Three days before Kyle's message was received
A random bar on Monte Carlo Freeport, Provence System
- You didn't have to do that! ...
- ...I sent a message to Bernard, aboard the L'Ane. I told him to come here with someone else, as well...
- ...This is the first person that seems to know me apart from you, of course that is important. Maybe he can explain to me what I did in Sirius, while I wasn't working for you.
As Kyle opened his eyes, he saw Kiara sitting back on her chair again, facing him. Kyle himself was still lying on the floor, albeit on his side, and not the way he had fallen. As he looked around, he found himself in the same bar. "I thought I already was explaining it..." Kyle heard the last part and decided to interfere. "Until that bottle hit my head." He grumbled with a pained expression on his face and blinked a couple of times. If he were to see himself in a mirror, he'd notice that his expression that was so full of different emotions that it seemed blank and hard to read. Kyle felt sarcastic, happy, and bitter, all at once.
While Kyle was still on the floor, the Gaul stood up and looked away from Kyle briefly, with some resentment. He reached for Kiara's arm and took a few steps back, getting a little distance from the man. The young woman stood up and followed. As the Gaul started talking silently, glancing at Kyle, the woman shook her head defiantly. "No, Remy! I have to talk to him. I promise, he's lying about me cheating on you. I wouldn't do that. I promise! Just let me find out how he knows so much about me..." She crossed her arms on her chest and looked at the Sirian. "Please, I can't just let this chance pass..."
In the meantime Kyle turned on his belly again, getting on his fours with a grunt. He tried to get up from the floor slowly, still shaky. His hand reached for the back of his head where the bottle hit him. "That's gonna leave a mark" He mumbled to himself. Kyle wasn't in his best shape now, but at least he was standing again. He then looked at the couple.
The Gaul and Kiara kept arguing about something. Kyle didn't hear much of it, except for one moment Kiara replied somewhat loudly and sternly: "I can't just let this pass!" She then continued in a more calm manner: "Of course he can barely stand now, you smashed a bottle on his head... Please, I need to talk to him, what could go wrong?" The woman's voice changed, as if she was on the verge of crying, but repressed it.
As Kyle looked around to pass some time, he noticed a slight change: two men arrived and stopped by the door. Suspicious, when you think of it: why come to the bar if you plan on standing there and not going for a drink? Tired of waiting, Kyle stood up and walked closer to Kiara and the Gaul, with a wide smirk on his face: "If you two are going to discuss me, have the decency of doing it face to face, not behind my back like you did, bottle guy. I'm still not sure what the eff is going on here." He then looked both of them questioningly, more so at Kiara. Kyle sounded more sober now, although the hit on the head didn't go unnoticed: his voice sounded pained: "I'll play your game alright. You pretend you want a talk after you kept denying that you had ever known me, fine, I'll play along with that too. As long as you explain what this is all about."
The Gaul just acted as if he didn't hear Kyle's remark, continuing his talk with the woman. "Please, Aurora, for the love of all that is holy, I'm asking you to leave him behind. If you..." He paused for less then two seconds, thinking if he should say the next part. "If you keep pushing this, I'll take away your 'sleeping medicine'. I know it's cruel and I don't want to do it, but please, I can't handle this. Don't force me to do it."
Kiara pretty much ignored Kyle too, especially after the Gaul's latest remark. "Why would you do that? I'm not ******* forcing you to handle anything!", she yelled at the man, angry at his persistence. "Just go on, give me an hour, I'll meet you on the ship when I'm done, you don't need to listen to any of this. Just please, Remy, understand that I just need to find those memories, and I know he can help me with that!"
Kyle sighed as his remark was ignored, but he figured out he'd probably learn by listening than by asking. With that, he walked and took a seat by the same table that Kiara sat by minutes earlier. Luckily, both Kiara and her companion seemed to have gotten somewhat more angry, so he could hear the conversation without having to stay too close.
