diff --git a/backend/app/models.py b/backend/app/models.py
index 3654729..cfe930e 100644
--- a/backend/app/models.py
+++ b/backend/app/models.py
@@ -134,6 +134,12 @@ class Adventure(Base):
     story_cards: Mapped[list["StoryCard"]] = relationship(
         back_populates="adventure", cascade="all, delete-orphan"
     )
+    # Every action of the adventure — that is, every *branch's*. Not the story
+    # being played, and re-ordering it by depth would not make it one: the
+    # collection is the tree, and a path is a selection out of it. Anything
+    # showing a reader a story goes through `context.history`, which goes
+    # through the branch clause. What is left here is ownership and the
+    # delete-orphan cascade, which are facts about the adventure.
     actions: Mapped[list["Action"]] = relationship(
         back_populates="adventure",
         cascade="all, delete-orphan",
diff --git a/backend/app/routers/adventures.py b/backend/app/routers/adventures.py
index bc48323..dcf67d1 100644
--- a/backend/app/routers/adventures.py
+++ b/backend/app/routers/adventures.py
@@ -1144,6 +1144,12 @@ def export_adventure(
     # Export is the one read that genuinely wants every attempt, so it asks for
     # the deferred `variants` column up front — iterating adv.actions instead
     # would lazy-load it one row at a time.
+    #
+    # And the one read deliberately left un-pathed: a backup wants the whole
+    # adventure, not the branch its owner happens to be standing on. `index`
+    # orders it because the v1 bundle is a flat list keyed on index and its
+    # reader has no idea branches exist — which is exactly why SP6 replaces the
+    # format rather than quietly widening this query.
     exported_actions = (
         db.query(models.Action)
         .filter(models.Action.adventure_id == adv.id)
diff --git a/backend/app/tree.py b/backend/app/tree.py
index c30cf33..4e7dc0d 100644
--- a/backend/app/tree.py
+++ b/backend/app/tree.py
@@ -88,15 +88,21 @@ def head_branch(db: Session, adventure: models.Adventure) -> models.Branch:
 
 
 def place_action(
-    db: Session, adventure: models.Adventure, action: models.Action
+    db: Session,
+    adventure: models.Adventure,
+    action: models.Action,
+    branch: models.Branch | None = None,
 ) -> models.Branch:
     """Put `action` on the head branch and move the head to it.
 
     `depth` follows `index` while the two coexist. They have to agree: a read
     ordering by depth and a cursor counting in index space are describing the
     same story, and SP2 swaps one for the other under everything at once.
+
+    `branch` is the head, already resolved, for a caller placing several nodes
+    at once — see `place_new_nodes` for why that is worth a parameter.
     """
-    branch = head_branch(db, adventure)
+    branch = branch or head_branch(db, adventure)
     action.branch_id = branch.id
     if action.depth is None:
         action.depth = action.index
@@ -107,7 +113,10 @@ def place_action(
 
 
 def place_memory(
-    db: Session, adventure: models.Adventure, memory: models.Memory
+    db: Session,
+    adventure: models.Adventure,
+    memory: models.Memory,
+    branch: models.Branch | None = None,
 ) -> models.Branch:
     """Attach a memory to the node that produced it.
 
