He looks down into Cael's eyes from what must be a height of easily seven feet, and his skin smells like rich earth.  "Your homeplace is besieged by that which will not return to the earth."  His hawkish eyes pinch in disgust at the thought.  "Even now, that which lives and dies finds its cycle interrupted, and we weaken.  We all weaken..."  He sighs, sympathy and sorrow in his eyes.  "Everything must die, but it must return to the earth.  You understand this..."  his hand rests upon Cael's shoulder, warm and heavy.  "You know how things must be, and your hands can heal that which is wounded."  He nods, backs away, the musk of him receding in the room.  "Heal now."<br/>--<br/><br/>Cael involuntarily took a step back as the man approached him. He dropped his knife as he did so - this man (creature? being? He wasn't sure what to call it) wasn't a threat, or so his instincts told him. It helped that he hadn't attacked from behind when he had every opportunity to do so. He was... odd-looking. He looked like he was covered in bark. He stood his ground, now slightly curious (and very calm), as the creature came closer.<br/><br/>"My homeland...?" Cael asked quietly. He couldn't remember ever finding somewhere he felt at home. How was he supposed to deal with whatever... threat... was there. The creature's words were cryptic, but he felt like he knew what he was talking about. He just couldn't put his finger on it as his mind started going numb to everything but watching and listening. And being in some awe of the presence before him.<br/><br/>Cael snapped out of his stupor when the creature literally disappeared and he heard heavy footsteps passing the door. He looked around, noting that his room was as he last consciously remembered it. He picked up his knife and tucked it back into his sleeve. Now that his mind was clear of the presence of the tree-creature, Cael thought about what had just occurred objectively. That hadn't been a hallucination, because there were tiny bits of bark on the shoulder of his tunic, but what had it meant?<br/><br/>He suddenly became aware of a ruckus downstairs, and frowned. That was not an ordinary bar fight. Something was wrong. He shoved the cryptic message from the tree-creature to the back of his mind and headed for the stairs and down. The knife up his sleeve had dropped back down into his hand as he went, but halfway down the stairs, Cael stopped and quickly rethought his weapon choice. He fled back up the stairs to his room, and strapped his swords on quickly.<br/><br/>He leaned on a wall, eyes wide as the reality of what he had just seen set in. He quickly got all of his things packed up and on his person before going to descend again. As soon as he was able, he was getting the hell out of here. Those... things... in the common room were NOT human.