Take A Dive [AquagirlxAqualad]

~10~

"Speak to me of Topo," Kaldur asked as they swam, searching all their favorite spots for any sign of Topo and the rest of the Landlubbers.

"He was a victim of the Purists," Garth said. That much was obvious. 

"What are the Purists?" Superboy asked, refusing to swim another inch until he was placated. by the way M'gann and Kaldur immediately stopped to answer him, Lorena knew that Superboy was infamous for his stubbornness. Still, she, Tula, and Garth stopped with Kaldur and his surfacer friends.

"They consider themselves the direct descendants of the original Atlanteans, and attempt to scare anyone they consider impure into leaving Atlantis," Tula explained to the foreigners.

M'gann was confused, "But what qualifies you as 'impure'? You all breathe water, right?"

Garth glanced at Kaldur, "Tula and I appear human, and thus are considered pure-"

"-But my visible gills render me impure." Kaldur cut in.

"Only by the most rigid and ridiculous standards!" Tula gripped his shoulder.

Something hot and sharp flared in Lorena's chest, and swam in between Kaldur and Tula, "Like any of the Purist standards shouldn't be considered ridiculous."

Tula sighed, "You are right, Lorena."

Kaldur shook his head, still trying to wrap his head around it, "Lorena and I were just here, and there was no word of this?"

"The oldest prejudices have always lurked under the surface, Kaldur," Garth said gently, "but the clash between skin and scales, flesh and fins, has escalated rapidly and seemingly without cause into violence and intimidation." Garth was all but the prince of the Shayeris state, he would be keenly aware of even the most subtle threats against the stability of Atlantis as a whole.

"LET GO OF ME!" 

"That was Wyynde!" Kaldur gasped. The six of them looked around the coral-covered mountain, where they discovered the rest of the landlubbers confronting Wynnde. Sha'ark held Wynnde by the collar of his robes, and three "pure" Conservatory students were rushing to his defense.

Lori swam in front of them, finger pointed accusingly, "We know you are purists! You can't hide behind your robes an hoods!"

The lone female of the pure group cackled wickedly, "Do we appear to hide, barbarian?" Lorena recognized her long, dark hair and orange, crustaceous shoulder-plates as Chian, an ambitious student who often bragged about her high test scores, though her performances in training didn't match.

"Your kind already infects Tritonis, Nanauve, Neptunos, Lemuria, Shayeris, even Crastinus!" One of her friends accused, a blonde boy robed in green. Lorena thought she recognized him as Ronal, the son of one of the most hated teachers at the Conservatory, she and Kladur were convinced the Mera only kept him on staff because his wife was a princess. Strange how Ronal had listed every other city in the Atlantean Alliance of City states. Almost like those considered "impure" made up half of Atlantis' population, as it had for millennia.  Along with Wyynde, the fourth member of their group was M'Chiste, a Shayeris native who used to be friends with Garth until their differing groups of friends at the conservatory disintegrated their friendship. 

Lorena and her Atlantean friends launched themselves at the fight. "Sha'ark, what are you doing with Wyynde?" Kaldur demanded. He drew his water-bearers, but he didn't create any weapons. Yet.

"Preparing lunch. Can you not tell?" Sha'ark asked casually, his teeth were always bared, but Lorena was convinced that he was stretching to show even more of the rows upon rows of incisors.