Playing Koi (4) (Patreon)

She moved her arms in front of herself, flicking her tail nervously back and forth. Her words were obscured, but Jemma got the general idea clearly enough.

Jemma might not have the coordination to swim as gracefully as these others, but she didn't need it. She bumbled her way across the bedroom, knocking over one of Kisten's faithful recreations of a plush doll. She wrapped both arms around her, holding tight.

For all that they were fish now, she still felt like her girlfriend. Everything was still in the right place. "You didn't tell me you were leaving! Wandered off on your own... look at you!" She tried to let go but couldn't pull her away.

The goldfish clung to her, crying silently into her chest. There were no tears under water, or any sound when Kisten cried. But physical contact carried the same emotions between them, as easily as if Jemma could see her clearly.

That tempered her anger, at least a little. How could she scream at someone who wasn't even holding herself together? Kisten squeezed a little harder, even holding on with her little fins. "You shouldn't be in here. No one should have to... go through this."

"If you talked to me first, you wouldn't either." Suddenly they were both on the bed, though she couldn't say exactly how they got there. 

It didn't work the same way—in the water, Jemma had no weight at all, and so would just lift off the bed and float above it, unless she held herself down. There were no blankets, but the water was already comfortable without them.

"I know," Kisten answered. She rested on Jemma's chest, still clinging to her. "I didn't want you to stop me. It was supposed to be... different."

Whatever anger she felt couldn't survive long in her company. Maybe when they got out, she could have a long conversation with Kisten about her limitations and the dangers of facing magical threats alone. But now, she was just happy to have her back.

From the haunted look in Kisten's face, she'd been waiting a lot longer. 

"Different how?" Jemma reached up to her hair, running one hand gently through it. She could look as different as she wanted, her girlfriend was still wired the same. With each gesture, she became visibly relaxed, tension easing from her arms. She was still crying, though she'd already calmed from the initial desperate sobs. "You knew it was cursed. It's an aquarium that makes people into fish. You're a fish."

She nodded weakly. "Y-yeah. I... this part I expected." She looked down at her tail, then reached out for Jemma's. "You're prettier than me. And... bigger. You came through the barrier. Of course you did... that spell won't wear off while you're in here. You won't get big again until we're out of the water." 

Kisten's fingers on her scales sent little shivers up her spine. They were so soft but burned with her girlfriend's usual intense body heat. "I don't care. I'm the same size as you, that means I'm the right size." She lowered one hand from her girlfriend's head, settling it on her chest instead. "We're safe in here, aren't we?"

She nodded. "The time slide uses the same power as the curse, it can't fail while we're still fish. We're moving... a lot faster now. I think a thousand times. Or... two... I couldn't do better without a calculator."

She arched her back, leaning up high enough to kiss her. The water made things a little weird, and she didn't taste the same—but Kisten still felt the way she remembered. Hot, energetic, and desperate. Maybe more than usual—there were layers of hesitation and pain to her that hadn't been there two days ago.

So close to her, Jemma could still hear her perfectly. But in that state, she didn't say anything coherent. Her relief that it was Jemma doing this instead of someone else, how much she'd missed her, how terrified she was that she would never be with her again. Guilt that Jemma had to come into the water to rescue her, and so face the same danger. 

All that and more, in a confused rush of movements in the fish's thin body.

"Hey." Jemma pulled her off, a few minutes later. "I am not getting any of that. Take your time. One thought at a time, please. For such a little fish, there's a lot packed in there. Breathe."

"I can't breathe," she answered, sticking her tongue out. "You can't either. We're fish."

"I didn't say air." Jemma pushed off her bed, floating with her into the space at the center of Kisten's fake bedroom. "If we've got the time, why don't you tell that messenger to give us privacy. And tell them not to banish me from your secret fish city while we're at it."

The goldfish nodded, slipping sinuously past Jemma. However long she had been here, Kisten was not new at using her tail. "I'll tell them."

"Good." Jemma spiraled through the water, letting her long hair trail around her as she went. "I'm not finished with you yet."

Jemma hadn't gone that long without seeing Kisten, not from her own subjective point of view. That was clearly not the case for the little goldfish—if anything, Kisten was pent up worse than she'd seen her in months, overflowing with anxiety and energy and need.

With her word, no one bothered them for as long as they wanted. Or as much energy as Jemma had, anyway. The goldfish hadn't fought through hell to get here, so probably could've kept going for hours more.

Or days. Outside the walls of the little goldfish civilization, time hardly seemed to pass. Through the glass walls of the tank, Jemma saw a shop gone silent in the dark, with a worker lowering the security gate. They were in the same position the next morning as they were the day after, and the day after that. 

