I wanted to wait a little more to publish this chapter, but you can thank Emeraldbuttercup for this early publication and go read her fanfics ^^

By the end of the day, things were pretty much back to normal already between Diaval and his mistress, thanks to a lot of bickering and a few jokes from the raven-man. He didn't feel really comfortable being in charge, to be honest, and was almost naturally letting her take the upper hand on him as long as it didn't threaten her health. But now that the time had come to tend to her wounds, he couldn't just let her do as she wished.

"I have to apply this balm on your back, or the scars will never heal," he explained her, for what felt like the hundredth time tonight.

"No. Way," she growled. She winced at the pain as she managed to roll on her side to face him. She didn't want to risk him forcing his way to her back. "No touching, remember?"

"It's for your own good! Besides, I'm in charge, remember?"

Now he was getting serious about the whole balm thing. The first five times, he had mentioned it playfully during their slight banter, letting her hope that it was only a joke, or that at least, he wouldn't push that hard. But now that he started to remind her he was in charge with a raising voice, she quickly grew very worried. The feeling must have somehow shown on her face, because he softened at once.

The raven-man wanted to help her, but that was something he had to convince her about. He barely managed to imagine how he would feel – how she would feel – if he forced her to stay still while he unclothed her back to rub her aching scars. He shuddered at the simple idea.

"Trust me. I don't want to hurt you, Mistress," he assured her after an emphatic sigh. "Three months ago, you saved my life and gave me a purpose. How could I possibly want to hurt you?" the raven-man added with a comforting voice.

She knew his argumentation was perfectly logical, but that wasn't a good enough reason. After all, Stephan's betrayal defied common sense to her, and yet, it happened. How could she be sure that wasn't going to happen again with Diaval? He was in man's form after all. What if turning him into a man a little bit every day had made him a real man, with the flaws and all? Without thinking, she let out what was on her mind.

"You're a man. Men are greedy, selfish and they take pleasure hurting other living creatures."

At this, Diaval stiffened with an outraged expression. "Don't say that!" he spat back at once. "I'm not a man! I'm a raven, remember?" he pointed out with fierce pride.

The fact that she thought of him as a mere man was purely insulting. Surely she remembered the day they met? He hated humans as much as she did, even if he liked the new possibilities this form offered him.

She sighed heavily and leaned her head against her arms. "It'll be so much easier if you could just do it in raven form…" she said, almost to herself.

All right, he wasn't that close to humans, but still, they were talking about something rather embarrassing, if not humiliating.

"In human or in raven form, it's still me," he reminded her matter-of-factly.

The fairy raised her head to meet his gaze. His eyes full of genuine kindness were enough to make her feel like everything was all right. She realised she had felt that before when looking at him, but it was the first time she fully appreciated it.

"I know that, Diaval," she said in a whisper.

But that wasn't the problem. What bothered her more was the whole touching thing. The first rule she had set up when they met was No Touching, especially in human form. She did so because she couldn't stand the touch of skin anymore. It reminded her too much of that night. Though, she couldn't tell him just like that. She remembered the scene he made the last time she compared him to Stefan. The fairy took a minute to choose her words carefully.

"Still, I'm not confortable letting you rub my naked back or see and even touch my scars," she finally said.

However, she hadn't expected what came next…

"Do you think I'm confortable doing it? I know you, if I do something wrong, you'll turn me into a filthy dog or something," he whined excessively.

She lowered her head to hide the smile that came across her face. It was pretty smart of him pointing out she was going to be in control, anyway. He knew her well: it relaxed her unconsciously. But that didn't change the situation. He was not going to touch her, especially there. She stayed silent for a while, eyes closed.

Diaval gave her a few minutes to think this through, and added with a little voice, "I'll be gentle. I promise."

The fairy sighed. He was awfully stubborn, but his attempts were almost touching. She looked at him in the eye, ready to let out what was on her mind.

"That's not the problem, Diaval. I don't want anyone seeing them. I don't want anyone touching me anymore. Never."

"I'm not anyone."

After a short while, she realised it was true. He wasn't anyone, not anymore. He was her faithful companion, always by her side. He was her wings, and so much more. But the last thing she wanted was to ponder about how much their bond grew during those three months together.

She looked deep in thoughts so he added without thinking, "Besides, I already did all of this, when you were unconscious."

She glared at him with furious eyes. Wooops, maybe he shouldn't have say that, the raven-man thought at once.

"I beg your pardon?" she hissed.

"I-I applied the balm on your back while you were u-unconscious," he stuttered. Now he knew he was in big trouble.

"How dare you?" the fairy snarled, staring at him with fierce emerald eyes. She tried to straighten in her bed, but pain shot through her back, and she stayed still, wincing from pain and anger.

Even knowing she was way too weak to harm him in any way, her ferocious eyes made him quaver oddly on his chair. She frightened him to death right now, but he had to convince her, otherwise, she would never get better. So he gathered what was left of his courage, and he hurriedly explained.

"That's not how you think, Mistress, I swear! I didn't want to disobey you, but it was either that or letting you die, so I had to do something." He fidgeted nervously on his chair and added with a whining voice, "I'm sorry Mistress, but I didn't want you to die."

The fairy narrowed her eyes at him. She believed him, all right, but she was still furious. She knew he took the right decision, but she wanted to find a good reason to blame him anyway.

"How come you didn't just call healer fairies to take care of me? You could have killed me by being so negligent!" she snapped at him. "And where did you get the balm, anyway? What if it had worsened the infection?" she inquired, even if she knew that wasn't true, as the pain in her back had lessened since yesterday.

He raised an eyebrow at her. Was she accusing him of letting her die by carelessness? He struggled against the urge to ask her just who she thought she was to scold him on that matter, and answered anyway, "I figured you didn't want all the folks of the Moors seeing you like that, so I only summoned one healer fairy, she told me what was the problem and how to heal you, then I brought you here, so your secret was safe. About the balm, she showed me how to brew it."

He lowered his head and closed his eyes a few seconds as silence filled the air uncomfortably. There was a very big chance she would scold him anyway, pointing out she would have rather had the healer fairies to tend to her wounds, and that furthermore that wasn't his place to decide such things.

However, her face began to soften, and her muscles relaxed a bit. When she thought about it, he did manage admirably, considering that three months ago, he was just a bird. He saved her life and her pride this day by taking conflicting decisions, and it seems his interests were lying with hers all along.

"As a matter of fact… I have to admit you handled the situation quite well," she finally let out absent-mindedly.

He looked up at her with wide eyes, and a slight smile appeared on his face.

"Except my advanced state of panic… I guess I did," he playfully praised.

She glanced at him for a few seconds. He had the joyful expression of the loyal servant that was just glad to have pleased his mistress even in the worst situation.

She finally rolled back on her stomach with a wincing face. Now, she was pretty sure she could trust him on this to not take advantage of the situation in any way. It would be awkward and uncomfortable, but at least it would be done.

"Alright. Do it."

"Yes, Mistress."

Special thanks to RavenDiablo again for beta-reading.