Biography:
The Perpetual Rose: Quennel is the first Canopus emanation; Tara finds him in the bathroom once the penjing has grown to a sufficient size. Tara believes that he is there to help with the colony, but Quennel denies it – he is a fashion designer. Although this goes unstated, it is likely that as the first branch, his emanation was needed to fully establish the tree.
They are almost immediately confronted by Lady Lorma, who disapproves of yet another husband, and Heavensent, who is sent with a message from the Cantor that Canopus is an embarrassment. Heavensent continues to deride Quennel, but he strikes back, suggesting that the relationship between branches should receive definite nomenclature – budders and sistwigs. Heavensent is offended and leaves.
Surprisingly, Quennel refuses to consummate his relationship with Tara during a shared bath. He is concerned that, as a lone branch, pollination will be impossible for him. Unlike the older branches, who had been shying away from or denying the importance of pollination, from the beginning it is central to Quennel.
Quennel discovers the trading cards and is fascinated by them. Tara dislikes them because they seem so competitive, but Quennel’s perspective is different – he admires the emanations with more decorated cards. In fact, it’s seductive – he realizes that he’ll have a better chance of being pollinated by them. Before they go down to eat, he orders several bolts of plain fabric.
He attends a breakfast with Tara at Court Emmere. The linens offend his sensibilities, so he surreptitiously alters the weave using alchemy. When they return to Tara’s quarters, he transforms the bolts of cloth into sumptuous fabrics. Beyond any artistic considerations is a political one – he wants Tara to be free of the commercial entanglements which ensue when others provide her clothing. From now on, she will wear bespoke fashions.
Quennel is an elitist at heart, but he accuses Tara of insensitivity for displaying Tasean tapestries. Since Skarsia has captured Tasea, the tapestries look like trophies, and he advises her to take them down. Quennel remarks that a truly successful designer has to be enormously aware of the zeitgeist, which makes him a potential political advisor as well.
After a lengthy, wine-fueled political discussion, Tara suggests that they have sex. Quennel confesses that he is worried about pollination. Tara replies that Canopus is a penjing, and can easily be moved beneath Atlas. They bring the pot into the park at dusk, and position it between Evan and Whirljack’s branches. Quennel is dizzy with arousal, and as aware of Canopus’ attraction to Atlas as his own to Tara.
They return to the palace, where Tara proceeds with her seduction. Impatiently, Quennel rips off her nightgown – but it is at least half-inspired by his offense at the inferior fabric. Before they go to bed, he alchemically changes the sheets.
Near the end of the story, Rand reveals that Evan was Quennel’s first pollinator – and Quennel is completely infatuated with him. He is attempting to seduce Evan by designing his wardrobe. When Rand finally enters the pleroma, he appears on Ashvattha island. Quennel is waiting for him – inside of the pleroma, Canopus takes the form of a swan boat. They sail back to the Atlas Tower together.
The Portable Grove: Before the novel begins, Quennel and Tara are on Eirelantra; Quennel is upset that he will have no branches to pollinate. Canopus grows Ellery as a response. Because of this, Quennel thinks of Ellery as his concubine. We also learn that Quennel has revived the Skarsian Decorator’s Guild to fulfil his political ambitions.
In Experiment 11, Quennel would like Evan as his pollen partner, but he is worried that Evan is the branch secretly in love with Patrick. On the other hand, Evan is worried about coming between Quennel and Ellery. The two of them discover that they have both been secretly engaging in Tarlach’s PRAT therapy, which leads them to quarrel. Tara and Tarlach intervene; Evan and Quennel plan to pollinate Owen and Lugh while Ethan and Barnabas are emanated. As it turns out, Barnabas has also been doing PRAT; Ethan gets angry and stages a wild bdsm scene which traumatizes Evan. Nevertheless, Evan and Quennel’s nau’gshtamine production increases.
Quennel and Evan are participants in the first stress-test. Evan is his usual coy self as Quennel tries to seduce him, but he finally asks Tara if it is okay for him to experience sexual pleasure if it is not with her. Tara realizes that the question is coming from Ash himself and answers that she doesn’t feel like the pollen-kink is a violation of their n’aashet n’aaverti. Evan has an epiphany that the other branches have a duty to love the ones with the Gold Cards in order to love what Tara loves, perfecting their n’aashet n’aaverti. He then tries to convince Tara that she should fall in love with Quennel, but she falls in love with Evan instead, and awards the two of them a dispensation. They proceed to the second stress-test, where Evan, Daniel and Quennel confront Ailann with his isolationism.
Quennel appears later, during the ninth stress-test, when Tara needs a gown to attend the fancy dress ball. She attempts to borrow a dress from the ones in Suibhne’s palace, but Quennel objects, transforming the silk into a more luxurious weave. He accompanies Tara to the Swan Boat to meet Ellery, then takes her to the ball, where he is horrified by the formalwear sported by some of the others.
Correspondence Chart Entries from The Portable Grove
| Denotation | Quennel Oakley (French: small oak; English: oak field). |
| Numeration | 43rd emanation of Ashtara, 1st branch of Canopus; 12 in the correspondence chart. |
| Age | 29 |
| Hotness | 9/10 |
| Vital Statistics | 1.866 meters tall, cock size 17.78 cm when erect. |
| Description | Thin, tall, perfectly proportioned, fashion-model handsome. Side parted hair, close-cropped in back but falling rakishly into his eyes, dyed bright red. Wears slim cut self-designed bespoke suits. |
| Skills | Couturier, political advisor. |
| Sexual Prowess and Kinks | Bedding and lingerie. |
| Average Duration of Play | 12 minutes, 6 seconds. |
| Totem Tree | Quercus coccinea, the scarlet oak. |
| Fixed Star | Syrma, the garment-train (ι Vir). |
| Color |  |
| Esoteric Symbol | The Archimedean solid snub cube. |
| Function | Establishing empowerment. |
| Official Title | Vestetor Magnus (Master of the Wardrobe); Master of the Most Esteemed Guild of Free-decorators. |
| His Prophecy | He carries acorns. |
| Dessert | Chocumber fondue with nau’gsh filled puff-paste ravioli  |
Persistence of Weeds Addendum
| Branch Growth Characteristics | Suibhne grew Canopus from a root cutting of Atlas. He claimed that it was something important that had to be done, but could not explain why. The truth was that Atlas had absorbed the Canopus entities during Tielo's apotheosis and could not emanate them without violating the plan for the other trees. Quennel emanated as soon as there was sufficient branch growth. |
| Nul-history | One of thousands of sparks drawn up in the massive surge of power when Tielo became Archon of Yggdrasil, Quennel was admitted to the pleroma because his response to the vision of Tara was to say “Incomparable.” |
| Proto-conscious Root Concept | Rigor, designated Oak. |
| Prime Number of Energy Resonance | 37 |
| From Self-Portraits Not-of-Me II: Baby Pictures by Driscoll Garrett |  |