To: Facilitator
From: Devon, Developmental Editor, Crimson Leaf Publishing
Date: October 20, 202X
Subject: Developmental Review: Cypress Bend, ch-28 ("The Winter Trade")

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### 1. STRENGTHS TO PRESERVE
*   **The "Hardware Patch" Metaphor:** The transition of Marcus’s internal vocabulary from digital architecture to physical survival is perfectly executed. The line, *"He was carving a currency. Every pound of salt-pork was a minute of Elena’s welding time,"* encapsulates the entire "Winter Trade" theme efficiently.
*   **Atmospheric Tension:** The description of the violet-blue arc-welder light contrasting with the "post-grid" darkness of the barn creates a visceral, high-stakes environment.
*   **Voice Consistency:** 
    *   **Marcus:** YES. His use of "Diagnostic," "Status: Critical," and "Boolean" thinking (true/false) remains his anchor. *“The code didn’t bleed, David.”*
    *   **Sarah:** YES. Her "Texas lilt" and logistical coldness are present. The transition from clicking her pen to "the silence of her hands" is a powerful arc-beat.
    *   **Elena:** YES. Her abrasive, high-torque dialogue (e.g., *"If you're still welding at fifty-one, you're doing it in the dark"*) fits her grease-stained, protective profile.
    *   **David:** YES. His movement is "tectonic" and his directions are cardinal. *"Went East when the load was headin' North."*

### 2. MUST-FIX — CONTINUITY
*   **The Sarah/Leo Discrepancy:** The chapter states: *"Leo stood by the door... The boy was twelve now."* However, project context (ch-01/ch-20) establishes the "Sarah Incident" and her displacement from Dallas. The current text implies Sarah and Leo are physically present in the Kitchen Hub and Barn at Cypress Bend. 
    *   **Correction:** Ensure the narrative clarifies if Sarah and Leo have physically migrated to the Bend or if Marcus is hallucinating/projecting them. If they are now permanent residents, a brief "Since they arrived from Dallas" beat is needed to bridge the gap from her "Displaced" status in the character sheet.
*   **The Arthur Legacy Tractor:** The text refers to it as *"Arthur Silas Vance’s legacy tractor."* Earlier chapters and the world state establish Arthur died in his sleep and his tractor's failure was the catalyst for the "Sovereign Mesh." 
    *   **Correction:** Confirm the timeline. If the tractor was repaired in Ch-27, it shouldn't be shearing a gear in Ch-28 unless this is a *second* failure. If this is the primary failure, the "Winter Trade: COMPLETED" status in the World State RAG needs to be updated to "IN PROGRESS."

### 3. MUST-FIX — CLARITY
*   **The Welder Power Logic:** 
    *   **Passage:** *"But the power-draw is the bottleneck. If I fire up the arc-welder on the storage batteries, the Mesh drops. We'll glow like a Christmas tree..."*
    *   **Issue:** It is unclear why the Mesh "drops" just because the welder is on. Is it a total wattage limit or an electromagnetic interference issue? 
    *   **Concrete Fix:** Add one line of dialogue for Elena explaining that the high-amperage draw "starves the frequency modulators" or "drains the buffer faster than the panels can ghost the signature."

### 4. OPTIONAL SUGGESTIONS
*   **Sarah’s Motivation (Optional):** While her voice is strong, her transition from "Victim of the Alpha-7 rollout" to "Logistical Heart of the Bend" feels slightly rushed. A small beat where she acknowledges that she is now running the very "triage" systems she used to hate would add a layer of tragic irony.
*   **The Miller Interaction (Optional):** We hear about Miller, but we don't see the handoff. Showing Miller’s "grateful" but "hardened" face during the exchange of the hog for the steel would solidify the NPC memory mentioned in the RAG.

### 5. FORBIDDEN CHANGES / NON-GOALS
*   **Do not "humanize" Marcus's internal monologue.** His tendency to narrate physical sensations as "System Alerts" or "Diagnostics" (e.g., *“Diagnostic: Triage complete”*) is his defining trait. Do not replace these with standard emotional descriptions.
*   **Do not smooth over the cardinal direction dialogue.** David and Arthur's use of "North-by-Northwest" instead of "left" or "right" is a foundational world-building element of the "Grounded Realism" school.
*   **Do not remove the "Four-Beat Sequence" tapping.** This is Marcus's "ping" habit and must remain as a recurring physical tic.

### 6. VERDICT: REVISE
The chapter is structurally sound with a clear obstacle (broken gear), want (survive winter), and outcome (successful weld). However, the **Continuity** issue regarding Sarah and Leo’s physical location—contrasted against their "Displaced/Dallas" status in the character logs—creates a "Ghost in the Machine" confusion that must be resolved before this can pass to Lane for line-editing. If they have moved to the Bend, the world state must reflect the change in "Permanent Location."