Author Notes: Familiarshipping as requested. Super fluffy! Part of the canon for my blueshipping story "Don't Forget To Remember Me." Rated K. Enjoy!


"Whoah, calm down, boy," Critias urged his horse as the thunderstorm raged on outside. The jet black yearling colt spooked again as another thunderclap shook the stables. "There's nothing to fear," the blond boy murmured softly as he reached out to the frightened horse with both hands. The colt shifted its weight uneasily as Critias stroked his colt's neck, continuing to murmur comforting things.

"How's Cobalt doing?" Timaeus called from the stall next to his.

"Better," Critias answered shortly. "How's Garnet?"

"Still nervous, but I think he's mostly calm now," Timaeus answered as he stroked his own ruddy chestnut colt.

"Is Hermos still asleep?"

"It would appear so."

Critias snorted disdainfully. "If he carries on like this, I don't see how he's going to keep up with our training." As Hermos' unattended colt neighed in panic, Cobalt started to grow uneasy again, shifting on prancing feet as he side-stepped in an attempt to escape the corner Critias had backed him into.

"Whoah, it's alright, boy, it's alright," Critias said calmly and confidently as he took hold of Cobalt's halter and held his head down to keep him from rearing. He stroked the colt's neck until he was calm again, then reached into his pocket for a treat. He held out his flat hand with a small pile of oats sitting in the middle of his palm. Cobalt lapped them up eagerly, and Critias rubbed his colt's nose affectionately.

Hermos' colt neighed again, sounding distressed as he started to kick at the door to his stall, and Critias bit back his frustration.

"I'll go wake him up," Timaeus called, leaving his own colt's stall. "He needs to learn that he can't be so careless with another living creature."

"Thanks," Critias called back. "I'll see if I can get Jasper to settle down a bit so he doesn't break the lock again."

As Timaeus pulled up the hood of his cloak and ran out into the driving rain to rouse Hermos and get him to tend to his skittish horse, Critias hugged Cobalt's neck before leaving him to venture into Jasper's stall. The dark bay yearling belonging to the third member of their trio of squires was the smallest of the three at this point, but he was the wildest by far. They'd all been born into captivity, but there was a streak of indomitable spirit in Hermos' horse that made him difficult to train.

He was also more terrified of thunder than the other two combined. Granted, they rarely had thunderstorms in Atlantis, but on those occasions, Jasper turned into something unearthly. The first thunderstorm the colts experienced, Jasper had broken free from the stable and all three squires had been responsible for catching him and later fixing the stall door.

Critias stood at a safe distance from where Jasper was rearing and pawing at the stable door, holding out his hands in a calming gesture.

"Whoah, boy. Calm down." It wasn't so much that the horses could understand their words as it was that the horses understood the tones of their voices and responded to that. After a few minutes of tentative coaxing, Critias managed to get Jasper to stay on all four feet. He was about to enter the stall now that it was safe, when he looked over the edge of the door and saw how sparse the hay was on the floor. He rolled his eyes, annoyed by Hermos' inadequate care of his own horse, and decided to remedy the situation himself. Hermos would be here soon to take care of his own colt, after all.

He ran over to the ladder leading up to the hayloft and ascended it with the easy agility of a thirteen-year-old boy. As he reached the top, a flash of lightning illuminated the loft for him, and he froze.

An angel. She couldn't be anything else. The straw for Jasper's stall forgotten, he crept over to the sleeping girl, kneeling beside her as he tried to get a better look at her face.

She was soaked, that much he could tell by looking at her. So she hadn't been here long, then, since it was warm enough in the stables that she would've started to dry. She wore a plain blue frock and looked to be about his age or a year younger. The next flash of lightning showed him that her face was flushed, and he tentatively let the back of his hand rest against her forehead. She was burning up, her fever hotter than Timaeus' had been last winter when he got sick with pneumonia.

He heard the voices of Timaeus gently chiding Hermos for his inattentiveness and Hermos defending himself against the accusations.

"Critias, where'd you go?" Timaeus called.

The blond squire stuck his head down from the hayloft and shouted, "Hermos, go get the doctor! There's someone sick up here!"

"Why do I gotta?" Hermos complained, resistant to any exertion at this hour of the night.

"Because you're faster than us," Critias snapped. "Just do it!" Hermos took off, the ego-boost enough to make him change his mind.

"Who is it?" Timaeus asked, looking concerned.

"I don't know. She's not from the castle, though." Timaeus joined him in the hayloft, bringing both of their cloaks so that they could spread them over the girl to keep her warm.

"I was getting more straw for Jasper's stall when I found her," Critias explained, sitting at her side as he nervously watched her for signs of life. "Do you think we should wake her up?"

"I think we should wait for Anaximander," Timaeus said calmly. "Hermos IS the fastest runner among the three of us, after all, and the best at making noise, so he should have no trouble waking him up."

Critias chuckled at that, his laughter interrupted by the sound of Jasper pounding his hooves fiercely against his stall door.

"I'll go take care of him," Timaeus offered as he moved towards the ladder and descended to make good on his words. Jasper made a sound that was most accurately termed a scream, and the girl in the hayloft stirred. Her eyes slowly blinked open, but Critias couldn't tell what color they were in the darkness. For a few moments, Critias held his breath and watched her get her bearings. She started when she realized that she wasn't alone.

"I'm sorry-" she began, looking afraid, but he stopped her.

"It's okay, don't worry," he said soothingly, speaking to her the same way he'd been talking to Cobalt. "The doctor is on his way. You're going to be okay."

She relaxed, then struggled into a somewhat upright position, keeping the boys' cloaks over her shivering form. After a few moments of silence, another flash of lightning lit the world for less than a second, giving the girl a brief peek at her companion.

"What's your name?" she asked quietly, her voice sweet even though it was weak and hesitant.

"Critias. What's yours?"

"Kisara."

A mighty crash of thunder shook the stable, and Kisara cried out in fear. In the same moment that she reached out to him for protection, he reached out to her to offer reassurance.

"You're safe here," he informed her gently. "Nobody's going to hurt you."

"I just… I hate the thunder," she whispered timidly, clinging to him desperately.

"That's okay, Cobalt does too." Critias patted the top of her head in a comforting manner, noticing that some hay was tangled into her long pale hair.

"Cobalt?"

"My colt," Critias answered proudly.

"You're… a squire?"

"Yep."

"Wow…"

They heard the voices of Hermos and Anaximander, the doctor, as they entered the stable, and Critias helped Kisara to lay back against the hay before he went to the top of the ladder to ask how he could be of help.