- Graham Wintertide (father)
- Fia Wintertide (mother)
- Edmund Sunscatter (uncle)
| Ainsley Wintertide | |
|---|---|
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| Physical Information | |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Female |
| Height | 5’2” |
| Hair color | Brown (with blue highlights around dense mana sources) |
| Eye color | Purple |
| Relationships | |
| Family members |
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Ainsley Wintertide is a magician. She is the protagonist of The Onset of Winter and a supporting character in The Staunch Hawthorn, Mary’s Eternal Companion, and Writing Her Own Story.
Ainsley began her story in a preschool in New Salem where she learned about different spell affinities and fields of magic. She made friends and enjoyed playing witch-hunt with them during recess. At the end of the year, she graduated and said goodbye to all her friends.
Due to her parents’ jobs, Ainsley moved to Earth with them. There she met Kurtis Yates, the local guardian who taught her about the secrecy rule. After he introduced them to the area, she started to attend a local elementary school. She initially had trouble relating to her classmates. She didn’t know anything about non-magician culture like TV shows, sports, or famous people. And to protect magicians, she honored the secrecy rule and couldn’t talk about magic. Yet she was awed by the new, mundane experiences she had, such as seeing sunlight for the first time, going to a field trip to the zoo, and eating her first hamburger. Eventually she grew accustomed to living on Earth.
Then her family brought her back to New Salem. At first Ainsley was glad to return to a familiar place, but was surprised to discover that even in her home city she felt like a misfit. Her lack of magic skills led to her enrollment in a remedial course. She was the oldest student in her class, was mocked for being stupid, and was bullied by her classmates and teacher. Ainsley complained to her parents and they supported her as best as they could.
After a couple of years, Ainsley moved back to Earth, and she sensed the cycle repeating. This time she was introduced to the local guardian, Alba, and through stopping a bullying attempt she befriended Mary Demore. But as hard as she tried to fit in, she mostly remained a misfit. Eventually she became depressed and her grades suffered. But with the support of her parents and Mary she realized it’s okay if people didn’t like her, and that with time she would become brave enough to be herself, even if no one could relate.
With her motivation boosted, Ainsley took her education even more seriously and her grades drastically improved. She also asked her parents for magic textbooks to practice spells on her own. And she even learned about the Internet, a bit of programming, and anime. By the time she returned to New Salem she climbed to the top of her class and was competent enough to design her own staff.
Ainsley moved back to Earth and caught sight of Jane O’Young and Aislinn before greeting Alba. After settling in, she started her first day in a new school and was surprised to see Jane and Aislinn there. Knowing that she had to protect the existence of magic, she pretended not to see Aislinn. She quickly became friends with Jane and another classmate Gina Evelyn.
When she learned that Gina became able to see Aislinn, she took a chance and invited them to Alba’s restaurant to explain about magic. She thought this was okay because they could already see magical creatures like Aislinn. She learned that Gina was able to see Aislinn because she recently became the master of Nashwa. She then told them that she had been traveling back and forth between Earth and New Salem and that she’ll be visiting her relatives there over winter break.
On the day of the visit, Jane, Aislinn, and Gina were suddenly teleported on top of her. After Alba sorted out the resulting chaos, the group, with Nashwa handling logistics, decided to accompany her. Aislinn met Edmund Sunscatter and his family, and she took her friends on a tour of the city. Then they were attacked, and although her friends borrowed the powers of their magical friends, Ainsley ended up being kidnapped.
While in captivity, Aislinn learned about her kidnappers’ plans to destroy the magical barrier with explosives to damage the fail-safe mechanisms. She was taken to the barrier security room as a hostage and is surprised to see Edmund, Aislinn, and Nashwa there. A fight broke out and in the end Ciarán was defeated and Ainsley was freed, but the barrier ended up getting destroyed. The city’s gravity and air pressure destabilized, and Ainsley saved Jane just as she was about to be sucked out of the city.
While Nashwa was trying to hold the barrier together, Jane, Aislinn, and Ainsley tried to fix it. Aislinn planted her remaining hawthorn seed in the mana transfer point and it quickly grew into a tree that generated its own barrier. The city was saved, but Aislinn didn’t emerge from the tree.
