Kosuta is a country mentioned by name in the Yu-Gi-Oh anime - I won't say where. Just thought it was a nice reference.

Word Of Warning: There's going to be a bunch of skipping around in terms of time to make sure the plot goes somewhere in introducing these ten to twenty characters (whyyyy did I think having that many MCs was a good idea?)

Challenge from the prologue starts now - who is Sparrow? Leave your guess in the reviews!

Sparrow: Fairy's Gift

No one was ever surprised in Kosuta.

Being surrounded by magic and the unexpected tended to do that to anyone. When your neighbor, a fairykin, made her windowsill flowers perk up with a wave of her hand, the local farmer tending potatoes at dawn was part dog, and your mayor was fond of a little bit of cow's blood in his evening wine, you were inclined not to take notice of anything unusual.

That was why people hurrying down the road to the market barely spared a glance at the sunny, flower-covered hillside just outside the walls of Westbridge, not even as the sun reached a glowing finger down into a patch of fairy's gift, and a princess appeared out of the golden radiance, lying peacefully nestled in the iridescent purple petals like they were a fine silk mattress, not even crushing any of the stems under the weight of her small body. The bees and butterflies flew around her, inconvenienced but not caring much, and the fairies fluttered from flower to flower the same as usual, using their magic to rejuvenate any plants that looked withered or scorched or bothered by insects. They were simple folk, and if the strange girl did not pose a threat to them or their flowers, she was of no concern.

One of the fairies a bit wiser than the rest, though, flew over to the sleeping girl. She stuck out amongst the other fairies who wore simple slips of petals and leaves and nothing more. She wore a tiny blue robe of dyed silk, trimmed in yellow, and wore a matching blue cap over her short blonde hair - clothes sewn not by a fairy, but by a "Big One". She was also the only fairy in the flowerbeds of Westbridge to carry a weapon - a bejeweled brass dungeon key, so large in comparison to her she used it like a hiking stick most times and as a mace if she ever needed to fight - which was never, at least nowadays.

"Earu, you're neglecting your flowers!" one of the other fairies scolded.

Earu frowned as she alighted on the nodding head of a fairy's gift. "Thayel, look at this Big One," she said. "She just appeared out of the air."

"Big Ones have the power to teleport, don't they, Earu? Just leave her there, she'll wake up in a minute."

Earu bit her lip. "But where did she come from?"

"That's not a fairy's business, Earu," Thayel insisted. "Fairies tend flowers. Not questions."

Earu sighed. Thayel, satisfied she had sufficiently scolded the incorrigible fairy, went back to work, only to yelp as she saw Earu land on the princess's face and begin prodding her with her key.

"Earu! How many times do I have to tell you to leave well enough alone-!"

It was this prodding that woke the princess up. She moaned and stirred, and Earu quickly took off into the air, hovering above her head in concern as she gingerly rubbed her head and sat up.

"Now you've done it," Thayel muttered.

The princess blinked and looked around, not quite comprehending her surroundings. She was sitting in a patch of flowers whose petals changed from purple to metallic green when the light hit them right, with pale green centers. She was on a small hill bathed in sunshine and perfumed with the heavy, sleepy smell of sun-soaked grass, like bread baking. Hovering all around her were fairies, but her attention was focused on the fairy in front of her, holding out a key almost as tall as she was as if to poke her again.

"H-Hello?" the princess asked.

"Hello, there," the fairy said politely. "I'm Earu. Who might you be?"

"Yeah, and how did you get here?" another fairy asked.

The princess frowned in confusion, trying to remember how she had gotten to this flower field surrounded by increasingly confused and annoyed fairies, and coming up with nothing.

Her confusion turned to panic when she realized she couldn't remember anything. No family, no friends, no familiar landmarks - she even drew a blank trying to visualize her own face!

She began to hyperventilate, gripping her temples as she tried to force herself to recall something.

"What's wrong?" Earu asked gently, landing on her bent knee as the princess scooted back, looking around wildly in panic.

"I… I don't… k-know who I am!" the princess replied in terror, looking down at her gloved hands, which might as well have been a complete stranger's. "I can't remember! I can't remember anything!"

Earu gently put her tiny hand up to the princess's cheek. "Shh, you'll be alright. Just breathe and try to calm down."

"Earu, what are you doing!?" the other fairy cut in.

