All the speech is in Atlantean for obvious reasons (just pretend it is anyway), and yes, here comes Kaldur!
If you want to see someone doing something in a future chapter, TELL ME, and I'll see what I can do. Suggestions = life, especially if they're plausible ones!
Sorcery
"C'mon Kaldur, we're gonna be late!" Garth looped around in an impatient circle as he waited for his best friend, purple eyes flashing with excitement as he jittered around like a hyperactive toddler.
"Garth, we won't be late for our first day of training with Queen Mera. We set off half an hour early just to assuage your nerves; be calm my friend." Kaldur swam leisurely after his best friend out of the barracks, scoffing his army-approved breakfast as he went. A good breakfast is necessary to start the day off well after all, and Kaldur was nothing if not rule abiding. Most of the time anyway.
The other boy, who had claimed he was too excited to eat not five minutes prior, shot forward and snatched some of Kaldur's food out of his hands, swallowing it in one huge gulp with a cheeky grin. "Well yeah, but it's not like you have to prove yourself, you're naturally good at literally everything, and you study like a crazy person! Whereas with me, no-one even knows how under the sea I managed to get into the Conservatory of Sorcery in the first place."
"Yes we do." Kaldur shot back with a wide white smile, "You nearly pulled down half of the Shayeris barracks with that tempest last year; I'd be surprised if the whole of Atlantis hasn't heard about that one."
Garth blushed a deep red and switched his gaze to some seaweed dancing along the walls as though it was the most fascinating thing in the world. "Shut up Kaldur." he returned eventually. Comebacks are just as original under the sea as they are on land apparently.
The slightly older fourteen year old grinned mischievously. "I don't know Garth, I think it was pretty impressive. You should be proud of your great achievement."
"I hate you."
They grinned fondly at each other before Kaldur switched topics with a sideways look that spoke volumes. "At least we'll be getting out of Dangers of the Surface World for the next two weeks before we have to pick up that class here too."
Garth turned a sarcastic loop-de-loop and cheered half-heartedly. "And thank Aquaman for that, because I hadn't done my homework. Again." He shrugged slightly guiltily, but couldn't muster quite enough will to actually feel bad about it. "Look, I can't help it, it's just such a boring class I can't help but sleep through it and then I haven't got a chance in the Trench with the homework. It's not like either of us are ever going to end up on the surface anyway, let alone meeting any of these wannabes. I bet none of them are half as scary as Black Manta or Ocean Master." Garth wiggled his fingers at his friend and made a sarky 'woo' noise as if he was trying to be scary and failing miserably.
"Well we both know it's more likely that I'll willingly jump into the Trench than you'll pass DSW so…" Kaldur devoured the rest of his food in one huge bite and carefully cleaned the seaweed out of his teeth. "Anyway, aren't you excited to receive your first lesson from Queen Mera herself?"
"Dude, I didn't even go to sleep last night I was so excited." The water around Garth began to swirl in tiny whirlpools and the black-haired boy started bobbing on the spot, adding clouds of sand to the already churning water around him.
"As your bunk mate, I noticed." Kaldur stated with a roll of his eyes and an almost impatient gesture at Garth to quit messing with the water already, but even the ever-calm Kaldur'ahm couldn't quite stop his excited grin. "Alright then, let's jet. I want to get ten minutes warm up in before the Queen arrives."
"Race you there!"
(*I*I*I*)
The two boys from the Atlantean city of Shayeris had arrived in the capital city only a few days prior, scared of what their new lives in the big city might bring but excited and full of enthusiasm all the same. They'd been in military service since the age of 12, just like every other citizen of their great nation, but in peacetime that mainly consisted of lessons, drills and helping with the farming. Not very interesting for two young boys with brains full of stories of brave heroes and glorious military battles. Their heralds to the Conservatory of Sorcery were the equivalent of Willy Wonka's golden tickets; infinitely valuable and extraordinarily precious. When they'd received them Garth hadn't been able to sit still for three days, and Kaldur could barely stop himself laughing with delight every other minute. They were going to be taught sorcery, to become the elite guards of Atlantis and it's royal family, and they would even get to be tutored Queen Mera herself.
Life couldn't have been any better.
