diff --git a/00-META/process/07-feature-branches.md b/00-META/process/07-feature-branches.md
index fdf2a9a9..cdc22723 100644
--- a/00-META/process/07-feature-branches.md
+++ b/00-META/process/07-feature-branches.md
@@ -64,8 +64,18 @@ built, no milestone of another design starts: its issues stay `open`, and nobody
 lead who finds another design's milestone already in `fixing` asks its owner before starting its own. A small
 fix ([playbook 08](08-small-fixes.md)) and an issue that is in no design's milestones are not held by this rule.
 
-**Scope is fixed at the prepare step.** An issue found during a feature goes to the next milestone or the next feature,
-never into the running one, unless it blocks the running one.
+**Scope is fixed at the prepare step.** An issue found during a feature never goes into the running milestone, unless it
+blocks the running one: it is fixed in between or right after the delivery, as the next paragraph says, or goes to the
+next milestone or the next feature.
+
+**An issue opened along the way is fixed by the session that opened it** (the operator, 2026-10-21): it is never only
+listed under "Opened along the way" and left. A small one (one repository, about an hour) is fixed in between, as a
+small fix ([playbook 08](08-small-fixes.md)) while the milestone waits on a check, an Approve or a delivery plan; the
+rest are fixed right after the milestone's delivery, before the next milestone starts, together on one branch where
+they share a repository. Either way it stays out of the running milestone's branch and pull request, unless it blocks
+the running milestone, so the scope above holds. Only an issue in another design's milestones (one design is built at
+a time), or one that needs a decision or the operator first, waits, and the report says which and why. Each report's line "Opened along the way" says for every
+issue whether it is being fixed in between, after the delivery, or waits, and on what.
 
 ## Step 0 — Prepare (the lead, larger model)
 
@@ -398,7 +408,7 @@ Design <nn> · <its title>
 │       └── ⏸ 751  (above, under 736)
 └── ⏸ milestone 3  <its outcome, a few words>                 <its issues>
 
-Opened along the way: <each issue opened during the feature, its number and a few words, and where it goes> — or "none"
+Opened along the way: <each issue opened during the feature, its number and a few words, and when it is fixed: in between, after the delivery, or waits on what> — or "none"
 Past its bound: <the wait, how long, what is being done> — or "none"
 Needs you: <one line per question, with my recommendation> — or "nothing"
 Allowance: week <n> % (<+d> since the last report), session <n> %
diff --git a/00-META/process/08-small-fixes.md b/00-META/process/08-small-fixes.md
index d0070bbb..92d94a15 100644
--- a/00-META/process/08-small-fixes.md
+++ b/00-META/process/08-small-fixes.md
@@ -67,6 +67,11 @@ one delivery**. Everything before the try is local and fast.
 A fix that stops before its delivery moves its issue back to `open` with a note saying how far it got
 (branch, last commit, what is left), as playbook [07](07-feature-branches.md) says.
 
+**An issue opened along the way is fixed too** (the operator, 2026-10-21). A fix's review, try or delivery that
+opens an issue (a remark outside the done-when, a fault met live) leaves it to the same session to fix: right after
+this fix's delivery, as a small fix of its own, or folded into the next one in the same repository. It waits only
+when another running milestone owns it, or it needs a decision or the operator first; the report then says on what.
+
 **A second fault found by the delivery.** When a fix's delivery shows a second fault that keeps the issue's
 done-when from holding, and that fault is in the same files, it is taken into the same issue as a second pull
 request with a review round of its own. A fault in other code is opened as an issue of its own, and the first