Answer prose round 1: name the parent after .., mark the step down as the one exception to the shared draw, and plainer errors

AGENTS.md

@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ In [docs/decisions.md](docs/decisions.md):
 - `parent` names the link column and the table alike
 - After a row, a path names a column or a linked table
 - A selected row is fixed, not drawn, and an unnamed read beside it is refused
-- `..` steps up to the parent row, and a step down after it draws once per draw group or pick
+- `..` steps up to the parent row, and a step down after it draws once per render and draw group, or per pick
 - A table selects by one key column, a code, never a free-form name
 - A parent row with no child row is a load error
 - The choice-of-rows fence guards a data file's root, and requires string fields

README.md

@@ -552,7 +552,8 @@ A path descends from a row to a linked table by name, at any depth, and `--list`
 advertises each direct step. Within one render and [draw group](#draw-group), linked
 tables agree: the first table a reference path reads pins its ancestors, and a
 descendant read after it is drawn inside them, so `{/city.name}` and
-`{/country.name}` are a city and its country whichever is read first. A selected row
+`{/country.name}` are a city and its country whichever is read first, except a step down
+after a `..` ([Step up](#step-up)). A selected row
 pins the render the same way, so every reference path into one family of linked
 tables in one render and group selects the same rows: one that selects none beside
 one that does is refused naming the spelling that does, `{/country[SE].city.name}`
@@ -574,8 +575,8 @@ or the reference draws it.
 
 ### Step up
 
-`..` after a row steps up to the row its link column names, and the parent table's name
+`..` after a row steps up to the row its link column names. Name the parent table right
-follows it, as a folder's does in a filesystem path:
+after the `..`:
 
 ```sh
 fejkdata -d ./mydata 'city[Oslo]..country.name'       # Norway
@@ -585,11 +586,11 @@ fejkdata -d ./mydata '{/city as c}{c}, {c..country.name}'  # Oslo, Norway
 ```
 
 It steps up from a selected row, a drawn row or a [name](#names) bound to a row, one level
-per `..`: `{l..municipality..region.name}`. `.country` after a row still reads the link
+per `..`: `geo.SE.locality..municipality..region.name`. `.country` after a row still reads the link
 column's cell, `NO`.
 
-After a `..`, `.` steps down again, drawing afresh inside the row stepped up to,
+After a `..`, `.` steps down again and draws afresh inside the row stepped up to, so
-independent of the row the path stepped up from, which it may draw again. Paths stepping down from one `..` read one draw, as one
+`city[Göteborg]..country.city` may draw Göteborg again. Paths stepping down from one `..` read one draw, as one
 reference path does: `{/city..country.city.name}` and `{/city..country.city.population}`
 describe one city, within a render and [draw group](#draw-group), or within a name's pick.
 

cmd/fejkdata/main.go

@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ const usage = `Usage: fejkdata [flags] <path|template>
 
   <path>                 a category, or a dotted path into one (person, person.last);
                          a table's row by key or name: 'misc.territory[SE]', 'misc.territory[Sweden].tld';
-                         .. steps up to the row a row links to: 'geo.SE.locality..municipality.name'
+                         .. steps up from a row to the row it links to: 'geo.SE.locality..municipality.name'
   <template>             a format string or JSON value to render inline, e.g.
                          'name: {/sv_SE.person.last}' or '{"format":"{x}","x":["bosse","lina"]}'
 

docs/decisions.md

@@ -511,15 +511,18 @@ case but the last, where two expected a render and all three accepted the refusa
 
 Goal 5.2 overrides its shared draw beneath a selection and its refusal of an unnamed read; `todo.md` item 4 replaces them.
 
-## `..` steps up to the parent row, and a step down after it draws once per draw group or pick
+## `..` steps up to the parent row, and a step down after it draws once per render and draw group, or per pick
 
-2026-10-05, larv-review on `todo.md` item 2. Goal 5.4 has `..` go up one level, and goal 5.2
+2026-10-05, larv-review in PR #158. Serves goal 5.4, which has `..` go up one level. A step
-has each `{…}` make a new pick, which `todo.md` item 4 brings to every path.
+down draws afresh because goal 5.2 has each `{…}` make a new pick, which `todo.md` item 4
+brings to every path.
 
 - `..` names the parent table next, `city..country`, as a folder path names the folder it
   enters. `.country` after a row stays the link column's cell.
 - A step down after a `..` draws afresh inside the row stepped up to (`drawSteps`), and the
-  draw fences leave it out (`tableReadOf`), since it pins none of the render's rows. Paths
+  draw fences leave it out (`tableReadOf`), since it pins none of the render's rows: the one
+  exception to [A render shares one reference draw per category, per
+  group](#a-render-shares-one-reference-draw-per-category-per-group). Paths
   stepping down from one `..` share that draw through their memo (`drawMemo.stepDownPins`),
   as reference paths share a draw today, so two reads of one step down describe one row.
 - A route through another row is another path to the same data, not a second spelling:
@@ -926,4 +929,4 @@ Valid while names are read only inside the category binding them.
 
