# Character State: ch-12

## Lena Duval
- **Location:** Heart of the Siphon Hub, Cypress Bend.
- **Physical:** Stabilized; internal fever replaced by a "steady hum" synchronized with the Siphon. Her palm scar is a dormant silver brand.
- **Emotional:** Resigned and weary, yet profoundly anchored. She accepts her role as the "Warden," feeling the swamp as an extension of her own nervous system.
- **Active Obligations:** Owes Jax Harlan a life-debt (unpaid) for his defense during her transcendence.
- **Open Loops:** Must confront Aunt Maribelle regarding the Duval Coven’s claim and the "Machine-Witch" resonance (unresolved).
- **Known Secrets:** Knows the Siphon was designed for "Harmonic Bleed" to siphon swamp vitality to the Upper Districts (Jax is unaware).
- **Arc:** 100% — Transition to Warden is complete; she has traded her freedom for the "cage and crown" of the Bend.

## Jax Harlan
- **Location:** Beside Lena at the Siphon’s edge.
- **Physical:** Exhausted, raw knuckles, adrenaline crash; physical toll of the siege is evident.
- **Emotional:** Fiercely loyal; mourning the "normal" life Lena can no longer have; protective guardian.
- **Active Obligations:** Identify the mole within Terrebonne Security (unresolved).
- **Known Secrets:** None. 
- **Arc:** 90% — Committed outsider-turned-guardian; he has accepted a life tethered to a woman who cannot leave the water.

## Aunt Maribelle
- **Location:** The Duval Estate.
- **Emotional:** Calculating; sensing the ley line shifts.
- **Open Loops:** Tracking Lena’s specific frequency to reclaim her as a Coven "asset."

# World State: ch-12

## NPC Memory
- **Terrebonne Security:** Retreating after a "Level 5 Anomalous Event." Reporting failure to HQ.
- **The Coven:** Observing the Great Hum's stabilization; preparing to move on Lena.

## Faction Attitudes
- **Terrebonne Development Corp (TDC):** Panicked. Considering "Scorched Earth" protocols to bury the Siphon and hide evidence of their ecological theft.
- **The Bayou:** Fully allied with Lena; the land is actively masking her and Jax from electronic detection via mist and growth.

## Active World Events
- **The Great Hum:** PERMANENT. A subsonic frequency marking Lena’s presence and regulating the swamp's health.
- **The Veil Thinning:** Reality is "soft" near the Siphon; ghost-lights and overlapping dimensions are manifesting.
- **Harmonic Bleed:** Halted/Redirected by Lena. This is currently causing power surges and instability in the Upper Districts.
- **The Life-Debt:** The mystical weight of Jax saving Lena during her transition remains a heavy, unresolved magical tether between them.