Being born an Ethereal in a land where they are not well understood is hard enough. Growing up in an unloving home is difficult enough on its own. Living in a house where food was not guaranteed every night is its own kind of torture. Mix all three together, and you start to have a pretty good idea of what Inaba's early childhood was like. The discomforts of home didn't make him suffer for long, though, because as soon as Inaba was able to fend for himself, his mother tossed him out to the streets so that Inaba could 'make a living for his sorry self' and learn some 'valuable life skills' such as not getting robbed and begging the right people for alms.

Life on the streets was not very kind to Inaba. Whispers almost immediately began spreading about the Ethereal child who would walk the slums at night, and underground street fighters, seeing a golden opportunity to get their hands on a defenseless child with the capability to be immensely powerful, kidnapped Inaba and forced him into illegal dogfights. His captors forced him to undergo brutal 'training' wherein Inaba was made to do magic he barely had any control over, and if he failed to perform to their expectations, he was punished harshly. Inaba, ever the clever one, made multiple attempts to escape. One fateful day, after another cautiously successful escape attempt, another Ethereal, Councilman Sky Grey, was wandering the Reafen slums, trying to get a read on how to best help the people of the not-quite capital city. An emaciated Inaba stuck to Grey like a shadow, looking for both alms and protection, and after a whole day of walking around in circles, the Councilperson took pity on Inaba and took him in under their wing.

Life in Kuvdrip under a Councilman's wing was far different from the squalor that Inaba was used to up until that point. Life was far more stable and comfortable, and Inaba even began receiving a private formal education in reading, writing, and magic. To Grey's surprise, Inaba showed great promise given some good guidance and a proper chance at life, and so the Councilperson decided to keep the young Inaba around to see just how far he could go with his skills. Though he was still considered odd by the general public, Grey never seemed to acknowledge those claims and instead saw Inaba for the child he truly was; a bright young lad with so much to offer.

With a new lease on life and his past life far behind him, Inaba flourished. His intelligence and skill with magic proved to make him a strong force to be reckoned with, and although he never asked for much from Grey, the Councilperson could see the hunger in Inaba's eyes. They started bringing Inaba with them on the campaign trail, both to use as a chess piece in their political game, but also to expose Inaba to something more. Though it was never explicitly stated, there was an unspoken agreement between the two that Inaba was being trained to be Grey's successor.

More time passed. Inaba watched silently from the sidelines and learned how to win over a crowd, how to plant ideas in other people's heads, and how to frame radical ideas in such a way that they seemed perfectly fine. Still, he was far too young to make any substantial splash in the political scene, so he bided his time and quietly made himself known by being in the background of every event Grey attended. Eventually, Inaba started offering advice to the Councilperson, giving ideas and suggestions that would more often than not be successfully implemented when the time came to pass.

To say that Grey's sudden retirement took Inaba off guard was an understatement. They seemed to be at the height of their career, with a promising future and so much more left to accomplish. It felt like a betrayal, because with Grey out of the picture, who was meant to be the one for Inaba to follow? Eventunally, Inaba came to the conclusion that there could be no one else but him to step up to the plate, and so Inaba began campaigning relentlessly, using the skills that he had learned over his lifetime to make quite a name for himself. Since he was already quite known in Inawyth, it was easy enough to win over the hearts of the people, and Inaba soon found himself the youngest-elected Council member in Inawyth's history.