diff --git a/FABRIC-3.md b/FABRIC-3.md
index 023e190..a93f936 100644
--- a/FABRIC-3.md
+++ b/FABRIC-3.md
@@ -3730,3 +3730,29 @@ Explicitly open items surfaced during this capture pass, none decided yet:
     H.4–H.8, is design capture only — no struct has been written, no `stadium_birth_hermes()`/
     `_artemis()` exists, no `Session` header exists. Standard for this document's own
     discipline (see D's intro), but worth stating plainly given the size of this section.
+
+### H.10 — Verification pass: "are we painting ourselves into a corner?" (2026-09-02)
+
+Asked directly by Captain Bob. One load-bearing assumption underneath H.3/H.5 got checked
+against the live code rather than left as an inference.
+
+**The risk**: the word card's creator-ceiling invariant and the H.5 elevation trigger both
+live on `DictEntry` (`acl_allow`/`acl_ttl`), which only works per-session if each VM has its
+own separate dictionary — a shared/global dictionary would make a single `acl_allow` bit
+unable to mean "yes for session A, no for session B" on the same word.
+
+**Verified true, no conflict, no redesign needed.** `struct VM` (`include/vm.h:410-412`) owns
+its own `uint8_t* memory` buffer and its own `DictEntry* latest` chain; `vm_bootstrap.c:181`
+(`vm->memory = (uint8_t*)vm_host_alloc(vm, VM_MEMORY_SIZE, ...)`) allocates a fresh,
+independent memory/dictionary buffer on every VM birth. Hera, Hermes, Artemis, and any future
+child each get their own separate dictionary — `DictEntry` ACL fields are already naturally
+scoped per-session. H.3's stack-of-cards model and H.5's word card/elevation trigger stand as
+decided, unchanged by this check.
+
+Two smaller, lower-risk items flagged in the same pass, not yet acted on:
+- **Pin-authority sync risk (H.2).** Session.pinned is authoritative over Stadium's
+  `STADIUM_FLAG_PIN` bit — needs a single choke-point API so nothing ever writes the Stadium
+  flag directly and lets the two drift out of sync. Not yet designed.
+- **Elevation trigger not yet usable (H.5/H.7).** Rides Hermes messaging, which per this
+  document's own standing completion criterion (D.1) isn't the real implementation yet.
+  Correct on paper, not usable until that substrate exists — expected, not a flaw.