Author's Note: I'd like to thank The Llewellyn Journal for the insight on faery marriages and the lore surrounding them.
Soundtrack for this Chapter:
"Amarantine," by Enya. Amarant[h]ine means "endless, immortal, everlasting"
Unsightlyviewings – Thanks for the review! Maleficent will not stay 100% sweet or compliant through our story here. There will be times where this couple quarrels, like this chapter, and you will see touches of the behavior she had grown so used to before healing with Aurora's help (see future chapters.) Faeries are creatures of habit, and while they may not be quick to act or emote, they are unequivocally quick to anger. Enjoy!
To whomever Anonymously reviewed, thank you so much. Your kind words are very appreciated.
Reviews are always appreciated! XOXO, Readers!
Chapter 4 - Póstaí Sídhe (Faerie Marriages... are often turbulent)
A glorious month had passed in the Moors, with two visits from councilors of Aurora's small chambers to check on the queen, her Lady Protector, and to decide anything that could not wait. Such meetings took place in the cottage just outside the Moors, where Aurora was raised by her three little "aunties." Today was one such visit, and the gentlemen had left soon after noonday, seeking food and drink that wasn't "touch'ed by the fae."
Aurora smiled wryly. She ate the fae food every day, but she could tell that her councilors feared being stolen into the Moors. A chuckle escaped her pert lips as she imagined the elder gentlemen thinking that they were quite the catch. Shaking her head, she stood and stretched backward, in a rather unladylike display. Her back popped and creaked as her small hands reached for the thatch in the roof. Nearly moaning with relief, she settled back down into the chair and closed her eyes. She'd only close them a moment…she was sure. She'd just been quite so tired lately.
As Aurora began to drift, her thoughts turned inward. She suspected that she was pregnant, but couldn't know for sure. She'd certainly never been pregnant before, but judging from the hushed whispers of her ladies at the castle when they were with child and the resulting naps schemed behind the Queen's back, well…to put it mildly, she had a suspicion. Aurora had tried to talk about it with Maleficent just two days prior, but the faery had been so very ill tempered. In fact, in stark contrast to the loving cupful she'd experienced for a few blissful days after their magick working together, Maleficent had soon turned broody and roving. She'd fly for hours on end, taking difficult and dangerous routes, diving quickly. Aurora would yelp at her to come down and stop her showing off, but that only served to anger the faery more, who would disappear into the woods with Diaval at her side. Aurora would never venture into those woods without Maleficent at her side; she wasn't naïve enough to; therein laid fae folk of the middling sort, and sometimes-malevolent spirits that truly did not like humans.
One such afternoon the week prior, Aurora felt as if her heart would break. She'd slid awkwardly down the rowan tree trunk, hanging onto the lower branch for as long as she could. Still, she was a petite woman, even for a human. At 5'1, her toes hung a good six inches from the safety of the moss below when she wasn't brave enough to make the leap in one swoop. Today, something told her to be careful, and it had caused her to hang like an idiot, yelping for help. Maleficent had flown off a good half hour before, and Aurora had taken to their bed to sob out some of her anger. Now, she was merely sad and sought to escape their shared home. She knew that she was acting churlishly, as evidenced by her predicament.
"Help me! Uhh, ahh! Help?" Aurora had called, tears streaked down her face. The grove near the bluff that the Rowan rested on was quiet. She assumed it was to give them some privacy during their quarrel, but now it just made her cry all the more.
"Queenie! Dannae drap!"[1] Robin warned, throwing his arms up in a feeble attempt to catch the woman should she fall. He didn't think it would do much harm except twist her fragile human ankles, but he wondered why in the world she hadn't just jumped down from the lower vestibule of limbs. She looked as if she had tried to climb her way along the lower branch, making this much harder on herself. Shaking his head, he muttered, "Dunderheids girnin' aboot each ot'ter like thar paralytics."[2]
"Wha'…What, Robin? Are you going to help me?" Aurora called, slightly agitated at his lack of speed or concern.