The more Kyle listened, the stranger the relationship between Kiara and that Gaul became. They kept bickering about the same thing over and over: Kiara wanted to talk to Kyle whatever reason, and the Gaul seemed keen on preventing it. But what was that 'sleeping medicine' the Gaul mentioned? Why would Kiara keep pretending as if her memories were lost? How had she met that man, and why was she even free, contrary to what Kyle had been told? Why was the husband not concerned with the apparent cheating of his wife, let alone doing the best he can to avoid the whole confrontation? All those questions piled up in Kyle's mind and demanded an answer.
"Fine, merde. You can talk to the imbecile. Let's just do it inside the ship. We've already caused enough of a mess of this place." The Gaul sighed, tired from the argument and giving in to Kiara's demands. "At least let me talk with him first when we get to the ship. Then you can have your hour with him. I just want to ask him a few things, alone, if that isn't too much to ask..."
The young woman sighed in relief and nodded. "Yes, of course, that's fine. You talk to him, I talk to him. Thanks, Remy, I won't forget that. I'll make it up to you, okay?", she said and smiled, then put her eyes on Kyle again. "Is that okay with you? We both have some questions."
Kyle shrugged, lowering his head a little. He tried to hide how upset he was with Kiara promising to make it up to that old geezer. A part of him wanted to do something rash, but he'd probably lose his shot at figuring out what happened to Kiara. That's why Kyle only allowed a slight share of rebelliousness. "I think I'd rather talk here. You know, that last bottle we shared with your 'husband' didn't add any trust. Public places are the safest places. Besides, you never know what sort of thugs you run into when you walk around an unfamiliar station." Kyle pointed at two guys by the entrance. "I'm not in the mood for causing more mess anyway."
"So..." He turned his face to the Gaul. "First you didn't want to talk at all, and now you do. That's quite a change. If you want, we could ask Kiara stay away while we talk... although normally I'd have no secrets from her." As Kyle looked at Remy, he noticed how annoyed the Gaul was with his comments. "Quiet, damn it! I don't care about your little problems and suspicions." He sighed. "If I wanted to kill you, I'd have hit you again with the other bottle or have those two do it. What difference would it make having them hurt you in front of her or if you 'mysteriously' got injured inside my ship? If you're worried that I might try to kill you, I'd have done it already." After spouting that out, he looked briefly at the bartender, preocupied that he might have startled him or any of the workers.
Having ensured that none of the people paid attention to his words (or at least showed that they had paid attention), the Gaul continued: "Now, can we go to the god-forsaken ship? I've already agreed to let you two talk in peace, I just asked for this one condition. We've made enough noise here for the day..." Kiara muttered in agreement: "It's probably better, yeah... we should move somewhere else, this place has seen and heard enough of us. I don't want to know what they think of me now". She shook her head and turned to Kyle: "My name is Aurora, I told you. That's one of the few things I remembered!"
Kyle made what could be called an anti-smirk at the Gaul's remark about killing him, ignoring Kiara's words for a moment. "Intimidating. However, I ain't that gullible not to know the difference between a public place and a dark alley. But fine, we'll play by your rules. I'll just stop by my ship to get some cardamine first, if that's ok with you. Otherwise I'd be in no shape by the time I get to actually talk to... 'Aurora'." He sighed, having to pronounce that name instead of 'Kiara'.
Remy shrugged. "Alors, you can go get it, just don't use it anywhere near us. I don't want to get addicted to that. Just don't take too long." The young woman stepped closer to Remy, then turned to Kyle. "Please don't run away, okay?", she asked in a hopeful way and sighed. "Let's go back to your ship then, Remy. Just tell him where to find it. I could need another drink, but I'd rather not stay here, you still have some wine, right?"
Kyle nodded firmly. "I don't intend to... 'Aurora'. I want to find out what it's all about." He turned his attention to Remy. "Let me know where your ship is, and I'll be there in 20 minutes." With that he'd stand up, waiting only for Remy's instructions before heading off. "Oui, just go and hurry up. When you're done go to hangar B-2 and I'll have one of those two wait for you there." Kyle simply nodded and headed out of the bar without looking back.