But little did they know, outside of their isolated little city, hatred was brewing. The 'Purists' as they were known were a large and reasonably widespread movement that wanted to 'purify' Atlantis by removing anyone with any of non-human attributes, as they believed only those who had 'improved' themselves by descending from the Surface World were worthy of their great city. These Purists called people the non-human Atlanteans 'Fish-heads', which was not exactly meant as a complimentary nickname. According to the Purists, anything from having a tail to a shark's head to gills like Kaldur's rendered the bearer unclean and unworthy of life in Atlantis. Garth and Kaldur had never really encountered a Purist who openly admitted their beliefs before.
This was going to be a trial by fire then.
Or water. Well technically it would be a trial by extreme pressure, but eh, semantics.
(*I*I*I*)
"I bet you can't knock over that training dummy."
Kaldur raised his eyebrows at his best friend's challenge. "I think it would be best to wait for the Queen's arrival before you set about attempting to destroy her training grounds."
Garth pouted in mock disappointment, but his purple eyes were flicking from side to side in unconcealed awe. "Kill joy."
Students of the Conservatory swam around freely, some wielding weapons or magic with looks of fierce concentration, but most hung around like kids at any typical highschool, talking and laughing and frantically trying to finish last minute homework before their teachers kicked their asses/tails. The new intake of students stood nervously around the very edge of the columned courtyard, eyes wide with excitement and nerves and whichever weapon they'd been assigned before their transfer slung over their back or sat on their hips. Kaldur and Garth looked around at their new classmates and shared a grin. They'd heard of some of them, everyone had; rumours about those that might join the Conservatory spread like Greek fire in Atlantis.
"Hi, um, you guys are new too right? I just want to check that we definitely won't need a tablet to take notes on for this class?"
The two boys rotated around to find the source of the voice. A petite girl looked back at them shyly, huge luminous aquamarine eyes partly hidden by a cloud of auburn hair. She was absolutely beautiful, but more importantly, she had a kind smile and an intelligent glint in her eyes. This was the kind of girl that promised to be a very good friend, or a very subversive enemy.
Kaldur regained his manners first and bowed his head politely. "Yes, we are both new students at the Conservatory, and I do believe we were instructed to bring only ourselves and our weapons to this lesson. I am Kaldur'ahm, though you may call me Kaldur. This is my best friend, Garth."
Kaldur shocked Garth out of his gawping stupor with a jolt, a small fizz of electricity and a barely concealed roll of his eyes. "Hey," the purple-eyed boy said with a little wave, white teeth gleaming in his smile, "what's your name?"
"I am Tula." replied the small girl, "Pleased to make your acquaintance."
All three of them dopily smiled at each other, none of them quite sure what to say to alleviate the silence and all of them far too excited and nervous and bashful to make the next move.
But like all good things, their little meeting had to come to an end.
"Hey! You two! What are you doing talking to that Fish-head?!" The loud voice whipped across the open courtyard, drawing murmurs from most of the other students present, some of disgust but nearly as many others of approval. Four students swam out into the middle of the open space, eyes narrowed in revulsion and arms crossed, obviously spoiling for a confrontation. There was one girl and three boys, and all four of them looked like they enjoyed a good fight.
"Yeah," took up the girl, long black hair floating around her cruel smile, "you don't want to wind up polluted, do you?"
Garth looked at the four approaching students with honest confusion. "What do you mean?"
"He," spat the blond boy, jabbing his finger in Kaldur's direction, "is disgusting. Creatures like him dilute the purity of Atlantean blood with their attributes from lower lifeforms. They defile what it means to be Atlantean, and they all need to be wiped out."
Kaldur touched a tentative hand to the side of his neck and felt his gills rippling under his fingers. He'd never really thought about them before, never really thought about why he had gills and Garth didn't. It didn't mean there was anything wrong with him though...right?
"I think you should b-back off." Tula said, but her attempt at intimidation was ruined by the tremor in her voice and the way she seemed to shake like a small fish facing off against a grinning shark.
Garth settled a kind hand on Tula's shoulder, smiling down at the petite girl with a grateful look. "Don't worry Tula, I got this." Then he turned on the quartet of Purists and he almost became a whole other person: his purple eyes narrowed and turned a stormy black colour, his face twisted in revulsion and anger and he swam upwards slightly so he could glare down on the Purists with all the force he could muster. "Now listen here. This is Kaldur'ahm of Shayeris. He's my best friend, we've lived next door to each other since the day we were born, we joined the army together, we've come to the Conservatory together, and he's just as Atlantean as anyone else. Who cares if he has gills, what difference does that even make? I'll tell you the answer, since you obviously don't know." The waves started to sway around Garth, responding to his anger by threatening to tear at the hair and the clothes of the Purists below him, just restrained by the knowledge that Kaldur would never approve of violence on his behalf. "It doesn't."
