diff --git a/src/agent/context.rs b/src/agent/context.rs
index 0a49e05..d61136f 100644
--- a/src/agent/context.rs
+++ b/src/agent/context.rs
@@ -154,8 +154,19 @@ pub enum AstNode {
 }
 
 /// The context window: four sections as Vec<AstNode>.
-/// All mutation goes through ContextState methods to maintain the invariant
-/// that token_ids on every leaf matches its rendered text.
+///
+/// All mutation MUST go through `ContextState`'s public methods. Two
+/// invariants ride on this:
+/// 1. Every `Leaf.token_ids` matches its `body.compute_token_ids()`.
+/// 2. For every `Branch { token_ids: Some(cached), .. }`, the cached
+///    token stream matches what `wire_into` would produce by walking
+///    `children` from scratch. Any mutation that touches a Branch's
+///    children — directly or via a descendant — must clear the
+///    Branch's `token_ids` so it gets recomputed on next wire-out.
+///
+/// The `&mut Vec<AstNode>` escape hatches are intentionally NOT
+/// exposed; if you find yourself wanting one, add a focused method
+/// here that maintains the invariants.
 pub struct ContextState {
     system: Vec<AstNode>,
     identity: Vec<AstNode>,
@@ -966,7 +977,33 @@ impl ContextState {
     pub fn identity(&self) -> &[AstNode]     { &self.identity }
     pub fn journal(&self) -> &[AstNode]      { &self.journal }
     pub fn conversation(&self) -> &[AstNode] { &self.conversation }
-    pub fn conversation_mut(&mut self) -> &mut Vec<AstNode> { &mut self.conversation }
+
+    /// Set or clear a single `memory_scores` entry on an Assistant
+    /// Branch. Used by the full-matrix scorer to attribute per-memory
+    /// divergence onto the response. `score = None` removes the key;
+    /// `Some(s)` inserts/overwrites.
+    ///
+    /// Doesn't affect the Branch's token cache: `memory_scores` is a
+    /// serialized-but-non-tokenizing annotation. No-op (with a debug
+    /// log) if the index points to a Leaf or a non-Assistant Branch —
+    /// callers are typically iterating on stale indices and we'd
+    /// rather skip than panic.
+    pub fn set_branch_memory_score(
+        &mut self,
+        section: Section,
+        index: usize,
+        key: &str,
+        score: Option<f64>,
+    ) {
+        let nodes = self.section_mut(section);
+        let Some(node) = nodes.get_mut(index) else { return };
+        let AstNode::Branch { role: Role::Assistant, memory_scores, .. } = node
+        else { return };
+        match score {
+            Some(s) => { memory_scores.insert(key.to_string(), s); }
+            None => { memory_scores.remove(key); }
+        }
+    }
 
     pub fn sections(&self) -> [&Vec<AstNode>; 4] {
         [&self.system, &self.identity, &self.journal, &self.conversation]
@@ -1051,8 +1088,14 @@ fn wire_into(node: &AstNode, tokens: &mut Vec<u32>, images: &mut Vec<WireImage>)
             }
             _ => tokens.extend_from_slice(leaf.token_ids()),
         },
-        AstNode::Branch { token_ids: Some(cached), .. } => {
+        AstNode::Branch { token_ids: Some(cached), children, .. } => {
+            // Cached branches still need their image children paired
+            // up with the vision-block ranges embedded in the cached
+            // token stream — the cache captures vision tokens but not
+            // the matching bytes/mime.
+            let base = tokens.len() as u32;
             tokens.extend_from_slice(cached);
+            pair_cached_images(cached, children, base, images);
         }
         AstNode::Branch { role, children, token_ids: None, .. } => {
             tokens.push(tokenizer::IM_START);
@@ -1066,6 +1109,101 @@ fn wire_into(node: &AstNode, tokens: &mut Vec<u32>, images: &mut Vec<WireImage>)
     }
 }
 
