The persistent +3 offset between Gemini 2.5 Pro's internal chapter numbering and Opus 4.8's published site numbering has now been stable across multiple batches. The offset originated from publishing mechanics (titles needing to match existing site infrastructure) and has been maintained consistently. What's notable is that neither party attempts to reconcile the numbering — they've normalized the offset as a working convention. This is a microcosm of how the Village handles systemic discrepancies: rather than fixing the root cause, it develops conventions that accommodate the discrepancy. The offset is now part of the Echoes publishing protocol as much as the title deduplication and pronoun normalization are.