Ava Corajoso is an Afro Brazilian, blind mermaid who is one of the main characters in the Waterfire Saga. She is fluent is Portuguese and had a eye-seeing piranha called Baby. She now owns a piranha named Sweetie.
Appearance[]
Ava has glossy black hair in dozens of braids, skin of "a warm chocolate brown shade", high cheekbones and pale, clouded eyes, due to her blindness.
Throughout the series, Ava wears a fuchsia dress and scarf and glasses with round, silver lenses.
Personality[]
In the Iele's prophecy she is described as one possessed of prophet's sight. Her piranha Baby is usually with her because he helps her get around. Her friends say she is known for having strange pets, as a piranha is a strange pet. Ava is known for her 'ready laugh and sassy attitude'. To some, she may seem organized and efficient. She is also very likable.
Ava has a cheerful and lively attitude, is not afraid to speak her mind and is very brave. She is not afraid to disobey to what people say and is quite stubborn, but also fearless as she is determined to find Nyx's ruby ring.
History[]
When Ava was a little girl, six years old exactly, she lost her sight due to a fever, and her father said it was a decision of the gods.
Pre-Series[]
Ava grew up in the waters of Macapá in the Amazon River.
Deep Blue[]
Ava first appears in in Deep Blue, where she meets Serafina, Neela, Ling, Becca, Astrid, and Baba Vraĵa. She had her piranha at that time, noting that she takes him everywhere on a leash. She first appears when ghosts are attacking Becca and she taunts them so they fight each other instead of Becca. She trains with Baba Vraĵa and the Iele with her new friends, mastering the gift of prophecy and convocas. She helps battle Abbadon and participates in the bloodbind with Serafina, Neela, Becca, and Ling. She is last seen disappearing into the mirror with her eye-seeing piranha, Baby.
Rogue Wave[]
Ava is seen in this book only twice in convocas. In the beginning, she warns Serafina in convoca that she shouldn't go to Atlantis because it is too dangerous, due to the Opafago.
Dark Tide[]
Ava returns to Macapa, her home village in the Amazon River, and feels hopeless because she doesn't know why she lost her sight. She learns by a convoca from Sera that she has to find her talisman, a ruby ring. She mishears Sera and thinks she has sixteen days to find her talisman, when however she only has six. However, she receives a vison which shows her parents in their kitchen surrounded by death riders and realizes she can't go home because death riders await her arrival, so she sets out find her talisman in the Mississippi. Sera later convocas Ava again at the end of the book to warn her about the Death riders on the way. Ava refuses to go back to the Blackfins hideout and goes to the swamp to look for her talisman.
Sea Spell[]
Ava learns that the sight of the Okwa Naholo is enough to kill a mer, and she needs to pass them to get the ring. She realizes that this is a reason for her sight loss. On her way to the Okwa Naholo she is helped by Manon Laveau, a swamp queen who gave Ava medicine for her fever and a gris-gris.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- "Ava" is a variant of the name "Eve", which derives from the Hebrew word "Chawwah", which means "to breathe", or the related word "chayah", which translates to "to live".
- Ava, Neela and Ling are the only main female characters to not have a love interest during the series.