@@ -115,7 +124,7 @@ def place_memory(
     that node's depth. A hand-written memory summarises nothing, so its depth
     stays NULL and it belongs to the adventure rather than to a path.
     """
-    branch = head_branch(db, adventure)
+    branch = branch or head_branch(db, adventure)
     memory.branch_id = branch.id
     if memory.depth is None and memory.source_end is not None:
         memory.depth = memory.source_end
@@ -135,7 +144,15 @@ def place_new_nodes(session: Session) -> None:
     Nodes whose adventure has not been inserted yet are left alone: there is no
     id to hang a branch off, and an Action needs `adventure_id` to be written
     at all, so the case does not arise from any writer we have.
+
+    The head is resolved once per adventure per flush, and held in `heads` for
+    the length of the call. That is not just saving a dictionary lookup: the
+    identity map holds *weak* references, so a branch row nobody keeps a strong
+    reference to is collected between two nodes and read back from the database
+    for the next one. Resolving per node turned a fixture writing two hundred
+    actions in one flush into two hundred SELECTs on `branches`.
     """
+    heads: dict[int, models.Branch] = {}
     for obj in list(session.new):
         if isinstance(obj, models.Action):
             place = place_action
@@ -146,8 +163,12 @@ def place_new_nodes(session: Session) -> None:
         if obj.branch_id is not None or obj.adventure_id is None:
             continue
         adventure = session.get(models.Adventure, obj.adventure_id)
-        if adventure is not None:
-            place(session, adventure, obj)
+        if adventure is None:
+            continue
+        head = heads.get(adventure.id)
+        if head is None:
+            head = heads[adventure.id] = head_branch(session, adventure)
+        place(session, adventure, obj, head)
 
 
 def refresh_head(db: Session, adventure: models.Adventure) -> None:
diff --git a/backend/tests/test_branch_clause.py b/backend/tests/test_branch_clause.py
index 7bc48ea..0f1fe54 100644
--- a/backend/tests/test_branch_clause.py
+++ b/backend/tests/test_branch_clause.py
@@ -350,6 +350,28 @@ def test_a_memory_written_without_a_branch_is_placed_anyway(forked):
     assert memory.depth == 3
 
 
+def test_placing_a_flush_of_nodes_reads_the_branch_once(forked, emitted_sql):
+    """The guard resolves the head once per flush, not once per node.
+
+    The identity map holds weak references, so a branch row nobody keeps a
+    strong reference to is collected between two nodes and read back for the
+    next one. Writing two hundred actions in one flush was two hundred SELECTs
+    on `branches` before the head was hoisted out of the loop, and nothing
+    about the result would have told you.
+    """
+    db, adventure, _ = forked
+    emitted_sql.clear()
+    for i in range(50):
+        db.add(models.Action(
+            adventure_id=adventure.id, index=500 + i, type="do", text=f"bulk {i}"
+        ))
+    db.commit()
+    branch_reads = [s for s in emitted_sql if s.startswith("SELECT") and "FROM branches" in s]
+    assert len(branch_reads) <= 2, (
+        f"{len(branch_reads)} reads of `branches` to place 50 nodes"
+    )
+
+
 def test_an_adventure_with_no_branch_at_all_reads_as_empty(forked):
     """The loud version of a missing branch: nothing, rather than everything.
 
diff --git a/plan/14-phase-story-tree.md b/plan/14-phase-story-tree.md
index c2a5193..8e873ce 100644
--- a/plan/14-phase-story-tree.md
+++ b/plan/14-phase-story-tree.md
@@ -293,6 +293,52 @@ doc's own example reads back as `A0 A1 A2 A3 B4 B5 C6 C7`, and that a sibling's
 invisible. Egress: a 20-fork fixture costs within a small factor of a 1-fork one —
 clause count is bounded by the context window, not by fork count.
 
