The thought just came back to me but I think it's so much better for the story that all of the current circus members are no life losers or, in Ragatha's case, family outcasts because imagine how worse it would be to have your sibling or parents or even a significant other suddenly be stuck as well in the circus while they were out looking for you

Kinger had Queenie, perhaps before joining the circus, and look how that turned out. The grief of losing a loved one because they cared too much about you to look for you on their own would probably out right abstract like half of the cast