# CHAPTER POLISH EXTRACTION — PASS FINAL
**Project:** Cypress Bend | **Chapter:** 18 (Apotheosis)

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## Character State: ch-18 [CANONICAL]

### Lena Duval
- **Location:** The Heart Tree (Siphon Hub Core)
- **Physical:** Apotheosis complete—body transfigured into bioluminescent sap and silver-veined wood; no longer human substrate
- **Emotional:** Transcendent, serene; individual ego dissolved into the collective Hum; no personal suffering remains
- **Arc Status:** 100% COMPLETE — Fugitive → Guardian → Eternal Foundation
- **Obligations/Loops:** ZERO (all resolved)
- **Carried Secrets:** Ch-02 unresolved — mother's death was deliberate swamp calculus, not accident
- **Status:** PERMANENT (cannot leave; is the Bend's anchor)

### Jax Harlan
- **Location:** The Sovereign Veil (Perimeter Guardian)
- **Physical:** Enhanced; silver-green ocular reflex; total swamp toxin immunity
- **Emotional:** Absolute devotion; human desire purged; identity restructured as apex protector
- **Arc Status:** 100% COMPLETE — Cynical outsider → Devoted guardian
- **Obligations/Loops:** ZERO
- **Status:** PERMANENT (fused to sentinel role)

### Aunt Maribelle Duval
- **Location:** Subterranean Siphon Hub (biological integration)
- **Physical:** Immobile; transformed into filtration organ within root lattice
- **Emotional:** Absolute peace; redemption through functional selflessness
- **Arc Status:** 100% COMPLETE — Power seeker → Selfless component
- **Status:** PERMANENT

### Remy LeBlanc
- **Location:** Interior Grove / Root Memory Network
- **Physical:** Biologically suspended; integrated into cypress memory-strands
- **Emotional:** Contented; archival focus
- **Arc Status:** 100% COMPLETE — Gossip → Eternal historian
- **Carried Secrets:** Ch-05 unresolved — location of 1920s coven ledgers (known to Lena)
- **Status:** PERMANENT

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## World State: ch-18 [CANONICAL]

### The Bend (Cypress Bend Ecosystem)
- **Sentience:** Achieved — The Great Hum operates as singular, unified intelligence
- **Conflict Status:** CONCLUDED — Duval bloodline/land tension resolved via total biological integration
- **Hunger Status:** SATIATED — The Great Siphon sustained and regulated by integrated Duval spirits
- **Hierarchy:** DISSOLVED — Coven wills merged with Hum; no individual authority remains

### Perimeter & External Relations
- **Sovereign Veil:** Permanent sentient fog barrier; lethal to incursions; repels/vanishes outsiders
- **Louisiana Outsider Status:** TERRIFIED/REVERENT — The Bend classified as "Lethal Zone"; treated as sovereign deity-state
- **Human Access:** Denied (permanent)

### Unresolved Threads
- Ch-02 Secret: Lena knows mother's death was swamp-orchestrated (LENA ONLY)
- Ch-05 Secret: Remy knows 1920s ledger location (REMY ONLY)
- **Both remain permanently sealed within the Hum; no external revelation possible**

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## Status Summary
✓ All primary arcs: CLOSED  
✓ All characters: TRANSFORMED/PERMANENT  
✓ World: EQUILIBRIUM ACHIEVED  
✓ Conflict: RESOLVED via integration, not victory  
✓ Secrets: CONTAINED (inaccessible to external parties)

**CHAPTER 18 = CANONICAL FINAL STATE**