Chapter 20
I scowled at the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Arnina had taken off with her Boy Toy, and I was here alone in the suite.
Ugh, I couldn't take it anymore.
I needed to move my body.
I turned and headed towards the giant fish bowl pond set on the floor in the middle of the common room.
There were no guards in the room with me.
I figured they were on a different level or something, given that these rooms seemed to have open archways to that crazy jumping platform column in the center.
Sure, there were the giant windows, but whatever.
It's not like my body meant anything to these space cat elves. They probably found my lack of fur on my shoulders and backs pretty weird and unappealing.
With that thought in mind, I stripped off all my clothes.
I stepped over to the edge and sat down, putting both of my feet in.
The water closed around my skin, and I sat there, focusing on my breath and the sensations in my body.
I didn't get a rash or any adverse skin reactions to dipping my arm in the night before, but I needed to minimize risks.
I didn't have a water testing kit. Unless I managed to do a serious game of charades with these aliens, the fastest way I was going to figure out if things were okay was by carefully testing them out.
Or mostly carefully.
I shifted forward and sank my entire lower legs into the water, up to my knees.
The colorful fish swirled in the clear water.
It was fairly warm, about the same temperature as my body temperature, but I didn't see any algae or plant life other than some floating vines on the other side of the pond.
I would steer clear of those when I went in.
It was safer to play around in open water than run the risk of tangling myself in unknown plant life.
Plus, I didn't know if they excreted poison or irritants.
I wouldn't be touching any creature in the pond when I went in, either.
I watched the fish swimming in the water.
None of them came near me.
Their behavior and the fact that the aliens didn't care that I stuck my arm in the night before gave me confidence that none of the fish were predatory toward larger animals. They would avoid me, and I would be respectful of their boundaries. No problems there.
I looked around the pond, trying to find any other dangers or things I should be aware of.
Glowing lights set around the edge of the pond pulsed warm, soft, and yellow. Two large, grey bands ran down the sides of the fishbowl. They weren't obvious when looking down into the water from standing, but I could see them as I got closer.
Since the water was so clear, it was likely that there were filters or possibly pumps that added water deeper in.
There had to be a whole system to keep the water as clear and clean as it was given the temperature and the plant and fish life in it unless the aliens had some crazy way of managing it.
I lifted one of my knees up.
My skin looked and felt fine.
Next test, I stuck my hand into the water, lifted it up to my mouth, and licked it.
I sat there for a moment with the water on my tongue.
It tasted like water.
I didn't taste any chlorine, salt, or other chemicals I was used to. It just tasted like water.
Now for the riskiest test, but the most important if I was going to go for a proper swim.
I stuck my hand back into the water and lifted it up so that water dripped off my fingertips. I held my hand over my face, tilted my head back, and moved my hand over my left eye. I waited patiently until one drop of water dripped directly into my eye, then moved my hand.
I blinked.
There was no unusual sensation, no burning or itching.
It felt like I had dripped clean water into my eyeball.
Next, I scooped up a handful and did the same, splashing it in only one eye.
If something went wrong - I was alone. It was essential that I made sure I had one functional eye if the alien pond chemicals were about to burn my retina out of my socket.
Really, if I were being safe, I would wait for someone else to come back and hang out with me if I needed medical care from this.
But there was a limit to my willingness to be safe at this point.
Right now I needed to feel alive.
I needed to do something I loved.
I needed to feel like I was truly myself.
There was no irritation to my eye from the handful of water, so I decided to hardcore yolo and pushed my palms down on either side of my hips. I lifted my butt up, and I shifted forward, slipping down into the water.
This was where I belonged.
I let out a happy sigh as I hung onto the edge, feeling the swirl of the gentle current in the water.
The water in this pond was swirling around the bowl with a gentle current, but the pressure was easy enough for me to resist by just paddling my hands.
I wouldn't have to put in a lot of effort to keep myself where I wanted in the bowl.
