### 1. STRENGTHS TO PRESERVE

*   **Mira’s Voice Signature:** The use of her internal correction tic—*"Actually. No."*—is perfectly deployed to show her shifting gears from reactive to proactive. Her curse scale is also accurate: *"Past and rot"* (furious) and *"Burning memory"* (genuinely upset) are used correctly in response to the Ministry's arrival and the Decree.
*   **Dorian’s Formal Understatement:** His reaction to the Imperial skiff (*"The timing is... suboptimal"*) and the Decree (*"The circumstances are not auspicious"*) perfectly maintains his "Format Understatement Scale" while signaling to the reader that he is internally reeling.
*   **The Somatic Tether:** The visceral description of their connection (*"tasted his sudden, sharp realization—a flavor like bitter almonds and iron"*) reinforces the magical stakes and the intimacy established in previous chapters.
*   **Tactile Characterization:** Mira’s tendency to touch objects to process information is preserved: *"the glass cool against my forehead," "fingers curling into the velvet," "snatched the scroll."*

**VOICE CHECK:**
*   **Mira:** YES. Identified by her stuttered self-corrections and high-emotion run-on sentences during the archive scene.
*   **Dorian:** YES. Identified by "the evidence suggests" and his increasingly rigid, archaic politeness when threatened by the courier.

### 2. MUST-FIX — CONTINUITY

*   **Kaelen’s Status Contradiction:**
    *   *The Error:* The Chapter 8 Character State (RAG) explicitly lists Kaelen as "ALIVE in Med-Ward -- Ministry does NOT know." However, the chapter text has Mira and Dorian finding him in the *Archives*, where he then seemingly prepares to go to the Arena to die (or dies shortly after).
    *   *The Correction:* If Kaelen is in the Med-Ward (per the status tracker), Mira and Dorian should be visiting him there, perhaps in a restricted wing. If the Archives are the intended setting, the Character State must be updated to reflect he has moved. Furthermore, the text suggests Mira thinks he’s just "working" in the archives, but the RAG says his critical status is a known "secret."
*   **The "Deceased" Kaelen Hook:**
    *   *The Error:* The chapter ends with "The Ministry believed Kaelen was dead." This contradicts the earlier RAG notes implying he was a hidden survivor.
    *   *The Correction:* Ensure the text clarifies that the Ministry *officially* thinks he died on the Bridge, which explains why his presence in the Academy is a "secret."

### 3. MUST-FIX — CLARITY

*   **The "Blood-Price" Revelation:**
    *   *The Passage:* *"failure to achieve total equilibrium results in a... 'controlled dissolution' of the tattered mana-fields."*
    *   *The Problem:* It isn't entirely clear how this differs from the "Founders' Trap" mentioned at the end of the chapter. Is the trap a Ministry invention or a 300-year-old structural curse?
    *   *The Fix:* Clarify that the Ministry *activated* a dormant secondary fail-safe already present in the architecture. Dorian’s final reveal needs to explicitly state that the "Blood-Price" wasn't something the Ministry wrote, but something they *triggered* knowing the Chancellors would fall for it.

### 4. OPTIONAL SUGGESTIONS

*   **Curriculum Obligation (Optional):** The RAG notes Mira owes a "defensive reorganization" and Dorian owes a "curriculum rewrite." Briefly mentioning a stack of papers or a map of the "Grey Union" defensive wards on the desk before the courier arrives would ground the "Active Obligations" listed in the project state.
*   **The Courier’s Exit (Optional):** To emphasize the "Grey Era," the spark Mira throws at the courier’s feet could be described as "charcoal-edged" or "mercury-tinted" to show her magic is already permanently changed.

### 5. FORBIDDEN CHANGES / NON-GOALS

*   **Do not "fix" Dorian's repetitive use of "The evidence suggests."** This is a non-negotiable voice trait.
*   **Do not "smooth out" Mira's interruptions.** Her *"Actually. No."* is a deliberate character tic representing her impulsive but self-correcting nature.
*   **Do not remove the "suboptimal" phrasing.** While a "human" editor might find it repetitive, for Dorian, it is his specific emotional thermometer.

### 6. VERDICT

**REVISE**

**Reasoning:** There is a significant location and status conflict regarding Kaelen. The Project State (RAG) places him in the Med-Ward in critical condition as a "secret," while the chapter text has him hiding in the Archives and Mira being surprised by his deterioration. Additionally, the distinction between the Ministry's betrayal and the "Founders' Trap" needs a sharper mechanical explanation to ensure the "Starfall Accord" feels like a double-layered trap rather than a confusing one. Once the timeline of Kaelen's "death" (official vs. actual) is synchronized with the Med-Ward/Archive location, the chapter will be structurally sound.