feat: Q.Arb is held; strike C.Med-Arb entirely; dissolve the paired disclosure

Pouya's ruling, 2026-08-29. Treated as D3-class and swept accordingly.

§4
  Q.Arb becomes a HELD designation. Obtained July 2026 — recorded in the
  register, deliberately not published. Public copy carries "Q.Arb (ADRIC /
  ADRIO)" beside Q.Med and nothing more. Every stage form is struck:
  "commenced", "in progress", "pathway", "not yet".

  C.Med-Arb as a stated goal is struck. This DEVIATES FROM THE STRATEGY BRIEF,
  which made it "the explicit long-term professional narrative"; the brief is
  not in this repository, so the deviation is recorded in four places so nobody
  reinstates it from a document no reader can open. The designation stays in
  §11 as a definition — what is struck is its status as a goal of his.

  The paired-disclosure condition dissolves. It existed only because Q.Arb was
  in progress; there is no stage left to disclose, and a condition with no
  subject cannot be half-kept.

Pages
  /about/'s credentialing arc is DELETED, not rewritten — two held designations
  are not a journey. /arbitration/ loses its stage section and its "Available
  now, and open about the stage" h1. /med-arb/'s endpoint section is rewritten.
  Deleting CREDENTIALS.goal/goalName rather than emptying them turned every
  consumer into a build error, which is how the last two surfaced.

  hasCredential now maps CREDENTIALS.designations instead of indexing [0];
  _DesignationRowParity pins the visible credential row to the same constant.

check:claims
  q-arb-as-a-stage (inverted from the predecessor, which barred Q.Arb reading
  as HELD) and c-med-arb-struck. Each page is now scanned twice — as published,
  and with inline tags collapsed — because [^<] cannot cross <strong>, which
  this site sets in prose.

Two open questions for Pouya, neither blocking:
  Q55 — the acquisition date. §4 says obtained July 2026; the Change Log of
  2026-08-26 records "commenced August 2026", both stamped [verified — Pouya].
  They cannot both be true. Nothing published turns on it.
  Q56 — is the mediation offering scoped commercial? §4 leaves it unscoped;
  four surfaces say "commercial mediation"; /practice/insurance/ offers
  mediation in insured-versus-insurer SABS matters.

Two review rounds, all findings applied or declined with a stated reason.
Round 2 found ten lines in docs/03 still instructing the struck form — the
2026-08-29 sweep missed them because `git grep 'Q.Arb'` is line-anchored and
the block never names it. Sweep the vocabulary, not only the subject.

Gates, exit statuses read directly, never through a pipe:
  npm run check        exit=0  (0 errors, 0 warnings, 0 hints)
  npm run lint         exit=0
  npm run build        exit=0  (12 pages)
  npm run check:claims exit=0  (11 patterns, 26 approved strings)
  npm audit            exit=0

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Md3GndFqWPzK78xAoebsg5

src/components/CredentialRow.astro

@@ -13,11 +13,10 @@
  * slots come from src/data/site.ts, which mirrors §4; nothing is typed here.
  *
  * <dl> RATHER THAN A DIV GRID. Each pair is a term and its description, which
- * is what a description list is. It also fixes the reading order: a screen
- * reader gets "Q.Arb — Commenced August 2026" as one associated pair, which is
- * §4's paired-disclosure condition surviving into assistive technology rather
- * than being a visual arrangement only. Wrapping each dt/dd pair in a <div>
- * inside <dl> is valid HTML and is what makes the grid tractable.
+ * is what a description list is, and it fixes the reading order: a screen
+ * reader gets "Q.Arb — ADRIC / ADRIO" as one associated pair rather than four
+ * values then four labels. Wrapping each dt/dd pair in a <div> inside <dl> is
+ * valid HTML and is what makes the grid tractable.
  */
 interface Props {
   slots: ReadonlyArray<{ value: string; label: string }>;
@@ -45,9 +44,14 @@ const { slots } = Astro.props;
        This read `repeat(auto-fit, minmax(11rem, 1fr))` under a comment saying
        "two up on a phone, four up where there is room". `adversarial-reviewer`
        measured it: at 390px the resolved template was a SINGLE 342px track and
-       all four items stacked, running the band ~430px tall — with
-       `Q.Arb / Commenced August 2026`, which §4's paired-disclosure condition
-       puts on this page, at the bottom of it. The arithmetic is not subtle: two
+       all four items stacked, running the band ~430px tall. The longest label in
+       the row is and remains `Legal training and engineering practice` (Q37, 39
+       chars — see below), which is what drives the track; the fourth slot's
+       label went from `Commenced August 2026` (21) to `ADRIC / ADRIO
+       designation` (25), so it got slightly LONGER and is still well inside
+       that 39. *(A previous version of this comment said "shorter". It was not
+       measured; `claims-auditor` counted the characters.)* The arithmetic is not
+       subtle: two
        tracks at an 11rem (176px) floor plus a 24px gap need 376px and the
        container is 342px, so `auto-fit` correctly dropped to one. A
        measured-sounding comment that was false is this project's own named

src/components/Pill.astro

@@ -81,23 +81,11 @@ void _props;
     line-height: 1.4;
     text-transform: uppercase;
     color: var(--pill-fg, var(--text-meta));
-    /* `nowrap` UNTIL 2026-08-28, AND IT WAS FINE UNTIL A PILL HAD FOUR WORDS.
-       `/`'s six pills are one or two words (longest "Cross-cultural").
-       `/about/` ships `Commenced August 2026`, and at a 200% DEFAULT FONT SIZE
-       (root 32px — a real browser setting, not page zoom) that pill measured
-       382.6px wide with its right edge at 430.6 in a 390px viewport:
-       **41px of document overflow at 390, 111px at 320.** Injecting
-       `white-space: normal` took 390 to **0** and 320 to **63**, 63 being the
-       header residual docs/02 already accepts. WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow.
-
-       `normal` costs nothing at default size — a pill only wraps when it cannot
-       fit, which is exactly when wrapping is the right answer.
-
-       WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE AT THE EXTREME, recorded so it is not later read as a
-       new bug: at 320px with root at 32px, `Commenced August 2026` renders
-       **224 x 119px** inside `border-radius: 999px` — a three-line stadium. It
-       is ungainly and it is legible, in-viewport, and the alternative was
-       111px of document overflow. */
+    /* NEVER `nowrap`. `Pill` takes arbitrary children, and a four-word pill at a
+       200% default font size (root 32px) overflowed the document by 111px at
+       320px — WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow. Measured 2026-08-28; no pill on the site is
+       that long today, which is exactly why this is easy to delete and must not
+       be. `normal` costs nothing at default size. */
     white-space: normal;
   }
 </style>

src/components/SiteFooter.astro

@@ -33,8 +33,7 @@ const year = new Date().getFullYear();
 // sitemap and lists /med-arb/ as deliberately out of the primary nav, "linked
 // contextually" — so dropping it here left the page with no site-wide link at
 // all, on a project whose entire premise is crawlability. (2) The label names a
-// PAGE, and docs/01 frames that page around the C.Med-Arb arc rather than as a
-// present offering, so listing it is not the §4 inference it looked like.
+// PAGE, not an offering, so listing it is not the §4 inference it looked like.
 // (3) It settled half of Q35 unilaterally while the other half — Energy and
 // Shareholder — stayed in both nav and footer, and the record claimed no
 // unilateral action had been taken. Both halves of Q35 go to Pouya together.
@@ -60,19 +59,12 @@ const aboutLinks = [
         <span class="footer-brand-name">{SITE.name}</span>
       </a>
       {
-        /* The designation strip carries the credentialing STAGE, not just the
-          held designation, and that is a §4 Offerings condition rather than a
-          flourish. The masthead names arbitration on every page except `/`,
-          where SiteHeader suppresses the tagline by design. §4 permits the
-          arbitration half on the condition that the site "makes the first while
-          stating the second plainly", and "neither half may be dropped".
-          Before this line rendered
-          CREDENTIALS.inProgress, that condition was unmet on every page that
-          ships — the constant existed in site.ts and was rendered nowhere.
-          Q.Arb reads as commenced, never as held (§4). */
+        /* HELD DESIGNATIONS ONLY. §4's paired-disclosure condition made this
+          strip carry a credentialing stage too; that dissolved on 2026-08-29
+          when Q.Arb became held. */
       }
       <p class="footer-designation">
-        {[...CREDENTIALS.designations, ...CREDENTIALS.inProgress].join(' · ')}
+        {CREDENTIALS.designations.join(' · ')}
       </p>
     </div>
 