+**Done, 2026-08-17** (branch `sp2-branch-clause`). **317 tests green**, the 297 from SP1
+plus 20 in `test_branch_clause.py`. The baseline contract passes **unmodified**, which
+was the pass condition. Six things worth not rediscovering:
+
+- **The contract forced the write side, not the read side.** The SP0 baseline writes its
+  actions straight to the database and must pass unmodified — so "every writer calls
+  `place_action`" could not be the invariant, because the baseline is a writer and does
+  not. Neither did any of the eleven other test fixtures. The alternative was a read
+  tolerant of a NULL branch, which is the quiet-wrong-story failure this subphase exists
+  to make impossible. So the session enforces it instead: `tree.place_new_nodes` runs
+  from `Session.before_flush` and places anything unplaced, registered in `models.py` so
+  that importing the models arms it. The call sites keep their explicit calls — a node
+  placed at the call site is placed *before* the code around it reads the row back.
+- **A branch could no longer be created with a flush.** `root_branch` did
+  `db.add(); db.flush()` to get the id its lineage names, and a nested flush inside
+  `before_flush` raises. It inserts through Core and reads the row back — same
+  transaction, three statements, once per adventure ever.
+- **The identity map holds weak references, and it cost 25 % of the suite.** Resolving
+  the head branch per node re-read the `branches` row for every node in the flush, because
+  nothing held a strong reference between two calls: 201 SELECTs to write 200 actions,
+  and 36 s → 45 s on the same 297 tests. The head is now resolved once per adventure per
+  flush (2 SELECTs), which put the suite back at 38.8 s *with* 20 more tests. Pinned by a
+  test, because the symptom is only ever a stopwatch.
+- **The index screen is the one read scoped by head branch rather than by lineage.**
+  `_latest_narration` picks one row per adventure for a hundred adventures at once, and a
+  lineage clause each would put hundreds of OR-terms on that query. The two answers differ
+  only for a branch with no nodes of its own, which cannot exist — a branch is created by
+  playing a turn onto it.
+- **Two reads are deliberately left un-pathed**, both documented where they live.
+  `max_action_index` allocates the legacy `index`, which must stay adventure-wide or two
+  branches issue the same number; and export is a flat v1 bundle whose reader has no idea
+  branches exist, which is why SP6 replaces the format rather than widening the query.
+  A third is a known divergence, not a decision: the index screen's `action_count` counts
+  the tree, and will overstate a branched story until SP5.
+- **`Adventure.actions` was left ordered by `index` on purpose.** Ordering the collection
+  by depth would not make it a story — it is every branch's actions, and a path is a
+  selection out of it. What the relationship is still for is ownership and the
+  delete-orphan cascade.
+
+Measured: a story forked **20 times reads its newest 32-action window for 3,178 B against
+the 2,961 B an unforked story of the same length costs (1.07×)**, naming one branch of its
+22 lineage entries. The pre-tree 600-action `--keep` fixture was migrated and then driven
+over HTTP end to end: index **1,840 B**, page load **64,149 B** — the same shapes as
+before the phase — and scrolling to the start took 9 pages and saw all 600 actions exactly
+once.
+
 ### SP3 — Memories and summary attach to nodes
 
 Cursors stop being positions in a shifting list. `memory_cursor`/`summary_cursor` become
diff --git a/plan/STATUS.md b/plan/STATUS.md
index 1a0d1e1..e366a3e 100644
--- a/plan/STATUS.md
+++ b/plan/STATUS.md
@@ -78,26 +78,29 @@ needed; nothing requires reading a row of anyone's story.
 
 ## Pick up here
 
-**`plan/14-phase-story-tree.md`, SP2 — the branch clause.** SP0 (the regression contract
-and the `--rich` fixture) and SP1 (schema, migration, and the writer that keeps new rows
-on the tree) are done and green; nothing is deployed yet. SP2 is where the reads move
-onto `(branch_id, depth)`, and where the highest-risk line in the whole phase lives:
-`history._from_memory()` slices `adventure.actions`, which under a tree is *every
-branch's* actions rather than the path. Make that shortcut branch-aware or delete it.
+**`plan/14-phase-story-tree.md`, SP3 — memories and the summary attach to nodes.** SP0
+(the regression contract and the `--rich` fixture), SP1 (schema, migration, and the writer
+that keeps new rows on the tree) and SP2 (the branch clause: every action read now selects
+on `(branch_id, depth)` through `app/context/lineage.py`) are done and green; nothing is
+deployed yet. SP3 turns `memory_cursor`/`summary_cursor` from positions in a shifting list
+into node anchors, and deletes the cursor-position machinery that goes with them —
+`position_of_index`, `note_action_removed`, `_rewind_cursors_to_index`,
+`prune_dangling_memories`. **`settled_story_actions` and the holdback stay until SP4**:
+they exist because retry mutates a row in place, and retry stops doing that in SP4, not
+in SP3. Deleting them early reopens the exact bug they were written for.
 
