The line about perfection struck me too. But also Clark's dream about Nor.
It reminds me of Ingmar Bergman's last great movie, Fanny and Alexander. Loosely based on Bergman's own childhood, it focuses on a boy who gets a horrible stepfather, a sadistic bishop:
After subjecting the boy to psychological torture, the bishop meets with a gruesome death, as he is accidentally burned to death in his own bed. The boy may or may not have something to do with it (I don't remember). Afterwards, everyone in the large extended family is happy, including Fanny and Alexander's vibrant young mother, who takes to widowhood and new motherhood extremely well. The family gets together in a splendid Christmas party (or was it a midsummer party?) and everyone is happy, because everything is perfect.
But then we see Alexander walking down a hall in the opulent villa where he lives, and suddely he trips. Someone has tripped him up. He turns around, and behind him is the bishop, looking every bit as alive as he ever was. Is it the bishop's ghost, or is Alexander hallucinating?
The bishop speaks to Alexander. "Don't think you will ever be rid of me", he says. And that, I believe, is the movie's message. Perfection isn't possible, although we can certainly have a good time, and we must live with our ghosts.
I think that is what this chapter of your fic is also telling us, Rac.
Ann