Spirits At Liberty

Nariah Boyd was not a social woman. She lived in an isolated cottage backed up against national forest and her only companions were a parade of animal spirits no one else could see. She worked with bones, precious gems, and the dead. It left her rather lacking in interpersonal skills.

None of these facts deterred her best friend Elidee—the most social butterfly in town—from dragging Nariah under heavy protest out into the public eye at least once a quarter. For her mental health, Elidee claimed, though Nariah liked to complain that Elidee was naturally sadistic. Nariah went along with her friend only because she didn’t put her foot down often, but Nariah also had a lingering concern that maybe being a hermit in the woods wasn’t a great long-term plan. She could tolerate a social event for a few hours to hedge her bets.

And Elidee always bought her the best books as a bribe.