Rook

and looked thoughtfully at the woman sitting across from her.
    I know what you’re wondering, Lady Farrier. You’re wondering if Thomas’s powers came with the body. You’re thinking,
Hmm, when all those brain cells gave up the ghost and Thomas vacated the premises, didthat clump of lobes that let her control other people’s bodies get broken too?
That’s why you didn’t make a move to shake hands with me.
    “So, there we were with this little girl who, in addition to being able to control other people, seemed to have the ability to grow an impermeable emotional and social shell around herself. And there was no question of letting her go, because no one leaves the Checquy.”
    “Not even children?” asked Myfanwy quietly.
    “Not even they,” said Farrier. “We were stuck with her, this constant reminder of unfulfilled potential. And don’t think that we simply gave up on you as a bad deal! The staff and teachers at the Estate spent years working with you. So disappointing.” Farrier shook her head.
    You forgot, for a moment, that I’m not the same person,
Myfanwy thought as Lady Farrier scanned the room.
Is there a little residual guilt there?
    There should be.
     
Alrich sat at his desk, reading reports carefully and wiping his lips, while behind him, on a couch, the man snored.
     
    “When it became clear that Myfanwy Thomas’s powers would be hopelessly limited, the Court did not pay as much attention to the rest of her education,” Farrier continued. “She quietly beetled away through the training, receiving, by the way, a top-notch education, and then came into the Checquy organization.”
    She continued unremarkably, and you shunted her off into some tedious little position in a relatively unimportant department,
went Myfanwy’s mental subtitling.
    “And then, thank God, she was redeemed. She proved quite capable. More than capable, really… she was brilliant. Under her hands, the Checquy’s administration was revolutionized, and she rose to the rank of Rook.”
    Oh, and I’ll bet you were just thrilled with that. The failure that you’d hoped to sweep away into a corner was now sitting in the middle of the room.
    “She was one of the most capable executives in the history of the Checquy, an organization that has endured for centuries and has had its pick of the nation’s top minds. Make no mistake, Myfanwy Thomas earned her position as Rook,” said Farrier.
    M yfanwy and Farrier took separate cars to the meeting in Apex House. Thomas’s notes had said that the Checquy had facilities all over the country, but the big three were the Rookery, the Annexe, where foreign operations were based, and this place—Apex House—their ultimate headquarters. As they approached the building, she regarded the large crescent-shaped structure with curiosity. It was distinguished-looking, with columns and restrained decorations around the windows. Myfanwy skimmed through the background on the building. The base of the Lord and Lady and the Bishops, it contained much of the legal and financial apparatus for the organization. It was also the place where the Court of the Checquy met every Friday to coordinate the activities of the department.
    Where did my day go?
Myfanwy thought desperately, paging through the binder.
I don’t know whom I’m meeting or what they do. Oh, crap crap
crap.
Some administrator you were, Thomas. You couldn’t have put in a cheat-notes section?
Myfanwy was freaking out when she finally flipped to a section entitled
     
The Court
    The Court of the Checquy is the executive council charged with overseeing the entire organization. And for as long as the game of chess has been recognizable in the British Isles, the hierarchy of the Checquy has been based around chess pieces.
    It’s a terrible system.
    Problems:
    The Checquy is a government organization in a country that has a monarchy. You can’t have people running around calling themselves King and Queen when they’re not the King and Queen. Especially when they wield supernatural powers and command a private army. Inevitably, word gets backto the actual King or Queen, who is unimpressed. Accordingly, after a few pointed conversations, the titles of the leaders of the Checquy were changed to Lord and Lady, which departs from the chess motif and is still pretty obnoxious but could be worse.
    The Lord and Lady titles are gender specific, which makes it awkward when a vacancy appears and the most qualified person has the