A few days was enough that Kisten finally started to relax and get comfortable around her again. It was also enough time for Jemma to learn how to use her new body, so she wasn't bumping into things everywhere she went. She wasn't Kisten’s equal with a tail yet—her girlfriend could do some amazing things with her fins. But with any luck, she wouldn't have to be.

"You had something to do with all this?" Jemma said, on their third “morning” in Thetria. There was no sun and no moon—no difference at all between different times of day. The goldfish still worked with similar periods of time, which went a long way to keeping Jemma sane. "A fish I met—she thought things were still bad for goldfish when we talked. How long have you been here?"

Kisten toyed with her bowl of mixed greens, avoiding eye contact with her. "I thought it was easier if I didn't think about numbers. It's been a long time—but not as long as the other ancestors."

Jemma emptied her plate, then started on Kisten's. It was something about the shrinking spell—however it worked, her appetite was unchanged. She ate about four times what a goldfish did. None of it was particularly appetizing, but even her girlfriend no longer noticed. "Forget how? Why? If you were already stuck in here, why make it feel longer?"

"It was longer." Kisten gestured out at Thetria. They had traveled to a restaurant, built high in a tower near the temple. But many fish were still visible beyond its balcony, going about their daily lives. Some worked, others played. They swam and built and cleaned, hundreds of fish all working together. "You heard about how things were for us. I remember. When anyone could... come in here." She shuddered, covering herself subconsciously with both arms. That silenced her completely, since it obscured Jemma's view.

But maybe she didn't want to say what she was thinking. Eventually she removed her arms and continued. "We had to keep them out. But holding the aquarium's magic didn't give me... all the powers I wanted." She gestured vaguely with one hand, leaving a little trail of glowing sparks in the water behind her. "I could only use stuff that it was already built to do. It makes things small, speeds them up, and makes them fish. That's about it."

She floated out of their table, pacing back and forth in the empty air in front of Jemma. Swimming, anyway. It made her sound just as anxious as Jemma could with her words. "I started making intruders into goldfish. But most of them didn’t know any better, really. Could I curse people the same as me? Only did that for the other founders. You… probably noticed they’re not big fans of me. Even after we built this place together, they’re still bitter about the whole words thing.”

She gestured vaguely beneath them, and the layers of building they ascended to this restaurant. “Anyway, I couldn’t stay awake to guard the door forever. What else was I supposed to do? We needed time."

"Are you saying... you actually did it? Took the magic of the aquarium for yourself?"

Kisten sighed, stretching across the table towards Jemma. She wrapped her tail around her, right where their skin met. It took no strength for Jemma to hold her there, since they were both floating. Just a touch. "Yeah, kinda. It was just sitting there for someone to take. Not one other fish had any idea what it was. I just had to..." She winced, pulling away. "Get to it."

Jemma held the little fish for a few silent moments, waiting for Kisten to continue. When she didn't, Jemma finally spoke. "We're stuck in here forever, along with all these other fish?"

Things could definitely be worse—the goldfish tank was practically a real town, at least compared to the confusion and barbarism of the rest of the aquarium. But that still meant their whole lives were on hold, or maybe over completely. All their goals, all their ambitions and plans and future hopes, crushed.

Kisten sat up, drifting past her a short distance. "Not exactly. There's a way out. I know where it is."

Those words stunned Jemma, who stared on in stupefied silence for almost a minute. Long enough that Kisten turned back towards her subconsciously, watching closely. She was so used to swimming around creatures who spoke the same way she did, she looked like she might think Jemma tried to talk her way.

"So why are any of you still here?" Jemma asked, speaking each word slowly and deliberately. "You could be out. You could've come back home. I might not even know you got into trouble. Not that I didn't want to know. You need to tell me about things like this more."

Kisten swam in closer, pressing up against her. The contact remained an intimate, romantic gesture—but also served as her only way of whispering. She actually had to worry about being overheard. 

"No one who was born here can leave. The spell can't give you back a humanity you never had. I couldn't lead them out."

Jemma floated back inside through the open balcony door, keeping one hand on Kisten's shoulder the whole time. Thanks to her new size, the two still fit together perfectly. Fishy skin and scales were softer to the touch than the human equivalent, without ever getting wrinkled. 

Her own words might still be overheard. Jemma knew a few words in Kisten's language, but none of them were useful for complex thought. For all she knew, they might just be homophones. She held the goldfish closer, whispering into her ear. "But what about all the other fish who got trapped here? Don't they want to leave?"

