Disclaimer: Maleficent and its characters belong to Disney. I own nothing save for the plot and the mistakes herein.

A/N: I've used the asterisk (*) as a replacement for "The Word" in this fanfic. I will leave it to your wonderful imaginations to decide what this may be.

"You have such lovely hair, Godmother," Aurora compliments, as she weaves the Faerie's tresses into a fine braid.

"Hmm, are you flattering me to have your way with me again?" is Maleficent's lax reply. Her eyes are closed, and she is relaxed under Aurora's touch.

"I always have my way with you," Aurora giggles.

Meanwhile, Diaval's hearing perks up when he overhears the pair of them. He merely smiles; he is unsure whether the blonde and the Faerie are having an innocent conversation, or are up to their usual flirtatious games again. He wipes the apple he had picked earlier that morning against his dark shirt and takes a bite from it, savouring its sweet taste.

"Godmother?" Aurora says after a few silent minutes.

"Yes, Beastie?" Maleficent begins to feel rather drowsy, but manages to reply.

"What does * mean?" Aurora asks innocently, jolting Maleficent awake, and making Diaval choke on what he is chewing.

The Faerie thinks she may have misheard the blonde, and turns to face Aurora. "Sorry?"

"*," Aurora repeats. In the background, Diaval is coughing and sputtering and thumping his chest with his hand. The Faerie is too shocked to even notice the shape-shifter's reaction; she merely stares at the blonde, dumfounded.

"And wherever did you learn that word?" Maleficent says after finding her voice.

"From the tavern Diaval and I went into when we travelled to the other Kingdom." The blonde, Maleficent sees, is genuinely curious and clueless about the word she had just mentioned.

"Well," the Faerie begins awkwardly. Aurora waits expectantly for the answer, all the while grinning. Maleficent motions Aurora to lean forward so that she may whisper the answer into her ear. Diaval watches the blonde's reaction as she learns the answer. He sees her face light up and her cheeks flush a light pink.

"Oh." The blonde giggles. "You mean like what we do when we're alone together?" she asks.

Her words disarm Maleficent once again, and once again she is too stunned to speak.

Diaval, who manages to spit out what he had been choking on, snickers, finding his Mistress's reaction to be far too funny. His fit of muffled laughter is soon interrupted when Maleficent glowers at him and swiftly turns him into a raven.

Maleficent watches the raven caw repeatedly at her, as if he were still laughing, and threatens him with a flick of her wrist which he immediately responds to by zooming away.

"Oh, Godmother," Aurora says, following the Faerie's gaze. "You didn't have to do that."

"I sometimes contemplate on whether not I should roast him for dinner," Maleficent says, her voice laced with irritation.

"Please don't," Aurora pleads, though she is laughing. She places both her hands on either side of the Faerie's face to make her face her. "He's our pretty bird, after all. It'll be lonely without him around."

"Well, at least we'd have more time alone together," Maleficent says, the corner of her lips quirking up in amusement.

"Every time you enfold us both in your wings, I feel as if it's just us two," Aurora says.

"Hmm. Really?" The Faerie turns completely around to face the blonde and her gigantic wings slowly and carefully begin to wrap around them both.

The blonde closes her eyes and hums as she leans forward to press her forehead against the Faerie's. "Can we, Godmother?" she asks after a moment.

"Can we what, Beastie?"

"*."

"You silly, naughty thing," Maleficent chides. She chuckles. "I thought you'd never ask."

A grin slowly spreads on Aurora's face.

Thank you for reading. Feel free to leave reviews. :)