A surprising turn

When the children finally found a new roof to settle down it was already midnight. Lunaris and Timaris were standing high in the sky as if they were watching over them as they did over their thousands of other children that were sparkling in the night sky and listening to their stories.

"So, it's your turn Jayden, isn't it?", Alice asked.

His story was the one she was actually the most curious about. He always had this high and mighty attitude that someone in his situation just shouldn't have, so she was very curious about how he became like that.

"Well, where should I start? You know, most kids don't really like me, saying they don't like my attitude. The reason is probably that my situation is very different from all the other kids, so we look at things in completely different ways.", Jayden made a long pause.

"What do you mean?", Alice asked while everyone had this knowing look on their faces, she was the only one to be curious. After all, they all had heard this story already.

"I didn't run away or were left behind and my parents are still alive as far as I know. And in a few years, when my parents come back to this city, they will pick me up and take me with them.", Jayden explained.

"Ehhhh? But why are you here then? Why didn't your parents take you with them and where have they gone?", Alice exclaimed in surprise. She couldn't make heads or tails of what this boy had said, it just didn't make any sense to her.

"My family is from an old circus troop with a long tradition. To be specific, my family has always been one made of acrobats. But there is actually more to it than just that. Besides learning the craft of circus artists, we also learn another craft. After all, only so many people can work in a single circus. That other craft that we learn is that of spies and assassins."

"What!? I don't believe you! In the first place, should you even be allowed to tell us that if it were true?", Jaydens story turned more absurd the more he talked and Alice had a hard time believing him.

"Why do you think I am as good as I am? Of course, because I received professional training! And it's not a big problem for me to tell you. There are actually two reasons. One, no one would believe you in the first place, and second, those in the circus may have the skills, but none of them has ever committed a single crime. To protect the circus, those who actually become spies or assassins, are never allowed to make contact with the circus again. Although there are some stories about parents receiving money from an anonymous source every now and then.

The reason why I'm here is an old tradition of ours. When we reach a certain age, we get left behind in one of the bigger cities on the route of the circus. And until we get picked up again, we have to learn how to survive on our own. With all that training and these experiences, we learn to survive no matter what happens to the circus or yourself."

"This... is so weird! Who would think of something like that?", Alice wasn't sure what to think anymore, it all sounded just totally outrageous, she couldn't understand it at all.

"I don't know who came up with it. All I know is that it works well enough. You don't need to understand, as I said, we have totally different mindsets. For me, living like this is more of a challenge to myself and my abilities.

And I take pride in it. Well, that's what others don't like about me though it seems.

It's only been about half a year that I came to this city and at first, I had joined the cats. Over there, things work quite different, mainly because they take a big part of the merchant district. Because of that, there are generally more guards than in this area. Not only are there the city guards, but even some of the high-quality stores have their own guards, so its a lot harder to get around.

In addition, there are fewer people, so you get spotted more easily and you cant enter any stores, they would throw you out instantly. The only way to get your hands on food is pickpocketing money and then buy it from the few stores that make deals with street rats.

But as I said, different than on the market, there are so few people that you get easily spotted, so most of the time you have to run. Also, the buildings have two floors, so you cant even easily escape on the roof.

Well, the way things went was kinda like this, I have a record of three months of pickpocketing and only my last target realized what had happened to them before it was too late.

In fact, some of the guys I had been working together with had given me the wrong information, it seems like they didn't like me being better than them. I ended up stealing from one of our dealers, who then, in turn, stopped selling us food and they threw me out.

The leaders too didn't seem to like me, so they instantly believed the other kids who said that I got too arrogant, saying that he wouldn't even realize it, but they luckily could warn him in time. A short time later, Alex came to me and asked me to join the vultures. End of the story."

"So, you got set up? That must have hurt.", Alice said a little depressed.

"Not really, they didn't like me and I didn't like them. Most of 'em were a bunch of idiots.", Jayden answered.

"A bunch of idiots indeed for letting such a talent go!", Gale affirmed.

"Well, good for us! After I recruited him, Jay showed that he can support his attitude with ability. Although I wouldn't decline if you decided to change it, you know? You can be kind of annoying sometimes."

"Hee, but you still won't throw me out!"

"Of course not, part of the group, part of the family, that's how we work! And please stop calling us vultures, that's an insult to the old generation!"

"It's not an insult, it just sounds better! You don't even realize how lame 'guardians' sounds, do you?", Jayden asked Alex.

"That's not true, right?"

Looking for affirmation, Alex looked around. Shocked, he had to realize that Forster and Jayden were the only ones that looked him straight in the eyes.