src/components/SiteHeader.astro

@@ -47,9 +47,8 @@ const inSection = (href: string) => path === href || path.startsWith(href);
  * is the placement Q33-orig objected to in the first place: a line under his
  * name with nothing to qualify it, reading as a designation strip.
  *
- * This only ever REMOVES a claim from one page, so no §4 disclosure condition
- * is touched — the footer's designation strip carries `Q.Arb — commenced
- * August 2026` on every page including this one.
+ * This only ever REMOVES a claim from one page. The footer's designation strip
+ * carries the held designations on every page including this one.
  */
 const isHome = path === '/';
 ---
@@ -156,8 +155,9 @@ const isHome = path === '/';
 
   /* The tagline is BACK, and the reasoning is worth keeping rather than just
      the outcome. It was removed on 2026-08-26 because `Arbitration` under
-     Pouya's name read as a held capability, and §4 records Q.Arb as merely
-     commenced. Q33 answered that the same day, and the premise was wrong:
+     Pouya's name read as a held capability, and §4 then recorded Q.Arb as
+     merely commenced. Q33 answered that the same day, and the premise was
+     wrong twice over — §4 now records Q.Arb as HELD, and even before it did:
      ADR designations are voluntary credentials, not licences, and COMMERCIAL
      arbitral appointment in Ontario is not gated behind a designation — so the
      constraint was always positional, never legal, and Pouya accepts sole,

src/data/schema.ts

@@ -29,8 +29,11 @@
  *   3. `priceRange` — omitted until `/fees/` exists (build step 9). docs/04
  *      gates it on that page being real.
  *
- * AND Q.Arb IS NOT IN `hasCredential`. It commenced August 2026 and is not
- * held. Q.Med is. That asymmetry is the whole point of the property.
+ * AND `hasCredential` NOW CARRIES BOTH DESIGNATIONS. It was Q.Med-only until
+ * 2026-08-29 because Q.Arb was a commenced pathway and the property means
+ * *holds*. Q.Arb is held (§4), so it belongs there — and the field is built by
+ * mapping `CREDENTIALS.designations` rather than indexing it, so a designation
+ * added to §4 and to that constant cannot be silently omitted here.
  */
 import {
   CONTACT,
@@ -55,21 +58,11 @@ export const SERVICE_ID = `${SITE.url}/#practice`;
  * counterpart row for a completed arbitration**, so "arbitrator" as a practised
  * role asserted something the register does not hold.
  *
- * AND IT CARRIES THE Q.Arb STAGE. Same finding, and it is the sharper half:
- * §4 Offerings permits the arbitration offering only while the site states the
- * stage of the arc plainly — "neither half may be dropped". The VISIBLE page
- * satisfied that with the fourth credential slot; this graph asserted
- * arbitration twice (here and in `serviceType`) and stated the stage nowhere.
- * A machine-readable claim is still a claim.
- *
- * `hasCredential` stays Q.Med-only regardless — the stage belongs in prose, not
- * in a field that means "holds".
- *
- * Every clause traces: Q.Med [verified], the JD [verified], engineering
- * practice [verified], Toronto [verified], the Q.Arb pathway commenced August
- * 2026 [verified]. It claims no licensure and implies none — D13 bars
- * implication as hard as assertion, and a crawler summary is a place where an
- * implication travels unedited.
+ * A MACHINE-READABLE CLAIM IS STILL A CLAIM, which is why this description is
+ * audited like visible copy. Every clause traces: Q.Med and Q.Arb [verified], the JD [verified],
+ * engineering practice [verified], Toronto [verified]. It claims no licensure
+ * and implies none — D13 bars implication as hard as assertion, and a crawler
+ * summary is a place where an implication travels unedited.
  */
 export function personNode(
   imageUrl?: string,
@@ -87,21 +80,22 @@ export function personNode(
     jobTitle: PRACTICE_JOB_TITLE,
     description:
       'Mediator in Toronto, accepting commercial arbitration appointments. ' +
-      'Q.Med designation through ADRIC and ADRIO; the Q.Arb pathway commenced ' +
-      'in August 2026. JD, Bond University; practising machine-learning and ' +
-      'infrastructure engineer.',
+      'Q.Med and Q.Arb designations through ADRIC and ADRIO. JD, Bond ' +
+      'University; practising machine-learning and infrastructure engineer.',
     knowsLanguage: ['en', 'fa'],
     alumniOf: { '@type': 'CollegeOrUniversity', name: 'Bond University' },
-    // Q.Med only. See the header comment.
-    hasCredential: {
+    /* MAPPED, NOT INDEXED. This read `designations[0]` while Q.Arb was a
+       pathway; indexing is what would have left Q.Arb out of the graph
+       silently when §4 changed. */
+    hasCredential: CREDENTIALS.designations.map((name) => ({
       '@type': 'EducationalOccupationalCredential',
-      name: CREDENTIALS.designations[0],
+      name,
       credentialCategory: 'Professional designation',
       recognizedBy: [
         { '@type': 'Organization', name: 'ADR Institute of Canada' },
         { '@type': 'Organization', name: 'ADR Institute of Ontario' },
       ],
-    },
+    })),
     sameAs: [CONTACT.linkedin],
     email: `mailto:${CONTACT.email}`,
     /* `memberOf` — OPT-IN, AND ONLY `/about/` OPTS IN. Q53, ruled by Pouya
@@ -211,7 +205,7 @@ export function professionalServiceNode(imageUrl?: string) {
     description:
       'Commercial mediation and arbitration for construction, technology, ' +
       'energy, insurance, shareholder and cross-border disputes. Toronto, ' +
-      'by appointment. Q.Med held; the Q.Arb pathway commenced August 2026.',
+      'by appointment. Q.Med and Q.Arb designations held.',
     provider: { '@id': PERSON_ID },
     areaServed: [
       { '@type': 'City', name: 'Toronto' },

src/data/site.ts

@@ -47,23 +47,21 @@ export const SITE = {
  * licence — and do not imply it either. See AGENTS.md §4 Forbidden.
  */
 export const CREDENTIALS = {
-  designations: ['Q.Med (ADRIC / ADRIO)'],
-  inProgress: ['Q.Arb — commenced August 2026'], // [verified 2026-08-26]
   /**
-   * "Chartered Med-Arbitrator" — ADRIO's own term, and ADRIC's navigation label
-   * too (docs/reference/adrio-designations.md; docs/reference/adric-rules.md
-   * Finding 3, which corroborates it from a second body). Never
-   * "Mediator-Arbitrator".
+   * BOTH ARE HELD. Q.Arb joined this list on 2026-08-29 (AGENTS.md §4,
+   * `[verified 2026-08-29 — Pouya]`); it was `inProgress` before that.
    *
-   * `GOAL_NAME` IS THE STRING TO RENDER. This designation's name was wrong on a
-   * public page for the life of the file, and the reason it survived four review
-   * passes is that it existed in several hand-typed copies rather than one
-   * constant. `/arbitration/` and `/med-arb/` (step 4) render `GOAL_NAME`;
-   * `/about/`'s arc still hand-types it, which is the remaining copy.
+   * ⚠️ NO ACQUISITION DATE IS PUBLISHED for either, and this file does not hold
+   * one. §4 is the only record of when Q.Arb was obtained — a second copy here
+   * is a copy that goes stale, and §4 currently carries an OPEN conflict on
+   * that date (Q55). Do not resolve it by writing a date into this file.
+   *
+   * There is NO `inProgress` KEY, and its absence is the mechanism. Nothing is
+   * in progress, and a key that exists is a key a page will eventually render —
+   * deleting it makes reaching for one a build error rather than a copy defect.
+   * Same pattern as the deleted `class` prop.
    */
-  goal: 'C.Med-Arb (Chartered Med-Arbitrator)',
-  /** Just the expansion, for prose. §11 Glossary is the authority for it. */
-  goalName: 'Chartered Med-Arbitrator',
+  designations: ['Q.Med (ADRIC / ADRIO)', 'Q.Arb (ADRIC / ADRIO)'],
   education: ['JD, Bond University'],
   certifications: [
     'Kompass Arbitration Certificate Program',
@@ -365,6 +363,22 @@ export const CONDUCT_UNDERTAKINGS = {
     'than left open.',
 } as const; // [verified 2026-08-29 — Pouya, Q54]
 
