A/N – Thank you to everyone taking the time to read this fic, I hope you are enjoying it. And most importantly, a HUGE thank you to everyone who has left me a review, your thoughts are all very welcome and appreciated :)

Chapter 3

The bird rose early out of habit and just after dawn had spent several minutes trying to wake the young Queen, first by crowing softly in her ears, and then by hopping up and down on her shoulders to no avail as she hugged her pillow. 'There's a reason they called her Sleeping Beauty', he reminded himself. It seemed as though the girl would snooze till mid morning, and the raven was anxious to get back to the Moors before he was missed by Maleficent. Cawing more loudly, Diaval resorted to a quick peck on the arm.

A strange pinching sensation gradually drew Aurora from her dreams, and through the fog of sleep she became aware of a small weight bouncing up and down upon her shoulder blades. With each bounce there came a needling in her back, and rolling onto her back, the girl dislodged the weight to the accompanying flap of black feathers.

"Diaval!" She exclaimed excitedly after pushing stray golden strands of hair from her face as the raven fluttered back onto her knees still buried under the covers. "What are you doing here so early?" she asked, stroking the bird's silky plumage.

Cocking his head wryly, Diaval eyed the sun which by now was well on its way into the sky. 'Not so early anymore', he thought. A brief flap of his wings propelled him back onto the oaken chest where he retrieved a crumpled piece of green material in his claws and deposited it in Aurora's lap, crowing encouragingly.

Carefully picking up and rolling it out flat, the Queen saw that it was a large sycamore leaf with a badly scrawled message upon it. "A note, for me?" the girl questioned as Diaval clacked his beak and nodded proudly.

Trying not to squint too much as she read least she offend the raven, Aurora attempted to decipher the markings which appeared to have been made using the end of a burnt twig. After a couple of minutes, the girl managed to make out 'Meet at cottidge too night' with a stick figure of a man scrawled beneath. "Oh, you want me to meet you tonight at the old cottage? You'll be in your human form?" she clarified. The bird leaped into the air and flew around Aurora's head cawing happily, which she took to mean yes. Smiling, the girl praised, "I didn't know you could read and write Diaval, clever bird!"

The raven puffed out his little chest. It had taken him hours to write the note, even in his human form. He had learned a little of letters and how to draw them from Maleficent who was one of the few Moor-folk who could read and write thanks to books that King Stefan had brought her when she was young. She had of course destroyed them all in a fury of green flame a few years ago, but had taught Diaval in order to have him spy on the goings on in the castle more effectively. While he was far from literate, it was enough for Diaval to pick out key words to get the gist of the King's correspondence with other kingdoms and report back to Maleficent. This, however was the raven-man's first attempt at writing himself, and was extremely proud of his accomplishment.

"Is everything alright? Is Maleficent ok?" Aurora asked, the smile slipping for a moment and worry crept into her voice. Diaval nodded slowly and gave a quiet caw. "That's a relief. Whatever it is must be quite important for you to come all the way here with a note for me." The smile began to return. "Well, you can tell me all about it later. I have a meeting with my council this morning" the girl said as she glanced out of the window to check the position of the sun. "I will let them know that I have some urgent business to attend to in the Moors. They shouldn't need me here for a week or so, and it's been so long since I was back there. They can hardly refuse."

Diaval spread his wings and chirped in farewell as he flew back out of the window and soared into the cloudless sky, heading back for the Moors.

Climbing out of bed, the girl placed the leaf note onto the top of her bedside drawers before getting ready for the day. Catching a glimpse of herself in the large ornate mirror, so noticed that she had a wider smile than usual on her face. She was going to see Maleficent! And spend some time with Diaval too. She practically danced down the stairs and into the meeting chamber, and received some incredulous stares from her council in the process, especially from her surly Captain of the Guard.

Once the general business of the meeting was taken care of, Aurora brought up her planned visit to the Moors. There were no objections, but she was reminded that King Phillip would be visiting with his retinue for two weeks in 8 days' time, and her presence would be required. She confirmed to the gathered men that she would indeed be back in time to receive the King and make him welcome. The matter settled, the golden-haired girl returned to her quarters and called for her lady in waiting to assist her in getting ready to leave.

Back downstairs in the meeting chamber, three council members remained seated together at one end of the long table, discussing a private matter in hushed tones.

"This timing is perfect. We can put everything into place without worrying about Her Majesty finding out," whispered the Captain of the Guard as he scratched his stubble.

"Yes, with Queen Aurora away it falls to us to act on her behalf. We can authorize this without question," agreed an older man with a long beard flecked with grey who had served as King Stefan's closest advisor.

"We'll be ready for the outcome, whatever it may be, as soon as she returns," commented the Keeper of the Treasury, a thin, slimy looking man with a bulbous nose.

"I suggest we meet again to finalize our plans once we receive word that King Phillip has set off," said the advisor pushing back his heavy iron chair as he stood. "Good day, gentlemen." With that, the three councilors went about their business for the day.

The evening sky was hidden by a thick layer of cloud, making progress slower for Aurora and her royal guard of six burly men mounted on noble white steeds. They were some of the finest knights in the kingdom and each carried a spear with a short sword hanging at their sides encased in brown leather scabbards. Despite her protests several years ago that she did not need protection, her council insisted that she be accompanied by trained fighters wherever she went. She had initially felt stifled by the constant company each time she made a trip to the Moors, but now had given up arguing for the sake of peace. She rode in the center of her guard on a pure white mare named Kiyohime with the clothes and essentials she would need for her short stay in a small saddle bag.

