Eight years later~~

Talia positioned herself behind a tree, her back pressed to the bark, arrow already drawn and lined and ready. She sucked in a couple of deep breaths to steady herself, then leapt out from behind the tree, pulled her bow and fired at the branches above just as a large dark body flew from one tree to another. Arrows came her way and she rolled across the ground to evade them, the arrows embedding into the soil. She drew another arrow and she fired up into the trees again, then another. Each shot was met with a resounding thud, followed by two bodies falling to the ground.

She slowly approached the bodies, her hand hovering by the sword at her side. She was stopped by the feeling of a pointed tip pressing into her back.

"You keep forgetting to cover your rear," she heard a voice speak just behind her, "I could have killed you twice now."

Talia spun around, grabbing the arm that was holding the blade, then punching him in the face. She then kicked him in the chest, knocking him on his back. She drew her sword and stood over him, poised to strike down.

"I think that's enough for today!" The voice came from Shrike, second in command of the Fey armies, her wings a shimmering rainbow of colors as they dragged behind her as she stepped around from behind another tree.

The two bodies that had been lying still began to groan and push themselves up. Talia rushed over to them to take each of their arms and hoist them up to their feet.

The two young Fey began flapping and shaking the leaves and dirt and grass from their feathers as they straightened themselves. There was Cerra, a desert Fey with thick blonde locks of hair, and Jade, a Jungle Fey with caramel skin and short dark hair, both just over Talia's age. Each of them grunted as they dislodged the arrows from the wooden boards over their chest.

"Your aim's gotten better," Cerra told Talia as she handed her the arrow back, as well as the one from Jade.

"Thank you Jade," Talia smiled as she took them, tapping the now-bent points with the tip of her finger. She needed to have them straightened.

Every one of them was taken by surprise when something soared through them, colliding with Talia and rising into the trees and landing upon one of the branches.

"Kel!" Talia shrieked pushing on his chest, "Put me down!"

Despite his now-swollen broken bottom lip, Kel smiled down at her as he cradled her body in his arms.

"You've lost weight," he smirked.

"Perhaps you've only gotten stronger," Talia said, poking a finger into the meat of his bare arms and chest. She had noticed that his muscles had gotten noticeably larger and firmer.

"Kel!" they both jerked as Shrike shouted up at them, "Come back down here at once!"

Talia sighed as she rolled her body free from Kel's grasp, rolling and tumbling through the air before landing on both feet and hands. She could feel the shock of the impact vibrate up her limbs but felt no pain. She rose and brushed her hands off on her legs.

"Let's be along, Princess," said Shrike, gesturing with her arm that they should take their leave, "We mustn't be late to your own party."

Talia sighed and rolled her eyes before following Shrike. She jumped onto Wonder's back and rode back towards the Moors with her Fey companions flying behind her.

remember, Maleficent's gift was that "as long as I live, no harm shall ever come this girl".

if y'all want a good visual of what Princess Talia looks like, look up "Katherine Langford Cursed"; her character of Nimue on the show looks EXACTLY like what I envision Talia (I just finished the first and only season just recently and recommend watching the show anyway, its a great reimagining of the King Arthur mythos, particularly as a backstory for Nimue, The Lady of The Lake and keeper of Excalibur).