I think after a bit of cleaning with an exacto knife, I'm encouraged. (Working from home today, so snuck out to the garage for a minute.) Also, when I posted this late last night, I was a little turned around, and it's actually the NDS that is in question, so I edited my initial post to reflect this.

Here is a better view of the spot, after cleaning out the gunk. It looks like there is indeed a small gap in the brazing material, not that the gap goes the entire length of the lug/blade interface. The brazing material tapers in on either end of this small gap, so it does not look like a break -- it looks to have been painted that way. There is no rust. Maybe not the best workmanship, but it looks like what I thought was gap was mostly gunk. Am I off base, or is my improved mood justified?