### 1. PROSE EVIDENCE

*   **Quote 1 (Early):** "The Heart Tree pulsed without a heartbeat, its ancient roots thrumming through Lena's veins like the bayou's own endless breath."
    *   *Commentary:* This effectively establishes the physical stakes of the apotheosis, merging the biological and environmental elements into a single gothic image.
*   **Quote 2 (Mid):** "He was the Apex Guardian, the tooth and claw of her will."
    *   *Commentary:* This sentence efficiently summarizes Jax’s completed character arc without needing excessive exposition.
*   **Quote 3 (Mid):** "The woman who had once hungered for the throne was now satisfied to be its most devoted gear."
    *   *Commentary:* The mechanical metaphor ("gear") works well to describe Maribelle's integration into the subterranean Siphon Hub.
*   **Quote 4 (Late):** "Inside the Veil, the frantic, buzzing ghosts of the modern world had been exorcised."
    *   *Commentary:* This provides a strong thematic contrast between the technology of the "outside" and the sentient silence of the grove.
*   **Quote 5 (Late):** "The bayou whispered its final truth—eternal, unyielding, alive—and in that hush, Cypress Bend dreamed forever."
    *   *Commentary:* As a final line, it underscores the "Permanent" status of the World State and provides a definitive sense of closure.

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### 2. CHARACTER VOICE AUDIT

**Lena Duval**
*   **Line:** "*Gator’s truth,* she thought... *The land don’t just take. It keeps.*"
*   **Signature Vocabulary/Tics:** YES. Uses the "Gator's truth" verbal tic as specified in the voice signature.
*   **Avoid Forbidden Speech:** YES. She does not apologize or say "I give up."
*   **Emotional Register:** YES. Her tone is "transcendent" and "serene," matching her ch-17 state.

**Aunt Maribelle Duval**
*   **Line:** "Grand-mère would be proud, Lena. The blood has found its level. The water has filled the glass."
*   **Signature Vocabulary/Tics:** YES. Maintains the formal, slightly cryptic religious tone of the Duval Coven.
*   **Avoid Forbidden Speech:** YES. Voice is subservient and integrated.
*   **Emotional Register:** YES. Reflects her 100% arc completion of "total subservient devotion."

**Remy LeBlanc**
*   **Line:** "Always did say this place had a mind of its own, didn't I, cher?"
*   **Signature Vocabulary/Tics:** YES. Uses the Cajun French endearment "cher" as specified for those he cares for.
*   **Avoid Forbidden Speech:** YES. Avoids any formal register that would break his "informant" persona.
*   **Emotional Register:** YES. Displays the "peaceful resignation" and "acceptance" noted in the character state.

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### 3. STRENGTHS TO PRESERVE

*   **Sensory Grounding:** The insistence on the scent profile ("Always smells faintly of magnolia and mud") is maintained in the interior grove section: "...the scent of magnolia and mud was strongest."
*   **Thematic Consistency:** The "Great Hum" and the transformation of pollutants into fuel is a strong callback to the Siphon Hub's purpose. Reference: "The Great Hum was busy now, metabolizing the lead in the soil and the plastic in the creeks."
*   **Visual Motifs:** The silver locket serves as the final tether to her humanity. Reference: "She felt the silver locket she still wore—or rather, the place where the locket was now encased in the living wood of her chest."

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### 4. MUST-FIX -- CONTINUITY

*   **ORIGINAL:** "Maribelle didn’t look up. She didn't need to see Lena to know she was being watched."
*   **PROBLEM:** While Lena's consciousness is everywhere, the physical description of Maribelle in the "Siphon Hub (Subterranean)" being watched by Lena in the "Heart Tree" should be explicit about the *nature* of the observation to avoid appearing like a standard POV break.
*   **FIX:** "Maribelle didn't look up; she felt the vibration of Lena's attention through the very bioluminescent moss she tended."

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### 5. MUST-FIX -- CLARITY

*   **ORIGINAL:** "The land claims had been swallowed. The boardrooms were silenced."
*   **PROBLEM:** This is a bit too abstract for a final chapter. It’s unclear if this is a literal physical swallowing of buildings or a metaphorical legal defeat.
*   **FIX:** "The physical markers of corporate expansion—the survey stakes and the concrete pylons—had been swallowed by the rising muck, and the boardrooms in the city beyond had fallen silent in the face of the No-Fly zone."

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### 6. OPTIONAL SUGGESTIONS

*   **Suggestion:** Lean harder into Lena’s imperfection signature (repeating words when panicked) during the brief memory of her mother.
*   **Quote:** "*No no, it wasn't a death, no no,* she thought, the words repeating in her mind like a soft chant."
*   **Reason:** While it's used here as a "soft chant," the repetition is her panic-tell. Adding just one more repetition could link her past trauma more firmly to her current divine state.

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### 7. FORBIDDEN CHANGES / NON-GOALS

*   **DO NOT CHANGE:** The use of "don't" in Lena's thought ("The land don't just take"). This reflects the voice signature's "clipped and rhythmic like bayou chants" and her specific dialect.
*   **DO NOT CHANGE:** The repetition of "no no" in Lena’s internal monologue. This is her Imperfection Signature from the character sheet.
*   **DO NOT CHANGE:** The lack of conflict in this chapter. As it is Chapter 17 (FINAL), the "Unresolved Loops: NONE" instruction dictates a state of terminal resolution.

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### 8. VERDICT

**SCORE: 96**
**JUSTIFICATION:** The chapter perfectly executes the "FINAL" requirements of the character and world states, maintains all voice signatures (notably "Gator's truth" and "cher"), and utilizes verbatim evidence of the character's arcs reaching 100%. Minor clarity fixes are the only requirements for a perfect transition.

**VERDICT: PASS**