The Purists looked at each other, first in concern but then in smug self-congratulation. "Well, looks like we've found ourselves a Fish-head lover."
"The only thing worse than a Fish-head," agreed the boy with the gold diadem across his brow, "is one of the traitors that defends them."
The girl grinned maliciously, just as Queen Mera herself swept around the corner in a cloud of bubbles. "We'll deal with you later."
"What is going on here?" There was a reason every single resident of Atlantis lived in awe of their Queen. Not only was she beautiful and more powerful than most could ever dream of, but she was a warrior too. The same iron strength that let her single-handedly defend Atlantis against its many enemies in her husband's frequent absences also leant her voice a certain edge that had every student in the courtyard bowing before they even knew what they were doing.
"Queen Mera!" the girl squeaked. "We were just...discussing who's going to win when we start sparring! Just a little friendly inter-city competition is all." The other Purists all nodded feverishly, their heads almost toppling off their shoulders they were moving so violently.
The Queen cocked a disbelieving eyebrow. "Mmm hmm." She looked over at Kaldur, Garth and Tula, but all three were so wonderstruck that they could barely stand up out of their low bows, let alone contradict the blatant lies being told. "Well then, get in formation everyone! We're going to see what you are all made of."
(*I*I*I*)
Kaldur woke with a hand over his mouth and his hands pinned together behind his back, dark shadows the only thing he could see in the pitch black of the barracks. He could hear thumping and muffled cursing above him and quickly surmised that Garth was also under assault, especially when the water around them started to swirl and hiss with the power of the tempest. The older boy started to add to the chaos with his own crackle of electricity, but was quickly stopped when something flat and heavy smashed into the back of his head. Ouch. There was another dull thud and the water around him stopped churning. Garth. Kaldur cared far more about Garth's safety than he did his own, and the thought that he might be in danger, especially because Garth had stood up for him, set his desire to fight on fire. If only he could just move, if his limbs would just start working and stop uselessly dragging through the water like dead jellyfish…
Excited murmurs filled the air as he was hoisted out of the bed, his arms burning as he was dragged through the water, his legs smashing into one of the bunks behind him as he was carelessly manoeuvred through the inky black barracks. The resulting jolt was enough to knock him out of his stupor and he began to thrash frantically, flailing his legs and doing anything he could to knock off whoever was holding him. Kaldur could see flashes of cold, heartless gold and a few far more reassuring glints of struggling purple around him, but there was just too many hands and he couldn't get enough leverage to-
"Shut them up."
The last thing Kaldur saw was a flash of wide aquamarine eyes, and then stars exploded behind his eyes when something made contact with his temple, and snap. He was gone. Unconsciousness welcomed him with open arms.
(*I*I*I*)
"Wakey wakey scumbags!" Kaldur hazily blinked his way back into awareness, but seconds later a vicious backhand slammed into the side of his face. Which was just rude really.
"I don't think adding another concussion to my concussion will allow me to pay attention to you any faster." Kaldur remarked calmly, only to earn another slap across the face. It was worth it though, to hear Garth snickering drunkenly somewhere off to his left. That meant that they were both alive, and functioning well enough to be both making and laughing at stupid comments.
And then the material covering his eyes disappeared, and Kaldur suddenly didn't feel so self-congratulatory anymore.
In front of him the sea floor dropped away, unfathomable depths disappearing into inky black waters that hid every kind of undersea nightmare that caused little Atlantean boys and girls to wake up at night screaming for their mothers. He tried to swim away from the edge automatically, but lurched forward again as the huge weight around his ankle dragged him back to the brink.
Loud laughter filled his ears as he flailed to regain his balance, and with sinking certainty Kaldur realised what the situation was. Soon enough that weight, and him along with it, would be pushed out into the Trench. If he was lucky the pressure would crumple his skull as he fell, but if not...if not, the creatures of the deep would get him. The Trenchians, or perhaps something worse.
Kaldur really didn't want to meet something worse.
