1. A Counselling Session
Alan watched Deborah enter the room. They had a session twice a week. The black-haired, green-eyed woman looked wild and proud but her progress into the room was halted by her curious way of walking. She took two steps forward and then one to the side. At the end she might turn or continue. In any way it took her the better part of a minute to reach the chair. 
Though her difficult movement pattern was certain to be cumbersome, Deborah didn't look all that troubled. She emulated the knight from the game of chess and was one of three patients admitted to the psychiatric hospital who exhibited similar symptoms. None of them had known each other before nor had they had any contact with each other or their friends and relatives. It was a mystery why these people, who mostly only had a vague idea about the game of chess, had fallen victim to this peculiar type of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Alan had lobbied a lot to have all three of them brought over to the facility where he worked. Palms had to be greased and forms signed but he was very excited to be working with them.
Deborah sat down and swished her long black mane in a wild fashion. She did not only walk like the knight-piece, she also acted like her counterpart. Attacking in ambushes, and always going for the queen, the big goals and sometimes she reached for the impossible.
At current she was convinced that the man in front of her was her king. The one who would rule and command her. He just refused to admit it and kept on the psychological babble about her having a disorder. It was frustrating, but at the same time arousing to have this weekly battle between them. She always looked forward to it. She just knew that she would follow him wherever he might lead her. 
"Welcome Back, Deborah." Alan said, "How have you been?"
"Looking forward to our little talks, like always." she replied.
"How have the days been treating you?"
"About the same." she shrugged, "It's a nice place but I'm not convinced I should be here. I feel restless, like I should make a move. Like you might be the one to show me where to get started." 
"I'm flattered that you lay that much importance in me, but I cannot make your decisions for you. I'm just here to listen, give advice and point out peculiarities. Like how you've reverted to expecting me to lead you again."
Alan had hoped to have broken through by now. Each time they talked he felt like Deborah opened herself up to being who she used to be, but when she returned a few days later she was back where she'd started. It was baffling really and Alan had to wonder if having all three of the chess piece-patients in one place wasn't causing them harm. 
"I know you keep saying that I should lead my own life but I know I'm waiting for something to happen."
"Explain." Alan said and gave a short sign to continue.
Deborah started talking and they worked through the rest of the session, exploring the memories of her earlier life and the absence of any, even the most minimal of traumas that might have led to this state. As she left, she still walked funnily but she looked less wild and more human than when she entered. But the gaze she gave Alan when she looked at him as she closed the door, told him she was still expecting him to make a move. 

2. The Library
Alan nodded to the young Asian woman sitting at the desk. Miss Regina was the medical secretary to the psychiatrist in charge of this ward. Instead of a private office she'd opted to take up a desk at the library since it overlooked the domain. 
The young woman with almond eyes and wavy brown hair held back by a circlet returned the nod but for the rest gave off a cold air that had kept Alan from talking to her. He had the sensation that she felt better than him. He didn't feel like confronting her about it since his patients took up most of his emotional strength. 
Alan went to a desk at a respectable distance and looked through the files of his three patients. Once again he found no comparable circumstances. They never talked about the same subjects, nor did they share interests. 
Regina quietly observed the psychologist that was the talk of the ward. Word was that Alan with his muted red-brown hair and grey eyes had gone to great lengths to get all of the chess-piece patients to them. But without the backing from the head psychiatrist he'd never been able to actually get the job done. Regina smirked as the man with the slight limp made his way to a desk on the other side of the room. 
She'd watched his sessions with interest, joining the head psychiatrist in his studies. Though both Alan and his patients knew their talks were being recorded, they didn't know that she and Thomas, the head psychiatrist had cameras in all the rooms and watched them, conducting their own research. It wouldn't be long now.
Regina felt quite pleased to know things that others didn't. She just couldn't help herself from toying a bit with the psychologist.
"Making progress?" she asked innocently, "Your patients have been here for a while now."
"What?" Alan looked up startled that the icy secretary had talked to him, "I suppose so." he then replied, "I might have to get the opinion of one of the more experienced psychologists or psychiatrists before I make my next move."
Alan didn't know whether to bring the three together for a session to maybe force a breakthrough. On the other hand, separating the three might be better so their shared disorder couldn't amplify when they talked among themselves. Though that last scenario would be disheartening after he'd made such an effort to get all of them to him. 
"I'm certain Thomas wouldn't mind giving you advice." Regina smiled sweetly.
"Oh I wouldn't bother Thomas with..."
"He wouldn't mind." Regina stressed, shutting down the conversation as she returned to her work and made it clear that no more conversation would take place, leaving Alan baffled and rattled.

