-That relatable moment when you give side characters way more personality than they had in the actual show/comics...-

-May I draw your attention to the lowest and lower-left sketches? I'm very proud-

Kaldur wasn't really sure why he didn't tell the adults that he couldn't breath, he'd somehow convinced himself that he'd be in trouble if they knew, and thus kept it to himself until he'd passed out.

It even took the boys mentor a some time to convince him that he'd be more comfortable if he went home. Eventually the child was bundled back up the mountain, and they walked to the zetabeam, Arthur punching in the coordinants to take them home.

Both Aquaman and lad stepped through the zetabeam. Kaldur floated up a little from the sudden change in buoyancy. 

Approaching the Conservatory, the child was basically towed through the water by his king as he was unable to keep up swimming.

Kaldur had no proper clothes that fit him, he had a child's tanktop and shorts, which were fine on the surface, but kept flowing up around him in the current. They'd have to find him some fitting clothes down here.

Arthur pulled his young assistant after him through the palace, looking for anywhere safe to put Kaldur, or anyone trustworthy to watch him.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Is he alright?" His beautiful wife asked quickly, apon hearing that the boy may be injured. She liked Kaldur, both as her ex student, and as a hero. She couldn't stand if something had happened to him.

"Sort of, he is alive, but it may surprise you." Arthur prefaced, bending down and rest a hand in the little boy's back behind him, encouraging Kaldur to shuffle forewords and say hello.

"Kladur!" Mera explained, receiving no answer from the boy but a bow and salute, she checked with her husband. "Kaldur?"

"He was struggling to breath on the surface, so I brought him back to visit."

"Wonderful!"

Look, Mera respected Kaldur, both as her pupil, and her husband's, but she was in the early-middle stages of her pregnancy, and the idea of picking up and holding a child was very appealing. The thought that inside her was something that would one day be even half as cute as the thing in her arms was endlessly exciting.

Kaldur let himself be picked up, even if it was a bit spontaneous. But even when uncomfortable, Kaldur wasn't the sort to kick and squirm, like some of his teammates, or firmly tell you to stop, like others (Conner). 

He would just stay still and wait out an embrace. His philosophy was that if someone would hold you for longer than you wanted, they probably need it. So he just stayed put.

"I was hoping that you knew someone who could watch him while I'm working."

"Most went home after their lessons. But I'll see if anyone is still here." She noticed that Kaldur looked uncomfortable, though he still hadn't said anything about it, and put him down. "Kaldur? Lets find some of your friends?" 

The boy nodded and followed her obediently.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You wanted us, queen?" Tula tried not to get her hopes up.

"Is Kaldur visiting?" Garth asked eagerly, the way you would when one of your best friends moves away. His (girl)friend shot him dagger eyes. They'd both been thinking it, but he didn't have to say it!

"He is," Mera assured. "Sort of"

"Is something wrong?" The girl asked quickly.

"Well..." She looked down. Kaldur was hiding behind her leg and staring shyly at the ground.

Tula followed her queen's eyeline. "Oh-" She smacked her hands over her mouth in shock, puling them back to ask: "Kaldur?"

Before Kaldur could confirm, Garth had practically dropped onto his stomach to look at him. "It is Kaldur!"

"What happened to him?"

"Something with his team on the surface, we're still investigating."

"Kaldur?" Tula stooped to the floor and called out softly to the small boy. Kaldur pushed past towards her and Garth, now quite excited to recognize them. Regardless of who was dating who, they were his friends, right?

"What happened to you?" Garth asked, jealous that their friend hadn't come to him first. Kaldur just shrugged. He had a few vague ideas, but not enough to bother trying to communicate them. 

"We were wondering if you can watch Kaldur for the day." 

"OH!" Tula fought to control herself. "Yes. Of course. we can. My queen." She tried and failed to control her excitement.

"Do keep him close to the conservatory." Their queen told them.

"We'll be fine." Garth agreed. "It's Kaldur."

and that was that. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mera always loved having Kaldur back, and thought that he was adorable as a child; silently trailing behind any adult that claimed him. He was surprisingly well behaved too, it had been nearly an hour, and she hadn't had either Garth or Tula ask for help managing him.

Actually, that was concerning. Not suspicious, she trusted that her favorite students wouldn't try to hurt each other, but it was a little worrying. Part of this was probably the effect of pregnancy hormones making her anxious about having a child around the conservatory, but she still wanted to ere on the side of caution.

It didn't take to long to guess where they were, she'd told them to keep the boy close, so there weren't many places they could be. She just hoped they were keeping up well with their miniature friend.

They were in one of the armature-level training yards, that was a good idea, after so long on the surface, the pressure change was probably doing him some good. She stepped around the corner to watch them, just in time to see several bright slashes of sorcery. That could not be good, since armature training hours were now long over.

She rushed out, taking in the situation quickly. Both teens were sitting cross legged on the ground, elbows resting on their knees, watching intently as the child in front of them swung his bearers, causing the eel-like beams of sorcery slice through the water, uncomfortably close to their heads.

"Kaldur'ahm! Kaldur!" 
The child quickly had the bearers pulled from his hands. He looked up with large fearful eyes, probably expecting to be in trouble. She couldn't bring herself to scold him, he was too young to realize what he was doing. She turned to the other two. "Why would you give these to him?"

"I'm sorry. But it's Kaldur, he can handle himself." Garth defended, as if that was a solid excuse for encouraging a five year old to swing around edged weapons.

"He's a child."

"We're sorry, my queen ." Tula defended. "But he knows what he's doing. If he remembers us, he must remember his years of training."

Her logic was sound, but Mera still didn't like the idea of a five year old freely wielding dangerous weapons. The first several weeks of their education had been exclusively  focussed on the strength of their sorcery, and that they couldn't just play with it. "Is there any safer form of play you can think of."

"Yes. Of course." Garth relented. He'd secretly been looking forwards to seeing a badass five year old twirling blades. "Let's go down into the court."

"Don't take Kaldur too far." Their queen warned. "We don't want to loose him."

"We will be certain not to!" Tula lead Kaldur after her, pulling him through the water. "Kaldur let's see if Lori or Topo are in the gardens."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kaldur had evidently had quite the afternoon. When Arthur found a cluster of his friends, and asked them where the child was, they almost failed to produce him. Turns out during a competitive game of wave wave wanted, he'd hidden a bit to well.

But now he was safe, and located, and had been taken back to the palace, there he was fed, cleaned, and was given somewhere to sleep. He was tired for sure, which was evident in how fast he fell asleep. From a four-to-five year old, they expected some protesting, or stalling, but he had fallen asleep before he'd even been put to bed.

Kaldur was now snuggled up under Garth's arm, out cold. His friend didn't know how to free himself, and kept shooting help me eyes at everyone, but they all seemed to be ignoring him, focussed on the child pinning him down.

"He deserves better." Tula whispered to her companions.

"Yeah."