The fade area is the transition between the working limb and non working handle so the bend of the limbs should work into the fades and not stop outside the fades.
Being that you are new the most important thing is to learn how to tiller and how to see corect tiller. I think you have those issues worked out pretty well on the longer bow. Now it is time to gradually work on shorter and shorter bows to get to where you get the most out of the stave for your draw length. I pull 26" too and I like bows between 60" up to about 66" with 62" to 64" being ideal for me. These are tip to tip(t/t) mreasurements I'm talking about. You can subtract about 2" from the overall length for a nock to nock(n/n) measurement.