+/**
+ * THE HELD-DESIGNATIONS SENTENCE, RENDERED AND NEVER RETYPED.
+ *
+ * `/about/` and `/med-arb/` both make this claim in prose, and in the change
+ * set that introduced both they had ALREADY diverged — "the Q.Med and Q.Arb
+ * designations through" versus "Q.Med and Q.Arb through". Two hand-typed forms
+ * of the highest-stakes claim on the site is the shape `ASYMMETRY_LINE` exists
+ * to prevent. Found by `adversarial-reviewer` 2026-08-30.
+ *
+ * It is a CLAUSE, not a sentence, because the two pages continue it
+ * differently. Each supplies its own tail; neither restates the head.
+ */
+export const DESIGNATIONS_HELD_LINE =
+  'I hold Q.Med and Q.Arb through the ADR Institute of Canada and the ADR ' +
+  'Institute of Ontario';
+
 /** The three credential slots. Never matter counts — AGENTS.md §4. */
 export const CREDENTIAL_ROW = [
   { value: 'Q.Med', label: 'ADRIC / ADRIO designation' },
@@ -392,24 +406,22 @@ export const CREDENTIAL_ROW = [
  * The FOURTH credential slot — separate on purpose, so a three-slot layout
  * cannot be handed four by accident and a page has to opt in.
  *
- * docs/03: 'Fourth slot where the layout has one: Q.Arb — commenced August
- * 2026. Use that wording, not "in progress"' — the weaker form drifts toward
- * 'nearly complete', which §4 Forbidden bars outright.
+ * ⚠️ IT IS NO LONGER REQUIRED ANYWHERE. Until 2026-08-29 this slot carried
+ * `Q.Arb / Commenced August 2026` and §4's paired-disclosure condition made it
+ * mandatory on any page offering arbitration. Q.Arb is held, that condition is
+ * dissolved, and the slot reverts to what §4's substitution principle always
+ * wanted it for: a fourth credential where the layout has room.
  *
- * REQUIRED on any page that offers arbitration, not decorative. §4 Offerings
- * carries a paired-disclosure condition: the site may make the offering only
- * while 'stating the second plainly', and 'neither half may be dropped'. The
- * footer's designation strip satisfies it site-wide; a page whose opening
- * sentence says 'arbitrator' should not make the reader scroll to the footer
- * for the stage.
- *
- * The em-dash in docs/03's string is carried by the layout (value over label),
- * not by the text. Same wording, same pairing.
+ * The label is the ISSUING BODIES, matching `designations` above — not a date.
+ * §4 records July 2026 and keeps it off the site.
  */
 export const CREDENTIAL_ROW_ARB = {
   value: 'Q.Arb',
-  label: 'Commenced August 2026',
-} as const; // [verified 2026-08-26 — Pouya]
+  /* IDENTICAL TO `CREDENTIAL_ROW[0].label`. These two render side by side on `/`
+     and `/arbitration/`; 'ADRIC / ADRIO' beside 'ADRIC / ADRIO designation'
+     reads as a distinction that is not being drawn. */
+  label: 'ADRIC / ADRIO designation',
+} as const; // [verified 2026-08-29 — Pouya]
 
 /** Analytics: privacy-first and cookieless (D15). No GA4, no consent banner. */
 export const ANALYTICS = {
@@ -671,6 +683,40 @@ export type _MembershipParity = _AssertTrue<
     : false
 >;
 
+/**
+ * ⚠️ THE VISIBLE CREDENTIAL ROW HAND-TYPES THE DESIGNATIONS, AND THIS PINS IT.
+ *
+ * `CREDENTIALS.designations` feeds the footer strip, `/about/`'s designation
+ * line, `/about/`'s Designations list and `hasCredential`. `CREDENTIAL_ROW[0]`
+ * and `CREDENTIAL_ROW_ARB` carry the same two facts decomposed into
+ * `value`/`label` for `/` and `/arbitration/`, and nothing connected them —
+ * so a third designation added to §4 and to `designations` would reach four
+ * surfaces and silently miss the credential row.
+ *
+ * That was survivable while the fourth slot held a STAGE (`Commenced August
+ * 2026`), which was an independent fact. On 2026-08-29 it became a duplicate of
+ * `designations[1]`, which is what made the two constants drift-capable.
+ * `adversarial-reviewer` caught that the map-not-index fix celebrated in
+ * `schema.ts` and `docs/04` left this copy untouched.
+ *
+ * A type-level assertion rather than a refactor: the row's `value`/`label`
+ * shape is a LAYOUT decision (value over label, two-up on a phone) and
+ * collapsing it into the prose strings would be the wrong fix. This fails
+ * `npm run check` with a named type the moment the two disagree.
+ */
+type _DesignationValue<S> = S extends `${infer V} (${string})` ? V : never;
+export type _DesignationRowParity = _AssertTrue<
+  _DesignationValue<
+    (typeof CREDENTIALS.designations)[0]
+  > extends (typeof CREDENTIAL_ROW)[0]['value']
+    ? _DesignationValue<
+        (typeof CREDENTIALS.designations)[1]
+      > extends (typeof CREDENTIAL_ROW_ARB)['value']
+      ? true
+      : false
+    : false
+>;
+
 /**
  * The five process steps. **HERE, NOT IN THE PAGE**, for the reason written
  * against PRACTICE_AREAS above and applied by `adversarial-reviewer` 2026-08-27:

src/pages/about.astro

@@ -11,11 +11,19 @@
  *   1 Portrait, name, designation line   → the hero
  *   2 Narrative biography, 400–600 words → §Background
  *   3 Credentials, structured            → §Credentials
- *   4 The credentialing arc              → §The arc
+ *   4 The credentialing arc              → REMOVED 2026-08-29, see below
  *   5 Languages and cross-cultural       → §Language
  *   6 Speaking and publications          → OMITTED, per the spec itself
  *   7 Person JSON-LD + PDF bio           → JSON-LD ships; the PDF does not
  *
+ * ⚠️ ITEM 4 IS GONE, AND IT WAS DELETED RATHER THAN REWRITTEN. Pouya, 2026-08-29:
+ * *"Two held designations, no journey… An arc invites 'where are you on it';
+ * two designations don't."* Q.Arb is held and C.Med-Arb is off the site
+ * entirely, so the section had no subject left — three pills reading Held,
+ * Held, and nothing. What it used to carry now sits in item 3, which is a list
+ * of held things and was always the right shape for it. **Do not restore it
+ * from docs/01's seven-item outline**; that item is struck there too.
+ *
  * ITEM 6 IS OMITTED ON THE SPEC'S OWN INSTRUCTION, not by oversight: "Omit the
  * section entirely until there is something in it. An empty 'Speaking' heading
  * is worse than no heading." Nothing to list.
@@ -69,7 +77,6 @@ import { Picture, getImage } from 'astro:assets';
 import BaseLayout from '../layouts/BaseLayout.astro';
 import ContactBand from '../components/ContactBand.astro';
 import Eyebrow from '../components/Eyebrow.astro';
-import Pill from '../components/Pill.astro';
 import SectionHeading from '../components/SectionHeading.astro';
 import portrait from '../assets/pouya-lajevardi.jpg';
 import ogDefault from '../assets/og-portrait.jpg';
@@ -77,7 +84,9 @@ import { aboutGraph } from '../data/schema';
 import {
   ASYMMETRY_LINE,
   CREDENTIALS,
+  DESIGNATIONS_HELD_LINE,
   PORTRAIT,
+  PRACTICE_AREAS,
   ROLE,
   SITE,
 } from '../data/site';
@@ -129,141 +138,47 @@ const ldImage = await getImage({
 });
 const graph = aboutGraph(new URL(ldImage.src, Astro.site).href);
 