3. A Walk in The Park
Jonah was sitting on a wooden bench on the hospital grounds. Trees sheltered him from wandering eyes but his posture was rigid and his eyes stared in the distance as if he didn't want to be there.  Alan approached on the walkway for the next session with his most troublesome patient. Though Deborah could be a handful, she was straightforward. Wayne was close to normal in comparison to the other two. 
Jonah, the bishop of the chess game did not only move in a peculiar way, always avoiding straight lines to where he wanted to be like he had some absurd fondness for Feng Shui. He also avoided stepping on different colours, preferring to stay on light surfaces. Alan had once asked him why and the bishop had just told him:
"Everything inside is white so I must walk on the light."
Alan had been told that the man had once been outgoing and social. Looking at him now nobody would have guessed. He only spoke in riddles and avoided other humans, well aside from the other chess pieces and Alan, seeming almost paranoid.
On another matter, Alan just couldn't get through to the man. Jonah always seemed to talk as if he was the one giving advice, being a counsellor to Alan. Which was probably why Jonah never came to Alan's office to talk. Alan assumed Jonah didn't want to see himself as a patient. That or he didn't want to be recorded.  
"Good day." Jonah said, "How was your day?"
Alan smiled and decided to humour the man: "Quite good."
"You talked with Deborah today."
"Indeed, but I can't discuss what she says to me."
"Patient confidentiality. I know." Jonah sighed, "I'll hear about it."
"I'd like to talk about you now." Alan prodded.
"Me? What is me? exactly. When I am me then you won't see, but if you is I then we are one. Remember you need to be careful of those with power." Jonah urged.
Alan let his shoulders droop a little. This didn't look like it would be a great session. The memory of Jonah showing him a knife he'd somehow smuggled into the hospital fresh in his mind made Alan keep a safer distance from this particular client. At one point he'd have to dig deeper but he needed Jonah's trust for that and he hadn't won it yet. 
"A closed mind takes all it’s knowledge with it when the envious try to open it."
"I’ll be sure to tell anyone who tries to crack my skull that." Alan said, "But I’d like to talk some more of what we discussed last week…"
Alan returned to safer topics. Jonah was fine talking about things that weren't personal. But whenever the conversation steered toward chess, the companions or the hospital, he fell back to talking code. 
Jonah humoured the psychologist by talking about normal things. That seemed to calm the man. The change was coming though. No-one would be able to stop it, certainly not Alan. Trying to deny it was foolish.  

4. Asylum Common Room
Wayne looked up when Deborah enter the common room they shared. She hopped across the tiles and came to meet him, causing his throat to feel dry and his hands to sweat. He quickly took a sip from his glass of water and smiled at her. 
"Hi Deborah." he said.
She smiled back at him and let herself fall into the comfy leather chairs. There were pillows and blankets in different colours, small coffee tables to place books and drinks on and a big screen TV. The room was light and comfortable with large windows and adjustable lighting. 
Wayne was sitting in his own chair, wearing a simple long-sleeved shirt and trousers. Like usual he spent his time reading books. He liked the classics and was knee-deep in a copy of Anna Karenina. He'd put the book aside when Deborah'd entered though, a bookmark to show just where he'd gotten to. 
Deborah switched through the channels and Wayne asked:
"Is there anything good on?"
"Hardly. I'm hoping to find a nature documentary." Deborah replied.
"About horses?" Wayne couldn't help but tease.
"I don't only like horses." Deborah rolled her eyes. 
Wayne laughed and said: "If you say so."
Really, was there actually anything wrong with them? Wayne didn't feel like they should be locked away. They didn't hurt people and they could function. Clearly they weren't so different from people with a mobility issue. Someone in a wheelchair probably had it a lot harder than him. And even Deborah could move around quite freely. 
"Shouldn’t you get ready for your session?" Deborah suddenly asked.
Wayne winced and shrugged, "It only takes five minutes to get to the office."
"You’re going to go like that?"
"How else?"
"He is our king you know." Deborah insisted.
"You just want to believe that because you fell for him like a stone." Wayne said and stood up abruptly, "I think you should be careful. Nothing here is what it seems." 
Sometimes Wayne wondered what had possessed him to come here in the first place. He knew he'd gotten a phone call from a man and then suddenly he was booking a flight and making arrangements to come here. The other two had similar stories though Deborah seemed not to care. She probably put it down to Alan calling her and that being evidence that he was their king. 
Wayne knew he was jealous and that Deborah was free to choose whomever she wanted but that didn't mean he had to be around to hear about it. But he just couldn't bring himself to being stern or angry with her. So he lightened the mood with a little joke: 
"Besides, dressing myself up might give him the wrong ideas."
Deborah gave him a wicked smile and said: "You'll see."
Wayne turned and left, leaving Deborah alone, wondering what she'd said to make him leave. 

