diff --git a/the-starfall-accord/staging/chapter-ch-12.md b/the-starfall-accord/staging/chapter-ch-12.md
index a9c6168..f5691f2 100644
--- a/the-starfall-accord/staging/chapter-ch-12.md
+++ b/the-starfall-accord/staging/chapter-ch-12.md
@@ -78,3 +78,9 @@ Kaelen is dead (died Ch04). Do NOT write him alive. Do NOT name him First Regent
 - The Grey Era: Aric (fire) and Elara (ice) are appointed joint First Wardens of the new unified Academy.
 - The epilogue should honor Kaelen's memory without sentimentality: something permanent was named after him. A ward. A courtyard. The arena memorial.
 - The final image of Mira looking at the arena should evoke Kaelen without naming him directly.
+
+## BUTTERFLY CASCADE NOTE (Ch12)
+- The final chapter resolves BOTH butterfly threads: Kaelen's legacy AND Dorian's family secret.
+- Dorian must speak Aldric Solas's name aloud, perhaps in a naming of the memorial: a ward, a courtyard, or the arena is named after Kaelen — and Dorian privately names something for Aldric.
+- Mira's final look at Dorian knows he kept the secret to protect her. She has forgiven him. But she understands why.
+- 'The Accord was never about the schools' — it was about two people who stopped being afraid of what they could destroy together.
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