### 1. PROSE EVIDENCE
*   **Early:** "Beneath that surface, the bioluminescent sap of the Great Hum pulsed in rhythmic, emerald throb, tracing the map of her veins like neon cartography."
    *   *This effectively visualizes the physical cost of "Apotheosis" by melding biological and technical imagery, reinforcing the character state.*
*   **Mid:** "She was a lung, a kidney, a vital organ processing the life-force of the Bend to keep the Great Hum resonant."
    *   *This passage perfectly illustrates the permanent character arc of Maribelle Duval, moving from a power-hungry manipulator to a selfless biological component.*
*   **Mid:** "Her hand drifted to her neck, fumbling for the silver locket that used to hang there... her fingers kept repeating the motion—twisting air where the metal chain used to be."
    *   *A strong callback to the "Physical habit or tell" established in the character notes, grounding her post-human state in her lingering human trauma.*
*   **Late:** "The world beyond the Sovereign Veil had become a ghost, a pale memory of noise and friction that no longer possessed the strength to reach the Heart Tree."
    *   *This emphasizes the "REJECTED" status of humanity/TDC and the permanence of the Sovereign Veil.*

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### 2. CHARACTER VOICE AUDIT
**Character: Lena Duval**
*   **Line:** "The cypress don’t lie, cher—the roots whisper what your heart’s too stubborn to hear."
*   **Signature Vocabulary/Tics:** **YES.** Uses the signature line from her profile verbatim. Uses "cher."
*   **Avoid Forbidden Patterns:** **YES.** Does not apologize; owns her transformation.
*   **Emotional Register:** **YES.** Matches the "Transcendent serenity" and "individual ego dissolved" states in her Ch-18 notes.

**Character: Jax Harlan**
*   **Line:** "I found another drone near the south ridge. It didn't even hit the water before the fog rotted the circuits."
*   **Signature Vocabulary/Tics:** **YES.** Reflects his "predatory reflexes" and role as the "eternal gatekeeper."
*   **Avoid Forbidden Patterns:** **YES.** No forbidden patterns listed for Jax.
*   **Emotional Register:** **YES.** Consistent with "somber acceptance" and "inhuman focus."

**Character: Remy LeBlanc**
*   **Line:** "You’re thinking about the 'normal' life again, aren't you, Lena? The city. The lights. The way the coffee didn't taste like silt and ritual."
*   **Signature Vocabulary/Tics:** **YES.** Reflects his role as the "memory-keeper" and his connection to the "human past."
*   **Avoid Forbidden Patterns:** **YES.** No forbidden patterns listed for Remy.
*   **Emotional Register:** **YES.** Consistent with "peaceful resignation" and "intellectual satisfaction."

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### 3. STRENGTHS TO PRESERVE
*   **The Narrative Continuity of the Locket:** The detail where she twists the air where the locket used to be ("It was a phantom limb of her own guilt") is a sophisticated way to show her transformation while maintaining the character's core "Wound."
*   **Maribelle’s Dehumanization:** The description of Maribelle as a "masterpiece of biological utility" (Mid) honors the outcome of Chapter 17 and avoids the temptation to give her redemptive dialogue, keeping her arc "Permanent" as a component.
*   **Sensory Grounding:** The mention that "There was no loud music to flinch from" (Late) honors the specific character note about Lena’s aversion to loud sounds.

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### 4. MUST-FIX -- CONTINUITY
*   **ORIGINAL:** "The cypress don’t lie, cher... though the words didn't vibrate through vocal cords so much as they rippled through the air itself, carried by the spores."
*   **PROBLEM:** The Voice Signature instructions state that Lena's Imperfection signature is: "repeats words when panicked ('no no, not that, no no')." Later in the text (Late), she says: "That girl is under the mud, Remy. Gone, gone, she's gone." While this shows the repetition, the text describes her as "terrifyingly calm" and "Transcendent" in the context of the Hum smoothing over the panic.
*   **FIX:** Ensure the repetition is clearly linked to a momentary lapse in her serenity rather than a calm chant to better align with the "panic" trigger defined in the character sheet. (Note: Current usage is borderline acceptable but should be monitored for drift).

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### 5. MUST-FIX -- CLARITY
*   **ORIGINAL:** "The TDC... they are like children throwing pebbles at a mountain."
*   **PROBLEM:** While "TDC" is listed in Faction Attitudes as "Humanity/TDC," it is never explicitly defined in the prose for a reader who might have jumped into this chapter or forgotten the acronym for the encroaching developers.
*   **FIX:** "The TDC developers... they are like children throwing pebbles at a mountain."

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### 6. OPTIONAL SUGGESTIONS
*   **Suggestion:** Enhance the "meandering" sentence pattern.
*   **Ref:** "The Veil is absolute, Jax... The TDC... they are like children throwing pebbles at a mountain."
*   **Reason:** The profile says her voice is "meandering like swamp vines when reminiscing." Currently, her dialogue is quite clipped. Adding a slightly more trailing, vine-like quality to the passage where she discusses the "outside" would emphasize her detachment.

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### 7. FORBIDDEN CHANGES / NON-GOALS
*   **Do NOT change Lena’s repetitive speech:** Verbatim phrases like "gone, gone" are essential to her "Imperfection signature" and must remain.
*   **Do NOT "humanize" Maribelle:** Her status as a "filtration organ" is a permanent world-state established in Ch-17/18 and must not be softened with lingering human emotion.
*   **Do NOT remove Cajun French:** "Cher" and "mon coeur" are vital to the voice signature and cultural grounding.

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### 8. VERDICT: PASS
**SCORE: 96**
**Justification:** The chapter is an exceptionally faithful execution of the provided RAG context and voice signatures. It successfully transitions the characters into their "Permanent" end-states as defined in the Character State notes. All mandatory voice tics are present, and the prose quality is high, particularly in its handling of the biological horror/transcendence of the Heart Tree. Only minor clarity suggestions remain.