5. Talk among Professionals
"He's coming." Thomas said to Regina who'd for once left her desk at the library and had taken up her place at the head psychiatrist's office. 
Regina smiled amused and minimised the video files they'd been watching. The only conversations they couldn't watch were those between Alan and Jonah who'd rightfully deducted that the cameras outside couldn't pick up quiet conversations. She readied a spreadsheet with notes and proceeded to look busy doing secretarial work. 
Alan knocked on the door and Thomas called him in.
"Welcome, Alan. How are things going with the patients."
"As you've gathered from my notes, every time I talk to them they seem to progress. Maybe they're just humouring me, because at the next session I have to start again from scratch. I don't know if they're maybe intensifying their disorders by interacting with each other. I could force the matter by trying a group session. Or I could play it safe by segregating them more."
"I see your dilemma." Thomas said, "We want to have results as soon as possible but that doesn't mean we should rush in and cause harm."
"Exactly."
Thomas paused a moment for effect. Pretending to think on the matter he let his thoughts roam to the coming session. Deborah had the right idea, but the others still resisted their lot in life. They should wait for their king to lead them. And soon the time would be upon them to open the door to the rest of their lives. Thomas presumed that some of their quirks would vanish at that point. But it was quite entertaining to see them all falter and flail around. 
"I think you should risk it. They've been here for 3 months already. If not now, then when?"
"I think you're right." Alan nodded, content with the advice.
The psychologist got up, stretched his cramped leg and headed for the door. He had his next appointment to get to after all. 
Regina got up right after Alan left and proceeded to the desk of her boss. 
"He is still completely clueless." she chuckled.
"Well, he isn't the most valuable piece in the game. But think about it. A pawn in the right place might change the game in our favour. Deborah follows him blindly and even Jonah seems to have taken to him. Only Wayne seems to dislike him."
"That's because he fancies Deborah." Regina supplied, "I've been talking to him when he visits the library to get new books." 
"Then he'll follow Deborah in the end." Thomas nodded.
"I shall start with the preparations." Regina said with a small bow of her head.
"Very good."
Thomas dismissed his secretary and returned to watching the screens. A good commander should be aware of everything his subjects did. 

6. Tower room
Alan entered Wayne's room. Sometimes the man that emulated the rook chess piece didn't come to one of his sessions. Usually that meant he was lost in his books or thoughts and had forgotten the time. 
Today though Wayne just hadn't felt like going. There was the thing with Deborah sure, but he could ignore jealousy. The confinement was grating his nerves. Of course he'd come here to be cured of his particular disorder but it just didn't feel like anything was happening. Aside from his inability to go diagonally, Wayne didn't feel like there was much wrong with him. Deborah also seemed pretty normal. Jonah was a bit different, but who wasn't to say that the man hadn't been a bit unstable to start with?
Still, it was the jealousy that took hold of his mind when Alan knocked on his door and entered to have their session.
"What does she see in you?" he asked Alan.
"Who?"
"Deborah." 
"I don't think she sees anything in me." Alan defended, "She has me pegged as her saviour though I won't take that role. She needs to change herself in order to get better."
"You don't believe what she says."
"Do you?" Alan played the question back.
"Not really." Wayne sighed, "But if it gets things moving I'll take it."
"About that. Thomas and me were thinking of holding a group session to see if we can spark a breakthrough."
Alan and Wayne continued, the talk feeling more informal than session. To Alan, Wayne was basically the one who was least affected by his disorder. But he was maybe also the most vulnerableof the three because he was still so firmly rooted in reality. 
After Alan left, Wayne looked out the window and saw Jonah walking crisscross on the lawn. The man suddenly looked up and raised his hand in warning. Wayne looked around but his room was empty. Wayne sighed and returned to his book to distract his mind. 