"Let him go you moronic pieces of mmph-"
Cautiously paddling around in a circle with a paranoid eye fixed on the weight at his feet, Kaldur managed to turn around without sentencing himself to a grisly death just at this moment. And his normally measured temperament went out the window at what he saw.
Tight hands gripped Garth's arms hard enough to leave bruises on his pale skin, holding the boy in place even as he thrashed against his restraints, expression determined and furious and oh so terrified. Kaldur barely registered the Purist girl stood within half a foot of himself, ready and gleefully willing to push that treacherous weight off the edge. Because no-one was allowed to hurt Garth.
No-one.
"Let us calm down and speak rationally about this. I am impure, and you have me here, at your mercy. Garth is pure, and he has nothing to do with this-"
"Like heck I have nothing to do with this!" Garth fought even harder against the two Purists holding him, biting and scratching and clawing at their hands, but one of the boys simply frowned in concentration and held out a glowing hand, and suddenly Garth could no longer move at all.
"-just let him go." Kaldur tried to plead silently with his best friend for him to just leave peacefully and let one of them survive this. Garth glared back with an iron determination that said he wouldn't leave even if it cost him his life.
"If you push him into the Trench you had better push me in too because I swear on Aquaman's trident that I will rip your hearts out of your chests and use them to decorate Kaldur's grave no matter how much he disapprovingly frowns at me." Kaldur realised that he was, in fact, frowning with disapproval at his friend's violent threat, and instead switched to disapprovingly frowning at the Purists. Because only one group was plotting actual murder here, and it certainly wasn't Garth.
"This one," the blond Purist declared grandly, gesturing at the immobile Garth with a flourish, "is not a blood traitor, and as we do not wish to punish anyone who is in fact worthy of their Atlantean citizenship, Garth of Atlantis will be given a chance to prove himself."
"Or," grinned the girl with a particular malicious relish, "we'll tie you to that weight, and push the both of you off the edge. Bye bye scum."
Garth scowled murderously. "The only way we're gonna get rid of the scum around here is if you four take a hike and voluntarily jump out into the Trench." That got him a hard cuff around the back of his head, but he didn't regret it for one second. No-one threatened his best friend in front of him and got away with it.
"The test is as follows," intoned the gold diadem guy with a heavy, dense tone of doom, "you will admit the truth, you will declare once and for all that this Fish-head is a traitor to Atlantis, and join us in sacrificing him to the Trench. Thereafter you will join our ranks, and we will soon cleanse Atlantis of its impurities. Or, you will deny this obvious truth, condemn yourself as a conspirator to pollute our blood, and will be sacrificed alongside your...friend." He spat the last word with a look of utter disgust, as if he couldn't wait to get the foul-tasting word out of his mouth.
"Garth," Kaldur cried, "Garth please, just agree to their demands. You need not needlessly sacrifice your own life alongside mine. Think of your future. Think of your parents and your siblings."
"My parents wouldn't let me inside the house if I left you to die alone to save my own skin, and my siblings would never speak to me again. Don't you get it Kal?" Garth locked eyes with his best friend, his entire being burning with sincerity and belief in what he was saying. "You're my best friend in the world; I don't want a future without you in it! So no, I won't reject you for being who you are. And I'm not going to let you die either. Now Tula!"
There was a brief horrifying pause, but soon enough tiny projectiles of pure energy began to spit out from behind a rocky outcropping. The first hit the chain around Kaldur's leg, melting it through and causing him to wince as the burning metal pressed against his leg, and the second smashed the Purist responsible for holding Garth immobile in the chest, throwing off his concentration and allowing the smaller boy to yank himself free.
But instead of rushing to escape, the two boys swam towards each other and, with one look of utter surprise and the other of smug, devious pride, slammed their hands together. "By the power of the Tempest!" Garth yelled, throwing his spare hand out wide in a grand gesture, a huge wicked grin lighting up his face as the water began to swirl and twist in front of him, underwater waves foaming like the mouth of a hungry beast at his command. Kaldur took a slightly less ostentatious but no less dangerous path of summoning his powers, closing his eyes and frowning in concentration until a swarm of electric bolts coalesced around him, and then darted out to wrap themselves around the beginnings of Garth's whirlpool.
The Purists glanced between themselves with expressions of intense terror, and two of them even tried to launch their own magic projectiles at the forming electrified whirlpool, but it simply sucked them in. Once the forces of nature have begun, they cannot be stopped so easily.