I looked around to see that the fish were keeping a distance from me.
If I were in here a great deal, they might become used to me as a non-threat, but for the first time entering their home, this behavior made me feel more relaxed.
Keeping my hand on the side of the pond, I dunked my head under and opened my eyes.
It was gorgeous.
There was always a difference between being in an underwater world you had only seen from the surface or through a pane of glass. From the outside or from above, you could see the beauty and the intricacy, but when you stepped into that world, it was another matter entirely.
It was the difference between watching a dance and being part of it.
At least it was when you had goggles.
All I saw was a blurry mess.
Still, it was a mess I could navigate in. For me, swimming was less about what I was seeing, and more about what I was feeling. It was the closest I could get to flying without sprouting wings myself.
I popped my head up out of the water and did another quick check-in on my body.
Skin felt fine, eyes felt fine, water felt amazing - that was enough being cautious for me!
I took a deep breath and spread myself out on the surface face up, my hands and arms going wide as I starfished out, floating easily by keeping my body tense and elongated.
Then suddenly, I clamshelled, folding in half as I brought my hands and feet together, sending my body straight down through the water, butt first.
Above me, I could see the soft yellow lights shift to pink, like a sunset.
I let myself drift downwards in that position until my butt bumped against the glass at the bottom.
I twisted, turning to see that the floor of the fish tank wasn't translucent like I thought it might be, but instead was completely see-through, offering clear visibility to the floor below.
Zale stared up at me.
I stared back at him for one long moment, not sure what I was feeling.
For one, I looked great naked, so embarrassment was not on the menu for me in this particular situation.
Not that it mattered with an alien. Who knew what he thought I looked like naked.
So far none of the cat elf aliens I’d seen had boobs at all, so I probably looked weird and fleshy.
Second, he’d already seen me naked, twice.
He, in fact, had cleaned me while I was unconscious and naked and saw me nude wrestling a bunch of lizard aliens right before they beat the shit out of me.
I put my hands to my lips and blew him a bubbly mermaid kiss.
Then I planted my foot on the bottom and shot back up to the surface.
I giggled the entire way up, bubbles streaming from my mouth and nose.
I loved the way the water slipped around my body, a slipstream that stroked me, playing with the strands of my hair and curling around the edges of my toes.
Water was life. When I moved through it, it felt like I was made of magic, like I was a leaf floating on a breeze.
I was lifted. I could move my body anyway I wanted, and it would respond, my muscles supported against the ever-present pull of gravity.
It was effortless.
My right hand breached the surface of the water as I reached for the edge.
Warm fingers closed around my wrist.
I was pulled upwards, my head breaching the surface of the water. I let out a shriek as my entire body was lifted up into the air, my other reaching up to grab the thick, strong hand clamped around my wrist like a vice.
I dangled from his grip for one long heartbeat.
My shoulder ached from the rough treatment, and my heart pounded in my ears at the suddenness of being yanked from the water. My toes cleared the water as adrenaline coursed through my system, and I was brought face to face with a face that screamed predator - Zale.
I didn't think about it; I just acted.
I tucked both my knees to my chest, lifted my toes up, and kicked out hard, driving my heels straight toward his gorgeous face.
He yanked his head to the side, and his grip loosened.
I twisted in midair like a fish fighting for its life and broke free.
I fell backward.
I was too close to the water to make a clean re-entry, so hit with a hard slap.
My skin stung as I slipped down beneath the surface.
I kicked both my feet at once, moving like an otter as I shimmied away from the edge before popping my head back up close to the center of the tank, well out of reach.
Zale stood there on the edge, staring at me, his clothing satisfyingly wet from the splash I must have made landing back in the water.
He sang something to me.
I raised both my hands out of the water, cycling my legs to tread water as I lifted the top of my chest and my forearms into the air.
I flipped him double birds.
"Fuck you," I said. "You don't get to touch me like that."