The Secrets We Agree to Keep

Politicians hide facts from their citizens.  Executives rarely reveal plans for lay-offs before it becomes necessary.  Trustworthy individuals never relate a friend’s confidences to anyone else.  Ordinary people like you and me end up keeping all manner of secrets in our daily lives.  Without secrets lubricating the engines that drive human society, civilization might well grind to a halt.  Yet there is a price to be paid for every secret we keep, not only by ourselves, but also by those with whom we interact.  

In Jane Lindskold’s novel Thirteen Orphans, her characters are charged with keeping certain facts, knowledge, and skills secret.  Albert Yu is a well-known gourmet Chocolatier, yet few know that he is the descendant of a king from the Lands Born of Smoke and Sacrifice.  Gaheris Morris works as a successful entrepreneur.  While his daughter Brenda admires his salesmanship, she does not know that his grandfather was the Exile Rat, one of the original twelve advisors who were banished to our world along with Albert Yu’s ancestor.  And then there is Charles Adolphus, better known as Riprap, who works as a bouncer at a Denver nightclub.  While his father died in combat, he left a letter for his son, informing him that he would inherit the powers of the Dog.  Yet, until he meets Gaheris and Brenda, he does not understand all that his unique role involves. 

Lindskold’s characters soon learn the importance of keeping their true identities hidden.  As the novel opens, Albert is attacked while casting auguries with his mah-jong set; it seems that someone has learned his true identity.   When Gaheris discovers how Albert has somehow been stripped of his unique identity, he realizes that he can no longer wait to tell Brenda that she will inherit his powers: she must help him warn and mobilize the other Orphans against this new threat.  But before he and Brenda can explain everything to Riprap, Gaheris is attacked and stripped of all that made him the Rat (including his memory of the Orphans and the Lands Born of Smoke and Sacrifice).  Needless to say, Riprap realizes that he must not tell those with whom he works the true reason why he must move out of town, leave his job, and abandon the sports teams he coaches.  For if their pursuer accomplishes his aims, not only will they lose a special part of themselves, but no one will ever be able to return and free their homeland from the usurpers who killed the king and cast out his advisors (along with, unknowingly, an heir to the throne).

So while it is vital they keep secret their true natures, presence, and plans, Brenda and Riprap must pay a price for keeping such secrets.  While Brenda may not possess the Rat’s powers, she shows some aptitude for training in the magical arts, and agrees to work to protect the remaining Orphans as best she can.  Yet she must repeatedly lie to her parents about the duties involved in her “summer internship,” which adds emotional distance to the miles that will separate her from Gaheris and her mother.  As for Riprap, he may not mind leaving his hometown and his job, but he worries about the at-risk kids on the sports teams he coaches.  Abandoned by such a concerned mentor, might they drop out of school, engage in drug use, or join the neighborhood gangs?

Just like the characters in Thirteen Orphans, all of us must keep certain facts hidden from others.  Personal finances, business plans, the feelings and concerns that friends share so we can understand what we are going through: the list is infinite.  But perhaps, periodically, we should question the nature of the secrets that we agree to safeguard.  For while secrets may bind us closer to those for whom we agree to keep them, Jane Lindskold has shown us how they can also drive a wedge between ourselves and those who matter to us.  

Jane Lindskold's novel Thirteen Orphans, along with its sequels Nine Gates and Five Odd Honors, are available from Tor Books.  Learn more about her at http://www.janelindskold.com/