+/* THE BIOGRAPHY ENUMERATES THE PRACTICE AREAS IN PROSE, which means it is the
+   one place on the site that names them without rendering `PRACTICE_AREAS`.
+   Card labels ("Insurance, SABS & LAT") do not read as prose, and a joined list
+   of them in a paragraph was worse than the duplication. So the count is
+   asserted instead: add a seventh area and this throws, which is the prompt to
+   rewrite the sentence. Same mechanism as the ground-alternation check in
+   `practice/[slug].astro`. */
+/* `: number`, NOT the inferred literal. `PRACTICE_AREAS` is `as const`, so
+   `.length` is the literal type `6`; with `AREAS_NAMED_IN_BIO` also literal `6`,
+   adding a seventh area makes the comparison `7 !== 6` — non-overlapping
+   literals — and `astro check` fails first with `ts(2367) This comparison
+   appears to be unintentional`, which reads like lint noise. Both deploy paths
+   run `npm run check` BEFORE the build, so the implementer would never see the
+   message below, and the message is the whole point of the guard. Widening the
+   left side keeps the comparison live at runtime. Measured by
+   `adversarial-reviewer` 2026-08-30. */
+const AREAS_NAMED_IN_BIO: number = 6;
+if (PRACTICE_AREAS.length !== AREAS_NAMED_IN_BIO) {
+  throw new Error(
+    `/about/'s biography names ${AREAS_NAMED_IN_BIO} practice areas in prose, ` +
+      `but PRACTICE_AREAS now has ${PRACTICE_AREAS.length}. Rewrite the ` +
+      `"I accept appointments in six areas" paragraph, then update this count.`,
+  );
+}
+
 /**
  * The designation line — docs/01 item 1. Assembled from constants so it cannot
- * drift from §4, and ordered held-first.
+ * drift from §4.
  *
- * Q.Arb IS NOT IN IT, deliberately. It is not held (§4: "Describe as newly
- * commenced, never as held or nearing completion"), and a designation line is
- * precisely a list of things held. The arc section states the stage plainly,
- * which is what §4's paired-disclosure condition requires — this page offers
- * arbitration, so the stage appears on this page and not only in the footer.
+ * BOTH DESIGNATIONS, because a designation line is a list of things held and
+ * as of 2026-08-29 Q.Arb is one of them. It was excluded while it was a stage.
+ * The issuing bodies repeat across the two entries; that is what the strings in
+ * `CREDENTIALS.designations` say, and spelling them once across a joined pair
+ * would be this file re-typing §4 rather than rendering it.
  */
 const designationLine = [
   'Mediator',
-  CREDENTIALS.designations[0],
+  ...CREDENTIALS.designations,
   CREDENTIALS.education[0],
 ];
 
-/**
- * The credentialing arc — docs/01 item 4, and docs/03: "the credentialing
- * pathway from Q.Med through Q.Arb to C.Med-Arb is stated openly, **with Q.Arb
- * described as commenced August 2026** and never as 'in progress', which is
- * looser than §4 and is barred by docs/06's cutover checklist. The brief treats
- * that arc as part of the story rather than something to obscure."
- *
- * ⚠️ THAT QUOTATION WAS STALE AND THE STALE HALF WAS THE BARRED PHRASE. It
- * quoted docs/03's pre-2026-08-28 text, which ended "...stated openly as in
- * progress" — so THIS FILE cited docs/03 as REQUIRING the phrase six lines
- * above citing it as BARRING the phrase. Found by `adversarial-reviewer`.
- *
- * **And the Q.Arb-wording sweep missed it because the phrase was line-wrapped**
- * as `as in\n * progress`: a grep for "in progress" on one line returns
- * nothing. Same defect CLAUDE.md already records for a docs/03 phrase that
- * wrapped behind a blockquote marker. Sweep the wrapped form too.
- *
- * `state` is the load-bearing column. "Commenced August 2026" is §4's exact
- * wording and the ONLY permitted wording — docs/03: not "in progress", because
- * the weaker form drifts toward "nearly complete", which §4 Forbidden bars
- * outright.
- */
-/*
- * FIVE CLAIMS CAME OUT OF THIS BLOCK, and the first was the worst thing in the
- * step-3 diff. BOTH review agents found it independently, which is the strongest
- * signal this loop produces.
- *
- *   1. ⚠️ "arbitral appointments are not gated behind it, which is why I accept
- *      them now" — **the false universal Q39 struck, on a public page.**
- *      Unscoped ("arbitral", not commercial), asserted as flat fact in the first
- *      person, and it publishes a proposition of Ontario law that §4 holds only
- *      in scoped form and deliberately does NOT stamp `[verified]`. Family
- *      arbitration is an arbitral appointment and it IS gated
- *      (`docs/reference/ontario-family-arbitration-training.md`). Q39 swept
- *      three instances of this universal on 2026-08-27; this was the fourth and
- *      the first outside a comment. §4 requires the STAGE be stated — never the
- *      register's gating rationale. Deleted rather than rescoped: this page has
- *      no business carrying the argument at all.
- *   2. "on the same institutional pathway" and
- *   3. "Three designations on one institutional pathway" (the section lede) —
- *      §4 attaches ADRIC / ADRIO to **Q.Med only**. Neither the Q.Arb row nor
- *      the C.Med-Arb row names a body.
- *   4. "The senior hybrid designation" — a ranking claim about a third party's
- *      credential structure, with no row and no source.
- *   5. The expansions — "Qualified Mediator", "Qualified Arbitrator",
- *      "Chartered Mediator-Arbitrator". Flagged as being in §11 Glossary but
- *      not in §4 Verified. **The third was also simply WRONG** — ADRIO's term
- *      is "Chartered Med-Arbitrator" — but that is not what this finding
- *      caught, and no review pass caught it either: four passes read the string
- *      and checked only whether it was *sourced*. Pouya caught it on
- *      2026-08-28. The wrong form is quoted here because it is what was
- *      flagged; it is corrected in the arc below and swept from the repo.
- *
- * ⚠️ ITEM 5 WAS REMOVED AND IS NOW RESTORED, AND IT IS THE ONE PLACE THIS
- * SESSION WENT AGAINST A REVIEW FINDING. The reason is a SECOND finding, from
- * the next audit pass, and it is a consistency point rather than a claim point:
- * this page also publishes "Provincial Offences Act", "Statutory Accident
- * Benefits Schedule" (as SABS) and "the ADR Institute of Canada and the ADR
- * Institute of Ontario" — every one of them a §11 Glossary expansion, on exactly
- * the ground the designation names were struck. *"One standard or the other."*
- *
- * ✅ **RATIFIED BY POUYA 2026-08-28 (Q46(b)), AND NO LONGER RESTING ON §11
- * ASSERTING ITS OWN CONTENT.** The standard: **§11 Glossary is the source for
- * DEFINITIONAL expansions** — what an abbreviation stands for — while §4
- * Verified remains the only source for claims ABOUT POUYA. Expanding `Q.Med`
- * says nothing about him; "he holds it" is the claim, and that has a row. His
- * words: *"the same line the Offerings ruling drew"*, and *"You were right that
- * one standard or the other had to apply."*
- *
- * The alternative standard would have required stripping POA, SABS and the
- * institute names from the prose and `recognizedBy` from the JSON-LD — making
- * the page materially worse for a reader who does not already know the acronyms,
- * in exchange for no reduction in risk.
- *
- * **R14 IS NOW SATISFIED, which it was not when this comment was first written.**
- * Pouya's ruling attached a condition — fetch and commit the source — and
- * `docs/reference/adrio-designations.md` is it: all five expansions in ADRIO's
- * own words, four independent fetches, reproducible sha256. The earlier attempt
- * had failed on the obvious URL (`adric.ca/designations/` redirects to
- * `/designations-cee/` and serves **zero** occurrences of "Q.Med", "Qualified
- * Mediator" or "Chartered Mediator" in 114,985 bytes — navigation only, body
- * assembled client-side), and that failure is why this rested on §11 alone for
- * one day. `adr-ontario.ca` serves them server-side. **The lesson is that one
- * dead URL is not a sourcing dead end** — the national body's page was
- * client-rendered and the provincial affiliate's was not.
- */
-const ARC = [
-  {
-    name: 'Q.Med',
-    state: 'Held',
-    /* NOT "the designation I mediate under". That imported a PERMISSION framing
-       onto what §4 records as a voluntary credential, in a register that says
-       no designation is required to be appointed as a mediator — the
-       credential-as-licence slip §4 says produced a wrong answer twice. */
-    body:
-      'Qualified Mediator, held through the ADR Institute of Canada and the ' +
-      'ADR Institute of Ontario. The designation I hold as a mediator today.',
-  },
-  {
-    name: 'Q.Arb',
-    state: 'Commenced August 2026',
-    body:
-      'Qualified Arbitrator. Newly commenced — not held, and not nearing ' +
-      'completion.',
-  },
-  {
-    name: 'C.Med-Arb',
-    state: 'The endpoint',
-    /* "Chartered Med-Arbitrator", NOT "Chartered Mediator-Arbitrator". The
-       second form shipped in this string until 2026-08-28 and was in
-       dist/about/index.html; ADRIO's own term is the first
-       (docs/reference/adrio-designations.md, Finding 2). Pouya's correction,
-       and it was his own error carried from the strategy brief. */
-    body:
-      'Chartered Med-Arbitrator. The designation this practice is built ' +
-      'toward.',
-  },
-];
-
 /**
  * The structured credentials — docs/01 item 3: "designations, education,
  * certifications, memberships. Every line from AGENTS.md §4 Verified."
@@ -331,8 +246,8 @@ const CREDENTIAL_GROUPS = [
 ---
 