"Tula!" Kaldur's voice could barely be heard over the roar of the tornado in front of him, but it travelled far enough that the girl in question peaked over the top of her hiding place, blue eyes as wide as saucers. "Come here and take my hand! We won't be able to contain this for much longer and I don't want you to get hurt!"
Tula was up and shooting towards them like a rocket before Kaldur had even finished his sentence; she wasn't stupid, she could see exactly where this was going. But she was quite the powerful sorceress in her own right, and when she slipped her tiny hand into Kaldur's large one, her own raw magic wove its way into the whirlpool.
It was a magnificent sight. The whirlpool span at superspeeds, sucking in rocks and small sea creatures with wild abandon and throwing them out at dangerous velocities in all directions, turning them into tiny missiles that created craters wherever they struck. Blinding lightning bolts were crackling all around it, coating the roaring water with a hyper, deadly spiral of hissing energy like snakes made of lightning paused to attack. And then, between the firebolts were streams of bright blue light, dancing and bubbling and joyfully leaping about as they span in circles along with the water and lightning, completely incinerating anything that came into contact with it. It was a light show of the likes that would be expected only from the Conservatory's most senior, most gifted students.
It was beautiful. And like many beautiful things, it was very, very dangerous.
Kaldur almost felt bad for the four Purists as their fleeing forms were swept up into the underwater tornado, getting electrocuted and blasted with energy beams until they were violently spat out, only to be devoured once more.
Eventually, when all four of their assailants were floating bonelessly in the water, the trio let their hold on the magic drop and drew in deep, ragged breaths, their chests heaving up and down with the effort of their exertions. They exchanged wide, exhausted smiles that were half disbelief and half newfound camaraderie.
"I can't believe we just did that." Kaldur murmured.
Tula crossed her arms and raised a dainty eyebrow as if to say 'and why wouldn't we?' "Well I can't believe they just did that. Racist dunceheads."
"Well I can't believe that you came all the way out here to help us Tula. Not that I'm ungrateful, but we've spoken about once. Why put yourself in danger? You could've just swam and got the Queen or something... maybe…can we even get into the palace?" Garth blushed and kind of shrugged awkwardly as his sentence came to a stuttering halt.
Tula laughed, a light tinkling sound that contrasted greatly with their devastated surroundings. "No Garth, we can't get into the palace, and even if we could it takes at least ten minutes to get an audience with the Queen, in which time I would suggest that both of you would've been dead."
"So, um, why did you help us?"
"Because I like helping people. And because, uh, I was wondering if I could be on your team for Capture the flag next week? Because I know you guys were just planning to be a two since it's teams of two to four, but, well, I think we've made a pretty good team tonight?" Tula crossed her arms over her chest defensively, suddenly feeling self-conscious as the two boys looked at her with disbelieving expressions.
"Of course Tula, why would we not join forces? Though," said Kaldur with a rueful smile, "next time instead of helping us cause enough damage to potentially get all of us expelled, you need only ask."
"Um guys?" Garth pointed at the middle distance, where soldiers were pouring out of the palace like an angry swarm of ants steaming out of their anthill, "I think our little display might've been spotted. We should probably get out of here sharpish, and leave these racists to get the blame. Besides, we've got proper classes starting tomorrow, including freaking Surface World Languages. Can I jump into the Trench now?"
"I should've known you were only sticking up for me to get out of lessons tomorrow." Kaldur said sarcastically with a faux hurt expression.
Garth laughed and slapped him on the shoulder. "Damn Kal, you know me too well."
And on that day an enduring new friendship was formed between that trio, because really, one cannot simply create an underwater-lightning-and-pure-energy whirlpool and walk away from it without making a few new friends. The Purists never dared to bother the three of them again, and Kaldur, Garth and Tula were very happy at the Conservatory for many years.
I would like to say they lived happily ever after under the sea, but that would be very boring wouldn't it? No, they helped defeat attacks from Black Manta together, beat back missiles from Ocean Master together, and survived the canteen food together (and that was just their first week at the Conservatory). Garth still failed all of his Surface World classes though.
Stupid Surface World.
If they weren't out to kill him, he didn't know who was.
(He was just a few years early with his suspicions, that's all. Otherwise, his paranoia was spot on).