Someone he knows? She wiped the sweat running down her cheek with a towel. He had said something cryptic and then walked off to watch on the side.. After a while, he headed towards the barn. The words kept repeating over in her head while she trained. Did he know her family? She placed her towel on the training dummy.
"I'll be back, Ollie. Go on and keep training," she instructed Oliver. Annie walked towards the barn, seeing Kieran leaning on one of the wooden poles. He was sharpening a dagger. Looking at the dagger, it seemed plain.
She thought back about how Aster wanted Kieran to heal. Annie turned to close the barn door before facing him. He was leaning against one of the barn's post. "Were you also a kidnapped noble?" she asked.
Kieran looked up at her words. "What makes you think that?" he asked, sheathing the dagger.
Annie made a confused expression. "You know how to use magic. You're looking for other nobles who have been kidnapped. You also mentioned you've seen my fighting style before. Aren't those valid?"
He crossed his arms and cupped his chin. His head tilted, seemingly in thought. "I am a noble, but I've never been kidnapped against my will."
Annie gawked at him. Against his will? "You mean... you volunteer?"
"Since Aster brought you in this, you will be doing the same as me too." Kieran paused to look at her more studiously. "We talked about what might have triggered your sickness or your cause of fainting. I didn't think you were that weak." He seemed to look down on her. Annie bristled in defense.
"I don't know why I fainted and I've never fainted before," she said, crossing her arms.
"Yeah... This coming from an amnesiac," he retorted dryly. "Do you remember what you saw or thought that triggered the response?"
Annie thought back to the meeting. She remembered looking at the papers full of missing people. There was one... Annie clutched her head. A huge migraine started to overwhelm her. Her breathing turned ragged, her eyes closed due to the pain. A high pitch sound echoed through her brain. A cool hand touched her forehead.
She could feel coolness flowing into her by the touch. When she opened her eyes, they met the vivid blue sky. Wait, not the sky. They were Kieran's eyes. She frowned when she realized she had somehow fallen. He had caught her in time. The sound was fading with the pain.
She realized his gloved hand was touching her forehead. Felling awkward, she moved his hand away. "Does it hurt to remember?" he murmured, showing concern.
"For some reason..." she mumbled, embarrassed. "A friend told me it may be... It might be my conscious preventing me from remembering. Some kind of trauma."
When she was able to sit properly, Kieran moved to pull a small bag from his waist. He rifled through and pulled a sheet of paper out. He stared at it and then stared at her intently. "Do you want to go back?"
"Back?" she repeated. "Of course I want to go back. Why wouldn't I want to..." The response seemed familiar. Ohh... she had given the same response to Vivi. She had thought it was odd that Vivi had questioned her too. Was it really herself stopping from learning her past? "Why wouldn't I?"
Kieran handed her the paper. "Look at it and tell me if she looks familiar."