Here's another chapter. Thank you for your nice reviews, I'll try and write more now that I'm in holidays, but I'm not sure I'll be able to publish next saturday. Sorry in advance.
Maleficent woke up in the late morning. She cursed herself as soon as she realised she didn't manage to stay awake the whole night. She couldn't trust him on that just yet. However, when she thought of it, what was left for her to lose, anyway?
"Diaval?" she called as she noticed he wasn't cuddle up against her.
That was weird. She couldn't see him or touch him, but she did recognize his smell. She turned her head, following the scent, and discovered his long coat on top of the blanket covering her. She smiled and lay down on her stomach. That probably meant he was going to come back soon. The winter was on his way, and it was not like him to wander for too long in the cold weather without proper clothing. She also found a black feather next to her head, where he was supposed to be. It must have fell from his hair. She took it in her hand and slowly dozed off to sleep again, thinking that maybe she could trust him on this, after all.
The sound of footsteps woke her a few minutes later. She opened her eyes only to see her servant putting down a basket of food and a canteen on the chair next to the bed.
She yawned and rolled on her side with ease. The motion wasn't that painful now.
"Good morning, Mistress," he said cheerfully.
The fairy glanced at him with peaceful eyes. He was so sweet and full of life, it was almost like his presence warmed her chest. Her heart smiled to him, but her face remained stern out of habit.
"Where were you?" she inquired, a bit sharper than what she intended to.
"Not very far. I didn't want to leave you but I had to grab some food and water. I left my coat so you wouldn't worry."
"That was very thoughtful of you," she admitted quietly, nodding in appreciation.
For this time, she chose to spare him the scold about the cold he would catch if he didn't wear proper clothes in such a chilly weather. She didn't have the patience to explain why his well-being was more important than his caring behaviour towards her, even though she liked that very much.
The raven turned man couldn't help but smile when he noticed she was holding one of his black feathers. He didn't say anything, though, and watched her hide it under her pillow. Surely she didn't want him to make a big deal out of it.
"Help me sit, Diaval, will you?" she commanded, extending her arm toward him.
Wait. What? Diaval thought at once. Wasn't it too painful for her to move? He didn't want her to get hurt!
"Mistress, are you sure?" he asked in a worried voice.
It was true the pain was still there, but it wasn't that bad. He did a good job with the balm, and her magic seemed to help as well, she could feel it growing inside her, each day a little more. It was all for the better, really, because she couldn't wait to go back home. She missed the Moors, and she missed her tree.
The fairy looked up at her servant and remembered he was waiting for an answer.
"Yes, Diaval, I'm all better now, don't worry," she said, a bit annoyed at him questioning her orders.
He didn't seem convinced, and just looked at her with a sceptical face.
She sighed heavily. That was going to take ages to convince him, so she added:
"Besides, if us fairies don't stay in motion for too long, our blood stops circulating, dries up and we will die."
At this, Diaval went white. He looked at her agape for a second, and hurried by her side.
"What?" He yelped and took her arm to help her sit in a rush. "You never told me that! Are you ok, Mistress?"
She gasped at the sudden pain when he pulled her, but ended up chuckling at his expression. He was so easy to fool, that was almost cute. She couldn't blame him to be so credulous, really, because she usually never joked.
As soon as he realised she was mocking him, he took an offended look and crossed his arms on his chest sulkily. She got him. He should have thought the healer fairy would have told him about this if it was true.
"Mistress, that's mean!" he whined.
"Sorry Diaval but the look on your face was priceless."
A slight smile appeared across her features. As everyone from the human land, he didn't know much about fairies and all the other creatures of the Moors, but at least, he had found an interest on them. Maybe she should take some time to tell him about all the plants and creatures of her realm. She had never thought about it before, but it was only normal for him to get to know his new home better. She'll start by the more glowing living forms, as she had noticed he was particularly drawn to them.
"Come sit with me, sweet bird," she offered.
