It had been days since Maleficent had last eaten. Diaval wasn't sure how many, two, maybe three, time measurements was not his strong suit when he was in his natural form. All he knew was he was starting to worry. He would have been less worried if she had been up and moving. She thought she was too busy to eat but no. It had been about that long since she had last moved as well.
She had been laying in her nest, with her eyes closed like she was asleep, but she couldn't be asleep for this long could she? It was scaring him and he didn't know what to do about it. He had been bringing her things to eat, fruit, berries nut and such. Small things he could lift in his beak. He didn't know what to do with them, so he placed them inside her half opened hand. She hadn't reacted at all, she hadn't even shifted.
If it weren't for the slow subtle rise and fall of her chest Diaval might have thought she was dead. He was starting to get very scared that, that's what she wanted to be. Maybe even was trying to be. Maybe everything had become to much for her and she wanted to die.
That thought made him so panicked he didn't know what to do with his body, he wanted to squawk and flail his wings to expel the panic. But on the other hand he wanted to collapse from the overwhelming thought of the idea and the sorrow in it. He wasn't enough for her, he wasn't enough for her. Why should he be? He wasn't important. He quailed at the idea. She was everything to him, the most important thing in his world, was his world and he wasn't even enough to keep her alive.
No! He shook his head and ruffled up his feathers. No, if he was not important to her now he would make himself important to her! He would make her want to live! He would! He just had to keep her alive until he did, until she realized how much she meant to him.
With renewed resolve, he tore a clump of blackberries off their bush, and took off flying as fast as he could while trying not to shake any of the ripe berries of their stems. He managed fairly successfully, with only one berry falling as he flew. Once he got back to her nest he was faced with another problem. Obviously placing the food in her hand had been doing no good, but as he looked her over, he noticed something he hadn't thought to notice before. Her jaw was relaxed enough that her mouth was slightly open. Maybe if he was bold enough he could drop a berry directly into her mouth.
He shifted from foot to foot unsure if he was bold enough. He tilted his head and made a noise in his throat. As expected she didn't react, but that didn't mean she wouldn't react in anger if he brought their mouths so close together. He understood that for humans and fairies that was a thing of importance. Though he couldn't understand why. Maybe even though he was a bird at the moment, she would be angry about it.
He had almost convinced himself when he realized one thing. It had also been that long since she had had anything to drink. He had heard that really you could only go three days without liquids. He couldn't carry back water but at least the berries had juice in them, which was something.
He placed the clump down on the floor of the nest, and carefully plucked one of the ripest berries from the stem. He took off and landed next to her head making sure not to step on her, or cuff her with his wings, he moved closer insistently his head tilting so he could see her better.
When he dropped the berry into her mouth he aimed carefully so it would fall onto her tongue and not to the back of her throat and then jumped back quickly in case she reacted violently. She didn't. She froze even more then she had been, actually stopping breathing for a moment, before slowly her tongue moved to crush the berry against the roof of her mouth letting the sweet and tart juice run down to where her reflexes prompted her to swallow.
Diaval felt like cawing and flapping his wings in joy when he saw her swallow but he kept it quietly in, feeling like he was going to explode in the nicest way he ever had. Having found a way that worked he quickly went back to the stem and plucked another berry, dropping it as well into her mouth. She swallowed more quickly this time and they continued like that, he went and got one more stem of berries, pausing to dip it in a clear stream so that the small cups could collect as much liquid as they could.
They did this with just over twenty berries. Not that many to be sure but better then nothing. Diaval would have kept going, it was Maleficent who stopped him. She closed her mouth and turned her head to the side. Her first movement in days, and, the first real sign of life and will. Diaval was too happy about that to be really disappointed she didn't eat more.
Less hesitantly this time he moved closer to her. Settling comfortable in the space between her shoulder and her neck. He had a feeling she could do with all the closeness and comfort she could get. It was warm there and he fluffed up his feathers, pressing their softness against her skin. He knew he had been right to settle there when her breathing began to shake. The sort of shaking of someone who is crying but trying their best not to let anyone notice.
Diaval dually pretended not to notice and just snuggled in deeper pretending to be asleep as Maleficent let go of a little bit of the sadness that he knew she was constantly carrying. She would feel a little bit better tomorrow, not much better but they could repeat this until she was. He was completely willing to nurse her as a parent their chick until she was strong again. He didn't think it would be long she had always been the strongest creature he had ever seen, and he was almost certain she always would be and as he fell asleep he was deeply glad that of all the fay in the world, she had become his mistress.