The princess understandably found calming down difficult, as her mind filled up with the void of all the things she couldn't remember - her home, her family, where she was, how she had gotten here, if she would be left lost, adrift, without her memory for the rest of her life - but she tried to focus on Earu, who was blurring slightly in front of her, and copy the tiny, warm breaths of the fairy on her cheek.

When she was breathing almost normally again, she looked at Earu.

"Better?" Earu asked.

The princess slowly shook her head.

"Right, of course - is there anything you can remember now that you're calm? Well, calmer."

The princess thought back, at first feeling a spike of panic as she felt nothing where there should have been something. Then something managed to slip through - a vast, empty space, a glowing blue light, and a word.

"S-Sparrow," she mumbled.

"Pardon?"

"That's… my name, I think," the princess said. "Sparrow."

"Sparrow. That's a cute name!" Earu said cheerfully.

"Is that all you remember?" the other fairy asked sharply.

"Thayel, that's enough," Earu retorted. "I just got her calmed down."

"I think… I remember a blank void, full of rainbow-colored stars. But it seems far away now," Sparrow said uncertainly.

"Huh," the other fairy said with a toss of her hair. "Now that you've got that figured out, shouldn't you go that way?" She angled her head toward the gates of the city at the end of the winding dirt road that ran past them.

Sparrow felt her heart start hammering all over again. "Alone?"

"You're better off talking to a Big Person for help. Fairies don't meddle in other people's business. We just grow flowers," Thayel said coolly.

"Thayel, that's enough!" Earu spat back. "Of course you're not going alone, I'm coming with you!"

"What!? Earu, listen to yourself! Do you really want to go with a Big Person to a Big Person city where you could get stepped on, captured and stuck through like a bug, or ground into powder for a demon to eat!?"

"Miss Sparrow needs help, Thayel, and I plan to give it," Earu retorted.

"No, no, please don't fight," Sparrow said firmly, slowly rising to her feet. "I can go by myself."

Both fairies looked at Sparrow in surprise.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," Earu insisted.

"She's already said she doesn't want our help," Thayel said, pulling Earu back.

Earu frowned in worry, but Sparrow forced a smile and picked up the leather bag sitting by her feet, slinging it over her shoulder. Then she turned, took a breath, and jogged toward the road.

As she approached it, she slowed down and feigned like she had been walking with the endless parade of wagons going in the whole time. She tried not to stare at the variety of people she saw around her - some towering over her and some so short they were her height or smaller, despite being proportioned like adults, some with round ears and some with pointed, and still more who had wings, tails, horns, claws, or animal ears. Some of them could summon things from nowhere or move things without touching them or set fires without heat.

She wondered for a moment why she thought that was so strange. No one in the crowd was openly reacting to the fact that the man pulling a cart next to them had horns, or that the woman feeding her baby was also dusting the interior of her family's wagon with a feather duster that was levitating a good foot off the ground.

Sparrow decided looking at the ground was a good way to feign like she saw this every day, and that was what she was doing, kicking up smoky clouds of dust with her intricately embroidered boots, which rose up and settled on her deep blue skirt. She found herself looking at her hands again, which still felt like they didn't belong to her, and resolved to find a mirror once she reached town and found a place that had one.

She was so focused on the road that she didn't realize the wagon train had stopped until she ran into the man in front of her.

"Hey! Watch it!" he snapped, cat ears pinned back in hostility.

"S-Sorry," Sparrow apologized, stepping back. She cautiously tried to peek around the man to see the cart in front of her.

Why did we stop?

"Routine inspection! Put your weapons out where we can see them!"

Sparrow saw a group of guards going down the jam of carts one by one, looking inside wagons and gesturing for people to put their weapons in plain view. Their chest plates all had the same symbol on them, that of a snake devouring its own tail.

Muttering hissed up and down the crowd.

"An inspection again?!"

"What in the world is Lord Daimon looking for?"

"This is the third time this week!"

The man standing in front of her saw her peering at the guards.

"Hey, back in line, kid!" He pulled her back into the crush of bodies. She stumbled, yanking away and opening her mouth to protest, but the man had put a clawed hand over her mouth.

"First rule of guard inspection, kid! Don't do anything that draws attention to you!"

Sparrow slowly nodded.

"Inspection, sir!" the guard walking past them said sharply.

"Of course, sir, I've just got this for protection on the road," the cat man said, pulling a crossbow out of his wagon full of vegetables.

