Maleficent was sleeping soundly, curled in her Rowan tree, wings snug about her. She'd flown for days, wanting to be home as soon as possible. She really hated being gone from her family, she missed them terribly, but she knew she had a responsibility to the Moors as well, and her family understood.

Her eyes fluttered slightly, the rising sun disturbing her rest, though she'd had more than a decent night's sleep by this point, she allowed herself to rise, rolling slightly to stretch, but instead winced. She frowned as she sat up slowly, glancing beneath her, finding one of Emmett's dolls poking from the piles of linen and furs that made up the bedding. She smiled slightly, picking the doll up and with minimal effort she caused the doll to dance in slow, easy circles, sending her back to a time when she was a child, a bit older than Emmett.

She'd been carefree, a bit lonely, but at the time it did not bother her. She watched the doll dance, lost in memories, good and bad, though the bad memories before Aurora's birth were all but forgotten now, sometimes the pain itself resurfaced. The faerie pushed such thoughts away as she focused on the doll, thinking of her son.

Emmett, the little babe, was sitting comfortably upon the ends of Maleficent's wings. She was unbothered by the weight, but smiled as he moved from his sitting position and onto his hands and knees. Aurora was at the castle, dealing with recent raids upon the farm lands on the other side of the kingdom. Emmett was nearly a year old, and he'd still not managed to walk, and it worried the Guardian, wondering if perhaps something were wrong with him physically.

She watched the faerie babe crawl across the soft grass, then turned to his mother and smiled, tugging at her wings. Maleficent smiled, gently lifting her wing, tugging him into a standing position. He'd done this several times, she knew he needed to learn to stand on his own, so this was a rare occasion. His arms flailed slightly as he tried to balance before turning towards the sleeping Diaval, the raven's beak tucked beneath a wing atop a protruding root. Emmett did not seem to care though, Maleficent grinning broadly as her son walked on his own power, though a tad wobbly, towards the root. The closer he got she placed a slight cushion of magic before him, she did not want him to be hurt.

"Deeval!" He squealed, the raven fluffing and flopping off the root and at the Prince's feet as he was startled from sleep, squawking madly. Emmett laughed, falling back on his rear, but did not mind as Diaval gathered his wits, cawing at the boy and then glaring at Maleficent who also had her head tossed back in laughter.

Maleficent grinned, the memory always bringing a smile to her impossibly red lips. She set the doll aside, where Emmett could fetch it next time he was there. She made her way down from the tree, stretching as she slowly stood, moving to the highest branch before spreading her wings, with a mighty thrust she was in the air, eyes locked on the castle in the distance.

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Aurora smiled as Emmett played in the royal garden with the other children. After the incident the other day with that woman she'd decided to leave the gates open, allowing the children to play and enjoy themselves without judgmental adults to get in the way. Aurora grinned to herself, 'I'm the best adult.' She made her way back into the castle, glad the children were getting along.

The Queen sat down at her desk, upstairs in her royal study. The room was large, a balcony that looked out on the entire village and the land, in the distance she could also see the Moors on clear days. At the moment she was fiddling with wrapping paper, she was never good at this. Maleficent did not understand gift giving holidays, but frankly she did not care. She enjoyed giving gifts to her family, they made sure not to spoil Emmett, and so far they seemed to be succeeding. Maleficent, though she went along only to see the smiles on her mate and son's faces, was always surprised when she received a gift. No doubt she would forget the coming day as she did every year. Aurora smiled warmly as she managed to seal the edges of the wrapping for this newest gift, remembering the first year Aurora had suggested they celebrate.

Emmett smiled up at his Queen mother, the down on his wings had just begun to shed, slight patches missing from the soft yellow fluff. He'd recently hit two summers old, his vocabulary growing every day, his horns shedding frequently into maturity. Aurora smiled back and kissed his forehead before handing him the gift, then set the flower crown atop his head, grinning stupidly at how adorable her son looked.

"Oh, you're so precious my little Emmett." Emmett blushed slightly and grinned at his mother.

"Will Mummy like th' present?" He glanced from the box to his mother, his hair wild and still learning its place. Aurora smiled, gently tucking his hair back from his face.

"Of course she will, with such a handsome prince delivering it why wouldn't she?" The blushing grin on his face made her heart melt. She walked just behind him as they made their way through the trees, Maleficent would be back soon from a brief patrol of the Moors. Aurora sat on a raised root, Emmett's wide eyes scanning the sky back and forth for his fae mother, hands grasping the box tightly, afraid to set it down or drop it. Aurora watched her son, then glanced up when his wings fluttered excitedly, bits of yellow fluff flying into the air. A dark, winged-shape made its way closer, taking form, until finally Maleficent dropped down just in front of the young prince.

"Hello, my little one." Emmett smiled brightly, running into the Guardian, burying his face against her thigh, box held in one arm, the other grasping her robes.

"Mummy!" Maleficent smiled, fingers running through golden hair, being gentle of his flower crown. She knelt and lifted the boy into her arms easily, their foreheads pressed together, he grinned happily at his mother, and she smiled back, matching eyes locked and communicating a love of a mother for her son and a son for his mother. Aurora felt her heart ache with happiness at the sight. Two angel's, and they were both hers.

