"Are there other magics, maybe from other worlds, that you could bring here?" Penþa asks, turning to Eeferi.

"Worlds vary in what magics they have, in many forms.  Some magics function independently of life, acting as rules upon the world.  Others function in response to life, but only some of it, acting as rules upon select beings.  Notably, there are magics which each respond only to the will of people, and some of those only to some people and not others."

"Of its behaviors, magics I know of no Genie taking credit for have taken on many forms.  Some which come to mind as potentially relevant include long studied rules and sigils and contracts to treatise and bind spirits and minds or such; themes which repeat themselves, granting all who connect a repetition of the theme- such as fire or song; and the ability for large groups of people to quickly pass packages from one side of the group to another- though they would sometimes instead be dropped to the ground."

Okanel straightens up in excitement.

"Oh! We could sell off extra food to the winter lands in the summer, and buy fresh produce in the winter!" they note. "Or, or, do famine-offsets."

Penþa mulls the options over. "Interesting. What attributes do you all think we should look for, in potential non-genie magic to import?" they ask, addressing the crowd once more.

There's more general pondering, before Daskal stands to speak.

"That's the wrong question!" he says. "If we can bring things from other worlds, and there are genies in other worlds, and they're trapped like Eeferi is, shouldn't we be bringing them here and freeing them?"

Satenag nods in agreement.

"We don't know whether we'll be able to handle freed genies yet," someone else points out. "So we should definitely do that, but it should wait until we have some other things set up first, and a few freed genies of our own to welcome them and handle any problems."

"All of this is predicated on the idea that we will be able to find people who would volunteer to become genies," Anþasta points out. "Which we still don't actually know."

"It's a good point," Penþa acknowledges. "Can anyone here think of a reason why we should not proceed with having a volunteer become a genie, to see whether and how it works? Bearing in mind that we would still have one wish from Eeferi."

They spend a moment trying to figure out if there are things that they would want that require two wishes rather than one.

"Maybe if the first wish were, instead, for information about the likely outcome of the second wish, like someone suggested earlier," is the main objection.

The discussion goes around for a while, before Penþa calls for a vote. It narrowly passes in favor of having a volunteer become a genie, since that seems like the best way to know what path to take.

Penþa gestures to one of the older women of the village to come up and join them on the step.

She makes her way up, people respectfully clearing a path for her. When she has reached the step, she turns and folds her hands on her cane.

"I have been planning, as Penþa knows, to go for a long walk after the harvest," she announces. There are murmurs of regret and understanding throughout the crowd. "So it would be my honor to perform this final task, for the good of the village, my family, and the world."

Penþa claps her gently on the shoulder.

"Thank you, Naterta. Your choice will be remembered and accounted," they say.

"Eeferi — you mentioned that you had been asked to turn other people into genies before. Is there a particular wording you recommend? Or concerns specific to this wish that we should know?"

.

..

"I warn that this is not something on which I have been able to practice, for all I have firsthand experience of the results of Wishes I grant."

"Such a Wish is still the changing a form of another, and so has a rate of failure .."

" 'I Wish to as quickly, harmlessly, durably, and costlessly as possible attain the talent, skill, knowledge, ability, and power to as quickly, harmlessly, durably and costlessly as possible through an act of my awake and sound-mind-will grant (Begin double nested quote.)''attainment of the full power and true form of a Genie or a subsidiary copy of this talent, skill, knowledge, ability, and power which the holder of which including myself can recursively revoke down subsidiary lines but that which cannot do the reverse''(End double nested quote.) to any willing individuals or masses I choose such that all this is implemented only in accordance with my untampered will.' "

"I make no guarantees that this Wish will be granted, nor that it succeeds at its goals, but I suspect it does as is desired, if it is granted at all."

Eeferi solidifies into focus before Naterta.  "I say to you now, that to be a Genie is not to be a human.  Your form will many things, and your perspective will be many places.  Sight and sound will be strangers to relearn, though touch will remain.  Your mind .. it may shatter.  It might not.  I have seen both.  It may take you a long time to learn how to communicate again - both in the giving of knowledge and the receiving of it.  The world may seem very alone, or filled with not but yourself - but those are both illusions of perspective."

There is a moment Eeferi pauses-

And then recedes.

Satenag silently mouths that wording to herself, trying to make sense of it. Her language does not handle nested quotes well, so it requires a slightly awkward turn of phrase.

"... I'm sorry if this is an obvious question," she asks. "... but what is 'which cannot do the reverse' doing in there? Making sure that people can't make someone from a genie into a human? I don't understand why you'd want to purposely exclude that possibility."

Naterta, for her part, thinks on Eeferi's warning. It is not the villager's way, to not think about a warning, even if it seems redundant.

She prepares herself, as well she can, for the feeling of being somewhere strange and uncertain. She plans out what she will do — as little as she can, she thinks, while she just grows used to the change in perspective. She reminds herself to be gentle, and calm, and that she is doing these things for the people she loves. And that in the worst case, where her mind is broken, and she is lost — that it is a lot more likely that it will eventually be possible for her to be healed than she thought it was this morning.

And when she has finished these thoughts, she gives a small bow in Eeferi's direction.

"I appreciate the warning," she says, sincerely.

"I admit a difficulty in finding a phrasing which points to the property I intended.  I meant that, for each copy of the combined talent-skill-knowledge-ability-power instance, that it can grant and revoke descendant instances without being able to grant or revoke ancestor instances, as an inherent part of the structure of the instances and Wish so as to not be vulnerable to the risk of combined independent clauses creating an ungrantable Wish.  I seem to have not succeeded in correctly saying such."

Eeferi nods at Naterta.

"Oh! Yes, I see," Satenag responds.

She mumbles under her breath for another minute.

"Hmm. What do you think of this phrasing: 'I wish, 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, through an act of my awake and sound-minded will, grant 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 talent, skill, knowledge, ability, and power which can be revoked by a holder of a causally-prior copy of this grant, but not by a causally-posterior copy.'"

.
..
.

"That phrasing seems to work, though I now find myself considering two potential flaws.  The first, that you might only gain the ability to make Genies or the recursive granting ability to grant itself without the other.  The second, that your phrasing might result in any granting that occurs before another being considered causally-prior."

Satenag rocks back and forth, considerately.

"The former is easy to fix, I think, by changing it to say 'both of the following'; but I'm glad you pointed that out. The second one is trickier. Penþa, is there a word that means what we mean?"