Robin cleared his throat and began slowly. Women were sensitive creatures, and though Aurora could not zap him with magick, she could haver to Maleficent about it. "Whit're ye daeing, ma Queenie? I heared the rammy ti' dae. Wha's the trauchle?"[3]
A groan sounded from the Sidhe as Talise crept her way out into the afternoon sunshine. Her husband had no such qualms about coming out in stark daylight, but she still did not prefer it. It would wrinkle her already aged skin further. She liked to look good for her 172 years on this good Moor.
"Away wit' you, Robin." Talise ordered, pointing to the woods. She knew her husband would know to speak to Maleficent, though it might take him a few minutes to figure it out. Woman-to-woman, it was best she speak with Aurora. Maleficent was a prickly sort, best left to those who knew her best. Besides, Talise spoke Plain better than Robin, and Aurora didn't have to think twice in her responses. Honesty was the best policy in the Moors, and got to the root of the issue much faster. "Jump down gently, my Queen. Ya' be fine."
Aurora did that, and while it wasn't a clean landing, she didn't hurt anything. Rolling to a gentle stop near the log atop Talise was sitting; it seemed fate that they should talk. Looking back on it, Aurora was sure Talise knew from past experience that a person falling from that tree would roll to that log. Perhaps her love had been clumsy as a child…
"How are ye' today, Aurora?" the gnome woman's voice took on a motherly quality, and Aurora was grateful. She felt that she could trust Talise to help her navigate the many nuances of faery conversation without being offended. She never quite knew when she was stepping too far, or upsetting some tradition unknowingly. Her love was often quick to correct her gently, but lately the corrections had been met with huffs and grit teeth, snarling faces and growling sounds before a flap of wings blew her back, and out the 'door' her faery flew.
"I'm quite melancholy today, Talise." Aurora replied, sounding quite deflated. "Maleficent and I keep 'knocking around' this week. It seems that I am annoying to her, and not a day goes by before we're being bandy again." The young Queen sniffled just then, wiping her nose indelicately on the sleeve of her dress. "I suspect I am pregnant, and when I told her such, I expected her to be overjoyed. But instead…Instead she…" a quick keening came from her mouth, and even quicker breaths in to steady herself against weeping again. "She said it was much too early to be telling such things, and that she wouldn't hear of it. Ever since, she's been so cold to me! My skin sings and cries out for her, but she brushes about me like I am invisible!"
"Invisible, never. Irreplaceable? Certainly. Fragile? Definitely." Talise commented slyly, petting the Queen's long golden curls about her back in an attempt to calm her. "She's come to an experience in life that she's uncomfortable with, Aurora. She's never loved anyone more than you, and now she is presented with the fact that there is someone coming who she might love more than you. Someone even, that you may love more than her…"
"Whatever do you mean?" Aurora mumbled into her hands as she wiped her tears away. "I am so confused. There's no one I would love more than her."
"I know, sweets, I know. The Fae talk in circles, it's a sorry habit I have." The gnome joked, not feeling sorry at all. Knowing that it truly was too soon to tell Aurora that she was pregnant no matter how deeply she knew it true, she decided to change the subject. "Did I ever tell you the stories about the Seelie High Queen and King that lived a millennia ago? They were awfy dreich[4] to each other sometimes, but only because they loved each other so much."
Aurora snuffled a bit, but sat up a bit straighter in piqued curiousity. She turned to her friend and opened her red stained eyes. "No? Would you tell me now?"
"'Af course, wee one. It's an old faimly[5] tale. See, back after the biggin' faeries came to this kingdom, the ones like your Maleficent? They established the Seelie Court… for the rest of us to come and rest before makin' our own Sidhe. Back then, you could see the Seelie Court. None of this glamour that they come sneakin' upon you in the dead of night…" Talise muttered. "Fin Bheara[6], who ruled the faeries of the west of this area of the Moors, was the devoted husband of Queen Oonagh[7]. Oonagh had golden hair sweeping to the ground, and she dressed in silver gossamer glittering as if with diamonds, 'tis were actually dew drops…"
"In spite of his wife's ethereal and eternal beauty, Fin Bheara was obsessed with human women who, overpowered by the music of the Moors, were spirited away to live there with him forever. He was said to have a second Queen, a Halfling named Nuala. Oonagh was unsurprisingly not welcoming to the human maidens to the fairy court, but she tolerated them. See, two Tuatha faeries born of the Moors cannot make a pretty bairn. They can make fae babes, to be sure…but 'dere always covered in hair and quite a sight to behold. The eldest of these faeries lives by the sea…'Dere not particular nice," she cleared her throat and tutted a bit when Aurora's eyes grew big as saucers. "Did you ever wonder why Maleficent is so very pretty?"
