As soon as Maleficent saw Diaval approaching, she noticed that he was being followed. He was flying much quicker than usual, but the pursuer was keeping up with him. As he got closer she realized it was another raven following behind him. A female if Maleficent was correct…not that it mattered she told herself.

Curious to see what this was about, she transformed him into a man as soon as he was close enough to the ground. The other raven circled around him and then tired to land on his head. He shooed her away but she would not be deterred. She landed on a nearby branch instead.

"Someone's made a friend. Diaval, aren't you going to introduce me?" She said playfully as she approached him, hoping that the hint of jealousy in her voice went undetected. Ridiculous, she thought. Jealous of a bird? And not a very pretty one at that, she added.

"She won't leave me alone," he responded.

"Yes, ravens can be rather annoying like that, can't they?" She teased.

"Been following me most of the day. I think she likes me," he said with a shrug.

"Of course she likes you. You always go on and on about how you are beautiful raven. Were you perhaps exaggerating?" She asked.

"No exaggeration. Obviously, I am handsome in whatever form I take," he said looking at her playfully, "but I have no interest in her. She doesn't seem to be taking the hint."

"Oh do let her down easy. We can't have you breaking hearts all throughout the two kingdoms," she joked.

He walked over to the raven on the branch. "Go on now. Go find someone else. You'd be much happier with another raven who wasn't like this sometimes." He moved closer to her to shoo her away but before he could, she took off and headed back towards Stefan's kingdom. "Finally. All it took was my slightly less handsome than a raven, but still incredibly handsome, self."

Maleficent rolled her eyes, though she could hardly argue with the incredibly handsome part. After a long pause, she tried to ask casually, "So, not your type then?"

"Uh, Not exactly," Diaval replied uncomfortably. He didn't want to admit to her that his type now involved green eyes, long brown hair, smooth featherless skin, and two long legs that went on forever. He tried to hide the blush that he could feel forming on his pale face.

Blushing? Since when did Diaval blush, Maleficent thought as she noticed the red in his cheeks and his uncomfortable smile. She misunderstood his response. "Diaval, have you found a raven you are interested in?" She asked, dreading the next words that might come out of his mouth.

"No, Mistress. There's no raven that I wish to be with," he said.

"Do you not wish to socialize with others of your kind? Surely there's some raven out there who would interest you." She wondered why she was pushing this issue so much when they very idea troubled her.

"Well, I don't really fancy ravens anymore," he replied sheepishly.

"Oh, is that so?" She asked, unsure of how she should respond to his confession.

"Most of them don't exactly enjoy my company. I'm too strange for them now. And to be honest they don't really interest me much these days."

Who does interest you? She wanted to ask.

"I'm not a man but I'm not really a bird anymore either," he stated

Shocked by this admission she asked, "What is it that you think you are then?"

He didn't reply, only shrugged his shoulders, but his heart was screaming, "Yours."