[either those pills weren't for pain and he's actually tripping balls after all, or his life story is really that bizarre and incoherent. Or, option C, and the likeliest: he's messing with her. Of course, she doesn't know how much of it really could be true, but in that tone of voice? Probably not all of it. She decides to return the favor.]

Oh, yes. There's loads of us. There's a little Qu settlement down in that cave system to the South, too. It's colder here than their native climate, but they're a hardy sort of people.

[she grabs the railing harder than necessary as they descend, her claws clicking against the metal.]

Plenty of humans about, too, if you'd prefer the company of your own kind. Although I doubt they'd prefer you.