Ring of Mushrooms

20

A parent's instinct is hard to calm down. When the door to the room you awoke in opened the poor maid went about her routine normally. Sweeping away dust as she entered a daily task that seemed awfully over the top for the room.

Sweep the floors, prune the flowers. Triple check for mites and nats, and isolate the plants that show signs of them. Water and give fertilizer to the necessary plants. There was a whole schedule dedicated to it. Weekly, monthly, and of course the daily tasks. So many rules about the care of this one room.

The maids knew not to question it, but they gossiped anyway. They would sneak glances at the bed in the center of the room when they cleaned. They gazed with curious glances at the sleeping human. The older maids who had been assigned to that room talked fondly of the sweet baby that they knew used to rest in his parent's arms.

The maids themselves had rules about what could and couldn't be talked about. A few were given a tongue-tying curse to prevent information from getting out. It was a grand rumor that spiraled into a farfetched tale around the world, and only the selected few were allowed to talk gossip around their fellow tongue-tied colleagues.

Yet she worked away, wiping down the small table and chairs. Watering the garden and cleaning the windows. It was second nature at this point. Most of them had never seen the few times something was different. At least none of them were allowed to tell anyone else about it. The Queen's best-kept secret was awake.

The poor maid didn't know what to do when they finally noticed. The bed was empty, the sheets and silk tossed around, and a few pots shattered across the floor. You hardly notice anything wrong when you're humming songs to yourself and dancing as you work.

You had stumbled out of the bed, catching yourself on the large planters. Pushing yourself off of them and holding yourself up on your feet by grasping onto the ceramic and the walls. You still left the occasional mark of life when you whacked the pot off their shelf. Your feet were covered in some dirt but you still scrambled along until you found the small cradle in a conjoined room.

You collapsed onto the floor, your fingers digging into the wooden bars that prevented him from rolling onto the floor. You sobbed when you found him relaxing, slumping down into a puddle of relief. He slept so peacefully, his hand cradled his little rabbit and he slept with his mouth hanging open. You let yourself breathe freely, resting against the wood and gazing with fondness at sweet Little Silver.

A door cracked open. You heard footsteps, you wanted to panic and scream, reminded of the need to protect Silver, you grabbed him from the crib. Yet you were faced only with a small child gazing up at you. He wasn't much bigger than Silver was now. Yet you could see his little horns that had started to grow in. There was a clear lack of footsteps following, paired with a rushed click of heels.

Maleficent, looking just like she did when you last saw her, entered. You briefly saw the maid gasping for air as she followed the two into the room. Maleficent quickly knelt beside you grabbing your cheeks. She looked at you for a moment searching for something wrong, making sure that you were truly awake this time. Her thumb brushed against your lip and she pulled you against her, simply holding you to her chest for a moment.

"You're awake!" she smiled, as she sent the maid to fetch a doctor. "I'm glad to see you moving, do you feel alright moving?" Her voice was steady, if you couldn't have been this close to her, your noses almost touching, you might not have believed she cared. Maybe it just came with the job of being a Queen but she was notoriously hard to read. Her joy was easily read through the bright look of her eyes, and the upward tilt of her ears.

The small little horned boy stood bouncing his weight from one leg to the other in the corner of the room. He clearly wished to know what was going on. He played with his fingers looking up through his bangs, when he noticed you glancing at him he hid to watch from the doorway, but you could still see his horns as he peaked in to look at you.

"I'm not sure," you answered Maleficent, "What's going on? Where's Lilia? "Why are we here? Why are-" you choked on your thoughts, a sob shaking through your body and tears spilling out, and the very poor attempt at acting calm shattered.

She shushed you, pulling you to a spot to sit that wasn't on the hard floor. She gathered up a blanket or two letting you wrap yourself and Silver up as you saw fit. She needed you to stay as calm as possible, and all things considered, you were doing great. Part of her feared that you'd wake up still in a "panicked mother bear mode" and attack someone if you didn't know them.

You clung to Silver as Maleficent wrapped her arm around you, and she pulled you close to her side. You let the little horned boy climb into your lap. You rested on the bed in the room where you awoke, sitting there with Maleficent, your shoulders pressed together. The little boy looked up at you with bright curious eyes the same way he looked at Silver who was sound asleep in your arms.

You gently placed your hand atop the boy's head. "Your son is adorable."

She laughed, plucking him off of your lap and placing him in hers. "I had him not too long after you went to sleep." She kissed you, "I'm glad you're finally awake." She ran her fingers through your hair, "Once Lilia arrives we'll explain everything."

You nodded resting your head against her as the little boy ran off. "What's the little one's name?" You asked as he slipped through the door.

"Malleus, Lilia picked it out." She told you, wrapping her arms around your waist and pulling you closer to her chest. She gazed down at Silver from over your shoulder, running her fingers over his sleeping face. "I'm sorry you woke up without him. We didn't want to risk you both getting sick, the maids assigned to you were given strict instructions to never even work with a sneeze, we just didn't want to risk it."

You nodded, "I get it, I'm not mad, I couldn't be." You shook a bit as you struggled to breathe, you didn't want to break down again, being found with your face covered in tears once was enough for the day. "I can remember what happened, back at the cottage. I didn't when I first woke up, but as soon as I noticed he was gone it all came back. I didn't know what to do, where to look, or ever where I was. I just-" it all gushed out, you remember that exchanging pain, the adrenaline, holding your son, then waking up with him gone.

You laid back against the pillows, Maleficent's arms unraveling from your sides. She laid down on her side, facing you as you cradled Silver closer to your chest. Her fingers traveled from your cheek down to your collarbone and she rested her palm against you. She pulled the sheets up quickly, covering your bare legs.

When Lilia arrived you saw him cry for the first time. You knew he must have been crying that night, you never saw it but you knew the moment he walked through the door that he had to have been. The way his eyes were glowing with pure unfathomable joy as he dashed to your side was more than enough evidence of that.