The Free'l hesitated. They had few wants, after all, which was one of the things that made teaching them magic difficult.
"Two big dyla melons," one of the younger ones said at last.
"A new andana necklace," said another.
"A tooter like the one you have," said Rhn, who was ambitious.
"Straw for a new roof on my hut," said one of the older females.
"That's enough for now," Neeshan interrupted. "The demon can't bring you a tooter, Rhn—you have to ask another sort of demon for that. The other things he can get. Sammel, to work!"
The lizard in the parallelogram twitched its tail. It disappeared, and returned almost immediately with melons, a handsome necklace, and an enormous heap of straw.
"Can I go now?" it asked.
"Yes." Neeshan turned to the Free'l, who were sharing the dyla melons out around their circle. "You see? That's how it ought to be. You cast a spell. You're careful with it. And it works. Right away."
"When you do it, it works," Rhn answered.