"Good. Now, let me see your wares." The guard peered into the wagon, handling a few of the lettuce heads and potatoes, before he stepped back.

"Who's she?" the guard asked, pointing at Sparrow.

The cat man shrugged. "She's part of the wagon train."

"You were grabbing her hand earlier."

"I was telling her not to get in the way, sir," the cat man said.

"Really?" The guard gave Sparrow a look that she didn't quite like. "I suppose. She's far too well-dressed to be with you, not to mention the wrong race."

"Excuse me?" the cat man spat, but the guard was already moving on.

Sparrow stuck her tongue out at the man's retreating back, then turned to the cat man. "I'm sorry. I attracted attention, didn't I?"

The cat grumbled something about it not being her fault. "Looks like the inspection's wrapping up. Hopefully the market still has spots."

Sparrow walked awkwardly alongside the cat man and his vegetable cart until they entered the massive wrought-iron gate out front of the city, plunging into another world of narrow cobblestone streets shadowed by a mishmash of houses, with a massive castle in the center. The smell of horses, people, and dirt filled the air.

"Um… do you know of… a place I could stay the night?" Sparrow asked as the cat man led his wagon over to a bare spot on a street lined with carts and vendors.

"Oh, there's lots of places. Every town in Kosuta worth their salt has to have enough inns for all the adventurers coming through."

"Adventurers?"

"D'you not know what adventurers are?" the cat man asked. "No way you really don't."

Sparrow shook her head.

"Well, they're… heroes for hire, I guess. They travel around killing monsters, helping folks with their problems, the like. A lot of the time in groups, called parties. But some of 'em are loners. Like that guy." He pointed to a man with pointed ears, wearing armor over his clothes and a sword strapped to his back, currently buying herbs from an old woman with short horns poking through her white hair.

"That's the mark. That's how you designate you're an adventurer, if you have a weapon sheath on your back. You also take on a nickname that you use to introduce yourself. Adventurers only tell their party members their real names."

Sparrow blinked, quietly taking in this information. "And do you just walk into a blacksmith and ask for one of those weapon sheathes?"

"You're not thinking about becoming an adventurer, are you, kid? That's dangerous work."

"Um… maybe. Traveling around sounds kind of fun."

And maybe I can find out how to regain my memory…

"It'd also get old. And you'd have to fight all the time. Me, I'm good with my wife, my boys, and my farm."

Sparrow bit her lip. "Thanks for the advice, sir."

"You're welcome. Here." He handed Sparrow a small badge.

"There's a tavern in Westbridge owned by an old friend of mine. Just tell 'er Geralt sent you, give her that, and you should get a room for the night. Look for Ivory Roost."

"Thank you, sir," Sparrow said with a curtsey, before setting about finding the inn the cat man had described.

It took her a long time of wandering before she finally found it, a small building with a sign hanging over the door reading Ivory Roost, with a picture of a flying bird over it.

Sparrow shouldered her bag, before pushing open the weathered oak door.

She found herself inside a cheerfully lit pub, with groups of people sitting at tables, drinking, laughing, and talking. Many of them had sheathes on their backs, showing they were adventurers, but a handful of them appeared to be locals enjoying the drinks and each other's company. The woman behind the counter had feathered arms and her hands were scaly like a bird's, with sharp black nails. Her ears were pointed.

Quite a few people looked at Sparrow upon her entering. She nervously looked around, before tightening her grip on Geralt's token and marching the rest of the way in.

"Miss, I'm looking for a place to stay the night," she announced, standing up on tiptoe to put Geralt's token on the counter. "Geralt sent me to you."

"This is his token," the woman replied with a hmph. "That cat better pay up eventually, or so help me…" She shook her head. "But that's not important. You want a room? Are you renting for your parents, or something?"

Sparrow shook her head. "The room is for me. It's just for tonight."

The harpy raised an eyebrow. "Are you alright, kid? It sounds like you're in a spot of trouble."

Sparrow bit her lip, scuffing her foot on the floor.

"Tell you what, I won't pry," the woman said with a wink. "Everyone's entitled to their secrets." She slid a brass key across the counter, and Sparrow narrowly caught it before it could slide off onto the floor. "You room's 18, it's written on the key, rooms are up those stairs." She angled her head at a stairwell beside the counter.

Sparrow nodded. "Thank you," she said with a smile, before ascending the staircase.

As she walked up the stairs, one of the bar patrons, a thoroughly drunk halfling, turned to the elf next to him.

