Playing Koi (6) (Patreon)

Jemma followed Liam through a narrow gap and emerged into a vast, open space. The town called Algaegard stretched out in every direction, a sprawling labyrinth of structures crafted from the aquarium's detritus. Bits of driftwood, coral fragments, and shells of various sizes formed a patchwork of buildings, each one bearing the unique marks of its construction. Many were made of gravel, cemented with an unknown biological glue.

Liam glanced back at her, a proud smile playing on his lips. "Pretty impressive, huh?" He gestured to the central hub; a large hollowed-out boulder surrounded by a network of smaller structures. "That's city hall. Took years to carve it out, piece by piece. My mom helped design it."

Jemma nodded mutely, her gaze darting through the town. Liam pointed out the various sectors—the housing area with its cozy nooks, the storage spaces with their woven seaweed baskets.

Whoever built this lacked formal training in engineering or architecture—this was no perfectly-crafted city. Algaegard was haphazard, organic. There was a kind of beauty there.

Despite the danger they faced, these fish had managed to build a home. She saw no magic shield to keep them safe, though there were groups of armed soldiers floating near the entrance. 

Unlike the goldfish, these creatures were all dressed as she might expect, with torsos covered. They were still underwater, constrained by the limited space and the physics of underwater life, so they didn't wear much. Jemma settled her arms in front of herself, trying to make it casual. 

A watchful sentry fish stationed near the entrance eyed them as they approached. "Back so soon, Liam?" the sentry called. "Don't see any metal salvage with you."

Liam laughed. "Not this time, Hakes. I did find her, though." He turned to Jemma, his smile softening. "Her name's Jemma. Caught her almost getting eaten by the koi."

Hakes swam up from his sheltered lookout by the entrance. Like Liam, he carried a speargun in both hands, elastic armed and ready to fire. He was a little bigger than Liam, or her. But despite his size, his approach didn't turn her stomach. "Good to meet you," he said, almost disinterested.

She nodded in thanks but couldn't manage a meaningful reply.

Hakes caught Liam's arm, tugging the fish away a short distance and whispering into one ear. "There's no point trying to civilize them, Liam. If they grow up wild…"

"She's not wild," Liam whispered back. "She's human."

"Right, because those were real," Hakes said. "Look, I'm not saying you can't bring her. I wouldn't have the authority to make her leave even if I wanted. But she’s a goldfish. They can't do anything. I’ve never seen them work. They’re useless.”

Liam didn't reply. Instead, he swam back to Jemma, and caught her by the arm. "My apartment is down in the crags. No windows, so there's no view… but it's safer down there."

Liam led Jemma to a large gap in the rock, then an opening into another cavern. These too had a glass wall on one side, where humans passing outside would be able to watch them if the mall was open. 

Only instead of a maze, these corridors were each well lit, with block letters painted next to each turn. Address markings! They swam down a series of narrow passages, the walls closing in around them as they descended into the crags. 

"I can see why you wanted to live down here," she said. "Even most of the fish in Algaegard are bigger than us. But here…"

"Yeah. It's self-organizing. The people who need more space take more space. But these caves are awesome—there's room for a whole workshop down here! A whole family could live at my place and still have plenty of rooms!"

The deeper they went, the more cluttered and disorganized the environment became. Bits of driftwood, discarded shells, and fragments of coral became makeshift benches, doors, and other furniture. But it was never too dark—the diffuse glow of the red emergency lights from through the glass kept everything a dull crimson. Liam’s own faint glow was much too weak to do anything but outline his current position.

"This way," Liam called over his shoulder, navigating the labyrinth with ease. They finally arrived at a small opening, blocked by a sturdy door. He tapped it in a rhythmic way, hitting a few different parts of the door. Something clicked, and it fell backward out of the way, drifting slowly down.

Liam floated into the path ahead of her, blocking it. He looked down, tail curling backward. No wonder they called his type of fish a neon—his scales really did glow in the dark. A faint line illuminated his sides, his back, coming together at a point his armor covered. So, she didn't have to die of embarrassment today. 

"You have to promise not to laugh," he said, touching her shoulder. "It's a mess down there. If you don't, I'll take you to the medic. Seems like overkill for a few scrapes, but if you force me…"

"I promise," she said, exasperated. "You don't need to worry. My girlfriend—she's the one who cleaned. If it wasn't for her, I think I'd drown in it all eventually."

He drifted aside. "Girlfriend? Are you…"

She flushed, looking away from him. "Are we still together? I have no idea. It's… complicated." She winced then, hands jerking to the cuts on her torso. "You're right, already… kinda tender. How do you treat cuts underwater, anyway?"

