diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index ac42c05..43e6642 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ In `docs/decisions.md`:
 - Cost fixes are measured, never timed
 - Only the hard break holds a raw newline
 - Emphasis follows CommonMark's matching
-- A line that opens a code span or a link at text escapes every text backtick or `[` in it
+- Where a text backtick or `[` opens a code span, a link or an image, every text backtick or `[` in its line escapes
 - Readable spellings take the `try` prefix
 - The attribute vocabulary is ADF's
 - The source parts by ADF and format
diff --git a/docs/decisions.md b/docs/decisions.md
index 6e10c86..38538fa 100644
--- a/docs/decisions.md
+++ b/docs/decisions.md
@@ -942,18 +942,14 @@ Emphasis is spelled against CommonMark's matching, never flanking alone: a delim
 escapes wherever CommonMark could open or close with it, leaving the emitter's own delimiters the
 only ones in play, and a pair that matching hands to another delimiter rides the carry instead.
 
-## A line that opens a code span or a link at text escapes every text backtick or `[` in it
+## Where a text backtick or `[` opens a code span, a link or an image, every text backtick or `[` in its line escapes
 
 2026-10-28, a writer panel, 3 of 3. Goals 1, 6 and 9. Valid while the writers find a construct
 by reading the escaped line back.
 
-A writer reads each escaped line back. Where a code span opens at a text backtick, every text
-backtick in the line escapes, and where a link or an image opens at a text `[`, every text `[`
-does: `[a](b) [c]` is written `\[a](b) \[c]`. A text `[` or backtick that opens nothing stays
-bare. A line the reader refuses without showing what opened at text escapes every text backtick
-and `[`. Escaping only up to the last construct text opens read as arbitrary to the panel, and
-escaping each opener in turn costs a read per opener, against goal 9. The grammar:
-`spec/flavour.md` §Canonical form.
+The panel rejected escaping only the text `[`s before the last link a text `[` opens, which
+writes `[a](b) [c]` as `\[a](b) [c]`, as arbitrary. Escaping each opener in turn costs a read per
+opener, against goal 9. The rule: `spec/flavour.md` §Canonical form.
 
 ## Readable spellings take the `try` prefix
 
diff --git a/spec/flavour.md b/spec/flavour.md
index 1db91e3..ff4e57a 100644
--- a/spec/flavour.md
+++ b/spec/flavour.md
@@ -57,8 +57,9 @@ normalizes to it through the round-trip.
   A backtick run escapes whole. The escaped line is then read back. Where it opens a code span at a
   text backtick, every text backtick in the line escapes: CommonMark reads no escape inside a code
   span, so a backtick string beside an escape can still close one. Where it opens a link or an
-  image at a text `[`, every text `[` in the line escapes. A line the reader refuses without
-  showing what opened at text escapes every text backtick and `[`.
+  image at a text `[`, every text `[` in the line escapes. Where the reader refuses the line and
+  records no code span, link or image opening at a text backtick or `[`, every text backtick and
+  `[` in the line escapes.
   Where a paragraph opens with what reads as a link reference definition, which resolves before
   any inline construct binds (a `]` inside a code span or `{attrs}` counts), an opening text `[`
   escapes and an opening link takes the directive link (Marks).
diff --git a/todo.md b/todo.md
index 80688e0..c03bdc6 100644
--- a/todo.md
+++ b/todo.md
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ documentation, saying so in its row.
 
 ### 91. Spell an emphasis once across the code spans, an emphasis or link once across the hard breaks, dates, emoji, inline cards, mentions and statuses between two nodes it marks, and an emphasis across inline media, in both writers.
 
-The writers read each line back, so a joined spelling can be kept only where it reads back. No
+Reading each line back lets the writers try a joined spelling and keep it where it reads back. No
 reader marks a hard break, so `*One\` then `Two*` writes back as `_One_\` then `_Two_`, and a link
 typed across a line as two links. No reader gives those other nodes a mark Atlassian's schema
 withholds from them, and none gives code text a mark but a link. So `**Ping !adf:mention[@A]{id=x}
@@ -192,10 +192,11 @@ interim sentence.
 ### 153. Decide whether `src/markdown/` root may import `emit/`, `parse/` or `portable/`, and hold the answer in `.oxlintrc.json` and §The source parts by ADF and format.
 
 The writers read each escaped line back through `src/markdown/inline-content.ts`'s scan. A writer
-question put back on that scan's path, such as the opening-link consult it takes as an argument
-today, would close the cycle writer → reader → writer and recurse without bound on a paragraph
-opening with a spellable `!adf:link` (§Nothing recurses unbounded). No `no-restricted-imports`
-override covers `src/markdown/*.ts`; adding one, with its `ci.sh` probe, extends the decision.
+question put back on that scan's path, such as the opening-link consult `parseInlineContent` takes
+as an argument today, would close the cycle writer → reader → writer and recurse without bound on
+a paragraph opening with a spellable `!adf:link` (§Nothing recurses unbounded). The override for
+`src/markdown/**` bans only `html/`; banning `emit/`, `parse/` and `portable/` for the root's own
+files, with its `ci.sh` probe, extends the decision.
 
 ### 128. Pin the portable flavour's block reading and writing with tests: callout titles past one line, a link beside other marks in a title, the nesting limit of callouts and task lists, refusals inside tasks and their paths, and empty or non-paragraph tasks.
 
@@ -222,9 +223,10 @@ read.
 
 ### 155. Have `closeBracket` return the link, image or literal bracket it builds, and apply it to the scan in one caller.
 
-A comprehension seat found `src/markdown/inline-content.ts` `closeBracket` / `truncatePieces`
-hard: `closeBracket`, `unopened`, `literalClose` and `popBracket` each write `scan.pieces`, the
-link openers or the reading. Make that place easier to read.
+A comprehension seat found `src/markdown/inline-content.ts` `closeBracket` hard: it writes
+`scan.pieces`, the link openers and the reading, and calls `unopened`, `literalClose` and
+`popBracket`, which write `scan.pieces`, `scan.pending` and the link openers. Make that place
+easier to read.
 
 ### 45. Replace `isAdfDocument` with a reader returning `Result<AdfDocument>`.
 
@@ -468,9 +470,9 @@ bash footguns (`&&` chaining under `||`, `tee /dev/stderr`) the port removes.
 ### 34. Read emphasis flanking by the whole character beside an astral symbol.
 
 Check whether `delimiterRunToken` (`inline-tokens.ts`) and `resolveEmphasis` (`line-escaping.ts`)
-read one UTF-16 unit beside an astral symbol. A lone surrogate is neither
-punctuation nor symbol, but CommonMark reads `😀` as punctuation. Where they do, read the code
-point, with a fixture per direction.
+read one UTF-16 unit beside an astral symbol. A lone surrogate is neither punctuation nor symbol,
+but CommonMark reads `😀` as punctuation. Where they do, read the code point, with a fixture per
+direction.
 
 ### 74. Keep the release path publishing after npm retires bypass-2FA tokens.