 <BaseLayout
-  title="About · Pouya Lajevardi · Mediator, Q.Med · Toronto"
-  description="Pouya Lajevardi, JD, Q.Med — a Toronto mediator who also practises as a machine-learning and infrastructure engineer. Credentials, background, designations."
+  title="About · Pouya Lajevardi · Mediator, Q.Med, Q.Arb · Toronto"
+  description="Pouya Lajevardi, JD, Q.Med, Q.Arb — a Toronto mediator who also practises as a machine-learning and infrastructure engineer. Credentials and background."
   ogType="profile"
   imageAlt={PORTRAIT.alt}
   jsonLd={graph}
@@ -387,15 +302,24 @@ const CREDENTIAL_GROUPS = [
 
             EXPLICITLY INTERIM — AGENTS.md R1, surfaced again 2026-08-28
             precisely because this page is where the framing now does its
-            heaviest work. */
+            heaviest work.
+
+            "I MEDIATE COMMERCIAL DISPUTES" STAYS, and a round-2 finding against
+            it was declined rather than missed. The objection: the same ground
+            that struck "The matters I take are commercial" from the biography
+            should reach this sentence too. It does not. **That one was a
+            universal** — it said nothing he takes is non-commercial, which is an
+            exclusion §4 has no row for. **This one is existential**: he mediates
+            commercial disputes, which §4 Offerings' mediation row supports and
+            which excludes nothing. A narrower claim than the row grants is
+            safe; a claim the row does not reach is not. */
         }
         <p class="hero-lede">
           I am {ROLE.title} at {ROLE.at}, with {ROLE.litigationLine} across{' '}
           {ROLE.litigationAreas.slice(0, -1).join(', ')} and{' '}
           {ROLE.litigationAreas.at(-1)}. I mediate commercial disputes and I
-          accept arbitration appointments in commercial matters; the Q.Arb
-          pathway commenced in August 2026. I also work as a machine-learning
-          and infrastructure engineer.
+          accept arbitration appointments in commercial matters. I also work as
+          a machine-learning and infrastructure engineer.
         </p>
       </div>
 
@@ -519,9 +443,8 @@ const CREDENTIAL_GROUPS = [
           EVERY CLAIM TRACES TO §4 Verified: the JD, the boutique role, active
           litigation exposure and its four matter types, Q.Med, multiple
           completed sole mediations, arbitration appointments (§4 Offerings,
-          scoped to commercial), the Q.Arb pathway commenced August 2026,
-          C.Med-Arb as the goal, engineering practice, SML Company Ltd, Farsi,
-          Iranian-Canadian. Nothing here asserts or implies licensure. */
+          scoped to commercial), Q.Arb, engineering practice, SML Company Ltd,
+          Farsi, Iranian-Canadian. Nothing here asserts or implies licensure. */
       }
       <div class="prose bio-prose">
         <p>
@@ -554,21 +477,18 @@ const CREDENTIAL_GROUPS = [
             drift. */
         }
         <p>{ASYMMETRY_LINE}</p>
+        {
+          /* A SECOND PARAGRAPH HERE WAS CANDOUR ABOUT AN INCOMPLETE CREDENTIAL
+            — "I would rather say where I am on the arc". Q.Arb is held; do not
+            write another. `check:claims` q-arb-as-a-stage catches the form. */
+        }
         <p>
-          Mediation is where they meet. I hold the Q.Med designation through the
-          ADR Institute of Canada and the ADR Institute of Ontario, and I have
+          Mediation is where they meet. {DESIGNATIONS_HELD_LINE}, and I have
           completed multiple sole mediations. I accept arbitration appointments
           in commercial matters — as sole arbitrator, as a party-appointed
           arbitrator, and in co-arbitration. Where a matter turns on a technical
           question, I read the technical material myself.
         </p>
-        <p>
-          My Q.Arb pathway commenced in August 2026, and C.Med-Arb is the
-          designation I am working toward. I state the stage openly because an
-          appointing body will establish it anyway, and because a reader can do
-          more with the fact than with a hedge. I would rather say where I am on
-          the arc than leave it to be inferred.
-        </p>
         {
           /* BOTH ADDITIONS TO THIS SENTENCE CAME BACK OUT. §4 verifies exactly
             one relation — *"Operator of SML Company Ltd. alongside the
@@ -596,6 +516,25 @@ const CREDENTIAL_GROUPS = [
             `worksFor` is withheld. */
         }
         <p>I run SML Company Ltd alongside the practice.</p>
+        {
+          /* ⚠️ NO SCOPE CLAIM AND NO COVERAGE CLAIM. §4 has no row for the
+            subject matter of his ADR work, and `/practice/insurance/` ships
+            "Disputes between an insured person and an insurer" — an
+            individual-versus-insurer SABS dispute is not commercial, so this
+            paragraph must not declare the six areas a commercial class.
+            What Q35 grants is the frame used here: an area may be named where
+            he can competently accept an appointment, framed as positioning
+            rather than claimed history. "I accept appointments in" is that
+            frame; "the subject matter runs across" is not, because §Background
+            is where a reader defaults to reading history. */
+        }
+        <p>
+          I accept appointments in six areas: construction and infrastructure;
+          technology, AI and data; energy and the grid; insurance and accident
+          benefits; shareholder and family-business disputes; and cross-border
+          matters. What those have in common is a record somebody has to read
+          closely, and a dispute that turns on what is actually in it.
+        </p>
         <p>
           I have also completed the Kompass Arbitration Certificate Program and
           the Stitt Feld Handy negotiation and ADR workshop sequence. Neither is
@@ -652,62 +591,6 @@ const CREDENTIAL_GROUPS = [
     </div>
   </section>
 