 **The schema is live in code but not on production.** When SP1 ships, the deploy needs
 one `VACUUM FULL actions;` on the direct (non-`-pooler`) endpoint afterwards — it rewrites
 every row. See the 144 MB lesson at the top of this file.
 
-Two things from the egress work are worth carrying into it:
+Two things to carry into it:
 
-- **Paging already anticipates the tree.** `action_window` in `routers/adventures.py`
-  anchors on an action id and orders by comparing `Action.index`, never by treating
-  index as a position. A branch changes which actions are on the path, not how two of
-  them order, so the anchor survives; anything counting offsets would not.
-- **Weigh new columns in bytes.** A tree adds parent/branch columns to `actions`, which
-  is already the table that fills the disk. `tests/test_egress.py` has byte ceilings
-  now — they will tell you.
+- **Every action read goes through `context/lineage.py`.** A memory read has to as well —
+  the same `Path` builds a clause over `Memory` — and it reads the *full* lineage, not a
+  window: retrieval is long-range recall and cannot be windowed. It stays affordable
+  because memories are sparse, so assert the byte cost on a deep fork.
+- **Weigh new columns in bytes.** `actions` is already the table that fills the disk.
+  `tests/test_egress.py` has byte ceilings now — they will tell you.
 
 **After any migration that rewrites `actions`:** one `VACUUM FULL actions;`. That is the
 lesson of the 144 MB above — a rewrite doubles the table and only a `VACUUM FULL` gives
@@ -109,6 +112,36 @@ drive it before rewriting it.
 
 ---
 
+## What happened on 2026-08-17, part five — the tree, SP2
+
+Every read of an action now goes through one module. `app/context/lineage.py` turns a
+branch's stored lineage into the OR-of-ranges that is "this story", and history, paging,
+the newest-action lookups, the index screen and the scripting history API all select
+through it. Ordering moved from `index` to `depth`. **317 tests green**, and the SP0
+baseline still passes unmodified, which was the pass condition. Branch `sp2-branch-clause`.
+
+Three things to carry forward:
+
+- **A read-side invariant needs a write-side floor.** From SP2 a row without a branch is a
+  row no read can see, and it fails by *disappearing*. Wiring every writer was not enough,
+  because the SP0 baseline and eleven other fixtures write actions straight to the database
+  and never call `place_action` — and the baseline may not be edited. `tree.place_new_nodes`
+  now runs from `Session.before_flush`, so nothing can be written unplaced. That is a
+  better invariant than the one SP1 shipped, and it was the contract that forced it.
+- **The SQLAlchemy identity map is weak, and that is a performance cliff.** Resolving the
+  head branch once per node re-read the row from the database for every node in a flush —
+  201 SELECTs to write 200 actions, and a 25 % slower suite (36 s → 45 s). Nothing about
+  the results changed; only a stopwatch could see it. Hoist the lookup out of the loop and
+  hold the reference for the length of the call. Now pinned by a test.
+- **Clause count is bounded by the window, and it is now measured.** A story forked 20
+  times reads its newest 32 actions naming *one* branch, for 1.07× what an unforked story
+  of the same length costs. Reading the tail widens the lineage only when a deleted action
+  leaves the estimate short.
+
+The 600-action `--keep` fixture — a genuine pre-tree database — was migrated and then
+driven over HTTP: index 1,840 B, page load 64,149 B (both unchanged), and scrolling to the
+start took 9 pages and saw every action exactly once.
+
 ## What happened on 2026-08-17, part four — the tree, SP0 and SP1
 
 No behaviour change, and none intended: a linear story is a tree with one branch, so