Tadaki
Your mother Suriko, black haired small in stature even for a Japanese lady. She always had a smile for you.
Your father Shurenro, Large man, not in a good way, he was known for his girth even in his sparrow form, which looked more like a sparrow that had swallowed a apple than any sparrow you have seen since. He said that back in his prime, he was one of a long line of Sumo wrestlers, but he gave it up for your mother. Though he still ate like he was a sumo wrestler. It has always been your theory that he was the cause of your thinness. He ate everything on the table and then started in on your plate if you weren't fast enough. You got none of your fathers appearance and almost all of your mothers.
Growing up was quick, you didn't have a great many friends but a few very close ones.
A brother, one year older, Namto, who loved to torment you but only in jest.
Namto's friend, Nibori, a stout individual. He always played the leader in all your games, but he was fair about it.
Nibori's sister, Midiko, a petite sparrow girl, very pretty, Namto liked her quite a bit and so did you.
Your own friends included Kento, a sparrow boy like yourself, born the same year as you. You would always go flying with him.
Kento and you had a female friend that would come flying with you somedays as well, Kintro. She was more plain that Midiko but she was still a lot of fun, sometimes more than Midiko, who was more concerned with her appearance as time went on than having fun.
You had your enemies as well, but only one really stands out. Nibori and Midiko had a sister, Emi. She was born evil. She hated everyone and everything. She spent her time dissecting things including when she was 18, one of your own people. They could never prove that she had killed him but she certainly had taken him apart after he died. Emi was thrown out of the village that you shared with some humans. Told never to return but she would.
Your interest turned to a human wu-jen. He was cool for the things he could do, make fires and other things with fire. You spent your days with him, after a time, learning the beginnings of how to be a wu-jen. His name was Bemro.
Emi returned 2 years later, traveling with several people whose faces and names, you won't forget. A evilly scarred man named Hotaka. Another human male named Isamu. A female named Minako. And one other a wu-jen named Arenro.
Together they destroyed the village you lived in. Shurenro was the first to stand against them and the first to fall, run through by Hotaka. Your brother Namto knew you couldn't stand against them, he transformed with your mother and urged you to go as well. You wanted to warn Nibori, Midiko, Kento and Kintro. Transforming you flew off to find them. It was too late for Nibori and Midiko, they were some of the first to be captured. You saw them both carried off in cages. Kento was dead when you got there, his whole family burned. Kintro was there as well, still alive but wounded. You grabbed her and ran. As you escaped into the forest, you wondered about the fate of Bemro. You think you know the answer, when the whole village exploded in a fireball, only Bemro would do such a thing. He had spoken of his going out in a huge blaze of glory and you are pretty sure he did.
Kintro was badly wounded. It took the better part of year to heal her back to normal, but her right leg was shattered and she walked with a cane now and would for the rest of her life.
Your brother and mother, found you. They had settled deeper in the forest, finding more of your kind. Your mind would not be put at ease, something had to be done, You had to know what happened to Nibori, Midiko and even Bemro. You wanted to find those responsible for these crimes, even for just a reason, but even better for revenge. A year ago, you found the first one, he worked for a warlord named Akechi. Arenro was his wu-jen, though you thought at first, well trusted, he was not. You took a chance on Akechi, asking him to serve as apprentice to Arenro, in the hope you could find more of what happened. Arenro was a powerful wu-jen and you needed to become one to defeat him. It is best to find the weaknesses of your enemy from your enemy. He didn't know you or remember you and you came into service as his apprentice. The time was not at all pleasing but he was teaching you, slowly. His ways, his tricks and in time, his magic.
In May of 1583, things changed, Arenro only taught you in the presence of Yukiko, Akechi's pregnant wife and your pace of magic was increased. Arenro became even more vicious in his beatings if you failed to do something correctly. He would never do so in front of Yukiko. You made some new friends along the way though, Panda a samurai, that was always around Akechi, Haku the other bodyguard, he liked to practice a unique form of martial arts on people and you thought it was kind of fun to be thrown, it was like being able to fly in human form. Though the landings did leave something to be desired. Reiko was very pretty but very strange, though she was always kind to you. Hiroshi was a strange librarian, sneaking out at all times of the night, you liked to follow him in sparrow form. He was always meeting with odd looking people in the strangest places, exchanging paper, weapons and the like. A mighty odd man, but you had the feeling that he was on Akechi's side. And then there was Funitsu, a Scorpion clan member, not to be trusted but somehow you felt you could, even if he was a noble.
A message came to Arenro, the day before Akechi's coronation, you snuck a look and it was the first confirmation that Emi was alive.
"All is ready. Tomorrow we start. Emi"
That was all it said.
Hours before the coronation, you ran into Hideyoshi a man you had little contact with before, though through reputation he was a hard man and he paid very little attention to you. You had noticed that Arenro and he had been taking a lot of meetings lately.
"Tadaki?" Hideyoshi said as you passed in the hall. You stopped and turned.
"That is your name isn't it?" he said to you.
"Yes lord. Is there something I can do for you?" you replied.
"Not today Tadaki, but someday, you might be able to help me."
"As you wish, lord."
"Tadaki, one last thing. There are three orbs." Hideyoshi turned and left.
What an odd man you thought.