-  {/* ---- 4. The credentialing arc -------------------------------------- */}
-  {
-    /* SECTION 4 BEFORE SECTION 3, and the reorder is deliberate. docs/01 lists
-      credentials (item 3) then the arc (item 4). The arc is the part a reader
-      is likely to have a question about — it is the thing this practice is
-      candid about that others are not — and burying it under a scannable list
-      of things already held reads as a footnote to them. §4's paired-disclosure
-      condition also wants the stage stated where the offering is made, and the
-      offering is made in the narrative directly above. The list follows. */
-  }
-  <section class="section section-inverse arc-section reveal">
-    <div class="wrap">
-      <div class="section-head">
-        <SectionHeading
-          eyebrow="The arc"
-          level={2}
-          lede="Three designations. Two of them are ahead of me, and saying so is the point."
-        >
-          <span slot="heading">Where the credentials sit.</span>
-        </SectionHeading>
-      </div>
-
-      {
-        /* `role="list"` RESTORED, AND THE REASON I REMOVED IT WAS WRONG ABOUT
-          ARIA. The comment here claimed that on an <ol> the role "re-announces
-          an ordered list as an unordered one". It does not: **both <ul> and <ol>
-          map to the `list` role**, so `role="list"` on an <ol> is a no-op for
-          ordering, not a downgrade. What it is actually for is the WebKit
-          heuristic that strips list semantics from a list with
-          `list-style-type: none` — and `.arc` sets exactly that.
-
-          It also left the two <ol>s on this two-page site DISAGREEING, with
-          `/`'s `.process-strip` keeping the role. That is the state that gets
-          copied seventeen times.
-
-          Not verified here: whether WebKit's heuristic covers <ol> as well as
-          <ul>. There is no Safari instrument in this environment, so the role
-          stays on the precautionary side, which costs nothing. Chrome's AX tree
-          exposes `.arc` as `list` with three `listitem` children either way. */
-      }
-      <ol class="arc" role="list">
-        {
-          ARC.map((stage) => (
-            <li class="arc-item">
-              <h3 class="arc-name">{stage.name}</h3>
-              <p class="arc-state">
-                <Pill>{stage.state}</Pill>
-              </p>
-              <p class="arc-body">{stage.body}</p>
-            </li>
-          ))
-        }
-      </ol>
-    </div>
-  </section>
-
   {/* ---- 3. Credentials, structured ------------------------------------ */}
   <section class="section section-alt creds reveal">
     <div class="wrap">
@@ -955,51 +838,6 @@ const CREDENTIAL_GROUPS = [
      page. "Provincial Offences Act" is set in roman. If a statute name ever
      needs italics here, load a face for it first. */
 
-  /* --- 4. The arc ------------------------------------------------------ */
-
-  .arc {
-    display: grid;
-    /* `min(18rem, 100%)` rather than a bare 18rem floor: a bare floor cannot
-       shrink below itself and overflows at a large default font size. The
-       credential row on `/` is the measured instance of that mistake. */
-    grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fit, minmax(min(18rem, 100%), 1fr));
-    gap: var(--space-6);
-    /* NO `padding: 0` OR `list-style: none` HERE — `global.css`'s
-       `ul[role='list'], ol[role='list']` reset already supplies both, and this
-       block was re-implementing it by hand. Two rules for one job, and the
-       hand-written copy is the one that drifts. `margin: 0` also comes from the
-       global `* { margin: 0 }` reset. */
-  }
-  .arc-item {
-    display: flex;
-    flex-direction: column;
-    gap: var(--space-3);
-    padding-block-start: var(--space-4);
-    border-block-start: 1px solid var(--line-dark);
-  }
-  /* <h3>, not <p>. These are the headings of the three arc items and they set
-     at --text-2xl serif, so marking them up as paragraphs was the fake-heading
-     pattern: a screen-reader user got no heading navigation for the one section
-     on this page a reader is most likely to jump to. `ProcessStep` on `/` uses
-     <h3> for exactly this shape. Outline stays h1 -> h2 -> h3 with no skips. */
-  .arc-name {
-    font-family: var(--font-serif);
-    font-size: var(--text-2xl);
-    line-height: var(--leading-tight);
-  }
-  .arc-state {
-    margin: 0;
-  }
-  .arc-body {
-    margin: 0;
-    font-size: var(--text-base);
-    line-height: var(--leading-body);
-    /* NOT --text-secondary. On an inverse ground `--ink-soft` measures ~1.4:1
-       against `--ink` — the inherited `--text-inverse` (cream, 16.81:1) is what
-       carries body copy here, so the colour is deliberately left alone rather
-       than set to a token that is correct only on cream. */
-  }
-
   /* --- 3. Credentials -------------------------------------------------- */
 
   .cred-grid {

src/pages/arbitration.astro

@@ -2,25 +2,26 @@
 /**
  * `/arbitration/` — build step 4. Spec: docs/01 §`/arbitration/`, docs/03.
  *
- * ⚠️ THIS PAGE CARRIES §4's PAIRED-DISCLOSURE CONDITION, AND IT IS A CONDITION
- * ON THE OFFERING ITSELF, NOT A DISCLAIMER BOLTED TO IT. Both halves ship or
- * neither does:
+ * ⚠️ THE PAIRED-DISCLOSURE CONDITION IS GONE, AND SO IS THE SECTION IT
+ * REQUIRED. Until 2026-08-29 this page was built around §4's condition that the
+ * arbitration offering ship beside the STAGE of the Q.Arb pathway — an h1
+ * reading "Available now, and open about the stage", and a whole section headed
+ * "Where I am in the arc". Q.Arb is held; the condition dissolved with its
+ * subject; the section was deleted rather than rewritten.
  *
- *   1. All three forms are offered NOW — sole, party-appointed, co-arbitration
- *      — in commercial matters. §4 Offerings rows all three.
- *   2. The Q.Arb PATHWAY commenced August 2026, with C.Med-Arb as the endpoint.
- *
- * "Pathway", never "designation": a designation that "commenced in August 2026"
- * reads as held since then, which §4 Forbidden bars. Pouya's instruction is that
- * being open about the stage is the differentiator — so it is stated plainly and
- * high on the page, not hedged and not buried.
+ * ⚠️ AND DO NOT REPRODUCE IT FROM MEMORY. The characteristic failure now is a
+ * page that offers arbitration and then reaches for something qualifying to
+ * say. There is nothing to qualify: §4 Offerings rows all three forms, the
+ * designations are held, and the hero's `CredentialRow` names them. What
+ * remains of the old framing is the commercial scope — which was never part of
+ * the condition and is Pouya's own choice (Q39).
  *
  * ⚠️ AND NOTHING HERE MAY SAY OR IMPLY THAT ARBITRATION IS UNGATED IN ONTARIO.
  * Q39's struck universal — "anyone may be appointed an arbitrator in Ontario;
  * nothing in law gates the role behind a designation" — was FALSE as a
  * universal, has been swept four times, and reached a public page once. The
- * page states what is offered and where the credentialing stands. It makes no
- * claim about what the law requires of anyone.
+ * page states what is offered. It makes no claim about what the law requires of
+ * anyone.
  */
 import BaseLayout from '../layouts/BaseLayout.astro';
 import Button from '../components/Button.astro';
@@ -28,7 +29,6 @@ import ContactBand from '../components/ContactBand.astro';
 import DefinitionGrid from '../components/DefinitionGrid.astro';
 import CredentialRow from '../components/CredentialRow.astro';
 import Eyebrow from '../components/Eyebrow.astro';
-import Pill from '../components/Pill.astro';
 import SectionHeading from '../components/SectionHeading.astro';
 import Undertaking from '../components/Undertaking.astro';
 import { getImage } from 'astro:assets';
@@ -36,7 +36,6 @@ import ogDefault from '../assets/og-portrait.jpg';
 import { serviceGraph } from '../data/schema';
 import {
   CONDUCT_UNDERTAKINGS,
-  CREDENTIALS,
   CREDENTIAL_ROW,
   CREDENTIAL_ROW_ARB,
 } from '../data/site';
@@ -94,19 +93,18 @@ const TRACKS = [
 
