Maleficent had flown for what felt like hours, and eventually, when her wings grew tired, she finally came to rest on a cliff edge.
She wasn't sure what was keeping her away the most: her anger at Aurora, her disbelief at Diaval's incompetence, or her knowledge of the fact that Aurora now knew the full story.
The fairy only returned to the nest in the early hours of the morning, when she sensed some disturbance.
Landing silently beside a snoring Diaval, Maleficent watched the young girl, restless in her sleep and muttering inaudibly.
A nightmare, no doubt.
For some time, Maleficent merely stood, unsure of what to do and silently cursing those blasted pixies for their indiscretions.
Eventually she could bear it no longer, and went to Aurora's side, stroking back the girl's hair in a bid to calm her.
"Godmother..." Aurora murmured – and for a moment Maleficent thought she had awoken – until she tossed and turned again. "Father... No..."
Those impertinent pixies would pay for this.
"Aurora," she said, deciding the best course of action would be to awaken the child, if only to stop the nightmare. "Aurora."
The girl thrashed for a moment before waking with a start, throwing herself up into a sitting position and causing the startled fairy to flinch back slightly.
Aurora glanced frantically around herself for a moment, as if unsure of where she was, and several moments passed before she appeared to register her Godmother's presence.
"It was just a dream," Maleficent told her steadily, because she wasn't sure what else to say.
And then Aurora flung herself at the fairy and clung on for dear life, burying her face in Maleficent's robes, her body wracked with sobs.
For a moment Maleficent did not react, being somewhat taken aback.
If Aurora noticed, she hid it well.
"I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I'm sorry. Please don't send me away."
Maleficent frowned. "What?"
"You said that if I am to stay here in the moors, I shouldn't run off. And I did. But only because I wanted to know the truth... and now... now I wish I didn't. But it was going around and around in my head," Aurora hiccupped, fully aware that she was rambling but unable to stop herself. "That's why I did it. And I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have. But I didn't cross the border, I swear. You have every right to be angry with me and you can angry forever if you like, but please don't send me away. Don't send me back to the human kingdom."
"I would never do that, little one," Maleficent told her, wrapping a protective wing around the girl and stroking her hair.
"I don't belong there. I belong here, with you," Aurora murmured, calming somewhat as the fairy's arms settled around her.
Yes, you do.
Neither of them spoke again.
There would be plenty of time for that, Maleficent knew, when the girl awoke in the morning, full of questions. And the fairy had a few of her own, her anger not having entirely passed.
But for now, she thought- as she rocked Aurora gently back and forth – it was best to let the child sleep.
And as Aurora slipped back into a more peaceful slumber, Maleficent breathed a wisp of golden magic into her hair, determined to ensure it stayed that way.
Ω Ω Ω Ω
Aurora awoke to find herself alone.
An early morning mist hung in the air, and beyond the great tree, not a single moor creature stirred.
For a moment, she began to wonder whether she had dreamed her Godmother's return. That was, until she noticed a single, ebony-coloured feather, just inches from where her head had been resting.
She was brought from her thoughts by a light flapping of wings, and she smiled as a raven landed on the branch above her.
Diaval croaked softly, allowing Aurora to reach up and stroke his head.
"Good morning, Pretty Bird. And if you're a bird... Then my Godmother must be close by."
The bird clicked his beak, edging further towards the end of the branch and craning his neck to the ground below.
Looking out from the tree, Aurora saw Maleficent at the bottom, healing the bark of another oak nearby.
She was still angry, Aurora knew, but she had returned – and that had to count for something.
Maleficent showed no signs that she had noted the girl's presence when she made it to the ground. But she stopped when Aurora approached her from behind.
"You're awake," was all she said, her back still turned.
"I am," the girl confirmed, shifting from one foot to another, nervously. "May we talk?"
"In a little while, perhaps," Maleficent said, moving on to the next tree.
"Well, I'd really rather it was now," she said, in her most assertive voice, following the fairy.
"As you can see, Aurora, I am otherwise engaged at present," her Godmother responded, walking on.
"Then I will follow you until you're not."
Finally, Maleficent whipped around to face her, her voice dangerous. "Aurora."
"You're still angry," she said – and it was more of a statement than a question.
"No."
"Yes you are. You keep calling me Aurora. You never call me that."
"I am no longer angry. I am merely disappointed in your actions," Maleficent told her, averting her eyes for fear that looking too long at the girl's sad expression may have weakened her resolve.
"I just... wanted to understand," Aurora told her softly. "From the moment I found them in the castle, I knew it must have been my father that stole your wings. I just needed to know why."
"You could have asked me."
"I did try and you wouldn't tell me," she reminded her. "That was why I went to find my aunties. I am sorry, you know?"
"I only put one rule in place, Aurora. And you broke it, within hours," her Godmother pointed out.
"I know. I know I betrayed your trust, which I suppose makes me just as bad as him," Aurora sighed, lowering her head.
"Don't-" Maleficent said, putting a hand to her chin and encouraging the girl to meet her gaze. "-compare your childish misgivings to the sins of your father."
There was a compliment somewhere in there, Aurora thought, and she allowed herself to smile faintly.
"May I walk with you for a while?" she asked.
"For a little while," her Godmother confirmed, as she set off again, down the rugged pathway and past the wallerbogs' swamp.
They walked in silence for some time, Maleficent deep in contemplation as to whether Fairy Godmothers could levy punishments on little beasts who broke the rules.
That was until she felt a warm hand take hers, lacing their fingers together.
Maleficent arched a brow, suitably disgruntled at the child's talent for thawing her stone cold heart, years in the making.
"I understand," Aurora told her. "...Why you cursed me."
"Do you?"
The girl nodded. "What my father did to you was unforgivable."
"As was my curse."
Aurora shook her head. "No, that was... understandable. I'd have cursed me too, if I were you."
"It was a mistake, and one for which you paid gravely. If I could go back..." Maleficent began, solemnly.
"I wouldn't go back," the girl told her. "If you hadn't have cursed me, I'd never have gotten a chance to see the moors. I'd never have met you."
"No, you'd have grown up in a palace. And you would have had a father and a mother," the fairy pointed out.
"I have a mother," Aurora reminded her, tugging Maleficent's hand in a bid to get her to stop. "May I ask a question?"
"You may ask."
"Why did you curse me that way? That I could only be woken by True Love's Kiss?" she asked.
Maleficent hesitated, as if unsure how to answer.
"Was it because you thought true love didn't exist? Because of the way my father treated you?" Aurora guessed.
"Very astute," Maleficent responded, a ghost of a smile on her lips. "Aurora, when I attached that clause to the curse, I was thinking of the type of 'true love' that exists only in fairy tales, traditionally between a man and a woman. I did not account for other types."
"Other types?"
"There are... other forms of love, much purer. Such as a mother's love for her child," Maleficent told her, stiffly.
An impish smile appeared on Aurora's face. "Even if that child behaves very badly and breaks her promises?"
"Yes, Beastie. Even then. And forever and always, I should think."
Closing the space between them, Aurora wrapped her arms around Maleficent's waist, standing on her tip toes to plant a kiss on the fairy's cheek.
"I love you too," she whispered.
And for the first time in 24 hours, Aurora's heart felt light again.
Ω Ω Ω Ω