Ereshk stared up at Barst, listening to the archer's tale of the young recruit. He took Barst's hand and hauled himself up to his feet. The mage found himself chuckling softly as he got off of the stump; apparently Barst's smile was contagious. Ereshk glanced over at the nearby tent that held a fellow scholar like himself. 
"I'm sorry," he apologized to the fellow mage, whose name had escaped him once again. "We'll be leaving in a moment." As if on cue, two of the men from earlier strolled up behind Barst and Ereshk, barking and howling something about hunting birds. Ereshk spun around and waved at the two in greeting, his cloak fluttering about behind him as he twirled. 
"Oh good, more help!" The mage grinned in relief at the two brothers, Lasair and Sammael. "I'll be back in a tick, just gotta fetch some more coins." Ereshk hurried off after that to Mister Carthul's tent. He refilled his coin purse with a much more substantial amount of gold, now that he had a slightly better understanding of how much it took to properly feed a whole camp. Ereshk could carry money. Coins were light, and they were easy to squirrel away in pockets or stuff in bags tied to your belt, leaving your hands free. Oh, and he could do math! That was another thing he was good at. Manipulating numbers was easy compared to the mental strain of manipulating the façade called reality. Ereshk hurried back to the campfire, his spirits bolstered with the confidence that he was not completely useless after all.