 <BaseLayout
   title="Commercial Arbitration · Pouya Lajevardi · Toronto"
-  description="Sole, party-appointed and co-arbitration appointments in commercial matters, Toronto. Tracks, rules and awards — and where the Q.Arb pathway stands."
+  description="Sole, party-appointed and co-arbitration appointments in commercial matters, Toronto. Tracks, rules, and how an award is written and when it is due."
   jsonLd={graph}
 >
-  {/* ---- 1. Hero — and the paired disclosure starts here ---------------- */}
+  {/* ---- 1. Hero -------------------------------------------------------- */}
   <section class="section hero">
     <div class="wrap">
       <Eyebrow dot>Arbitration</Eyebrow>
-      <h1 class="display hero-h">Available now, and open about the stage.</h1>
+      <h1 class="display hero-h">Sole, party-appointed, co-arbitration.</h1>
       <p class="hero-lede">
-        I accept sole, party-appointed and co-arbitration appointments in
-        commercial matters. The Q.Arb pathway commenced in August 2026;
-        C.Med-Arb is the endpoint. Both are true at once, and they belong
-        together rather than one of them surfacing later.
+        I accept all three in commercial matters. This page covers how much
+        process the dispute needs, whose rules it runs under, and how the award
+        gets written.
       </p>
       <div class="hero-creds">
         <CredentialRow slots={[...CREDENTIAL_ROW, CREDENTIAL_ROW_ARB]} />
@@ -114,56 +112,15 @@ const TRACKS = [
     </div>
   </section>
 
-  {/* ---- 2. The credentialing stage, on its own ------------------------- */}
+  {/* ---- 2. Appointments ------------------------------------------------ */}
   {
-    /* §4 Offerings: "neither half may be dropped". The offering is in the hero;
-      this is the other half, given its own section rather than a footnote,
-      because Pouya's instruction is that the openness IS the differentiator. */
+    /* INVERSE, and it inherited the ground rather than choosing it. The deleted
+      credentialing-stage section was this page's only `section-inverse`; left
+      cream, this section would have sat cream-on-cream against the hero and
+      rendered as one doubled block — the defect `/practice/[slug].astro` now
+      throws on. */
   }
   <section class="section section-inverse reveal">
-    <div class="wrap">
-      <div class="section-head">
-        <SectionHeading eyebrow="Where I am in the arc" level={2}>
-          <span slot="heading"
-            >Stated plainly rather than discovered later.</span
-          >
-        </SectionHeading>
-      </div>
-      <ol class="grid-autofit stage" role="list">
-        <li>
-          <Pill>Held</Pill>
-          <h3 class="stage-name">Q.Med</h3>
-          <p class="stage-body">
-            Qualified Mediator, through the ADR Institute of Canada and the ADR
-            Institute of Ontario.
-          </p>
-        </li>
-        <li>
-          <Pill>Commenced August 2026</Pill>
-          <h3 class="stage-name">Q.Arb</h3>
-          <p class="stage-body">
-            Qualified Arbitrator. Newly commenced — not held, and not nearing
-            completion.
-          </p>
-        </li>
-        <li>
-          <Pill>The endpoint</Pill>
-          <h3 class="stage-name">C.Med-Arb</h3>
-          <p class="stage-body">
-            {CREDENTIALS.goalName}. The designation this practice is built
-            toward.
-          </p>
-        </li>
-      </ol>
-      <p class="stage-note">
-        If the stage of the arc bears on an appointment decision, it should bear
-        on it before the appointment and not after.
-      </p>
-    </div>
-  </section>
-
-  {/* ---- 3. Appointments ------------------------------------------------ */}
-  <section class="section reveal">
     <div class="wrap">
       <div class="section-head">
         <SectionHeading
@@ -178,7 +135,7 @@ const TRACKS = [
     </div>
   </section>
 
-  {/* ---- 4. Tracks ------------------------------------------------------ */}
+  {/* ---- 3. Tracks ------------------------------------------------------ */}
   <section class="section section-alt reveal">
     <div class="wrap">
       <div class="section-head">
@@ -194,7 +151,7 @@ const TRACKS = [
     </div>
   </section>
 
-  {/* ---- 5. Rules ------------------------------------------------------- */}
+  {/* ---- 4. Rules ------------------------------------------------------- */}
   <section class="section reveal">
     <div class="wrap">
       <div class="section-head">
@@ -236,7 +193,7 @@ const TRACKS = [
     </div>
   </section>
 
-  {/* ---- 6. Awards ------------------------------------------------------ */}
+  {/* ---- 5. Awards ------------------------------------------------------ */}
   <section class="section section-alt reveal">
     <div class="wrap">
       <div class="section-head">
@@ -274,7 +231,7 @@ const TRACKS = [
     </div>
   </section>
 
-  {/* ---- 7. Fees --------------------------------------------------------- */}
+  {/* ---- 6. Fees --------------------------------------------------------- */}
   <section class="section reveal">
     <div class="wrap">
       <div class="section-head">
@@ -317,33 +274,6 @@ const TRACKS = [
     margin-block-start: var(--space-8);
   }
 
-  /* `.stage`, NOT `.arc`. `/about/` has an `.arc` block of its own with the
-     same class names and different rendering — serif at --text-2xl there, mono
-     at --text-lg here — and Astro's scoping means neither reaches the other. Two
-     meanings for one name across two pages is a rename waiting to go wrong.
-     `role="list"` on the <ol> and no local `list-style: none`: global.css does
-     both for `ol[role='list']`, and WebKit drops list semantics when the marker
-     goes, which is why the role is there. Columns come from `.grid-autofit`. */
-  .stage {
-    --grid-min: 17rem;
-    gap: var(--space-7);
-  }
-  .stage-name {
-    margin-block: var(--space-4) var(--space-2);
-    font-family: var(--font-mono);
-    font-size: var(--text-lg);
-    font-weight: var(--weight-medium);
-  }
-  .stage-body {
-    max-inline-size: 40ch;
-    line-height: var(--leading-body);
-  }
-  .stage-note {
-    margin-block-start: var(--space-8);
-    max-inline-size: 54ch;
-    line-height: var(--leading-body);
-    color: var(--text-inverse-2);
-  }
   .cta {
     margin-block-start: var(--space-6);
   }

src/pages/index.astro

@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@
  * EVERY FACTUAL CLAIM ON THIS PAGE TRACES TO AGENTS.md §4, and the ones that
  * carry risk are constants from src/data/site.ts rather than typed here.
  * Notably: arbitration is scoped to COMMERCIAL matters throughout (§4
- * Offerings, Q39 2026-08-27), the Q.Arb stage is stated on the page and not
- * only in the footer, and nothing claims or implies licensure (D13).
+ * Offerings, Q39 2026-08-27), the held designations come from `CREDENTIALS`,
+ * and nothing claims or implies licensure (D13).
  */
 import { Picture, getImage } from 'astro:assets';
 import BaseLayout from '../layouts/BaseLayout.astro';
@@ -51,16 +51,16 @@ import {
 } from '../data/site';
 
 /**
- * FOUR SLOTS, NOT THREE, AND THE FOURTH IS NOT DECORATIVE.
+ * FOUR SLOTS, NOT THREE, and it is now a §4 substitution-principle choice
+ * rather than a condition.
  *
- * docs/01 §`/` item 2 says "Three slots". §4 Offerings is the higher authority
- * on claims and attaches a PAIRED-DISCLOSURE CONDITION to offering arbitration
- * at all: the site "makes the first while stating the second plainly", and
- * "neither half may be dropped". This page says *arbitrator* in its second
- * sentence, so the stage of the arc belongs on this page rather than only in
- * the site footer. docs/03 authorises the fourth slot; docs/03 has been amended
- * to record that on `/` it is required. Q.Arb reads as commenced — never as
- * held or nearing completion (§4 Forbidden).
+ * docs/01 §`/` item 2 says "Three slots"; §4's substitution principle
+ * authorises `Q.Arb` as a fourth "where one exists", and this layout has one.
+ * It was MANDATORY here until 2026-08-29 under §4's paired-disclosure
+ * condition, because the page says *arbitrator* in its second sentence and the
+ * stage had to appear beside the offering. Q.Arb is held and that condition is
+ * dissolved; the slot stays because a fourth held credential earns its place,
+ * not because anything requires it.
  */
 const credentials = [...CREDENTIAL_ROW, CREDENTIAL_ROW_ARB];
 
