diff --git a/frontend/src/components/ChatThread.tsx b/frontend/src/components/ChatThread.tsx
index 6cedf56..1eb1a43 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/ChatThread.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/ChatThread.tsx
@@ -49,11 +49,15 @@ export default function ChatThread({
     let cancelled = false;
     (async () => {
       const out: Record<number, string> = {};
-      let pub = await partnerPub(partnerId);
+      // Fetch the partner key lazily inside the try (only when there's a ciphertext message) and
+      // once — so an empty thread never fetches, and a fetch failure (e.g. a partner who reset and
+      // hasn't re-set-up, so has no key) degrades to "can't decrypt" instead of rejecting the pass.
+      let pub: string | null = null;
       let refreshed = false;
       for (const m of q.data?.items ?? []) {
         if (!m.ciphertext || !m.iv) continue;
         try {
+          if (!pub) pub = await partnerPub(partnerId);
           out[m.id] = await e2ee.decryptFrom(partnerId, pub, m.ciphertext, m.iv);
         } catch {
           // A decrypt failure can mean the partner rotated their keypair (a passphrase reset), so
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/messaging.ts b/frontend/src/lib/messaging.ts
index 755e0b0..8bdcb05 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/messaging.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/messaging.ts
@@ -24,6 +24,13 @@ export async function partnerPub(partnerId: number): Promise<string> {
 // Drop a partner's cached public key + derived conversation key and refetch. Called after a decrypt
 // fails, which can mean the partner reset their passphrase and published a NEW keypair; refetching
 // lets this device both read their new messages and encrypt future ones under the current key.
+//
+// KNOWN LIMITATION: this refresh is wired only to the DECRYPT path. If you send a partner a message
+// AFTER they rotated their key but BEFORE any of their messages arrived to trigger a refresh, that
+// one send is encrypted under the stale cached key and is undecryptable for them (subsequent sends
+// self-heal once an incoming message refreshes the cache). Accepted for now — same cross-user
+// staleness envelope as the multi-device note in useKeyState; a fuller fix needs a key TTL / a
+// send-time freshness check, which is out of the current no-forward-secrecy scope.
 export async function refreshPartnerPub(partnerId: number): Promise<string> {
   pubCache.delete(partnerId);
   forgetConv(partnerId);