The goldfish twitched in response. She couldn't stay this close without squirming, which only made her more interesting to hold. The vicious cycle. "Not so much anymore. When I got here, everyone did. They wanted to escape... what was happening to us. Can't blame them for that. But now that we have, it's... different."

She ran one hand down Jemma's back, along the edge where her fin met her skin. It made Jemma arch her body, gasping as the pressure passed through her. Her girlfriend definitely had some unfair advantages about being a fish now.

"Then I'm not... understanding. What the problem is. They stay, you leave."

"Can't make it." The fish squirmed out of her grip, zipping across the empty balcony to one of the little writing tablets on the wall. She carried it to their table, spreading it out for Jemma to see. A map of the aquarium, which each tank labeled. It showed the pond above, and several junction tanks that Jemma had passed along the way.

"The way out is here—in the maintenance tank. Have to swim all the way there, then out. Through some of the worst territory in the aquarium. I could never make it alone. Probably wouldn't die, but... might wish I had." She wrapped both arms around her middle, but zipped out of Jemma's grip before she could grab her.

"The goldfish could make it together, if we all went. But if we did... most of them wouldn't be able to go. Only a few even want to leave anymore."

Jemma trailed behind her, trying to grab her arm and stop Kisten's constant movement. The fish didn't want to be held right now, so was always just a little out of reach. "But you've got the magic. Just blast anyone who tries to hurt you. Your spell shrank me!"

Kisten nodded eagerly. “Yeah! Kinda… lucky that’s all it did, to be honest. I guess whatever you are is close enough to a goldfish that you got past. It’s supposed to make sure no one with the magical talent to get through that barrier wants to leave. Adapt you to our society. Who knows, maybe it worked. Can you try to talk quiet?”

Jemma stuck out her tongue, defiant. Maybe she could, maybe she couldn’t. She wasn’t going to get distracted now, not when the key to escape might be so close! “Stay focused. Why are you still in here?”

Kisten deflated. She was careful not to cover herself and go quiet, at least. “Catch 22. I cast all the spells that protect Thetria. If I give the magic to someone else, they all drop. Then fish who have never known danger are suddenly…” She shuddered, sinking lower in the water. “I won’t let them go through that again. We built a better world. Went through hell to make it safe the first time. Not all of us made it.”

She was silent for a long time, maybe minutes. Jemma didn’t feel right trying to interrupt. Her girlfriend had spent ages in this tank—lifetimes.

Eventually, she continued on her own. "No more defenses, no more Thetria. Things will go back to the way they were. We can't even tell other fish no, Jemma. No one else in the aquarium can understand us. When I got here, I think they thought we were all just dumb. I won't send them back to that just so I can escape.”

She sighed, tail curling up in front of herself. She rested on her fin, staring at the floor. "It didn't work how I wanted. I couldn't take a little magic and cast whatever I wanted after that. I can only use what's here."

Jemma circled around her, wrapping her tail around Kisten from the side, while resting one hand on her shoulder. She couldn't see her that well, which meant she couldn't hear her. But Kisten had already shared what she was thinking. "We wouldn't be alone. There are... more fish out there who want to escape. There's no Thetria for them. Lots of people who fell in would go with us. If you told them you had a way out—"

"Told them," Kisten repeated, twisting around to meet her eyes. "Can't talk, remember? Most of the fish outside Thetria can't read. The way this tank works... there's not a lot of real humans. The vast majority are our descendants." 

"Good thing I can. This route here—we can swim this. You tell the other ancestors, give them a chance to go with us. Maybe we'll have a few more! When we're ready, we can go out there, tell the other fish that the humans can leave."

Kisten looked up, expression unreadable. Even without words, she couldn't hide her feelings from her body.

“I gotta think of more than myself, Jemma. They’re depending on me to keep them safe. Whatever plan we have has to help them too. That’s why I’m still here. Couldn’t think of a way to…” She gestured vaguely to either side. “I’ve been trying to figure things out for a long time. Searching for the answer. With your help, we’ll find it for sure!”

We already have the answer. Jemma caught her wrist, dragging her out into open water. Out of the restaurant, and the free “air” of Thetria. The tank used every inch of space, with dried kelplike fabric woven into skyscrapers that continued the length of the jewelry store and beyond.

Past the diffuse white glow coming from outside, there was vast city. Dozens of miles, maybe hundreds. Activity buzzed everywhere she looked—fish swimming in big and small groups, schooling near the surface, raising crops, building with gravel and slime. All silent. No wonder she doesn’t want to leave yet. She’s surrounded by people like her. In a way, Kisten had already cured her curse.