They ate together on the bed, enjoying some small talking. He gladly welcomed her intention to tell him more about the creatures of the Moors, and even started to ask a few questions about them.
When they finished, the fairy commanded her servant to tie up her gown before going spying at the castle for the afternoon. He didn't like the idea to leave her alone at first, but she's been fearfully persuasive.
"I don't know how to tie the cords, Mistress," he admitted shamefully.
That wasn't really surprising. Being a bird, how could he know about it? However, he should have learnt somehow, because she remembered he did tie up her gown when she was unconscious.
"Didn't you do it already?" she asked him, puzzled.
"Yes, but it took me a lot of time, and I couldn't do it again. Besides, it was really messy."
She sighed. Well, it was a fact: he still had everything to learn about being a human. She neglected to teach him things on this matter because of her bad condition, but from now on, she intended to take better care of him. He deserved it after everything he was doing for her. Not to mention, if he truly wanted to stay with her, the more he knew, the more useful he would be.
She suddenly realised that was going to take a huge amount of time for her to teach him everything he needed to know: making a fire, cooking, swimming, and so much more. But the truth was, she didn't mind spending time with him in his human form now. On the contrary, she found it quite pleasant.
"All right, I'll show you." She said, as two black ribbons appeared in her hand.
"Really? Thank you!"
He really was grateful. She couldn't imagine how hard it was to not know things that appeared as simple as that for other humans. It reminded him every time that he didn't belong with ravens anymore, and that he would never belong with humans either. But when she was close to him and shared things like now or even last night, it didn't matter, because he knew the only one he wanted to belong with was her.
He let her tug his right ankle closer to her. She circled it with one of the ribbons and handed him the other.
"Look carefully and do the same with yours," she simply ordered, waiting for him to mimic her actions.
He obeyed, and watched scrupulously every one of her movements while she showed him, trying not to be distracted by the tickling of her fingers against his ankle. She then untied her ribbon and did it again, this time stopping at every step for him to catch up. After a few minutes, he managed to make a proper knot.
"Good. Now if you did it well, it should untie itself by pulling one of the long cords."
He pulled it slowly and the knot untied itself. He raised its gaze to look at her with marvelled eyes. "It worked! Did you see that?" He stated excitedly.
She chuckled and nodded, "Yes, Diaval. It was a very nice knot," she praised.
She proceeded to untie the other ribbon, but he stopped her by moving his ankle away.
"Will you let me try with yours?" he inquired, almost shyly.
She eyed him a minute and moved her own ankle right before his hands without a word. The fairy watched him closely tie the ribbon around her, head high and with pride on her face. She didn't know what that meant for him exactly, but she didn't… well, disliked the idea of being connected to him that way.
When he finished, she took a second to look at the lovely knot and put her legs back together.
"Good. Now, do my gown," she ordered, coming back to her senses.
She turned slightly to give him access to her back. A few days ago, she would have preferred torture over this, but she was now relieved to be able to trust him with this.
The raven turned man tightened the laces and tied them into a knot.
"I did it, Mistress!" he exclaimed at once.
She chuckled at his childishness. Of course he did it. Ravens were very smart birds, after all.
She was glad she taught him. This kind of exercises would help his finger's dexterity to grow. She remembered the first day they met: he could barely move them.
The fairy turned to him "Clever bird," she said, curving her lips up a little. "Now go," she added with a flick of her hand.
An instant later he was back to his original form, flying in mid-air. He knew he was supposed to fly off to the castle, but instead, he landed before her and cawed.
"What?" She asked flatly, looking down at him.
He cawed again, and landed on her shoulder. Before she could do anything, the raven rubbed his head against her cheek and flew off of the window.
Maleficent watched him fly away until he disappeared into the sky. She touched her cheek, right where he stroked her skin with his soft feathers, and she couldn't help but smile. Such a good pet, and such a good friend, she thought.
Many thanks to RavenDiablo once again. Go read his fanfiction ^^ If you don't find it on , just type Maleval I'm Alive fanfiction on Google ;)