"You're good with them." He nods over toward the mages. They don't look completely comfortable. Nor do the people immediately around them, but no one is moving away and no fights are starting. It's progress. "Better coming from you than from me. If I had gone to sit with them, they'd have closed up tighter than a beach clam dug out of the sand, and if I had invited them over, they'd have seen it as an order."

He takes a pensive bite of stewed vegetable. "It's the same with the men, really. The Guard-Captain knows. It's a fine line to walk, being approachable without being subsumed into their social circle. We must seem an odd lot to you."

He points out a man with mutton chop sideburns stepping up to the fire with an already clean plate moving for a second helping. "That's Guardsman Hendyr, and that's two." He sounds somewhat smug.