Edmund relayed news to her that her father is returning to New Salem to assist disaster victims, and that due to the instability of the city she can stay at her current high school to graduate. Ainsley was overjoyed and glad to be able to be with her friends. However she learned that Aislinn wouldn’t be returning with them.
Some time later, Gina and Ainsley visited Jane to cheer her up. Then they noticed the former hawthorn tree regrowing, and Aislinn appeared to reunite with Jane.
Ainsley was attending school as a senior for the first time when she discovered that Mary had transferred into her class. Furthermore, they were partners for a project. In the middle of working on their assignment, Mary sucked the life out of Ainsley. As Ainsley fell unconscious, she caught a glimpse of Mary’s appearance changing. However, she survived, and after learning about Mary’s condition vowed to help her to return the favor of being saved by her in the past.
Ainsley introduced Mary to her friends and asked for their help. Gina, eager to use her magic ring, made a wish to cure Mary of her hunger. However, Nashwa twisted the wish to temporarily transfer her succubus nature to Gina instead, causing her to kiss Jane. Immediately afterward, Lyla Demore arrived to drop off groceries, causing the atmosphere to turn cold as Mary’s dislike of her became evident. To clear the awkward situation, Ainsley recommended meeting with Mary afterschool to continue their project.
Later at the school library, Mary continued working with Ainsley while enduring her hunger pangs. They finally managed to finish their work, but Mary ended up skipping school for the next few days. She was visited by her friends who help clean her apartment and give her old homework. Ainsley tried to convince Mary to feed on her, but Mary was reluctant to hurt another person. Eventually Mary hesitated and gives in and recovered. They came up with the idea to research creating an energy supplement for Mary.
Ainsley took her to the Oak Shade Archives but first introduced her to Alba, who after some questioning agreed to let her in under supervision to prevent her from harming the residents of Oak Shade. After researching, they learned that condensing life energy was taboo and that there was no record on how to do this. Nearly out of options, they asked Alba who mentioned an alchemist who might help. They received an invitation to see the alchemist, who lived under another guardian’s domain.
The alchemist introduced herself as Idonea Culpepper, the inventor of the flawed elixir of life that occasionally caused her age to fluctuate between her late twenties and early teens. After listening to their case, Idonea became interested and agreed to make a potion to reduce Mary’s need for life energy in return for fairy dust and rare gemstones.
Back at school they tried to talk to Aislinn about getting fairy dust, but learned that Jane and Gina were unusually avoiding each other. Furthermore, Aislinn mentioned Jane’s mana recovery being negatively impacted and not knowing why. After talking to Gina and Nashwa they discovered that they were seeing each other in their dreams and deduced that it was due to succubus magic from the time Gina’s wish backfired.
Later that day Ainsley met Mary at her apartment. Seeing Ainsley holding Lyla’s groceries, Mary turned quiet. The conversation gradually shifted to Mary’s past and Ainsley reaffirmed her support. They hatched a plan to help Jane and Gina reconcile.
Ainsley invited everyone to her apartment where Mary explained how to remove the succubus curse. With Nashwa’s help, Jane and Gina admitted their feelings for each other, and Ainsley and Mary were gifted the materials they needed from Aislinn and Nashwa.
At Idonea’s laboratory they prepared the potion. At first it seemed successful until Mary exhibited side effects and transformed into Meridiana, who explained the full situation behind Mary’s condition. Now with a better understanding, they prepared a second potion, and Meridiana was able to have a heart-to-heart conversation with Mary about their past, and Mary finally accepted her heritage.
Ainsley met with her friends and learned about Gina’s acceptance letter. Learning that it was sent by Gertrude, she and Mary talked about her personality, her blood sucking ability, and her introducing them to Idonea. She then mentioned that Mary would be moving with her to New Salem after their graduation.
Ainsley is most at ease when she is by herself. Due to her social anxiety she is lonely and finds it hard to talk to strangers, but being friends with Jane and Gina gives her the courage to open herself to others. She mainly stays at home to browse the Internet or at the library to learn and practice magic.
To distract herself from thinking about what to say to people she developed a curiosity for understanding how things work, especially non-magical technology. Through her interest she learned how to use computers and program. When she debugs a problem or practices a spell, she persists until she succeeds.
Ainsley is a very accomplished magician for her age. Despite a lack of continuous formal education, she is able to pass standardized magic exams with high marks. Due to her magical training on Earth, her spells are stronger than those of the average magician.