 ## comprehension floor: every dimension and the overall at 7.0 or above; items 71, 3, 4 and 90 ship with no scoring run, and item 5 scores them
 
-2026-10-04, Lilleman auf Larv. Serves goal 3. The nine-seat panels in `todo.md`'s git history, 2026-09-22 to 2026-09-30, held the score between 5.2 and 6.1, with Locality lowest at every seat, and the hardest units are the draw fences item 4 deletes. Items 4 and 90 delete or move what the earlier items touch, so a scoring run before item 90 merges would score code about to go. Items 2, 71, 3, 4 and 90 are the round `AGENTS.md`'s comprehension rule lets merge below the floor, a restructure the maintainer approved. No scoring run or panel runs until item 5, which runs the nine-seat panel and larv-review's scoring run. The scoring run writes this entry's first scores. Valid until item 5 runs.
+2026-10-04, Lilleman auf Larv. Serves goal 3. The nine-seat panels in `todo.md`'s git history, 2026-09-22 to 2026-09-30, held the score between 5.2 and 6.1, with Locality lowest at every seat, and the hardest units are the draw fences item 4 deletes. Items 4 and 90 delete or move what the earlier items touch, so a scoring run before item 90 merges would score code about to go. Items 71, 3, 4 and 90 are the round `AGENTS.md`'s comprehension rule lets merge below the floor, a restructure the maintainer approved. No scoring run or panel runs until item 5, which runs the nine-seat panel and larv-review's scoring run. The scoring run writes this entry's first scores. Valid until item 5 runs.

draws.go

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import "strings"
 // drawMemo is what a hold, a draw group or a named pick has drawn: the variant each level was
 // drawn as, so every path under it reads one variant; the value each read produced, by its path,
 // so the same read written twice reads one value; the frames a read opens for the name
-// scopes around where it lands (enter); and the rows drawn below each step up stepped down from.
+// scopes around where it lands (enter); and the rows drawn by each step down after a "..", by level.
 type drawMemo struct {
 	variant       map[string]node
 	value         map[string]readValue
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ type drawMemo struct {
 	steppedDown   map[string]*pinSet
 }
 
-// stepDownPins is the pins a path steps down into after stepping up to t, at the level at: kept
+// stepDownPins is the pins a path steps down into after stepping up to t: kept in m where there
-// in m where there is one, so every path stepping down there reads one draw.
+// is one, so every path stepping down there reads one draw.
 func (m *drawMemo) stepDownPins(pins *pinSet, t *table, levels []string, at int) *pinSet {
 	if m == nil {
 		return pins.above(t)

path.go

@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ func stepInto(n node, seg string) (node, error) {
 		if c, ok := n.(*tableColumn); ok {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf(`".." steps up from a table's row, and %q is a column; put the ".." right after the row`, c.t.header[c.i])
 		}
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf(`".." steps up from a table's row to the row it links to, and what it follows is not a table; a path names every other level from the data root down`)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf(`".." steps up only from a table's row; name any other level by its path from the data root`)
 	}
 	switch n := n.(type) {
 	case *folder:
@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ func (t *table) stepUp(rest []string) error {
 	case len(rest) == 0 || rest[0] != t.parentT.segment:
 		return fmt.Errorf(`".." steps up from %s to its parent table, so name that next: %s`, t.segment, t.climbTo(rest))
 	case hasSelector(rest):
-		return fmt.Errorf(`a path selects its rows before a "..", since a row selected after it could lie outside the row it steps up to; select from the table instead, its path from the data root: %s`, joinSegments(append([]string{t.parentT.path}, rest[1:]...)))
+		return fmt.Errorf(`no selector after "..": a row selected there could lie outside the row stepped up to; select from the table's path from the data root: %s`, joinSegments(append([]string{t.parentT.path}, rest[1:]...)))
 	}
 	return nil
 }

reads.go

@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ func (r readRoute) spelled(ref string) string {
 type tableRead struct {
 	headTable *table
 	pins      pinSet
-	leafPins  *pinSet // the rows the leaf renders in: pins, short of the rows a step down after a step up draws afresh
+	leafPins  *pinSet // the rows the leaf renders in: pins, without the rows below the row a ".." stepped up to
 	drawn     map[*table]bool
 	sels      []tableSel
 	landsRow  bool

table_test.go

@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@ func TestTableStepUpRefusals(t *testing.T) {
 		"locality[L4]...municipality":      "empty segment",
 		"locality[L4].municipality.name":   "..municipality.name",
 		"locality[L4].name..municipality":  "column",
-		"x..y":                             "not a table",
+		"x..y":                             "only from a table's row",
 	} {
 		f := newGenerator(t, writeFiles(t, with(geo(), map[string]string{"x.json": `{"format":"{y}","y":"a"}`})))
 		if _, err := f.Fake(path); err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), want) {
@@ -352,8 +352,8 @@ func TestTableStepUpRefusals(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Errorf("{/%s}: New = %v, want an error mentioning %s", path, err, want)
 		}
 	}
-	if _, err := New(WithoutShippedData(), WithDataPath(writeFiles(t, map[string]string{"s.json": `{"format":"{a..b}","a":{"format":"{b}","b":"x"}}`}))); err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "not a table") {
+	if _, err := New(WithoutShippedData(), WithDataPath(writeFiles(t, map[string]string{"s.json": `{"format":"{a..b}","a":{"format":"{b}","b":"x"}}`}))); err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "only from a table's row") {
-		t.Errorf("{a..b} on a field: New = %v, want an error mentioning not a table", err)
+		t.Errorf("{a..b} on a field: New = %v, want an error mentioning only from a table's row", err)
 	}
 }