Eeferi begins to whisper to themself.

"Eeferi, I wish, without any negative effects on my mind, body, or sense of self, as quickly, harmlessly, durably, and costlessly as possible, to attain the talent, skill, knowledge, ability, and power to, as quickly, harmlessly, durably, and costlessly as possible, and without any negative effects on their mind, body, or sense of self, through an act of my awake and sound-minded will, by saying the phrase 'And now, I make some designated willing targets into Genies, or give them a copy of my same ability' grant either of the following to any willing individuals or masses I choose, such that the entirety of this wish is implemented only in accordance with my untampered will: attainment of the full power and true form of a Genie OR a subsidiary copy of this ability and power, which requires no knowledge beyond that of the magic phrase and which can be revoked by and only by a wish-power-diaspora-ancestral holder of a copy of this grant."

They repeat the details to themself, over and over, occasionally skipping parts or repeating some.

"That's what I was trying to do," she agrees. "Although it didn't really ... I mean, none of it has felt like anything at all. Whatever power we design next should definitely come with some kind of feedback. That you've gotten it, and that it's operating."

"Okay, let's take this step by step," Penþa suggests. "Satenag, would you repeat the wish, but slowly, so we can re-think all the parts of it?"

She nods.

"The first part goes 'I wish, without any negative effects on my mind, body, or sense of self,'"

"... so could turning Naterta into a genie have had negative effects on you?" Penþa asks.

"Wouldn't that have made the wish not go through at all?" Anþasta points out.

"... maybe turning Naterta into a genie would have had a negative effect, but turning some other person wouldn't," Egresta muses. "So the wish as a whole is valid, but it doesn't work on Naterta specifically."

Naterta snorts.

"If not me, then who?" she asks.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Penþa interjects. They scribble Egresta's idea on the slate, and then motion for Satenag to keep reciting.

"'as quickly, harmlessly, durably, and costlessly as possible, to attain the talent, skill, knowledge, ability, and power to,'" she continues. "But I don't see how that part could have affected things without the whole thing failing."

They mull it over for a moment, before eventually agreeing.

"'as quickly, harmlessly, durably, and costlessly as possible, and without any negative effects on their mind, body, or sense of self,'" Satenag says.

"Okay — so would changing Naterta into a Genie have had any negative effects on her?" Penþa questions.

"Well, of course. Eeferi warned us that it was confusing and disorienting," Satenag immediately points out.

"Bah! I would have been fine," Naterta objects. "Better than remaining human, for sure."

Anþasta slaps her forehead.

"'Better than the alternative', doesn't mean 'no harm'," she points out. "What if it only works on people who genuinely wouldn't be harmed at all by becoming genies?"

Satenag bites her lip. "... that sounds pretty plausible." She turns to Eeferi. "You mentioned that becoming a genie came with a risk of your mind shattering. Do you have any guesses as to why?"

"As it has been described to me in the past, humans seem to experience their mind as a single track previous thought leading into current thought into next thought.  Genies .. are not so bound.  Roughly speaking, I am here forming sounds for you to hear.  Again, with explicit inaccuracy, I am here, forming the impression of my presence.  I am attending to the walls, to the ceiling, to the fires, to the slates and chalk and board and string and beads."

"As I have come to learn, humans seem to experience the world of a compound of many senses, each overlapping with each other to form one greater whole.  My direct experience is more of a kind of bouncing, a touch, an interaction of surfaces.  The translations of my experiences into more useful forms such as 'what does this object look like?', 'what sound is this person choosing to make?' or 'what does this food taste like?' are skills I am actively employing."

"... huh. Multiple perspectives, attending to different things at once ..."

She turns to Egresta. "Do you know who that sounds like?"

"... perhaps," she agrees. She makes her way over to the other group, and taps her mothers on the shoulder.

"What is it, sweetheart?" he asks.

She explains what Eeferi said, about the experience of being a Genie.

"I'm not sure," she replies. "It doesn't sound ..."

They turn and stare off into the distance.

Egresta waits for a minute as they make up their mind.