Young Justice: Poseidonis

September 17th, 2010

When Zatanna and I finally made it to the cafeteria, there were only fifteen minutes left in the evening meal service and a number of the Conservatory’s serving staff members were already hard at work clearing away near-empty platters from the long buffet table. We quickly filled our plates and looked around the rather sparsely populated room for somewhere to sit.

We didn’t have to look long. Towards the top of the room, Tula was eating with Topo and Fisna and she was excitedly waving for the two of us to join them. I briefly exchanged looks with Zatanna, who shrugged and then began swimming up towards the trio.

I followed after her, enjoying the freedom of motion that swimming with the aid of hydromancy gave me. I would have probably preferred to eat together, just the two of us, but I was also fine with checking in on the acquaintances we’d made at the Conservatory during our two weeks as students. Tula was one of Mera’s personal students and a talented witch, and there was a strong possibility that at least one of the other two would someday be someone worth knowing.

Zatanna grinned as she approached the table. “Hey guys! It's great to see you!”

Tula smiled back just as enthusiastically. “You’re cutting it close! Garth was worried you’d decided to leave for the night today. You just missed him unfortunately. He still needs to catch up on some homework for Professor Unla.”

Fisna smiled widely, showing off her multiple rows of razor-sharp teeth. “He forgot no more free pass for him.”

Everyone laughed. Zatanna and Tula both laughed, while Topo just smiled. Apparently Garth had gotten used to not having to do any homework while he and Tula were helping me and Zatanna get acclimated to the Conservatory and now that was catching up to him.

I swam up beside Zatanna and set my food down. She reached out and caught my left arm, shaking me lightly. “This big lug was too busy looking at books to come eat. I had to drag him out of the library or he’d be there all night.”

I pretended to be offended. “Not all night!”

Zatanna raised an eyebrow and stared at me, and this time even Topo laughed.

I sighed heavily and leaned into Zatanna’s touch. “Traitors, the lot of you.”

The table was silent for several long moments and I finally took the chance to dig in. Several of my favorites had been missing from the table, but the food was still good. For all that it had seemed odd and not overly appetizing at first, some of it had really grown on me and I hadn’t eaten any seafood since I’d left the Conservatory. I also was quite hungry––I hadn’t eaten since before getting started looking at the lamp––and the food really hit the spot.

Tula suddenly perked up. “Oh right. I was just in the middle of telling everyone about training today. Zatanna––”

Zatanna’s eyes widened and she hastily swallowed. “Teiuq!” she called out sharply, and Tula’s voice immediately died, her mouth moving but no sound coming out.

Tula closed her mouth, tried to say something, failed, then crossed her arms over her chest and huffed silently.

Zatanna gave her a stink eye. “You promised you wouldn’t say anything.”

Tula shook her head.

“Yes you did!”

Tula shrugged and tapped the side of her head, then made a vaguely Garth-shaped outline appear in the water next to her.

Zatanna tilted her head to the side, thinking. “Ah, fuck,” she swore, “you totally didn’t, did you. You were getting your bag.”

Tula nodded, a victorious grin on her lips.

I leaned forward, smiling slyly. “This wouldn’t happen to be about why Zatanna is wearing your clothes tonight and not her own, would it?”

Tula nodded rapidly.

“Oh, I have to hear this then. Zatanna wouldn’t give me any details.” I flicked my wrist, my wand falling into my hands, and pointed it at Tula. Before I could cast however, Zatanna slapped frantically at my wand-arm, not really applying any force, but I lowered my wand anyway. “Oh? You want to tell the story instead?”

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Zatanna looked around the table, then pulled herself over until her face was right next to my ear. “If you don’t unsilence her, I’m going to blow your mind tonight.”

I clicked my tongue loudly. “Tempting. Very tempting.”

Zatanna leaned back and gave me a look, then leaned back in. “I’ll tell you the whole story later.”

“Fair enough.” I reholstered my wand. “Sorry Tula, looks like its silent night for you.”

Tula rolled her eyes, then made a circle with her thumb and forefinger and poked the pointer finger of her other hand through the resulting circle several times. It took me a moment, and Fisna’s cackling laughter, to realize what she was miming.

I wiggled my fingers. “You’ve already lost your talking privileges. Do you really want to lose your arm privileges too?”

