Ava O'Gowan

From Eliza's Desk

Aveleine Roisin O'Gowan, Ava for short, has been having a really rough go of it. At the young age of nineteen she lost her mother and her childhood, devoured in flame one dark and surprisingly stormy night nearly four years ago.
Luckily (or was it luck?) she was able to find her baby brother, Ian, and safely guide them both out of the hellscape that was their home. And although their house was a smoldering pile of ash, they had additional ancestral property to fall back on.
Which brings us to now. Ava owns and operates her family businesses, Brigid's B&B and the attached Shamrock Bar & Grille, while caring for her nine year old brother. Folks, I won't lie to you, it doesn't come to her easy. Ava was never really cut out for the domestic lifestyle and as an erstwhile child she avoided it whenever possible. Lupine Bay is a sleepy little coastal hamlet, absolutely safe enough for children to run wild to their heart's content - and oh how the O'Gowan children ran.
But that was a happier, more carefree time. Ava doesn't run anymore, or laugh much. She works, watches her brother, and occasionally lets herself have a little fun with her best-friend-slash-Shamrock-bartender, Charley.
Dear reader, you'd be forgiven for reading Tips and thinking poorly of Ava. Ava is a hot mess in Tips. An unmitigated disaster. Bad at B&B management, bad at money management, prone to severe panic attacks, suffering from debilitating PTSD, and quite fond of running from her problems. Just an absolute monster.
Jokes aside, Ava does have a lot of growing to do. But then... don't we all?
Besides, it would be remiss of me not to heap praise upon Ava's considerable strengths. She struggles; feels overwhelmed, out of her depth, and incapable of accomplishing the tasks set to her - but still, she tries.
Fear of being an inadequate maternal substitute to Ian tears her up inside, but you'll never catch her treating him with anything but love, respect, and boundless patience.
Faced with an ancient fairy boogeyman, two pushy angels, and the Lord of Lust, does she falter? Yes, of course she does! Then she goes to her room, has a panic attack in private, pulls herself together, and makes the monsters host a BBQ.
When the soul of Underhill tasks her with saving the world, does she refuse? Absolutely, she sure tries! But when she realizes there's nowhere to run, she sighs in resignation, eats the fruit of forbidden knowledge, and signs her soul away to fairyland.
Savior of the Four Realms isn't the destiny Ava wants. But it's the one she deserves.