diff --git a/database/src/db.c b/database/src/db.c
index 6101fa5..1e66e10 100644
--- a/database/src/db.c
+++ b/database/src/db.c
@@ -315,8 +315,12 @@ void wo_db_exec_req(wo_vm *vm, wo_db_req *q) {
             if (keys_res) {
                 /* recorded, not performed: this batch's barrier runs in the
                  * drain (vm.c), and only then does the map move — mirrors
-                 * the insert arm's wo_wal_pend_drop exactly. */
-                (void)wo_wal_pend_repoint(w, q->cid, q->id, roff);
+                 * the insert arm's wo_wal_pend_drop in shape, but NOT in
+                 * failure safety: the delta is already staged and RAM has
+                 * already moved, so a lost re-point is unrecoverable (see
+                 * wo_wal_pend_repoint's own doc) and must die here, not
+                 * limp on with a permanently stale map. */
+                if (wo_wal_pend_repoint(w, q->cid, q->id, roff) != 0) wo_wal_repoint_fatal(w);
             } else {
                 if (wo_wal_append_update(w, db, q->cid, q->id) != 0) wo_wal_stage_fatal(w);
             }
diff --git a/database/src/wal.c b/database/src/wal.c
index 1c41fd6..c59751f 100644
--- a/database/src/wal.c
+++ b/database/src/wal.c
@@ -556,6 +556,13 @@ static void wal_die(const wo_wal *w, const char *op, uint32_t nrec) {
 
 void wo_wal_stage_fatal(const wo_wal *w) { wal_die(w, "staging a record", 1); }
 
+/* IMPORTANT 1 (review finding): unlike wo_wal_pend_drop's failure, a lost
+ * pend_repoint is not safe to shrug off — the delta it was meant to
+ * re-point to is already staged, RAM has already moved (table.c's own
+ * fatal-below-this-line rule), and a second same-drain update to the same
+ * row would otherwise chain its delta past the lost one, permanently. */
+void wo_wal_repoint_fatal(const wo_wal *w) { wal_die(w, "recording a pending re-point", 1); }
+
 void wo_wal_commit_fatal(wo_wal *w, uint32_t nrec) {
     int staged = w->len != 0;
     int rc = wo_wal_commit(w);
@@ -897,6 +904,10 @@ static int apply_delta(wo_db *db, uint32_t cid, uint64_t id, rbuf *r) {
     uint64_t back_off = rd_u64(r);
     const wo_classdesc *c = &db->classes[cid];
     if (r->bad || field_idx >= c->field_cnt) return -1;
+    /* IMPORTANT 2 (review finding): a DELTA can only be folded through
+     * db->rt->wal (wo_wal_replay_ex's lent view, at replay, or a live one
+     * otherwise) — refuse cleanly instead of dereferencing a NULL rt. */
+    if (!db->rt) return -1;
     uint64_t nv;
     if (dec_val(r, db, c->kinds[field_idx], &nv) != 0 || (size_t)(r->end - r->p) != 0)
         return -1;
@@ -1254,13 +1265,21 @@ int64_t wo_wal_replay_ex(const char *path, wo_db *db, uint32_t *volatile_cid) {
      *
      * Lend the runtime a read-only view over the fd already open here, for the
      * duration of the replay only, and restore whatever was there. Nothing in
-     * this window appends, so a view carrying just the descriptor is enough. */
+     * this window appends, so a view carrying just the descriptor is enough.
+     *
+     * IMPORTANT 2 (review finding): this used to lend the view only when
+     * db->rt->wal was NOT already set — leaving a rt whose wal WAS already
+     * live to fold deltas against that LIVE wal's (possibly non-empty)
+     * staging buffer instead, which the design never allows. Install the
+     * throwaway view unconditionally whenever there is an rt to hold it;
+     * apply_delta refuses outright when there is no rt at all to install
+     * one into. */
     wo_wal view;
     memset(&view, 0, sizeof view);
     view.fd = fd;
     const void *saved_wal = NULL;
     int lent = 0;
-    if (db->rt && !db->rt->wal) {
+    if (db->rt) {
         saved_wal = db->rt->wal;
         db->rt->wal = &view;
         lent = 1;
diff --git a/database/src/wal.h b/database/src/wal.h
index 840b136..ea6e850 100644
--- a/database/src/wal.h
+++ b/database/src/wal.h
@@ -175,9 +175,16 @@ int wo_wal_pend_drop(wo_wal *w, uint32_t cid, uint64_t id, uint64_t off);
 /* Task 4 (keys-resident delta updates): note a keys-resident row's id-map
  * entry that must move to [off] once the delta staged there is durable —
  * the update-arm counterpart of wo_wal_pend_drop, on its own list (see the
- * `repoint` field). 0 ok, -1 out of memory (the map simply stays where it
- * was; a durable delta with a stale map is exactly what replay reconciles,
- * so this is safe, just deferred further than intended). */
+ * `repoint` field). 0 ok, -1 out of memory.
+ *
+ * IMPORTANT 1 (review finding): unlike wo_wal_pend_drop, a failure here is
+ * NOT safe to ignore. Replay does NOT reconcile a lost re-point: if a
+ * second update to this row lands in the same drain, it finds no pending
+ * entry, falls back to the stale durable offset, and its delta chains PAST
+ * the one this call was meant to record — every reader, replay and
+ * compaction included, then agrees on the wrong value, permanently.
+ * Callers must treat a nonzero return as fatal (wo_wal_repoint_fatal),
+ * exactly like a failed wo_wal_stage_fatal. */
 int wo_wal_pend_repoint(wo_wal *w, uint32_t cid, uint64_t id, uint64_t off);
 
 /* Task 4: the most recent PENDING re-point recorded for (cid, id), not yet
@@ -248,6 +255,11 @@ int wo_wal_compact(wo_wal *w, wo_db *db);
  * wo_wal_commit_fatal). Never returns. */
 void wo_wal_stage_fatal(const wo_wal *w);
 
+/* IMPORTANT 1 (review finding): a pending re-point could not even be
+ * RECORDED — same unrecoverable position as wo_wal_stage_fatal, see
+ * wo_wal_pend_repoint's own doc. Never returns. */
+void wo_wal_repoint_fatal(const wo_wal *w);
+
 /* databasev2 4: commit, or END THE PROCESS.
  *
  * The one rule this iteration introduces: once a statement has mutated RAM,