"Although none of us really know the true and complete story of the Mother Phoenix, philosophers have mused over it for as long as we have been around," Borra began. "You are correct that she is the mother of many magical creatures and the creatures of the light come from her flames while the creatures of the dark come from her cinders. Morality is not attached to these terms in this case, being a creature of the light does not mean that you are good. It simply means that your appearance and powers will manifest such that you are better suited either for night life or day life, dark magic or bright magic," he added and Aurora silently congratulated herself for having already postulated that. In this case, light and dark had nothing to do with morality or enjoyability. This time, it was about literal darkness and light.

"In any case," Borra continued, "the Dark Fairies came from the Great Mother Phoenix during the Death part of her Completed Cycle. That means the best of us," he paused to look at Maleficent, "will inherit powers based off of that."

"Being a black phoenix of smoke and destruction," Maleficent nodded. "Sounds about right.

"But that's only part of one of many theories about the other half of the phoenix," Borra warned, gaze sliding over to Aurora. "Even though you are only human, it is a theory amongst some of the fairy folk that if you bond enough to a fairy of a certain "type", dark or light, you will automatically become the other half. If you meant enough to Maleficent and you go by this theory, there's a possibility that you became the light phoenix not because of your own merit, but because if Maleficent is the dark side, then she needs someone to balance her and that'll be you," Borra concluded. "It's the union of the dichotomy of the phoenix. It's what makes the phoenix's life cyclical. That need for opposition and union creates a balanced circle. Maleficent is one half and you balance her out to make the union into a complete circle, a full cycle."

"So I'm a phoenix!?" Aurora gasped, starting to look excited.

"Don't get too ahead of yourself," Borra warned quickly. "For one, it is only a theory. For another, even those who believe in the theory agree that your powers will never match Maleficent's. You may have inherited some because she "chose" you to be her other half, but you certainly won't be turning into a phoenix any time soon," Borra paused to laugh.

"Awwww," Aurora frowned, partly joking but also somewhat bummed out to think she would never quite be as powerful as she had hoped.

"Don't worry, Beastie, like I said before, I love you just the way you are," Maleficent teased. "Besides, one phoenix is more than enough, right?"

"Well, technically, you two make up one whole phoenix," Borra corrected. "It's not just you, Maleficent, it's Aurora as well. Maybe she'll never be as strong as you, but she's got a bit of the Mother Phoenix in her too thanks to you."

"She's more like a young fledgling than a bird, though, no?" Maleficent asked with a smirk.

"Hey!" Aurora pretended to pout, but Borra agreed.

"That she is," he joked. "That she is," and while Aurora continued to pout playfully, Maleficent patted her shoulder.

"Don't frown so much, Beastie, you'll get awful wrinkles and you'll finally start living up to your nickname!" she teased.

"Do you speak from experience?" Aurora quirked an eyebrow and winked but Maleficent didn't miss a beat.

"Yes. I spent 16 years living with Diaval," she said and Aurora burst out laughing. Once again, had he been with them at the time, he would've cawed them both to death in his annoyance and offense.

"He'll kill you for saying that," Aurora joked.

"Well then you can just bring me back," Maleficent replied with a proud smirk.

"Actually, it's not quite that simple," Borra quickly interrupted. This got their attention again and he nodded. "You see, it is possible for a particularly powerful descendent of the Great Mother Phoenix to be able to harness her power of life, death and rebirth, but it even then, it needs the union to work. It didn't come from just you or you," he said, gesturing first to Maleficent and then to Aurora. The way he saw it, although Aurora had been the one to resurrect Maleficent, it was not on her own merit because, again, she was a human child. She had no magic powers. So somehow, Maleficent had been able to give or channel her power into Aurora long enough for Aurora to bring her back, even though neither of them could remember how it might've happened.

"Admittedly, it's all very confusing and theoretical stuff," Borra said. "It's all speculative, but that's just what the legends, stories, debates, rumors and texts say. They say even we can harness life, death and rebirth, but it only comes through two particularly powerful individuals who can create the dichotomy and the union, which in turn creates the cycle. Neither of you, individually, brought Maleficent back from the dead. It took both of your powers combined."

"Ooof, heavy stuff," Aurora muttered, looking at her hands again. It felt strange to think she had resurrected Maleficent, but it felt even stranger to think that Maleficent had resurrected herself through Aurora. Though if Maleficent had somehow given Aurora a bit of that "Mother Phoenix" attribute, then perhaps it made sense. Somehow. Sort of. There was a reason phoenixes were considered such rare, powerful and mysterious creatures and that was because it was crazy hard to understand them and their powers.

But after the lesson with Borra was done, Aurora and Maleficent returned home.

"So, how does it feel knowing you're part phoenix after all?" Maleficent teased her daughter.

"It feels awesome!" came the playful reply. Even though Aurora knew she'd never have any magical power on her own, it still felt cool to say that she had a bit of magic in her blood through Maleficent.

"I'm glad to hear you say that," Maleficent replied. They were flying back to the castle and almost there. At the last second, though, Maleficent veered sharply away from Aurora's bedroom.

"Wait. Where are we going?" Aurora frowned, tightening her grip on Maleficent as they continued to fly around the castle but never land.

"Well I figure that if you're the daughter of a bird now, the least you can do is join your mother for a late-night flight!" Maleficent replied and Aurora's slight worry turned into amusement at once.

"I don't care what anyone else says," she began as she snuggled deeper into Maleficent's arms. "You're the best Mother Phoenix of all!"

"That's because I'm your Mother Phoenix," Maleficent, but it made her heart feel warmer than a phoenix flame to hear Aurora say this to her and they spent the rest of the night soaring through the air together without a care in the world, both halves of the phoenix united once more to create the beautiful and perfect, cyclical whole.

AN: Again, I know this really screwed with Maleficent and phoenix lore, but I just wanted to do some heavy-handed symbolism so this is what we got! LOL. Feel free to comment, critique or question as you see fit.