Tress

Tress, who was given the name of Glorf at birth, is an eighteen-year-old girl who is the captain and sprouter of the Two Cups on Lumar. She is known by the name of Tress because of her wild hair. She was born on the island Diggen's Point in the Emerald Sea, where she lived until leaving to rescue Charlie from the Sorceress.
== Appearance and Personality ==
=== Appearance ===
Tress's hair has been described as the color of wheat or honey; however, she would prefer to call it light brown. Her hair is incredibly unruly, requiring much care to ensure it stays tame. She tries to keep her hair in a braid with a ribbon, but strands of her hair float free in the wind. Tress wears a stolen inspector's uniform, with a large red and gold coat.
Ulaam likes Tress's green eyes, and even offers to trade one of hers for a nice deep blue one so that she would be heterochromatic blue and green. Tress denies this offer however.
=== Personality ===
Tress is thoughtful and kind, with a tendency for fixation that lead to a large collection of cups and a natural ability for sprouting. Tress cares for the crew of the Crow's Song deeply, and risks her life to keep them safe. The crew recognizes her actions, and love her for it, much to Crow's disgust.
Tress likes to see the best in people, not willing to accept that they are bad people beyond redemption. Laggart demanded his own death from Tress after Crow was defeated, but Tress was unwilling to go through with it, as that was not her. She would rather forgive him, than do the easy thing and kill him.
She is quite naive about how the world works, and has much to learn while on her travels looking for Charlie. Simple things like eating verdant vines, common knowledge to many, is new to her.
Tress is very brave and willing to go to great lengths to help others, including leaving the island she grew up on for the love of her life. Rather than risking the life of her crew, Tress tries to face the midnight essence alone, believing it to be her task alone and not wanting to lose any more crew.
==== Cups ====
Tress is an avid collector of cups, and goes out of her way to get her hands on them. She used to wash windows to earn money, of which she would spend on ingredients to make pies for trading with sailors visiting the island for more cups. Tress loves showing off her cups to Charlie, and would always go to him to show new ones off when she got them. Her cups are some of her most prized possessions, and she takes some of her favorite ones with her when she heads off to rescue Charlie.
== Attributes and Abilities ==
Tress is a remarkable cook, who can make the most of whatever ingredients she has at her disposal. On Diggen's Point she trades for whatever ingredients are available in the port market, some of which may be past their best. Realizing that Fort was only cook of the Crow's Song out of necessity, Tress takes over and produces food beyond what the crew could have expected much to their surprise and delight.
Tress is relatively new to being a sprouter, having taken on the role more out of desperation to be seen as useful, than because of her skill with aether spores. Tress has a healthy respect for spores, and does not allow her fear to prevent her from using them. Tress can manipulate spores that are considered dangerous by many, able to form a bond with Midnight Essence and use it to spy on Crow. Tress's control over verdant spores is quite remarkable, and can effectively use them to lift a ship clear of the Crimson Sea to avoid the spikes caused by the rain.
== History ==
=== Early Life ===
Tress, named Glorf after family members before her, was born to a peasant family on Diggen's Point. Her wild hair gained her the name Tress, which everyone knew her by. She washed windows for a meager living, using much of her funds to buy ingredients to make pies to exchange for cups that sailors brought her. Regularly running into the duke's son Charlie on the mansion's grounds, which she could access because she cleaned the windows, she soon fell in love with him despite him pretending to be a groundskeeper. While Charlie was away with the duke to court princesses from other kingdoms, Tress received four cups sent by him on his travels. During this time, she continued to collect her own cups, though fewer than normal, to show to Charlie when he returned.
=== Leaving the Rock ===
Tress tried to escape Diggen's Point to rescue Charlie from the Sorceress when the king and the duke refused to. She managed to con her way aboard the Oot's Dream, pretending to be an inspector with her father's assistance, but was captured and imprisoned by the crew. The ship was a smuggling ship and the crew believed her to be an inspector who was out to get them. She met Huck while being held captive, not long before the ship was attacked by the pirate ship Crow's Song. Fleeing the ship after the seethe stopped, Tress walked across the Verdant Sea to seek passage on the pirate ship.
=== Crow's Song ===
Tress managed to gain admittance onto the ship by hanging on to the side for fifteen minutes before they let her onboard. She proved her usefulness to the ship by scrubbing decks, filling pouches of spores for use with the cannons, and eventually taking over the role of being the ships sprouter. Tress learned that the captain wanted the ship to become deadrunners to force the crew to be loyal. She found some midnight spores with the help of Hoid, that she then figured out could be used to spy on the captain in exchange for water. Tress learned to use various spores to temporarily fix holes in the ship, and later discovered that she could somewhat control the spores with her thoughts. She met with several members of the crew, who believed her to be a King's Mask, despite her insistence otherwise. Tress managed to convince Crow that they should go into the Crimson Sea, and further experimented with spores to develop a flare gun that fired bullets that would spread Verdant spores all over the target. She saved the ship from the unpredictable rainfalls in the Crimson Sea, and the ship traveled until it reached the lunagree. Crow discovered the planned mutiny and defeated the members soundly, and then descended below the surface of the spore ocean with Tress.
=== Deals with a dragon ===
Crow and Tress came across Xisis, the dragon, and Crow offered Tress in exchange for a boon. Tress, seeing no other option, made the same offer much to the confusion of both the dragon and Crow. Tress and Crow, both had to argue their case that the other would make a better slave for the dragon, and Tress was ultimately successful when she insisted she would do everything in her power to escape. Tress negotiated some gifts for her friends in exchange, and became the new captain of the Crow's Song.