"She's a feisty little princess, that's for sure. Walked right up to Miss Ivy and demanded a room."

"She's also a child, you numbskull," the elf growled, smacking his drinking partner across the back of his head.

The room was a good-sized one with a neatly made bed and a conjoined bathroom, the walls painted the same cozy green as the tavern walls, lit by a gas lamp on the wall. A window let late afternoon sunshine in.

Sparrow draped her bag by the strap over a chair by the window, then sat down on the bed. She frowned as her stomach growled loudly.

I have a room, but how am I supposed to get food?

"Miss Sparrow! Miss Sparrow!" a tiny voice cried from the window.

Sparrow stood up, recognizing the voice, and hurried over to the window, throwing it open.

Earu the fairy flew through the window, her key strapped to her back in an adventurer's sheath. She landed in Sparrow's cupped hands, panting.

"Earu? What are you doing here?" Sparrow asked.

"What…hff… does it look like… hff… Miss Sparrow? I'm…hah… coming with you!" Earu replied. "Let me tell you, it was… a time and a half, trying to find you, I-"

"But… What about the other fairies? What about Thayel? I didn't want to make you choose between them and me…"

"Oh, believe me, I've been an outsider among them for a long time," the fairy said, waving her hand dismissively. "You go on one quest and suddenly you're the meadow pariah!"

"Quest…? Earu, you have a sheath that straps to your back… were you an adventurer?"

"I went on one quest, Miss Sparrow, and it was only a few miles south of here."

Sparrow thought that a few miles was still a long way for someone so small, but she didn't say so. Instead, she said, "I'm grateful that you're coming along, Earu. I didn't like the idea of traveling alone."

"You're welcome. It seems you were doing pretty well for yourself. Already have a room, and a nice one at that."

"A farmer I met in town knows the tavern owner. He gave me his token."

"Really? Well, that's how it is among Big Ones - who you know and all that. But since I'm helping you, what else do you need?"

"Um…" Sparrow trailed off. "I realized I don't know how I'm going to get food."

"Oh!" Earu said. "Do you want me to get it?"

"How? Do you have money?"

"Fairies don't need money, Miss," Earu reassured her. "I'll be back in a bit!" She flew out the window, leaving Sparrow once again alone in the room.

Sparrow spent much of the time Earu was gone exploring her room. Some instinct told her she could find something wonderful if she checked every nook and cranny of it.

By the end of her search, she had found a discarded hair tie, a ruby necklace, a whistle carved in the shape of a bird, a vial full of liquid, and a bag of dog biscuits, and that was just in the main room. She wandered into the bathroom, intending to search there next, however, the mirror hanging in it diverted her attention.

One of the more unsettling parts of her lack of memory was drawing a blank when trying to picture what her own face looked like. She had been able to see her hands, her feet, and some parts of her clothes, but couldn't think up any details beyond that. Multiple people today called her a princess - did that mean she looked like one? And what did that look like?

Now, she stared her own reflection in the face for the first time in her memory, and her assessment was, yes, she did look like a princess. But at the same time… not.

She was built rather thin and small, with a round face that made her look even younger. Her eyes were a deep mossy color, and her ears were pointed. She had a birthmark on her neck, disappearing under her dress collar. Her hair was so long it reached her hips, and so dark green it looked almost black. It was held back from her face by a gold diadem embedded with a diamond-shaped amethyst over her forehead.

She was wearing a dark blue long-sleeved, collared dress that came down to her knees, fastened up the back with gold clasps, and black leggings underneath. Over her dress, however, she was wearing a black leather chestplate.

Sparrow couldn't help the shiver that went up her spine. There was something… uncomfortable and wrong about her appearance she couldn't quite put her finger on. She reached out a gloved hand to touch the mirror, and her reflection copied her.

"Miss Sparrow!" Sparrow was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of Earu's voice.

She hurried out of the bathroom to find Earu lugging a basket stocked with fruit, nuts, jam, and bread, so much bigger than her that it was taking all the fairy's effort just to stay aloft.

"Earu!" Sparrow quickly took the basket, and her companion fluttered over to the bed, landing on one of the pillows, exhausted. "Are you okay?"

"I'll… be fine in a minute," Earu said listlessly.

"Do you want anything from the basket?" Sparrow offered.

"In a minute. Right now all I want is rest," Earu replied.

