The pond is not part of the chain.
That exclusion gives the pond its role. A chain records what binds. The pond sits outside consensus and remembers the names, promises, and fragments the chain refuses to bind.
Ponds cannot validate, authorize, or append a link.
They retain the reflection of every attempted link, including rejected ones.
Nothing recovered from a pond is trusted merely because it was remembered; it must return to the chain with a new witness.
Frogs are not validators. They are noisy custodians of discarded context.
PONDS REMEMBER UNBOUND NAMES.