Gwenevere Lark

Gwenevere Athena "Gwen" Lark is the main protagonist of the Atlantis Grail series by Vera Nazarian. She, along with two of her other siblings Gracie and Gordie, Qualified and were admitted onto Atlantis. On Atlantis, she competed in the Games of the Atlantis Grail and won in the Vocalist Category. She has an extremely powerful Logos Voice and is soon to be the Imperatris of Atlantis, being the Imperial Bride and Consort of Aeson Kassiopei.

Her Quadrant is Yellow, and she is an official Citizen of Atlantis. On Earth, she lived in the state of Vermont.

Her nickname is Shoelace Girl. Her middle Name is Athena.

## Background

Gwen is the oldest daughter and second child of four (George, Gwenevere, Gordon, and Grace) born to Charles and Margot Lark. Gwen is also known as Gee Two (to her siblings). After a physical training session with Xelio, in which she quickly used her shoelaces to create a cord (as cords are one of the two primary weapons used by those affiliated with the Yellow Quadrant) Gwen was dubbed 'Shoelace Girl' by her younger brother Gordon. This nickname would follow her all the way to Atlantis, and become one of the terms she was known by to the general population of that world.

Gwen is 5'9 and slim, with long, dark brown hair and blue eyes. She also has a well-developed bosom, as she recalls her mother's mention that she is growing out of a C-cup brassiere and will need to go to a D-cup soon. Despite her lack of self-awareness (and in fact, her belief otherwise), Gwen is a very attractive young woman who has attracted the attention of some of the most eligible men in the series. (A better example of her attractiveness was provided due to the backward compliment about her appearance by the Imperator, who referred to her as 'mildly pretty', and attractive enough to catch the eye of Aeson Kassopei. Considering the beauty demonstrated my the majority of the Atlantean women in the series, to have any sort of positive compliment of a Gebi female's attractiveness by an Atlantean male is a major compliment.)

Gwen is an incredibly intelligent young woman in addition, she consistently displays an inherent skill for operating well under extreme pressure in even life-threatening situations, and for displaying unconventional tactics and developing such strategies in those situations. (These are qualities that make her a textbook candidate for the Atlantean Yellow Quadrant.)

In her early years (and in fact, during the first few weeks of training at Regional Qualification Center Pennsylvania Three), Gwen displayed a tendency towards physical ineptitude (she was referred to as 'clumsy'). This was due to a number of factors - most notably discomfort towards her physical appearance (exacerbated by the high levels of bullying that she was subject to) and her own feelings of inadequacy in relation to students that she felt were more attractive and talented than she was. Gwen's clumsiness lessened and then disappeared as she gained a greater sense of self-confidence and well-being (brought on by physical training through Qualification); this included her discovery of an innate skill for martial arts - in particular, her aptitude for the Atlantean martial art of Er-Du.

Because of her residual sense of discomfort towards her appearance, Gwen still has a reticent attitude towards any form of overtly fashionable or regal clothing choices, preferring more sensible and plain clothing options. However, when she is called to dress in more fashionable attire, she is capable of wearing such outfits in a manner that vastly enhances her beauty and sexual allure (to the point of being seen as unattainable, in the eyes of some men).

## Qualify

During the Preliminaries, Gwen, like many others, was confused by the strange nature of the test. It is believed that she did well on the general knowledge test portion because of her intelligence, and she was Preliminary-Qualified just like the rest of her siblings. At the Pennsylvania Regional Qualification Center, she was assigned to the Yellow Quadrant in Dormitory Eight. During this time, she met Laronda Aimes who soon became a good friend of hers and was later transported to Atlantis with her.

On the first day of classes, Gwen had Agility first. She did badly because of her clumsiness and earned two demerits. However, she did okay on the hoverboard portion. She met Blayne Dubois, who was generally unfriendly at first but warmed up to her and Laronda. She also did poorly in Combat, where she met Aeson Kassiopei who was then known as simply Aeson Kass. That night, in the dormitory, she was tormented by a few girls who took a disliking to her for no reason, but managed to defend herself and get away, and then reached Gracie's Red dorm where she met Logan Sangre and a few other Reds. She and Logan got along well, sparking the start of their temporary relationship.

The next day during her Culture class, Gwen learned that if they Qualified they would not be Citizens and would therefore have a low class. She also learned about the Games of the Atlantis Grail.