Liam shot forward with a few energetic strokes of his tail. For once, he didn't tug her through. "There's another way?"

Jemma paused at the entrance, taking in the scene before her. The space was a cluttered workshop, tools and half-finished projects scattered everywhere. Metal scraps, seaweed ropes, and various gadgets lay in piles around the room.

Her girlfriend had designed her city to copy the world above, with horizontal slices and a bedroom that looked exactly like the world outside. Liam and these other fish had no such preconceptions.

The workshop was a vertical shaft about fifty feet tall—or so it looked, from her size. Various ledges at different heights served as tables, storage nooks, and furniture, with no particular rhyme or reason about where anything was. Liam's home had only the one room, with all his stuff scattered at different elevations. 

Liam scratched the back of his neck, looking sheepish. "Sorry about the mess."

Jemma shook her head. "It's fine. Really."

He zipped past her to a nearby workbench and started clearing it off, pushing aside bits of metal and tools to make room for her to sit. He helped her down, then zipped off again, leaving a glowing trail through the water. "Just give me a second to find the first aid kit," he muttered, rummaging through a cluttered shelf.

Jemma looked around with growing interest, her tail beating gently back and forth to keep her in place. A small mechanical device whirred softly before sputtering out; another emitted an unsteady glow from a length of naked wire. Despite the chaos, there was ingenuity here. "You weren't human?" she called after him, selecting a set of blueprints from the table next to her. She held them up, feeling the heavy seaweed paper against her fingers. This was a fence, made strong enough to keep out the biggest fish. 

"Course not." He floated back to her, carrying a heavy cloth satchel over his shoulder. He released it in the water next to him, expression flat. "There are some fish in Algaegard who claim their parents were from the outside. Old fish, mostly. Never had a reason to take that seriously. They're out there, they're… slow. You can spend your whole life watching one of them cross a room."

She eyed the kit. Its contents were clay bottles sealed with little corks; each one labeled with something different. There were bandages too, needles and thread. "And you made all these?" She turned over the blueprint in her hands. "Who taught you to write like this?"

He glanced around, a hint of pride mingling with his embarrassment. "Less of these work than I'd hope. My grandma—she knew numbers and stuff. Her mom said she was from out there." He pointed out at the glass, then pushed the kit into her lap. 

"I can help you with this, or you can do your own treatment. Some of those scrapes look like they'll hurt. But if we don't fix them now, it'll be worse later."

Jemma shifted nervously in her seat, looking away from him. "You do it. You’re the expert."

Liam nodded, removing one jar from inside the pouch. He settled beside her on the bench, holding her down with his tail and floating over her. "This one on your shoulder first. It'll sting. I'll try to hold you still if that's okay."

She nodded hurriedly. "Just do it. I'm not afraid of pain." Jemma felt it a second later, icy cold and burning. He pressed it onto her skin, working it into the wounds. 

The sludge stung at first, but his firm fingers almost made up for it. She found herself focusing more on his touch against her skin, those soft scales and the muscular suggestions underneath. Liam was no goldfish—he would never fit her perfectly the way Kisten did. His muscular build was something else, something brutal and primal.

Jemma's thoughts drifted to Kisten. How could she have started a new life without her? The memory of Arlo's words, calling Kisten his mother—that goldfish was a knife in her gut.

Yet here was Liam, strong and attentive. Maybe a boyfriend wouldn't be so bad. This fish didn't know any other world. He barely even believed in humans, but he risked his life to save her anyway.

Liam finished applying the salve, but he didn't move away. Jemma leaned closer to him, her heartbeat accelerating again. She might not get another chance to be this close. 

Before she could second-guess herself, she pressed her lips to his in a light kiss.

Liam's eyes widened in surprise. He pulled back, his fins pulsing in little rhythmic beats. "Jemma, I..."

Her face lit up, and she covered herself with her arms again. "Right. I'm a… barbarian from out on the reef somewhere. You don't have any reason to—"

"No!" He caught her wrist, stopping her from swimming away. "I wasn't going to say that. It's just… I don't want you to feel like you owe me. That's not why I saved you."

Jemma shook her head. "It's not that. I just..." How could she explain what she felt about Kisten? That goldfish hated boys touching her! But now that Jemma tried it—she couldn't imagine why. Even the smell wasn't as bad as she expected. "Sorry. It's going too fast, I know. I've got the brain the size of a goldfish up here." She gestured at her head stretching out on his workbench.

"You've got the body the size of a goldfish," Liam said, a nervous smile on his lips. "If your brain was the size of a goldfish, you'd be… the smartest fish in the whole ocean!"

She sighed. "Yeah, well…" She trailed off, looking around his little workshop. "What's your favorite thing in here? Maybe we can get it working!"