"Ghosts are the only government. If you can see it and touch it, it's just a puppet. No one with real power ever has a name. Titles? Yes. Teacher. Operative. Doctor. But no names." River's fingers curled tight around the chess piece - her queen. She gripped as if she intended to crush it, but she wasn't strong enough for that. Not by a mile.
The Master's psychic touch would find River's head as open as the sky overhead, as open as the Black when you had a spaceship beneath your feet. If you knew how to reach out and touch, River was everywhere. The mind behind the wide eyes was simultaneously curious and more than a little afraid. It was also looking back out. Not with any precision - just out, like a diffused floodlight instead of a laser.
"I used to have a name." She said, suddenly solemn. "Now I'm just tributaries, flowing downhill and looking for the River. I'm hoping I'll find her again." The smile that flickered across the girl's face was shaky. It was an uncomfortable topic, so she turned back to the game. "The queen isn't suicidal. I'll send in the knight, he'll feel neglected if someone else steals his job."
Oh. And she was supposed to introduce her brother, wasn't she? Oops.