=== The Sorceress's Trials ===
Salay showed Tress to Hoid, who had been about to throw jugs of water overboard and who had been throwing much of their food stores overboard too. Hoid revealed he was doing so under instruction from Huck, who wished to convince them not to continue on to Sorceress's island. The Crow's Song eventually arrived at the Midnight Sea, and Tress went with Huck in a small boat to try take control over the Midnight Essence that patrols the ocean. Unsuccessful, Huck used his connection with the Sorceress to get them free passage to the island. Tress and Huck met the Sorceress in person inside the tower, and after some convincing, agreed to trade Charlie in exchange for Tress's two cups she had in her possession. Tress realized this Charlie was a fake, and that Huck was really Charlie, and had been cursed to be a rat. The Crow's Song and its crew come to the rescue, and while the Sorceress was distracted, Tress used a magical tablet in the room to communicate with Fort. The Sorceress immobilized Tress after realizing what Tress was doing, and went to curse her to before Hoid showed up to save her. Tress then was able to use the threat of Hoid and the rest of the crew to get the Sorceress to leave the planet, after it was discovered Charlie's curse could not be undone. Hoid adjusted the parameters of the curse after the Sorceress left Lumar in her tower, which was actually a spaceship.
=== Return to Diggen's Point ===
Five months later, Tress, Charlie, and the rest of the crew returned to Diggen's Point aboard their new ship, Two Cups, after being pardoned by the king. She presented the duke with the writ they had gotten from the king, changing the law so people could leave the island. She and Charlie sailed off with her family and the rest of the old crew of Crow's Song, with Charlie now cured thanks to Hoid's adjustments to the curse, so that he only had to return Tress back to her home.
== Relationships ==
=== Ann ===
Ann gets along with Tress pretty much straight away, answering some of her questions around why she is a pirate. She helps Tress get medical assistance from Ulaam when she blows up her face, and helps her understand how to be a sprouter. Ann is ecstatic when Tress returned without Crow from their meeting with Xisis, and is confused at first when Tress hands over the spectacles to help her with the micropsia that has been a problem for most of her life. Ann is able to successfully shoot the metal men defending the Sorceress and is part of the crew to rescue Tress.
=== Charlie ===
Tress loves Charlie so much that she leaves Diggen's Point illegally and heads off on a grand adventure to the most dangerous parts of the planet to try rescue him. Charlie and Tress understand each other well, both referring to each other as a pair of gloves, and seeing it for the compliment it is. While stuck as a rat, Charlie befriends Tress despite her not knowing his true identity. Charlie helps Tress on her journey to Sorceress's island by helping spy on Crow, but is against the ultimate goal of getting there and tries disrupt the journey, much to Tress's disbelief. Tress learns Charlie was really Huck the rat all along while facing the Sorceress, and the two are properly reunited with Hoid's assistance. The two continue to travel together, him acting as her valet, while the two properly date.
=== Crow ===
Crow initially cared very little for Tress, going so far as to order her thrown overboard and left to die in the pursuit of having her crew become deadrunners. Tress manages to convince Crow of her usefulness, which backfires somewhat for her as Crow then sees Tress as a means of being able to cure herself of the spore gestation she is stuck with. Crow underestimates Tress, not seeing her as a threat and going so far as to prove this by defeating the mutiny Tress was a part of with ease. This is also her downfall, as Tress is able to out-negotiate her with Xisis, and Crow is left behind with the dragon while Tress is able to carry on her quest to save Charlie.
=== Fort ===
Fort was the cook of the Crow's Song, though not because he was especially good at cooking, but because he was the best of who tried cooking after Weev died. He ensures Tress gets fed, and not just by saving leftovers either, but setting aside food before all the Dougs get at it. Tress delights Fort when offering to trade her cooking services in exchange for him feeding her, a trade that he is going to brag about for many years to come.
When Crow broke Fort's tablet after learning about the planned mutiny, he was absolutely devastated. Much to his joy, Tress manages to get one as part of her boon from the dragon Xisis.
=== Hoid ===
Despite his curse from Riina, Hoid does his best to assist Tress in finding the Sorceress's island. Tress realized that his curse would likely be cured if he was brought to Sorceress's island, and ensured the crew brought him along. Hoid arrived just in time to save Tress, defending her from Riina's attack. As the new captain of the Crow's Song ship of which Hoid is a crew member of, Tress orders Hoid to defend her and the crew from Riina, much as she dislikes giving orders. Even if he is not too keen to do so, he still steps forward to ensure Riina is not able to cause further harm.
=== Salay ===
Salay firmly believed that Tress was really a King's Mask in disguise, and hoped that Tress would help her and the rest of the crew from being executed by the king if captured. Salay steered the ship through the dangerous sea around Sorceress's island to bring the crew to rescue Tress. Thanks to Tress getting the information from Xisis, Salay was finally able to find her father who joins the crew on Two Cups.
== Trivia ==
* Although never stated by the text itself, the painting by Howard Lyon depicts Riina as trying to cast the Aon Shao on Tress. This aon is about transformation and also uses illusion magic, indicating that the Sorceress was planning to have Tress's curse revolve around an illusion or transformation. This art should not be taken as fact and Aon Shao is not necessarily the Aon that was used.
* Some of Tress's attributes such as her pragmatic nature and not wanting to impose on people, are inspired by Brandon's wife, Emily, though Tress is not meant to be a direct parallel of her.
* The inspiration behind Tress's agency in setting out to rescue her beloved, comes partly from The Princess Bride where the character Buttercup does not pursue her love. Brandon and his wife Emily agreed that Buttercup should have done something more than just falling into despair. What if Buttercup was more proactive?
== Notes ==
category: Viewpoint characters
es:Trenza