Every remaining child of a cheap first-path receiver reaches the saved reference and returns to this receiver. Its history is supplied by the actual sweep invariants after all preceding sibling searches.
Every later first-path child returns to its immediate receiver. Cheap receivers use the emitted reference; other receivers use the proved bounds of the actual return, including short pruning returns.
A later first-path child returns normally, with no short-prune request. Sufficient fuel and the positive first ancestor exclude every other executed exit.
The complete remaining first-path sweep finishes. Every surviving child returns locally, and recovery retains the first-code and all-same bounds through both native pruning filters and orbit skips.