Soon, the roof and chimney of the cottage came into view above the treetops and only the sound of horses' hooves plodding along the hard ground broke silence of the clearing in the woods. The girl's pixie aunts had long since abandoned the building to return to their beloved Moors now that she had grown up. Her childhood home stood empty, except for the times when she passed back through the area on her way to the Moors. Here her guard would stay until she was ready to leave, for although she may need protection on the way as the world of men could be treacherous, Aurora had made it clear that she certainly did not require any guards once over the border and her councilors had begrudgingly agreed. Maleficent was all the protector she needed, and there were always the capable wood sentinels who patrolled the enchanted land day and night.

Dismounting Kiyohime, Aurora made her way up the path and pulled the heavy wooden door of the cottage open. As she did so, a dark shadow peeled away from the edge of the trees, and stealthily slipped through the door behind the girl skillfully without drawing the attention of the guards who were busy unsaddling their mounts. Lighting the lantern she always left on the small table by the door, the Queen shuffled through the dark building lighting the others, flooding the place with a cozy glow. Returning to the kitchen, she started in surprise then immediately beamed when she saw Diaval now in his human form perched smugly upon a chair at the table. After Maleficent had shifted him out of his raven form to hear his report of the general goings on in the Moors and beyond, he had requested to remain in his human form for a while longer under the pretext that the water nymphs were teaching him to swim in the lakes.

"That must be a new record" the girl laughed as she placed the flickering lantern onto the table throwing shadows against the walls. "Last time you only got past four of them!"

"It was five actually," came the soft lilting voice. "Six is a new record though. Next time you should bring eight guards, and see if I can't get by all of them too." Diaval smiled and stood to embrace the golden-haired girl in a tight hug.

"I've missed you, Diaval," Aurora said sincerely. "It's been far too long since I could last visit you all. How is she?" The girl looked into the raven-man's dark somber eyes.

"I've missed you too, Aurora. Maleficent misses you most of all though." Sitting back down, Diaval bade the girl do the same. "She's the reason I asked you to come here tonight. Things are….not going well for her right now. I must be honest with you Aurora, because nothing I can say to her makes a difference. She heard you may be engaged a few months ago and well, I think she is scared of losing you but she won't open up to me. I'm afraid that some of her old darkness is returning, and I'm powerless to help." The raven-man hung his head slightly while Aurora's eyebrows rose in consternation.

"I am not engaged," she quickly interjected, "it was just a silly rumor about Phillip and I started by maids with nothing better to do than gossip. I wish that I could be with her all of the time, but my duties….Oh Diaval, I'm causing her pain aren't I? And she's the last person in the world I want to hurt, I care about her so much. Please tell me what I can do to help."

"Aurora, do you love her?" Diaval asked quietly.

Aurora was caught off guard for only a split second before replying confidently. "Yes, I do. She saved me, she's watched over me all my life. How could I not?"

Diaval leaned forward eagerly; he had to make sure he was right. "Yes, that is clear for all to see. But I am asking, are you in love with her? Do you desire her?"

Aurora's face reddened at the question; she was not used to Diaval being so blunt with her, especially about her innermost feelings. She pictured the beautiful dark fairy, and her crimson lips and immediately felt that surge of breath-taking warmth throughout her body. There was nothing more certain. "Yes," she admitted aloud for the first time, awaiting Diaval's response anxiously.

Throwing himself energetically backwards into his chair and lifting the front two feet from the ground, Diaval allowed himself to grin. He'd been right all along, and now the two of them just needed a shove in the right direction. And he was more than willing to do the pushing if it meant these two could find happiness at last. "That's what I'd hoped you'd say" he beamed and Aurora let out the breath she had been holding in relief. A thousand terrible 'what ifs' had flashed through her mind? She had been afraid that Diaval would tell her what she felt was wrong, or that both he and Maleficent would despise her for her strange feelings.

"Perhaps I shouldn't be saying this, but if things don't change soon we may lose Maleficent to her despair. Aurora, don't get your hopes up too much just yet, but I think that she feels the same way about you." Diaval grasped the girl's hands as her mouth hung open slightly in a mixture of surprise and excitement. His words had sent a jolt though her heart, and her eyes shone eagerly. "Do you really think she might? That would be…I would be…Could she really feel the same? I didn't dare hope…" The girl's hands shook slightly in the bird-man's gentle grip.

"As I say, I can't know for sure. You know how good she is at hiding her emotions. She has locked them away deep inside. The trouble is getting her to admit it, and she certainly won't to me. She refuses to believe that se deserves anyone's love, least of all yours. You're the only one that can get her true feelings out of her and your love may save her yet again."

"But you still aren't completely sure," Aurora frowned, "what if you are wrong, what if she doesn't and she rejects me? What if she thinks my love for her is unnatural, just like my lady in waiting believes? I couldn't bear to lose her. I'd rather her never know how I feel than face that." The girl sat back uneasily and Diaval released her hands. "I think I need to sleep on this and think of a way around this in the morning when I'm not so tired."

After a moment of quiet thought, a grin spread back over the raven-man's features. "I think I have a way we can find out without you having to do a thing…."