"Yes, like breathing," Martel confirms, with an expression that suggests (accurately) that he's pleased by how Henry grasps this. "I could hold my breath, but it'd be dreadfully inconvenient for the people using my lights. More often than not a spell can be crafted and set into place without the need for my constant attention - all of the enchantments on the castle itself are like this, it'd be inconvenient otherwise. I'm not a god, personally, there's a limit to how much I can be thinking of at one time."

The implication being that gods are not so limited - Aphrael, herself, doesn't always understand that humans are.

"I wanted these," he gestures to the torches that they're discussing casually, "to be as easy for others to use as your funny little lightswitches-" I'm sorry, Henry, he's like this, "-but I was honestly making it up as I went along just to see if I could. I started with something I could use, and then took it further. You could use them, if you were taught the commands. Think of it like the sort of lights that you clap on and off."