@@ -488,32 +488,29 @@ const graph = homeGraph(new URL(ldImage.src, Astro.site).href);
             <a href="/arbitration/">Arbitration</a>
           </h3>
           {
-            /* docs/03's model sentence, and BOTH halves are required: §4
-              Offerings — "neither half may be dropped". Pouya's instruction:
-              being open about the stage is the differentiator, so it is not
-              hedged into vagueness and not dropped. Commercial matters only
-              (Q39): family arbitration is not offered. */
+            /* COMMERCIAL MATTERS ONLY (Q39) — family arbitration is not offered,
+              and that scope is Pouya's own choice, not a conclusion this record
+              draws about the law. */
           }
           <p class="feature-body">
             I accept sole, party-appointed and co-arbitration appointments in
-            commercial matters. The Q.Arb pathway commenced in August 2026;
-            C.Med-Arb is the endpoint.
+            commercial matters, on a documents-only, expedited or full-hearing
+            track.
           </p>
           <span class="feature-arrow" aria-hidden="true">&rarr;</span>
         </article>
       </div>
 
       {
-        /* docs/01 §`/` item 4: "Med-Arb named here as the long-term arc,
-          linking to /med-arb/." It has had its own §4 Offerings row since
-          2026-08-27 (Q35), so it is named as offered rather than only as an
-          aspiration — but the arc is what docs/01 asks this page to carry. */
+        /* Med-Arb has its own §4 Offerings row (Q35, 2026-08-27), so it is named
+          here as a present offering. docs/01 item 4 asked for it as "the
+          long-term arc"; there is no arc, and that item is amended. */
       }
       <p class="pair-note">
         <strong>Med-Arb</strong> combines the two: one neutral mediates, then arbitrates
-        whatever has not settled. I accept those appointments, and C.Med-Arb is the
-        designation endpoint. The page on it meets the procedural-fairness objection
-        head on rather than around it &mdash;
+        whatever has not settled. I accept those appointments in commercial matters.
+        The page on it meets the procedural-fairness objection head on rather than
+        around it &mdash;
         <a href="/med-arb/">how med-arb works &rarr;</a>
       </p>
     </div>

src/pages/med-arb.astro

@@ -4,9 +4,10 @@
  * Arbitration / Med-Arb, docs/04 (FAQPage is specified for this page).
  *
  * docs/01 rates this the strongest candidate for the best-performing page on
- * the site: real search demand, thin competition, and it maps to the practice's
- * long-term arc. So it is written to be the page that actually explains the
- * process, not a service blurb.
+ * the site: real search demand and thin competition. So it is written to be the
+ * page that actually explains the process, not a service blurb. (A third reason
+ * — "it maps to the practice's long-term arc" — went with C.Med-Arb on
+ * 2026-08-29. Do not restore arc framing on this page from an older reading.)
  *
  * THE PAGE NOW ANSWERS THE FAIRNESS OBJECTION TWICE, AND THE SECOND HALF IS THE
  * ONE Q54 UNBLOCKED. The FAQ answers it at the level of PROCESS DESIGN — what a
@@ -24,7 +25,7 @@ import Undertaking from '../components/Undertaking.astro';
 import { getImage } from 'astro:assets';
 import ogDefault from '../assets/og-portrait.jpg';
 import { medArbGraph } from '../data/schema';
-import { CONDUCT_UNDERTAKINGS, CREDENTIALS } from '../data/site';
+import { CONDUCT_UNDERTAKINGS, DESIGNATIONS_HELD_LINE } from '../data/site';
 
 const ldImage = await getImage({
   src: ogDefault,
@@ -212,8 +213,8 @@ const graph = medArbGraph({
         <p>
           The ADR Institute of Canada publishes <strong
             >ADRIC Med-Arb Rules</strong
-          >, developed by a task force and put to the membership in 2019, and
-          designed, in ADRIC's words, to <q
+          >, developed by a task force and presented to the membership at
+          ADRIC's 2019 annual conference, and designed, in ADRIC's words, to <q
             >work in tandem with ADRIC's existing Mediation Rules and
             Arbitration Rules</q
           >. They were drafted for domestic commercial disputes, and ADRIC notes
@@ -234,23 +235,35 @@ const graph = medArbGraph({
     </div>
   </section>
 
-  {/* ---- 6. The endpoint ------------------------------------------------- */}
+  {/* ---- 6. Why this practice -------------------------------------------- */}
+  {
+    /* ⚠️ THIS SECTION MUST NOT ANSWER THE ADRIC COMPETENCE QUOTATION ABOVE IT.
+      For one pass it did: the heading read "Med-arb asks one neutral to be
+      competent at both" — a restatement, in this site's voice, of ADRIC's
+      "requires a high level of practitioner competence" quoted in the section
+      immediately above — and the designations then answered it by adjacency.
+      **The source answers its own sentence with a DIFFERENT designation**: the
+      same ADRIC page points at the Chartered Med-Arb and a Med-Arb Foundational
+      Course, and `docs/reference/adrio-designations.md` Finding 3 calls the
+      Q-level designations "an intermediate step". So the page was borrowing a
+      third party's competence standard and supplying an answer that party does
+      not give. `claims-auditor`, round-2 audit, 2026-08-30 — the gloss lens.
+
+      The heading and lede now state what this practice holds and offers, with
+      no competence proposition and no bridge to the quotation above. */
+  }
   <section class="section section-alt reveal">
     <div class="wrap">
       <div class="section-head">
         <SectionHeading eyebrow="Why this practice" level={2}>
-          <span slot="heading"
-            >C.Med-Arb is the designation this practice is built toward.</span
-          >
+          <span slot="heading">Both halves, in one practice.</span>
         </SectionHeading>
       </div>
       <div class="prose">
         <p>
-          {CREDENTIALS.goalName}, the ADRIC and ADRIO designation for exactly
-          this hybrid, is the endpoint of the arc. Q.Med is held. The Q.Arb
-          pathway commenced in August 2026. C.Med-Arb comes after both, and it
-          is the reason the two halves of this practice are being built together
-          rather than one after the other.
+          {DESIGNATIONS_HELD_LINE}. Med-arb is not a third service bolted onto
+          mediation and arbitration; it is the two of them run under one
+          agreement, in the order the agreement sets.
         </p>
         <p>
           I accept med-arb appointments now, in commercial matters. The section

src/styles/global.css

@@ -584,10 +584,12 @@ hr {
      what a UA without that fudge renders. With `printBackground: true` the
      pages are correct, which is what isolates the cause.
 
-     What vanished was the Q.Med / Q.Arb / C.Med-Arb progression on `/about/` —
-     §4's paired disclosure — plus the contact band. `!important` because the
-     rules being overridden are class-level and these must win regardless of
-     which section variant a future page uses. */
+     What vanished when it was measured was `/about/`'s inverse-ground arc block
+     plus the contact band. (That arc section was deleted on 2026-08-29; the
+     defect it exposed was never about that section — any `section-inverse`
+     reproduces it, and `/practice/*` and `/arbitration/` still carry one.)
+     `!important` because the rules being overridden are class-level and these
+     must win regardless of which section variant a future page uses. */
   /* TOKENS FIRST, THEN CLASSES — and the token half is the part that works.
      A class-by-class version of this block shipped first and MISSED TWO
      ELEMENTS, both measured under print-media emulation: `.approach-metaphor`