7 Mages

I got the saritars from the City of Bones an returned to the village. When I try to enter the hut on the top left, however, I get the message "We still have to arm four villagers with saritars, fighting staffs. Until then there's no point in returning." But there seems to be no way to interact with the villagers. They just stand there and quietly hoe their graves, or sweep, or stare, except for that one guy who keeps walking around aimlessly. Why don't they want my nice, shiny sticks with the pretty hands at the ends?

Put all four into a single mage's inventory, select that mage and let him do the talk with the elder.

Thanks. I never thought to actually click on the message. I feel really stupid now.