7. Group Session
Alan paced around nervously. Sometimes he felt like he was being dragged around by some invisible leash but he quickly shed the thought as he'd never been a religious type of guy. He was probably just nervous about the coming group session. 
Deborah was already there, Wayne was on his way. Jonah had been nowhere to be found but he had received the notice for the group session, so Alan trusted him to be there, even if it was inside. It's not like people had to speak. In fact group sessions often stayed on relative safe subjects for a couple of meetings before diving deeper so people could get to know each other. On the other hand, these three had been living together for the past months. 
Deborah smiled at Alan, wondering why he was nervous. He probably was going to make some big announcement today. Wayne entered and made a straight line for the chair next to hers. He'd been back to normal so she felt relieved. 
Wayne acted like he was completely fine and relaxed. But inside he felt like little bolts of lightning were waging war on his system. Something was up, something would happen. Something that might not be all that safe. His feeling of impending doom had only grown since the day before. Which is why he sat close to Deborah, if anything he wanted to be there to keep her safe. 
Jonah wavered in front of the door, wondering if he should go inside. He knew everything would be recorded. He'd dressed for the occasion in black and white and wasn't surprised to find the others dressed accordingly after he'd opened the door. Carefully he stepped inside, almost expecting the floor to give way or some divine punishment to fall upon him. He gingerly sat down and pointedly looked at Alan.
"Thanks for showing up." Alan beamed, "Today we'll talk as a group for the first time..."
About half an hour into the session, Thomas decided to make his move. After all these people weren't crazy, not even perturbed, probably only a bit unusual. So the session would lead to nothing and postponing the inevitable was silly. 
He stood up, fastened his cape and gestured to Regina to follow him. She quickly got up and held out his crown. She'd already been wearing hers. Excitement bubbled up inside her, almost making her skip through the hallways but she contained herself, following the stately Thomas as he strode made his way through the hallways.
A knock on the door broke Alan's concentration. Usually staff didn't interrupt sessions so something urgent had to be up. He went to the door and opened it, surprised to find Thomas and Regina there.
Before Alan could talk, Thomas pushed him aside and strode in, Regina close behind.
"I'm glad that we all got to be here together today. I know some of you have had the feeling something was about to happen and I can only commend your intuitive powers."
Deborah jumped up and Wayne got up right behind her while Jonah remained seated, slouched on his chair and looking quite worried. Alan made his way into the room and wondered what was going on. Jonah's warning playing through his mind. 
"Thomas spent no expense gathering you all here." Regina added, "For we are all meant to be together."
Thomas looked a bit annoyed that his secretary had interrupted, but then, she was the queen in his game and had her own authority. 
"What's going on?" Alan asked, feeling like he was the only sane person in the room.
"You were misguided, my boy, to think that these people are anything but sane. I've called them all here to go to an event that's been long in coming. But getting ready to attend was a chore on it's own. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll be going to the checkerboard ball."
Thomas thunked his staff on the floor and a door that had never been there appeared on the wall. It opened without being touched and led to a place that was both magical and technological as if Fantasy and Science Fiction had equal parts in it's creation.
"Now follow me." Thomas said and entered.
Regina watched as Deborah was the first to move through, closely followed by Wayne. She'd thought Jonah would be the hardest to convince but he just shrugged and went with the flow. So without further ado, she grabbed hold of Alan's arm and dragged the poor, shell-shocked man through to his new future.

8. Checkerboard Ball
Some time had passed while the 6 chess-pieces acclimated to their new surroundings and practiced for the coming event. Dancing after all would prove to be a problem though their weird walking patterns had lightened somewhat.
"Just follow my lead." Deborah smiled as she led Wayne into a waltz, her natural knight-moves fitting the dance well. 
Jonah stood to the side, watching. He'd been to parties before and could manage some simple dances already. Alan stood to his side.
"I told you to be wary of your superiors."
 "I imagine I wouldn't have listened anyway." Alan replied.
He'd been so grateful to Thomas for hiring him. In hindsight it had all been to keep him close as he was the pawn in the game of chess. Probably the most useless piece in the game. Alan felt rather useless since he'd gotten here, having to adjust to a lot more than the others. 
"You don't seem to like it here." Jonah observed.
"I wasn't quite expecting to have my life change so drastically."
"Yeah, I can relate. I wasn't happy to leave my job and be hauled off to a psychiatric hospital as if I was crazy either." he remarked dryly.
"What's with you talking normal anyway?" 
"I liked to throw you off balance." the bishop admitted, "It was quite fun to see you flail around trying to make sense of it all."
"Did you know I was like you?" Alan wondered.
"I had a feeling. Though I didn't know why we'd been brought together. Your limp reminded me too much of the way I coped myself until I could hide it no longer."
Wayne dropped down beside them, tired from dancing with the energetic knight.
"I don't think I'll be able to keep that up." he told the other two.
"She'll probably dance with others as well." Alan said.
'As long as they play waltzes." Jonah added.
In the middle of the room, Thomas and Regina took to dance. Though they were king and queen, they didn't seem to be a romantic couple, more like business partners. But they matched well in their dance, Regina being the more active of the two since she had a wider range of motion while Thomas felt content to let her twirl around him with only the occasional sidestep from him.
"I'm so ready for this party to start." Deborah said as she drank some water.
"Bring it on." Jonah agreed with a smirk.

CONTINUE
Alan (Pawn) - Deborah (Knight) - Jonah (Bishop) - Wayne (Rook)
Regina (Queen) - Thomas (King)

Lantessama Isle
Candidates at the New Years Eve Checkerboard Ball