The Circus of Wonders

 Not long after leaving home, Timothy ran across a travelling
 circus. Excited by the idea of travelling around the land,seeing new
 sites and meeting new people, Timothy eventually managed to beg his
 way into a position with the circus, as a general helper.  Timothy
 thought that this would give him a chance to learn from many of the
 different skilled performers of the group, and he was mostly correct
 -- what Timothy didn't kow at first was that the leader of the
 travelling group lead more than just a circus.  In addition to the
 performers,the Circus of Wonders came fully equiped with its own form
 of portable theives guild.  After being taught how to perform most of
 the normal handling, menial, and construction tasks associated with
 the moving group, Timothy (who was known as `Tim', and no last name
 was asked) was moved up into training for the more theifly
 operations, including picking pockets, opening locks, climbing
 (walls, tree, etc), and moving silently (or hiding in shadows).  This
 continued for some time, with the Ringmaster convincing Tim that they
 were acting to `spread the wealth' rather than simply stealing.  For
 the most part, Tim believed this lie because he wanted to believe it
 - to think otherwise would be shattering to his newfound sense of
 belonging and comraderie.  This was a self-deception doomed to fail,
 however, and eventually it did, when Timothy discovered accidentally
 just how active the group really was, when he happened to overhear
 the Ringmaster talking with a man from another travelling company, an
 acting company, as they compared `marks' and `scores' from various
 areas, and plans for splitting up the nearby countryside between
 them.

 Timothy snuck into the Ringmaster's wagon, took some of the spoils
 from a recent `job' in the city,and left, leaving the spoils and a
 short note naming the ringmaster responsible for the thefts in a
 place where he thought that the sherrif would find it, and then left,
 heading up the coast with a heavy heart.