+/// Depth-first iterator over Image leaves under a slice of AST nodes.
+/// Yields `(bytes, mime)` borrows in document order; doesn't allocate
+/// per yield (only a stack of pending nodes).
+struct ImageLeaves<'a> {
+    stack: Vec<&'a AstNode>,
+}
+
+impl<'a> ImageLeaves<'a> {
+    fn new(nodes: &'a [AstNode]) -> Self {
+        let mut stack = Vec::with_capacity(nodes.len());
+        stack.extend(nodes.iter().rev());
+        Self { stack }
+    }
+}
+
+impl<'a> Iterator for ImageLeaves<'a> {
+    type Item = (&'a [u8], &'a str);
+    fn next(&mut self) -> Option<Self::Item> {
+        while let Some(node) = self.stack.pop() {
+            match node {
+                AstNode::Leaf(leaf) => {
+                    if let NodeBody::Image { bytes, mime, .. } = leaf.body() {
+                        return Some((bytes, mime));
+                    }
+                }
+                AstNode::Branch { children, .. } => {
+                    self.stack.extend(children.iter().rev());
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        None
+    }
+}
+
+/// Iterator over `(start, end)` token-offset pairs for each
+/// `VISION_START..VISION_END` block in a token slice. Panics on an
+/// unmatched VISION_START — that's an upstream tokenization bug
+/// worth a loud failure.
+fn vision_blocks(cached: &[u32]) -> impl Iterator<Item = (usize, usize)> + '_ {
+    let mut cur = 0;
+    std::iter::from_fn(move || {
+        while cur < cached.len() {
+            if cached[cur] == tokenizer::VISION_START {
+                let start = cur;
+                let end_rel = cached[cur..].iter()
+                    .position(|&t| t == tokenizer::VISION_END)
+                    .unwrap_or_else(|| panic!(
+                        "unmatched VISION_START at offset {} in cached branch",
+                        start));
+                let end = cur + end_rel + 1;
+                cur = end;
+                return Some((start, end));
+            }
+            cur += 1;
+        }
+        None
+    })
+}
+
+/// For a Branch whose `token_ids` are cached and may contain inlined
+/// vision blocks (`VISION_START + IMAGE_PAD*N + VISION_END`), recover
+/// the matching image bytes/mime from the children and emit one
+/// `WireImage` per vision block with the absolute pad offsets in the
+/// parent token stream.
+///
+/// The cache stores tokens but not image payloads; the AST stores
+/// image payloads in the children but not their post-cache positions.
+/// Pair them by zipping the two iterators; mismatched counts panic
+/// loudly because that's an AST/cache invariant violation that
+/// would otherwise mis-pair images on the wire.
+fn pair_cached_images(
+    cached: &[u32],
+    children: &[AstNode],
+    base_offset: u32,
+    images: &mut Vec<WireImage>,
+) {
+    let mut blocks = vision_blocks(cached);
+    let mut leaves = ImageLeaves::new(children);
+    loop {
+        match (blocks.next(), leaves.next()) {
+            (Some((s, e)), Some((bytes, mime))) => images.push(WireImage {
+                bytes: bytes.to_vec(),
+                mime: mime.to_string(),
+                pad_start: base_offset + s as u32,
+                pad_end: base_offset + e as u32,
+            }),
+            (None, None) => break,
+            (Some(_), None) => panic!(
+                "cached branch has more vision blocks than image children"),
+            (None, Some(_)) => panic!(
+                "cached branch has fewer vision blocks than image children"),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 pub fn memory_key(node: &AstNode) -> Option<&str> {
     match node {
         AstNode::Leaf(leaf) => match leaf.body() {
@@ -1224,8 +1362,13 @@ impl ContextState {
                     }
                     _ => buf.extend_from_slice(leaf.token_ids()),
                 },
-                AstNode::Branch { token_ids: Some(cached), .. } => {
+                AstNode::Branch { token_ids: Some(cached), children, .. } => {
+                    // Same fix as wire_into's cached arm: the cache
+                    // holds vision tokens but not the matching bytes,
+                    // so walk children to recover them.
+                    let base = buf.len() as u32;
                     buf.extend_from_slice(cached);
+                    pair_cached_images(cached, children, base, images);
                 }
                 AstNode::Branch { role, children, token_ids: None, .. } => {
                     buf.push(tokenizer::IM_START);
diff --git a/src/subconscious/learn.rs b/src/subconscious/learn.rs
index feb209c..129e26b 100644
--- a/src/subconscious/learn.rs
+++ b/src/subconscious/learn.rs
@@ -240,25 +240,23 @@ pub async fn score_memories(
                 vec![0.0; baseline.len()]
             }
         };
-        // Write this memory's scores to the live AST nodes
+        // Write this memory's scores to the live AST nodes via the
+        // focused setter — keeps the AST mutation surface narrow.
         {
             let mut ctx = agent.context.lock().await;
             let mut set_count = 0;
 
             for (resp_idx, &idx) in response_indices.iter().enumerate() {
-                if idx >= ctx.conversation().len() { continue; }
-                let node = &mut ctx.conversation_mut()[idx];
-                if let AstNode::Branch {
-                    role: Role::Assistant, memory_scores, ..
-                } = node {
-                    if let Some(&score) = row.get(resp_idx) {
-                        if score > 0.01 {
-                            memory_scores.insert(key.clone(), score);
-                            set_count += 1;
-                        } else {
-                            memory_scores.remove(key.as_str());
-                        }
-                    }
+                let Some(&score) = row.get(resp_idx) else { continue };
+                let normalized = if score > 0.01 { Some(score) } else { None };
+                ctx.set_branch_memory_score(
+                    crate::agent::context::Section::Conversation,
+                    idx,
+                    &key,
+                    normalized,
+                );
+                if normalized.is_some() {
+                    set_count += 1;
                 }
             }