diff --git a/scripts/check-memory-rotation.py b/scripts/check-memory-rotation.py
index 87c466ac..86bc7ef9 100644
--- a/scripts/check-memory-rotation.py
+++ b/scripts/check-memory-rotation.py
@@ -326,6 +326,14 @@ def _read_by_of(cells: list[str]) -> str | None:
 #: answers "32 of 32" while the file it is embedded from grows every cycle.
 CYCLE_SECTION = re.compile(r"^##\s+Cycle\b")
 
+#: The opening of a **per-cycle narration block** above the bookmark's table.
+#:
+#: A cycle's note is usually a paragraph, not a heading: it opens with its own id in a code
+#: span and the next cycle replaces it. `CYCLE_SECTION` cannot see that shape, and measured
+#: 2026-11-05 the gap was 43 blocks over 729 lines and 94,482 characters while the structure
+#: reading answered `0 cycle section(s)` and exited 0.
+CYCLE_NARRATION = re.compile(r"^`cyc\d{8}-\d{6}`")
+
 
 def parse_bookmark(path: Path) -> list[dict]:
     """Every body row of the bookmark's table, in file order, as key/value pairs.
@@ -447,6 +455,49 @@ def cycle_sections(path: Path) -> list[str]:
     return [line.strip() for line in text.splitlines() if CYCLE_SECTION.match(line)]
 
 
+def narration_blocks(path: Path) -> list[str]:
+    """The per-cycle narration above the bookmark's table, one entry per block.
+
+    A block is a run of non-blank lines, and it counts as narration when its **first** line
+    opens with a cycle id in a code span (:data:`CYCLE_NARRATION`) - the shape a cycle's own
+    note has taken. The reading stops at the table's first row, because below it the file is
+    rows and not prose.
+
+    This exists because :func:`cycle_sections` reads only `## Cycle` headings, and the
+    ordinary note carries none: a cycle replaces the paragraph that came before it rather
+    than opening a section. Measured 2026-11-05, this file carried **43** such blocks over
+    729 lines and 94,482 characters while the structure reading answered `0 cycle
+    section(s)` and exited 0 - growth the guard was written to catch, in the shape it could
+    not see.
+
+    An absent or unreadable bookmark answers `[]` for the reason :func:`cycle_sections`
+    gives: `parse_bookmark` owns that complaint, and a second reading that raised would
+    replace a precise sentence with a vaguer one.
+
+    :param path: the bookmark to read.
+    :returns: the first line of each narration block, stripped, in file order.
+    """
+    if not path.is_file():
+        return []
+    try:
+        text = path.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+    except (OSError, ValueError):
+        return []
+    blocks: list[list[str]] = []
+    current: list[str] = []
+    for line in text.splitlines():
+        if _is_table_line(line):
+            break                       # the table is what the file exists for
+        if line.strip():
+            current.append(line)
+        elif current:
+            blocks.append(current)
+            current = []
+    if current:
+        blocks.append(current)
+    return [block[0].strip() for block in blocks if CYCLE_NARRATION.match(block[0].strip())]
+
+
 def structure_faults(headings: list[str]) -> list[str]:
     """The faults in the bookmark's structure **above** its table, not in its rows.
 
@@ -478,6 +529,33 @@ def structure_faults(headings: list[str]) -> list[str]:
     ]
 
 
+def narration_faults(blocks: list[str]) -> list[str]:
+    """The faults in the bookmark's per-cycle narration: it keeps **one**, replaced in place.
+
+    The same subject as :func:`structure_faults` - growth above the table - given the same
+    treatment and for the same reason: a fault, never a refusal, so every row is still
+    measured and the exit code carries the file-shape complaint without throwing away a
+    valid rotation reading.
+
+    One block is the contract's shape (the current cycle's note) and none is a minimal or
+    first-ever bookmark. Only a second block is the growth the file's own rule forbids, and
+    it is the shape the section reading cannot see.
+
+    :param blocks: the block first lines, from :func:`narration_blocks`.
+    :returns: one sentence per fault, empty when the file keeps one note and no more.
+    """
+    if len(blocks) < 2:
+        return []
+    named = ", ".join(blocks[:5]) + (f", and {len(blocks) - 5} more" if len(blocks) > 5 else "")
+    return [
+        f"the bookmark carries {len(blocks)} per-cycle narration blocks above its table "
+        f"({named}): it keeps one and replaces it in place - an appended note is the same "
+        f"growth the cycle-section reading forbids, in the shape that reading cannot see "
+        f"(measured 2026-11-05: 43 blocks over 729 lines and 94,482 characters, while the "
+        f"structure reading answered 0), and every cycle that edits this file reads past them"
+    ]
+
+
 def _segments(path: str) -> list[str]:
     """A path's segments, host and platform separators alike, empty ones dropped."""
     return [s for s in re.split(r"[\\/]+", path) if s]
@@ -698,7 +776,8 @@ def read(agents_path: Path, bookmark_path: Path) -> dict:
               for p in agents]
     faults = []
     sections = cycle_sections(bookmark_path)
-    structure = structure_faults(sections)
+    notes = narration_blocks(bookmark_path)
+    structure = structure_faults(sections) + narration_faults(notes)
     for state in states:
         if state["state"] == "no bookmark row":
             faults.append(f"{state['name']} ({state['path']}) has a line in the register and none in "
@@ -726,6 +805,7 @@ def read(agents_path: Path, bookmark_path: Path) -> dict:
         "states": states,
         "faults": faults,
         "cycle_sections": len(sections),
+        "narration_blocks": len(notes),
         "structure": structure,
     }
 
