truth about everything but the kiss. Afterwards they sat in silence for a long time.

Eventually it was Aurora who spoke "I forgive you,"

"What?"

"You said that what you did was unforgiveable, and that you would not ask my forgiveness. You don't need to. I forgive you."

"Thank you," said Maleficent quietly. "Do you feel better now?"

"A little. I'm glad I know the truth,,,"

"But?"

"It's just so confusing. My father hurt you, and I exist because of that hurt. Then you hated me, and cursed me, and now you are the one person in this world who I trust."

"It'll take time for you to come to terms with everything."

Aurora nodded. After a moment she said with forced joviality "So where's my secret then?"

Maleficent made a noise of soft indignation. "I told you my life's story! Was that not enough?"

Aurora laughed and jabbed gently at Maleficent's ribs. "You promised."

"Well who am I to refuse a princess?" Maleficent smiled, looking down at her fondly. "But I'd rather show you than tell you."

"Alright,"

"You will have to wait for nightfall."

"Give me a hint."

"It'll spoil the surprise. You'll just have to be patient."

"Fine." Aurora wriggled down beside her, nestling into the crook of her wing and popped a blackberry into her mouth. For a long time they sat like that, in companionable silence. Every so often Aurora would reach up and place a blackberry by Maleficent's lips for her to take. The first time the girl had done it Maleficent had started and looked down at her in confusion She was unused to the intimate gesture that Aurora had done with such ease, as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Am I queen?" Aurora asked eventually.

"I'm not sure. I don't know much about human politics. I should think that you would have to be crowned officially first,"

"But I will be queen?"

"Only if you want to."

"You mean I have a choice?"

"There's always a choice, Aurora. And remember that you have me to help you."

"I want to live in the moors with you."

"If that is your wish."

She heard Aurora's breathe catch, and the girl asked, "You would let me?"

"I would be honoured to have you."

Aurora considered for a moment.

"They're going to come for me, aren't they?"

"Yes."

"Then my being here threatens the moors?"

"I can protect you. I have protected the moors all my life."

"And you can hold them off?"

"If I have to,"

Aurora must have heard the hesitation in her voice, for she asked "What is it?"

Maleficent sighed. "I have pushed the humans too far. They see me as a danger, a constant threat. I doubt that they will rest until I am dead and you are safely back in their clutches."

"If I go back I could stop them, couldn't I?"

"Maybe," she answered reluctantly. "But it would be difficult; they will not want to listen. If you try to defend me they will think that I have you under some spell. They will never trust me, no matter what,"

"I suppose that I have to try."

"Aurora…You are the one person in the world who has a hope of uniting the kingdoms. I don't want to put any more pressure on you, but you need to know what's at stake."

Aurora said nothing. For a long time they sat together, eating blackberries and watching the water sprites and the various creatures that came to play in the water. At least Aurora watched them. Maleficent spent the time deep in her thoughts, worrying about what might happen, or watching Aurora smiling. She felt hyper aware of the girl's body, pressed tight against her and the way her fingers stroked her wing. She had not felt this closeness in many years, and she had not realised just how much she missed it.

It was a few hours past noon when they were interrupted by Diaval. The harsh sound of his caw preceded him, and a moment later he crashed through the branches to flap infuriatingly around them. When he eventually decided to land, Maleficent turned him human.

"Mistress," he said, quickly. "I've been keeping an eye on the wall and…"

He paused as he saw them, sitting close together within the protective fold of her wings.

"My apologies," he said with a deep grin "I didn't realise I was interrupting…"

"It's fine Diaval," Maleficent said quickly with a brief warning look. "What is it?"

"Like I said, I've been watching the wall. About half an hour ago I thought I saw something in the distance so went and had a look. There's a bloody great army heading towards us."

"I see." Although she had known that their current peace could not possibly last, she nevertheless felt her heart drop. Maleficent carefully pulled her wing from around Aurora's shoulders and stood up. "Can you find your way back to my tree by yourself?" She asked her.

Aurora looked up at her in confusion "What?"

"I want you to go and wait in my tree. You'll be safe there and once…"

"No!" Aurora said indignantly, scrambling to her feet. "I want to go with you!"

"It's too dangerous,"

"They aren't going to hurt me…"

"No, but if they believe you've been cursed again, they will kidnap you 'for your own good'. I will not risk…"

"I want to help you!"

"The girl's right." Diaval interrupted. "Besides, it might help if they could see that she's safe and sound."

"No!" She rounded on him angrily, glaring "I will not…"

"I'm coming," Aurora said simply. She raised her chin and fixed Maleficent with a defiant stare. "If I am to be queen then I cannot shy away from this. You said that I am the only one who can unite the kingdoms, now let me try!"

Maleficent raised an eyebrow in surprise but said nothing. She looked at Aurora's defiant face. As loathe as she was to admit it, she knew that Aurora was right. "Very well." She agreed. "As long as you swear to me you will not take any unnecessary risks."

"I swear that I won't take any unnecessary risks,"

Diaval laughed loudly. "She's your god daughter alright."

Maleficent didn't even bother to glare at him. Instead she just said softly, "Then so be it,"

She flicked her fingers at Diaval, turning him back into a raven. "I'll meet you at the wall,"

He circled about them for a moment and then flew off.

"Come here, Aurora," Maleficent said. Aurora did as she was bid, stopping just in front of her. "I would not have chosen this for our first flight together," She said softly. A flutter of delight passed across Aurora's face.

"You mean I can fly with you?"

"Yes. I had been saving it until I was stronger. I wanted to take you beyond the clouds to watch the dawn with me." Aurora made a small noise of excitement "Another time. Now hold me tight."

Maleficent opened her arms and Aurora walked into them, wrapping her own arms around Maleficent's waist.

"Don't let go." She said.

With a flap of the powerful wings, they were off.

Flying with Aurora was harder than she had anticipated. Although the girl was light, her wings were still sore from the previous flight and from the intense exercise of the last few days. The muscles strained to keep them aloft, and she was not able to go as fast as she would have liked. Aurora pressed her face tight into Maleficent's body and every so often gave little gasps or shrieks. Whether they were from fear or pleasure Maleficent couldn't tell. Before long, Aurora had wrapped not only her arms but her legs around Maleficent, and held so tightly that she feared that her dress would rip. That would certainly be a sight for the approaching army.

"Relax," she told the girl more than once. "I have you."

Aurora did not respond. Maleficent wished that she could have given more thought to Aurora's comfort, to make the experience of the first flight more pleasurable to the girl. Instead she was forced to focus on keeping them aloft, despite the growing pain.

Fortunately the flight was not a long one. Within a few minutes they had reached the wall of thorns. The army had come to a stop on before it, as though waiting for her. Maleficent descended slowly, landing on the large stone, before the awaiting army. Gently she pushed Aurora away, eyes on the lines of men who watched them. "Stay behind me," she said softly "And whatever happens, remember that nothing is as important to me as your freedom."