Sparrow carefully set aside some things for Earu, before eating some of the bread spread with jam, a handful of the nuts, and one of the apples.

By the time Sparrow was finished eating, Earu had recovered a little, enough to eat a small scrap of bread, half a nut, and a fat blueberry, the last of which was as big as an apple to her.

"Thanks for all this, Earu," Sparrow said. "But we're going to need a way to make some money once we start traveling."

"I think the fastest way to earn money is taking an adventurer's job. That's a good reason to travel, too," Earu replied. "But we can always do something else. I don't know how good you are at fighting or magic, but the only thing I'm good for is spying, growing flowers, and hitting goblins on the head with this key."

"I don't know either. We can ask around tomorrow if anyone needs odd jobs done," Sparrow replied. She peered into the bottom of the basket and pulled out a bundle of cloth.

"That's for you, too," Earu said. "A cloak for when it gets cold, and a nightgown, since I figured it'd be uncomfortable for you to sleep in that armor. Glisterworm silk, like your dress."

"Glisterworm silk?" Sparrow asked, fingering her skirt.

"Glisterworms are a type of fairy-tamed creature. Silk made from their cocoons is enchanted. Resistant to attacking spells and fire, durable, and will morph with you upon using any kind of changing magic."

Sparrow spread the cloak and nightgown out on the bed. The cloak was blue like her dress, and fastened in the front with a clasp that was gold like her diadem. The nightgown was white, edged with a ruffle around the neck and the hem, and fastened up in the front with flower-shaped buttons. "Thanks, Earu."

"You're welcome," Earu said with a smile. She then sobered. "Miss Sparrow? Are you… sure you're alright?"

Sparrow frowned, fidgeting with her hands. "I'm still scared. But I'm glad I don't have to figure this out by myself."

They spent much of the rest of the day in their room. As it turned out, Earu had brought back enough food for them to have dinner as well, and so as the sun winked out over the horizon, the two of them enjoyed bread, fruit, and nuts, planning what the next day would bring.

That night, Sparrow had a bath, scrubbing the dirt and grass stains from her skin, and afterward, changed into her nightgown. As she buttoned it up, she examined the birthmark on her neck, noting it was shaped like a flower.

It was as she was running a brush she'd found in the bathroom through her hair and braiding it - as she instinctively knew how to do - that Earu asked, "Do you need help in there, Miss Sparrow?"

"I just need to finish this braid," Sparrow replied. However, when she turned to look at Earu, she saw that the fairy's eyes had widened.

"Miss Sparrow, is that what I think it is?" She was gesturing to the birthmark on Sparrow's neck, which was now visible thanks to the low collar of the nightgown, openmouthed in excitement.

"My birthmark? I don't know what it is, Earu. Is it bad?"

"No, it's not bad, just surprising!" Earu said. "I assumed you were an elf looking at your ears, but the birthmark - there's no questioning it…"

"What does it mean, Earu?"

"You're a fairykin," Earu explained. "A race that works with fairy magic, like us." Her eyes lit up in excitement. "In fact, it's rumored they can shrink down and turn into fairies themselves!"

"Are you saying… I have fairy magic?" Sparrow asked. "Can you teach me?"

"You're best off finding another fairykin, and their settlements are all miles away." Earu said, her face falling. She cheered up a little. "But, since we work with the same kind of magic, I'd be glad to show you the basics on the way there!"

Sparrow yawned, and promptly Earu yawned too.

"In the morning," they both agreed. Sparrow fastened her braid, and the two of them left the bathroom.

"Where are you going to sleep, Earu?" Sparrow asked worriedly. "I don't want to crush you in my sleep."

"How about we put a pillow in the bedside table drawer? It'll be like a little trundle bed."

Sparrow followed Earu's instructions, and soon it really was like a tiny plump mattress sticking out of the drawer.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Sparrow asked as she climbed into bed.

"Fairies aren't fussy about where they sleep," Earu replied. "Usually we end up sleeping in flower cups or something. This is perfect, Miss Sparrow, thank you."

Earu was asleep within minutes, but Sparrow lay awake for a long time.

How did I lose my memory? How did I get here, if all the fairykin live far away? Could I ever get my memory back? What about my family? Are they looking for me?

Sparrow finally got up and rifled through her bag, trying to organize the odds and ends she had collected from around the room earlier. However, at the bottom of the bag, she found a neatly folded note. Unfolding it, her breath caught as she read it.

Kill to survive. Survive to win.