Tula instantly became a picture of innocence and went back to her food with gusto.

I ate another bite of fish, then turned to the other two people sitting with us at the table. “So, Zatanna mentioned that there was some more trouble after we left, but I haven’t heard any real details. Do you guys know anything about that?”

Both Topo and Fisna’s expressions darkened and I quickly backpedaled. “I’m sorry if I touched on something personal. I just don’t really know who else to ask. News from Atlantis takes a long time to reach the surface world.”

Fisna smiled tightly. “It not like that, least not for me. It complicated. Topo, though…” she trailed off, giving the boy a brief look.

I followed her gaze and found the squid boy staring down at his plate, pushing a piece of sea snail around with his finger.

“Did something happen?” I asked, injecting a hint of worry into my voice. I’d heard that Mera had been kidnapped but ended up getting away alright, and that was honestly about it.

Topo stayed silent and eventually Fisna spoke up again. “You know anything about Purists?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think so?”

“I guess you wouldn’t. Not really surface problem. They…” She trailed off, searching for a word, and Tula, who had finally dispelled the spell Zatanna cast on her, stepped in.

“They’re extremists. They think that Atlanteans with non-human features aren’t real Atlanteans, that they’re impure and don’t belong. Topo got caught up in it right before it all came to a head with Ocean Master kidnapping the Queen. The worst offenders are mostly in jail now, but there are still a lot of sympathizers out there and they’ve been blaming Manta’s attack on having ‘impure’ Atlanteans in the Poseidonis guard. It's been a rough couple of weeks.”

I frowned. “But you’re…all the descendants of the original Atlanteans, aren’t you? I’m a bit spotty on my Atlantean history, but it's not like anyone came here later, right?”

Tula shrugged. “I mean, yeah. We’re pretty sure that’s the case. If you go back far enough, basically everyone is at least somewhat related to each other.” She sighed heavily. “But people don’t need to be logical or right to do stupid stuff.”

I nodded slowly. There was a small movement in the pureblood community that hated all muggleborns and half-bloods, not just the ones that refused to find a place in our society. Certainly I would have never considered marrying a witch with muggle parents or grandparents, but after five or six generations of magical blood, such things became mostly irrelevant. It only took one exceptional generation to catapult an otherwise nameless house into nobility.

I understood the need to keep important positions in the hands of those who understood the true value of their blood and magic, but it wasn’t like exceptions couldn’t be made for those talented or clever enough to earn them. These Purists sounded like the sort of moronic wizards that had driven Ancient houses like the Gaunts to near extinction with their inbreeding and refused to hire anyone with a muggle on their family tree.

I wrinkled my nose. “Idiots are the same no matter where you go. Who cares what a person looks like as long as they’ve got the talent and the will to succeed?” I turned to Topo. “Do not allow whatever those fools did to you to poison your mind. Your magic is more than anything they will ever accomplish.”

I’d seen some of Topo’s artwork and it was truly impressive what he could do with stone and magic. If he continued along his current path, I could certainly see myself someday commissioning him to decorate my future home here in Poseidonis.”

Topo wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Okay,” he whispered softly, the tentacles on his chin clumping up into a dense ball.

Tula jumped in quickly. “See, even Hydrys agrees! There’s no shame in getting overwhelmed, you’re not a battlemage or anything. Plus I heard what happened. Everyone did! You saved King Sha'ark! That’s a big deal Topo, you’re a hero!”

Zatanna followed up immediately. “Yeah, you know the Queen mentioned you recently. They’re planning to set that mural of Kaldur you made up in the palace you know. How many students your age can say they’ve got work on display in the royal palace?”

Topo raised his head slightly, but he still looked like he was trying to curl in on himself and disappear. “Thanks guys,” he whispered

Before we could keep talking, a cafeteria staff member swam over to us and told us that the hall would be closing in less than five minutes. We all quickly got to work on clearing our plates. As we were leaving, Tula invited Zatanna and I to join the three of them, who were heading to Tula’s room for a study session. However, this time Zatanna quickly begged off, saying that we had other plans.

Tula snorted and Fisna made a crude hand gesture, but they accepted the explanation. We said our goodbyes, I promised to try and come visit from time to time, and then Zatanna and I hurried back to her room. She’d promised me a mind blowing night, and I had every intention of collecting.