@@ -785,10 +865,12 @@ def render(reading: dict, show_all: bool) -> str:
         out.append(f"structure faults: {len(reading['structure'])}")
         out.extend(f"  {fault}" for fault in reading["structure"])
         out.append("the rows above are still readable - this is the prose above them: keep one "
-                   "cycle section and replace it in place, never append a second")
+                   "cycle section and one narration block, and replace them in place, never "
+                   "append a second")
     else:
-        out.append(f"structure: {reading['cycle_sections']} cycle section(s) above the table - "
-                   f"the file keeps at most one, replaced in place")
+        out.append(f"structure: {reading['cycle_sections']} cycle section(s) and "
+                   f"{reading['narration_blocks']} narration block(s) above the table - "
+                   f"the file keeps at most one of each, replaced in place")
     return "\n".join(out)
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_check_memory_rotation.py b/tests/test_check_memory_rotation.py
index 6bce755b..dd26a9a7 100644
--- a/tests/test_check_memory_rotation.py
+++ b/tests/test_check_memory_rotation.py
@@ -966,3 +966,82 @@ def test_the_bookmark_default_names_the_file_this_installation_writes(mod):
         "renamed constant points at nothing and step 0 answers `not measurable` every cycle"
     )
 
+
+
+def _noted(path: Path, rows: list[tuple[str, str]], count: int) -> Path:
+    """A bookmark carrying `count` per-cycle notes above its table, one cycle id each."""
+    notes = "".join(f"`cyc2026102{i}-120000` read two projects at index level: the note.\n\n"
+                    for i in range(count))
+    lines = ["# Bookmark", "", notes.rstrip("\n"), "",
+             "| agent | newest read | files |", "| --- | --- | --- |"]
+    lines += [f"| {key} | {value} | 0 |" for key, value in rows]
+    path.write_text("\n".join(lines) + "\n", encoding="utf-8")
+    return path
+
+
+def test_a_second_narration_block_is_a_fault_the_section_reading_cannot_show(mod, tmp_path):
+    """Measured 2026-11-05 on this host's own bookmark: 43 of them, structure reading 0.
+
+    A cycle's note carries no heading - each cycle replaces the paragraph before it - so
+    `cycle_sections()` was blind to all 43 while the file reached 729 lines and 94,482
+    characters. One subject, two shapes: this asserts the fault **beside** an empty `faults`
+    list, because every row still parses and a fix for one reading must not be read as a fix
+    for the other. Exit 1 is the file-shape complaint, never 2 - the rows were measured.
+    """
+    root = _root(tmp_path, "narrated")
+    _write_memory(Path(root), ".emrg/memory/MEMORY.md", _stamp(mod))
+    register = _agents(tmp_path / "agents.yml", [{"name": "narrated", "path": root}])
+    one = _noted(tmp_path / "one.md", [("`narrated`", BASE)], 1)
+    three = _noted(tmp_path / "three.md", [("`narrated`", BASE)], 3)
+
+    single = mod.read(register, one)
+    assert single["structure"] == [], single["structure"]
+    assert single["narration_blocks"] == 1
+    assert "1 narration block(s)" in mod.render(single, False)
+    assert mod.main(["--agents", str(register), "--bookmark", str(one)]) == 0
+
+    many = mod.read(register, three)
+    assert many["faults"] == [], many["faults"]          # every row still parses...
+    assert many["narration_blocks"] == 3
+    assert len(many["structure"]) == 1, many["structure"]  # ...and the prose was appended to
+    assert "3 per-cycle narration blocks" in many["structure"][0]
+    assert "structure faults: 1" in mod.render(many, False)
+    assert mod.main(["--agents", str(register), "--bookmark", str(three)]) == 1
+
+
+def test_contract_prose_and_a_mid_sentence_cycle_id_are_not_narration(mod, tmp_path):
+    """The other directions: only a block that **opens** on the code span is a cycle's note.
+
+    The file keeps rules of its own above the table, and those rules quote cycle ids as
+    evidence mid-sentence. Reading them as narration would fault the prose that states the
+    contract, so the match is anchored to the block's first line. A note indented under a
+    heading is still a note - the code span decides, not the heading - and a bookmark whose
+    prose carries none of them stays at zero.
+    """
+    root = _root(tmp_path, "prosing")
+    _write_memory(Path(root), ".emrg/memory/MEMORY.md", _stamp(mod))
+    register = _agents(tmp_path / "agents.yml", [{"name": "prosing", "path": root}])
+
+    contract = tmp_path / "contract.md"
+    contract.write_text(
+        "# Bookmark\n\n"
+        "**Two agents can carry one name.** Measured `cyc20261103-183416`: the register\n"
+        "lists it twice.\n\n"
+        "## Notes\n\n"
+        "- the qualifier matters, as `cyc20261020-120000` found\n\n"
+        "| agent | newest read | files |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n"
+        f"| `prosing` | {BASE} | 0 |\n", encoding="utf-8")
+    reading = mod.read(register, contract)
+    assert reading["structure"] == [], reading["structure"]
+    assert reading["narration_blocks"] == 0
+    assert mod.main(["--agents", str(register), "--bookmark", str(contract)]) == 0
+
+    nested = tmp_path / "nested.md"
+    nested.write_text(
+        "# Bookmark\n\n## Notes\n\n"
+        "`cyc20261021-120000` a note under a heading is still a per-cycle note.\n\n"
+        "| agent | newest read | files |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n"
+        f"| `prosing` | {BASE} | 0 |\n", encoding="utf-8")
+    nested_reading = mod.read(register, nested)
+    assert nested_reading["structure"] == [], nested_reading["structure"]
+    assert nested_reading["narration_blocks"] == 1