## Compete

After successful qualification Gwen is for the first 5 days at Ark-Ship (AS) 1109. At Day 5 (the 3rd day after leaving Earth) all teens who have successfully qualified are requested to choose their future in atlantean society - civilian or cadet. Gwen decided to neither, (wanting to be a Citizen to be able to save her parents and her oldest brother from certain death) but regardless of that she was ordered by Command Pilot (CP) Aeson Kassiopei to make transfer to Imperial Command Ship 2 (ICS-2, for short). There, she serves for the remainder of the voyage as additional aide to the CP, tasked to write a history about the voyage of the fleet from Earth to Atlantis (and taking additional voice lessons from Aeson, because of her LOGOS-voice capability). The CP also allows her to remain undecided about her future up to her evaluation at the end of the voyage. She is also to take lessons in court protocol by Consul Denu, because of Aesons status as Crown Prince.

Shortly after that, she (among others, like Logan Sangre and Blayne Dubois) is victim in the uprising of the terrorists of Terra Patria, who are used by Earth-Union-operatives - who want the Atlanteans to turn and act against the Asteroid which is destined to destroy Earth. The uprising (which, at least abord ICS-2, claimed many lives) is finally crushed by forces led by Aeson Kassiopei. Gwen survives, but suffered a concussion during its course.

Because of her undecided status, Gwen takes lessons which will allow her to chose both paths (civilian and cadet), for example piloting classes. As part of it, she is taking part at 2 Quantum-Stream-races. During the first one, she and her piloting partner Hugo Moreno loose the fleet, but using her Logos-Voice Gwen is able to key the fleet-Quantum-Stream to her and return to the fleet. Nonetheless she ends the race on last position of all piloting pairs aboard ICS-2. Shortly after that, the cadets are allowed to change their piloting partners, and with her new partner, Chiyoko Sato, she ends the 2nd QS-race as #5 of all cadet-pilot-pairs from ICS-2.

During the voyage it comes to the break between her and Logan Sangre, initiated by Logan, at the 1st (the Blue) Zero-Gravity-Dance because he realizes that she feels a rising attraction to Aeson Kassiopei (something she doesn't admit to herself at that time, knowing that her chances to get him are slim, at best - because Aeson is - aside of Command Pilot of ICS-2 - Crown Prince and heir to the Imperator of Imperial Atlantida and obligated to choose his bride after returning to Atlantis). Nonetheless she makes sure he knows about her feelings about him, because she uses the 3rd of the 4 Zero-Gravity-dances - the red one - to ... open his eyes singing an aria from Bizet's opera Carmen at that occasion.

Because of her continued stubborness about getting Citizenship at the end of the voyage, Aeson makes her aware of the fact during her final evaluation, that the default choice is civilian and she will be registered as such as soon as she lands at Atlantis.

After the arrival of the fleet, Gwen is ordered by Aeson (who, in turn, is ordered to do so by his father) to accompany him to Atlantis. There she's to make her appearance before the Imperial Court (and - something she doesn't know at that time - because of her LOGOS-voice, after it to be delivered to some secret scientific laboratories for "testing", which would undeniably cause her death) at the same occasion Aeson has to choose his Bride.

But Aeson has other plans with Gwen, because - to the total surprise of both his father and the Court - he chooses her as his Imperial Bride.

## Win

Gwen Lark the imperial bride to Aeson Kassiopei embarks on her life as his bride until the imperator gives her an unrefusable, to compete in the Atlantis grail games it is a sentence to death but somehow she prevails winning the last round by grabbing the yellow grail off its post at the end of the pegesi rase and during the tie breaker she lifts the Atlantis grail monument and activates the ark ship that only the evil imperator knew was there broadcasting its sound out to the cosmos.

## Survive

Gwen gets absolutely railed by Aeson Kassiopei. Like completely railed.

## Motivations

Her motivations were to qualify for Atlantis, taking her 2 brothers Gordon and George and her little sister Gracie along with her. Their mother, Margot Lark was dying of cancer, and needed the high tech Atlantean medical supplies to survive.

## Relationships

Logan Sangre, whom she dates until the first zero-G dance where they break up due to her realization of her feelings for Aeson.

Xelio Vekahat: Gwen's instructor, who invites her to go to the 3rd (red) zero gravity dance where he kisses her on the inside of her wrist. Their relationship does not go farther than that.

Aeson Kassiopei: Gwen's training commander, the Imperial Prince of *Atlantida*, with whom she begins a relationship at the end of Compete when he announces her as his bride and goes on to marry and have 5 children.

## Quotes

"I do not accept this."

"I will marry you not for my safety but because I could not imagine anything else."

"Good night my sweet prince."

1. ↑ Qualify (Chapter 1)
2. ↑ Qualify, (Chapter 54)
3. ↑ Win, Chapter 14
4. ↑ Survive, Chapter 1
5. ↑ Win, Chapter 31
6. ↑ Qualify, Chapter 5
7. ↑ Survive, Chapter 18
8. ↑ Survive, Chapter 59