References:
Gulag Archipelago. I have some specific notes somewhere, I think in the catch all's I call "summaries." The Trial by Kafka.
Play: The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O'Neill
Draft 2 Note: Right now this is written logically- she is going to be "convinced" in an Air way to join. No. Look at your references: Gulag Archipelago. She needs to be broken down by the Pool - saturated - and stripped of herself as much as possible by constant sessions. The next scene(s) make no sense if she consciously chooses the Servants. Her programming is only broken by the charged weapon. There is a rhyme here too- a charged weapon burns the Water out of her, but Rylan's dagger (the same that killed Pali) is trying to burn the Air out of her.
Think of partitioning the mind from Wizard's First Rule. Does she lock away a tiny part of herself, the Air, and sacrifice the rest? Does this explode out later with the Elixir? I like that idea.
A line from the prose: Clarissa is "screaming for air." The Pool cuts her off from her true self and she is screaming for not only physical air, but the "Air" of her true self, which of course, the Pool blocks. She is screaming interally. She is not in touch with what she needs. Therefore, she falls for the Pool's arguments and willingly submits.
How can Clarissa breathe under the Water? She can't. The Pool puts her head under as a pretense and then has the First Servant send everyone away. She comes up into a room where she is alone. The elemental shows itself to her. She eventually says there is pure tralaticon in the Conduit Plant. The Pool says they have no desire to disrupt that tralaticon. That is when it is revealed that they are defending the Conduit Plant.
Clarissa is sent to the Pool. The being reveals itself to her and they speak. She can't believe the Water element is sentient. It demands to know whether she told the Census Office their location. I think that is the main thing it cares about. It knows it can regain control of her, but it cannot fight off the Census Office if they know where to strike. It causes a tremendous amount of pain and breaks her. Does it? Wouldn't this destroy her effectiveness?
Right now my idea is to have the Pool order Clarissa to lead a raid into the Census Office fortress to deny them pure tralaticon and get it for themselves. What about the deal with Hilam? Why would Clarissa go along with this? Why would she submit to the Pool? She commited a crime. Maybe she killed the Sweep Team member who was the first Infusion test subject.