“Time has been weird for us before,” Kisten was saying. She’d been talking that whole time, probably. But when she looked away, Jemma no longer heard a sound. “This isn’t that different, you’ll get used to it. And when we’re ready, we can get everyone out.”

Everyone. Jemma looked away from her again, finally releasing her wrist. She floated higher and higher in the water, until she could look down at everything. She had lived in cities smaller than this. Their apartment couldn’t hold all these fish. And even if they could, what happened when the person who made this tank came for them?

“Mom?” came a nervous voice, “audible” only through her peripheral vision. She turned, and found a little fish floating up towards them. A young child, only a few years old. “You told her, right? It’s been days and days!”

“I’ve been…” Kisten caught him in a tight hug, going silent for a moment. She released him a second later, holding the smaller fish with one arm over his shoulder. “Jemma, you should probably meet Arlo. He’s my… youngest? Oldest?” She ruffled his hair with one hand, beaming. “Smartest little goldfish in the tank, and the whole world too.”

He circled rapidly around her, annoyed. “Mooooom! You’re embarrassing me!”

Jemma barely heard them. Not that she wasn’t watching—this was something else. “Arlo, can I talk to your mom for a second? In private.”

She didn’t wait for permission. Jemma was still much stronger than these fish, shrunk down to their size or not. She dragged Kisten rapidly down, past the restaurant and skyscrapers and cheerful little goldfish swimming along to greet the morning. She took her all the way to Kisten’s window, then dragged her through it, pressing the little wooden latch closed behind her.

“Who hurt you?” Jemma asked. “Whatever fish did it, I’ll…”

Kisten whimpered silently. She tried to squirm away, but not hard enough that she succeeded. “They’re gone. The fish that…” She shivered. “Arlo’s dad wasn’t one of them. I went so long. Hoped tomorrow would be the day I got out. But I lost count of all the tomorrows. When I met Jasper, he…”

She lifted off the bedroom floor, then darted through the water. She offered it to Jemma.

A photograph, or maybe a very well-drawn illustration. It was black and white, capturing two fish together. Her girlfriend, and someone else, holding her the way Jemma always did.

No fish curse could cut her so raw. Jemma came running the instant she learned Kisten was in trouble, and her girlfriend couldn’t wait two days? “A boy? After all this time? You let him…”

Instead of noticing her obvious distress, she just kept going. “Didn’t hatch the eggs all at once. But I… cheated.” She gestured out at the window, where a pair of eyes now watched them. Arlo was bold enough to peer in through the window, but not brave enough to open it and swim inside. “Froze the ones we couldn’t raise, using the same magic as Thetria. Hatched them a few at a time, so I would always have some of…” She glanced back at the photo, then sighed. “Arlo’s the last.”

At the mention of his name, the fish burst through the window, swimming silently to Kisten’s side. He touched his head briefly against her shoulder. “I’m her favorite!”

“Course you are, sweetie,” Kisten said, holding him protectively against her chest. Just like Brady, except—her girlfriend chose this. “Arlo, this is Jemma. She’s my mate, from before the tank. Jemma, I hope—”

That was the exact limit of what Jemma could take. Getting turned into a fish, fleeing across an underwater world that was somehow also a shopping mall—all that she could deal with. Even finding civilization here made its own kind of sense: what else would captive humans do with infinite time and resources? No one wanted to live in caves, fighting for their life!

But Kisten gave up on her. She waited so long she had found someone else! How could she let a fish into the part of her life reserved for Jemma?

And now she held the last little piece of him to her side like a shield. Of course Arlo didn’t deserve any of her anger. With him there, Jemma couldn’t say what she really felt, no matter how desperately she wanted to.

Jemma might not be cursed, but she could talk with silence too, in her own way. She ignored Arlo completely. “Can I go back through the barrier?”

Kisten blinked. Her whole body went stiff, and her words suddenly came through flat. Fighting back silent tears. “You can pass through either way without getting hit again. But you shouldn’t go past the barrier. It’s not safe!”

“Exactly. It’s not safe.” She retreated towards the window, turning her back on the two fish. Whatever they were trying to say, Jemma couldn’t hear it if she couldn’t see them. “On my way in, someone helped me find you. I’m gonna try to bring her and her daughter here.”

She made it out of the window before Kisten caught up with her, swimming urgently into her path. Her girlfriend had a way of making herself noticed, even when Jemma very much didn’t want to. “You won’t change back if you go out there! You’ll be the same size!”

Jemma nodded. “I was listening, thanks. Won’t be out there for long.” Probably. She couldn’t say exactly how long she would stay, or how far she wanted to swim. She only knew she wanted to get away.