Summary

“Koi Chitto, The Bone Picker” is set in 1738. After Shakbatina is killed, her husband, Koi Chitto, spends three months wandering solitarily through the wilderness. He is visited by an alligator and a porcupine spirit who tells him he must return home to Yanabi Town. That night, he has a dream that his daughter, Anoleta, has died. He hurries back home and learns that Anoleta’s husband, Red Shoes, has been conniving to create a war. Koi Chitto performs a purification ritual, then performs the bone picking ceremony on the remains of Shakbatina.

“Penance” is set in 1991. Auda looks for the evidence of embezzlement and Mafia-dealing that she stole from McAlester to give to her lawyer, but someone has been through her things and taken her paperwork. She sent a backup copy to Tema’s agent in New York, though, so she is not...