Ashton

Ashton is a notable character in A Death at Dawn. She is Gloriana Wayward's friend and handmaiden.

Appearance and Personality
Ashton is a beautiful woman who is tall, pale, and has long thick blonde hair. She was a nervous girl until she met Gloriana who made her more confident.

History
Ashton was born on the third day of the Snow Moon during the four hundred and eighty-seventh year after the Secession of Man. She is from the Black Ice Tribe in the Deadlands.

A Death at Dawn
At the beginning of A Death at Dawn, Ashton makes her appearance as Lady Gloriana's brand new handmaiden, replacing Maiden Barda. Gloriana pushes Ashton to stop being timid and to be more confident. Ashton shows this confidence when she is escorting Jaslyn back to Maryere and stops at a peasant village. When the peasants blocked their way, Ashton demands for the knights to murder the peasants. She is happy when Gloriana drunkenly refers to her as her Sweet Summer Child.

She walks in after Gloriana and Lord Falk Osmont's fight and cleans Gloriana's wounds, quickly realizing how violent the fight for power is. After Alice Wayward and Lord Falk Osmont leave Maryere, she is upset at how depressed Gloriana had become. She quietly suggests the possibility of Lord Borin Wayward's death. Instead, Gloriana tasks Ashton with finding the whore Lord Borin brought from Kingment so Gloriana can confront her. Alys finds the woman and gives Gloriana the directions to her cottage. When Gloriana returns from meeting her husband's mistress, Esme, she informs Ashton that Ashton will be leaving Maryere and returning home. On the day she leaves Maryere, she has a conversation with Jaslyn where she calls the girl "my queen".

Instead of going home, Ashton goes to Griffon's Den, the Grasslands.