"I always just assumed that all faeries are beautiful in their own way…" Aurora murmured, thinking on her faery's large and luscious lips, perennially painted a crimson that would shame the reddest of roses, and to her proud and jutting cheekbones. Her nose though, was her most adorable part – the fine aquiline slope was mired by a slightly round bump at the very bridge, but Aurora did not recall Maleficent ever telling her that she'd broken her nose. It was part of her character that made Maleficent so very vulnerable to Aurora, and even more precious.
Talise shook her head firmly, clasping her bonnet of bluebell back to her tight grey curls. "Nae, sweet Aurora. Maleficent is the most beautiful of all of us because she is the most human. King Kinloch's father took her father Lysander from the humans. His name was Thomas of Erceldoune, and he was consort to the Queen at the time. She never told her true name, not even to us. It was a part of her magick. She was so very true a ruler, and lovely. We called her Bean chaol a chot uaine's na gruaige buidhe, 'The slender woman wif' green kirtle and yellow hair.' Kinloch was a halfling, half human and half fae, but a true child of the Moors. See, if dere's any fae in ye', and you love the Moors as your home, then ye're Fae. 'Tis no bother how much human you are or not." The gnome then studied her knee rather abruptly, attempting to rub a grass stain out of her apron. Aurora could see she was attempting to collect her words, and did not wish to appear daft, or hesitant.
Finally, Talise continued, "The Queen saw Lysander in his cradle along the shore of the river as his mother, the washerwoman would do clothing. He would always follow her with his eyes, seeing the Queen when his mother could not, giggling and cooing for her. She thought perhaps she could give the washerwoman another baby, a fae baby glamoured to look like him…but the thought of taking another person's bairn and replacing him with one of her own halflings…what would have been the point? The Queen's halflings were beauteous anyhow. Thomas of Erceldoune and the Queen loved each other enough to lust, and to make beautiful babes. He was right proud of his'self. He thought to take Lysander in the night, and did. He was thrown out of the Moors for the action, for the washer woman's wails could be heard for months afterward. The Queen did not love her consort so much that she would abide in him disobeying her. The washer woman cried, and the Queen would sit on the edge of the forest with her new babe, whom she learned from the carrying on' was named Lysander."
"How awful for the washer woman!" Aurora exclaimed, nearly bobbing to stand with her indignation. The Queen was rare to anger, but Talise could see her pressing her sharp little human fingernails into the crook of her palms, pressing as if to calm herself or beat Thomas of Erceldoune o'er the head, she wasn't sure.
"Sit and settle, my youngin' Queen," Talise soothed. "King Kinloch's father was punished accordin'ly, and died alone in the human world with naught a person who cared. Maleficent's father was given wings, blessed as a changeling by his new mother, the good Queen. Lysander grew strong among these cliffs and trees. Though being so thoroughly human his'self originally, he was naturally drawn to steal a maiden from the humans to make his own babes. Kinloch did so too, though he didn't seduce the maiden too thoroughly. When Lysander would trail Hermia along the river, his lute would play such tunes you'd think the hearts of the trees would bleed. Hermia…Hermia came quite willingly. Her sister, well…" Talise paused, and cleared her throat. "I don't like to speak ill of Queen Ulla. That's a story better saved for your Maleficent to tell you. Someday…"
"What was the point of it all?" Aurora's heart dropped into the pits of her stomach. "Just for prettier babies? Why are the Fae and humans so very cruel to each other in the histories, if most of the Fae were once human or had a half-human parent?" A single tear betrayed Aurora's left eye, and fell along her reddened cheek slowly.
