Trisana Chandler
Trisana Chandler, Tris for short, is a character in Tamora Pierce's Circle of Magic and Circle Opens quartets (see Shatterglass) and the book The Will of the Empress. She has curly red hair (her friend Briar calls her "Coppercurls"), gray eyes, and wears spectacles. She believes herself to be fat and is called "Fatty" a few times by some of the series' crueler characters. Later, when she obtains her mage's credential, she does her hair in numerous braids. Her magic is with weather and her braids are her mage kit, each one storing things like lightning and wind. Her braids do not store rain, however, as it makes her hair go frizzy.
Tris loves to read, comes from a merchant family, and has a temper. Before she learned control over her magic, strange things would happen when she got angry or emotional, such as causing it to hail indoors or to strike lightning nearby. Because of this, her parents passed her around their relatives, finally leaving her at Broken Circle Temple. Tris did not fit in at Stone Circle either, so Niklaren Goldeye, (Niko), was asked to take her to Winding Circle Temple. At Winding Circle, it was finally discovered she had ambient weather magic and she was moved to Discipline Cottage, which is still in Winding Temple.
Early life
Tris's family, (mother's name is Darra Chandler, father's name is Valden Chandler last reported to be still in Ninver), thought she was either haunted or an elemental based on the strength of the weather phenomena that she unwittingly created. Magic testers had repeatedly found she had no magic, though. At a very young age before she came to Winding Circle, Tris was transferred from one family member to another, for nobody wanted her because of the ruckus that followed her when she accidentally used magic. She therefore developed a rather bitter feeling towards her family and a love of animals, the only ones who would accept her.
Eventually her family gave up on her and sent her to a temple where her magic was discovered by Niklaren Goldeye when they were trying to get rid of her as well by transferring her to Winding Circle Temple. While most weather mages can just control rainfall or winds, Tris has power over earthquakes, rainfall, lightning (which is a very rare magic), winds, cyclones, volcanoes and water.
Magic
Tris has ambient magic with weather and the earth, affecting various types of elemental currents, such as the flow of magma or the ocean tides. She is the only known weather mage that can predict the weather accurately, one hundred percent of the time. She can affect the wind, lightning, call rain and manipulate the sea. Once she tried stopping the tide but got sick from doing it. The breezes she controls can be made by Tris to bring her voices so that she can overhear a lot of talks, while at the same time cooling her off. She can spin winds and water into threads and balls, shaping them to her need. She can raise shields against spells in a few moments that would take most accomplished mages hours to make. One of her more interesting powers is her ability to sprout lightning and to control it at will, but when she was younger, and when she is angry, her hair sparks lightning or storms came up. This often led people to be afraid of her as with Polyam in Daja's Book.
Later, she stores her magic, as well as raw power, in her hair, which she braids in specific magical patterns taught to her by her foster-sister, Sandry. The braids allow her to keep vast amounts of power with her at all times and can only be unpinned by Tris. On the wind, she can scry places far away, witnessing events as they unfold. This is a skill that only one a generation possesses, most mages go mad attempting to see on the winds. The breezes can be made by Tris to bring her voices, while at the same time cooling her off. (She learned to scry first in Shatterglass.) During rain, she can create a shield of air so the people under it don't get wet.
Students
In Shatterglass, Tris takes on Kethlun Warder (Keth) when it is discovered he has lightning and glass magic. He had accidentally created Chime, a living glass dragon capable of flight. The lightning aspect makes Tris the ideal teacher for him. He uses his magic to create glass spheres that can depict what is happening elsewhere; they assist in the capture of a serial murderer. An interesting quirk of his power makes his eyes spark when he feels particularly strong emotions. Tris discovers that Glaki has academic magic near the end of Shatterglass, and is responsible for her teaching as well.
Additional note: Tris has a very close relationship with the three other students at Winding Circle, who go by the names of Briar Moss, Sandrilene fa Toren, and Daja Kisubo. She also has very close relationships with their dog, Little Bear, and the students' teachers, Dedicate Rosethorn, Dedicate Lark, Niko (not a dedicate), Dedicate Frostpine, and (sometimes) Dedicate Crane.