analysis phase starting

characters/carson-johnsby.md

@@ -146,6 +146,7 @@ Carson uses older, harder fabrication and repair methods when newer, easier tech
 | Ch 14 | **Brida introduction.** Phelan returns to Carson's workshop the morning after Devod's draining. Delivers the news about Devod. Carson's stillness is "the silence of a large man processing something that didn't fit inside his philosophy without breaking it." Volunteers to accompany Phelan to Brida Voss — "She won't talk to a guild man alone. She knows me." Walks Phelan to the tenement and serves as the buffer that lets Brida open up. Also names a canal-district street contact (a man paid to look the other way during Elara's murder) — gives Phelan enough to dispatch Leon to find him. Carson is the human connective tissue between three pieces of the case in one morning. | Network / connection |
 | Ch 17 | **The Approach — at Brida's.** Already at Brida's tenement when Phelan arrives. Warned Brida about the upcoming hit, brought the studded jacket from Chandler's Row for the safehouse approach, arranged for **Jenet Carterson to feed Sniff** while the household decamps to Millford Street. Stays with Brida until Leon arrives to take the intercept position. The "I got a buddy" network compressed into practical action. | Plot support / network |
 | Post-resolution | Carson learns the truth about Kae through his own network — back channels, not told directly by Phelan or the team. The reader learns he knows, but never sees how he processes it. He just "knows things." | Off-page resolution |
+| Epilogue | **Wedding party attendance — Church of the Ahole catering, Mere almost-smiles.** Arrives at Phelan and Mere's wedding party second in the arrival order (after Carter and Jenet). Carries a covered platter that is "heavier than a platter should reasonably be," grinning "the way he grinned when the joke was already moving toward him." Delivers the line flat, straight-faced, to the room: *"Church of the Ahole catering. Ahole provides. Terms and conditions apply."* Phelan does not smile. **Mere almost smiles** — the corner of her mouth moves a quarter-inch and stops — and *that* is what makes the joke land. Platter is stew. Stew is good stew. He carried it hot through the cold for twenty minutes — "Carson's particular kind of miracle." The warrens reverend blessing a guild-quarter civil filing party is the absurdity the book runs on. Uninformed about Phelan/Mere marriage decision's interior weight per Book 2 lock | Wedding attendance / joke delivery |
 
 ### Book 3
 <!-- Future — seeds planted: Phelan likes Carson, "I got a buddy" network is useful, guilt arc could deepen -->