Finally Maleficent noticed the box in his hand and smiled slightly. "And what is this?" Emmett seemed to finally remember himself and pulled back slightly, holding the box between them and smiled brightly.

"Mummy and I got you a present! Open it!" Maleficent quirked her brow, then nodded as she moved towards Aurora, taking a seat beside her, she gave her mate a loving kiss, no words need be exchanged between them. She gently set Emmett on her lap, then with one arm around his waist to keep him in place she opened the box, eyes widening at the matching gold circlets.

They were of different sizes, and knew one was for her horns, the other for Emmett's. She tugged the smaller one out first, admiring the runes, and designs painstakingly inlaid in the gold. Wings, and fairies decorating the circumference of it, a tiny crown in the center. She smiled warmly and kissed her son's forehead, gently setting the circlet on his horn, and he grinned, then held the larger up to her. "Now look at yours, mummy!" The guardian smiled and nodded, taking the larger band, and she smiled warmly, the designs on hers were of Aurora, herself, and little Emmett, an egg, and faeries decorating the rest of it. She moved to place it on but a soft hand stopped her. Aurora smiled at her mate, kissing her forehead before doing the honors of setting the band on her horn gently, and she grinned at her son and mate, they matched.

"I love you both so much." Maleficent smiled, and adjusted her position so she could tug Aurora down onto her other knee, and now she had an arm around each of her True Love's. She kissed her Queen, and then her Prince.

"And I love you, too, so very much…"

Aurora looked up from her desk as she heard familiar wing beats, a smile automatically gracing her features at the sight of her Guardian. The taller woman made her way in from the balcony, wings tucked in at her back, always graceful, as if she did not walk but float across the ground.

"You're early." Maleficent nodded, walking around the desk before taking a seat atop it, gazing down at her Beastie from her position, hands on her lap. She rolled a shoulder, smiling slightly at the human.

"I was hoping to return to you last night. But I was held a bit longer than I had intended." Aurora nodded, smiling up at Maleficent, the two were silent, just enjoying the moments they had together, they need not speak, or even look at each other, sometimes it was enough to be in the same room. When they were separated by duty even strangers could see a bit the lightness leave the women. They were bound in every way, there was no doubt to most people that they were truly meant to be, and no one could ever think to replace either of them in the others heart.

The women seemed to sit in silence, Maleficent's hand reaching down to the desk, lacing, unlacing, simply touching Aurora's, being the only contact or communication, when the door opened to the study.

"Mother!" The couple glanced up and smiled, watching as the young Princeling quite literally launching himself towards Maleficent. The woman laughed heartily, arms wrapping around her son happily, their foreheads pressing together as he grinned. She'd stood when she saw he was about to launch into the air, catching him and holding him happily. Aurora smiled at her family, loving moments just like these. "You're back! How was it? Did you see anything amazing?" Maleficent smiled and nodded, setting Emmett down upon the desk where she'd just been sitting, the present forgotten for a moment.

"I did, do you remember the story I told you of dragons?" Emmett nodded, buzzing with excitement. He loved the old stories, histories his mother would tell him. She was not as old as some of the faerie's of the Moors, but she was wise, gifted with protecting their home, and so was also entrusted with much of the history. "Well, it seems that in what was once their home they…discovered something." She paused for dramatic effect, knowing it drove her son insane, and it was true once more.

"….Mother!" She grinned at him.

"They found an egg, it's quite the discovery," she smiled as his eyes widened. "We don't know if its mother is about, so it's being washed, but also being kept warm and loved. I can't imagine what it will mean in the long run…but the dragons are returning." His mouth was hanging open.

"Wh-c-moth-I…Can I go see it!? Would that be okay? What about when it hatches? I want to see the baby dragon!" Maleficent grinned and glanced at Aurora, who was just as amused at Emmett's excitement.

"How about we wait until you can fly? That way can go, too." Aurora offered, Emmett frowned but just nodded, groaning softly.

"Okay…that sounds like fun…dragons…" He was in awe. Maleficent chuckled, glancing towards her mate, quirking her brow as instead of Aurora she saw a half-wrapped box in her face. She rolled her eyes playfully but took the offered gift.

"Pushy, aren't we?" She teased, gently undoing the wrapping, removing the gift and saw inside a card. She read it and quirked her brow. "A portrait?" Aurora nodded, smiling warmly.

"I have a portrait of my coronation already, but there are none of you or of Emmett, and you are both my Queen-consort and Crown Prince respectively. Besides, it'll be fun, and ground breaking." Maleficent smiled slightly, setting the card back in its box and setting the box onto the desk.

"You're certainly determined to break ground, aren't you?" Aurora nodded, considering telling Maleficent what had happened in the square, but would that encourage Maleficent to make peace or simply foster her distrust of humans.

"I just want peace to reign for as long as possible." She said, instead, smiling warmly up at her mate. Maleficent simply nodded, then returned her attention to their son, glad to just be home, with her family. She would suffer through a simple portrait if she must, if Aurora wanted her to.