"The point of it all, and to my tale, is misunderstanding and how to make peace with it. You must allow Maleficent some time to get used to change, my dear. The Fae do not crave change, we abhor it really," Talise relayed matter-of-factly. "Lysander and Hermia loved the humans, and loved the Fae. They wanted them to live in peace. You and Maleficent can bring truth and honor their memory if you can accomplish it. You're doing very well so far, as the Fates have sought right to put the odds on the shoulders of True Love." The gnome grinned then, and put her tiny hand on Aurora's cheek, turning the young woman's face to her. "Faery marriages are often… turbulent. But, the love always wins out. Even our Good Queen, mother to Kinloch and Lysander could not live long without her beloved, though she had shunned him to death. She was not long for this Earth, and left for the Summerlands a few years after the boys reached their maturities, anon."
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Diaval ran along as quickly as his awkward and gangly human legs could carry him. His mistress had transformed him into a man in her confusion before they had seen to sending him to fetch Aurora, and so fetch Aurora he would. It was late, nearing dark, and the Queen hadn't been seen coming from the cottage. Diaval had thought to ask his Mistress why she hadn't called Aurora back once the humans had ridden away from the edge of the Moors as they sat on the high ridge that overlooked the World of Man.
"Don't be silly, Diaval." Maleficent had quipped coldly. "Aurora is her own person. She will come back when she is ready."
Diaval didn't mention how he suspected the Queen was staying away from their tree home because Maleficent had been acting quite like an angry blue jay all month. He didn't mention how he saw her wings quiver in fright and nervousness as she told him to leave off. Hells, he didn't want to be turned into a mangy dog again.
So, here he ran. As soon as Maleficent had stood up, she suddenly had leaned over, grasping her rowan staff so closely to her and firmly to the ground that her knuckles had whitened even more than her skin. In his thoughts, Diaval shuddered. He hadn't seen his Mistress in such physical distress in such a very long time. A long groan had exhaled out of her mouth then, and her claws had scrabbled her stomach as she wretched towards the ground.
Wincing at that memory, Diaval recalled Robin and Talise fetching Maleficent up from the ground where she had very unceremoniously fallen to her knees.
"'Tis alrigh' to boak aboot this, dearie."[8] The female gnome knelt and brushed her hands along his Mistress's wings, which had drooped nearly to the grass in defeat or pain, he wasn't sure. The grass sure bowf'd[9] where she had expelled her lunch, he could mingin[10] it from his perch. Talise had yelled at him then, telling him to go get Aurora. The last thing he heard before he was off sprinting was 'Into a man…' Would it be the last thing he heard from his Mistress? She had sounded so very small then.
At long last, he reached the cottage. Taking deep, gasping gulpfuls of air to calm his weak human lungs, he burst into the front door. Aurora had been asleep, laid across the table while sitting in her chair. Her hair looked so pretty, curls seeming to make vines across the polished maple where they had been thrown by her falling into slumber. He shook his head. Now was not the time to admire his Queen.
"Aurora! Wake up! Wake up, it's Maleficent!" he prattled loudly.
Aurora shot up like she'd been burned and turned blearily towards him, standing up. "Whatever is wrong, Diaval? What is wrong with Malle?"
[1] Dannae drap – Don't drop/fall.
[2] Dunderheids girnin' aboot each ot'ter like thar paralytics – Airheads going after each other like drunks. A married couple who fights a lot.
[3] I heared the rammy ti'dae. Wha's the trauchle? – I heard the argument this morning. What is it now?
[4] Awfy dreich – awfully coldly, cruel. Dreich's true translation means cold, and damp. When people are dreich, they are cold in this way.
[5] Faimly – Family
[6] Fin Bheara – pronounced Finn Veer- Ahh
[7] Oonagh – pronounced Ooh- Nah.
[8] 'Tis alrigh' to boak aboot this, dearie. – It's alright to barf here/now, dear.
[9] Bowf'd – Stank to high heavens.
[10] Mingin' – Smelled, as in the Sense of Smell. Dogs and birds who sniff the air are often described to be "mingin'."