diff --git a/modules/mesh-provisioner/cmd/mesh-provisioner/holder.go b/modules/mesh-provisioner/cmd/mesh-provisioner/holder.go
index bd7519586..7cb0c03ba 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-provisioner/cmd/mesh-provisioner/holder.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-provisioner/cmd/mesh-provisioner/holder.go
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ package main
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"context"
+	"crypto/sha256"
+	"encoding/hex"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
@@ -110,8 +112,8 @@ type Composer func(ctx context.Context, node string, keptAt map[string]string) C
 // Composition is a node's plans at its wanted builds and at its newest, and where the time went.
 type Composition struct {
 	AtWants, Newest HeldPlans
-	// Unpublished is each module whose composition at the build it is read at is not published yet: the node's picture
-	// is not whole, so no retirement is judged on it (issue 940).
+	// Unpublished is each module whose composition at the build it is read at is not published yet: its own plan and keys
+	// are kept as they were, and nothing else on the node waits for it (issue 940).
 	Unpublished []string
 	// UnpublishedNewest is each module whose composition at its newest build (which is not its wanted build) is not
 	// published yet: the newest build's needs are unread, so no key only that build requires is judged (issue 1966).
@@ -1102,6 +1104,25 @@ const askHeldWithin = time.Minute
 // askWaits is what a retiring key's why says while its ask waits for an open one to end.
 const askWaits = "its ask waits until fewer than 3 of mesh-provisioner's asks stand open, the router showing at most 3 per asker"
 
+// askRefusedNote opens what a retiring key's why says once its ask is refused: the ask is not raised, and the key says
+// so here, and provisioner_health names the key with those words.
+const askRefusedNote = "its ask is refused: "
+
+// askID is a retiring ask's id: letters, digits and - only, of bounded length (the router refuses over 64), made from the
+// key by its digest and the time, so one key's asks differ and no key's length matters.
+func askID(key string, at time.Time) string {
+	sum := sha256.Sum256([]byte(key))
+	return "retire-" + hex.EncodeToString(sum[:8]) + "-" + fmt.Sprint(at.Unix())
+}
+
+// withoutAskNotes is why without what ask() said of its ask (askWaits, askRefusedNote).
+func withoutAskNotes(why string) string {
+	if i := strings.Index(why, askRefusedNote); i >= 0 {
+		why = why[:i]
+	}
+	return strings.TrimSuffix(strings.TrimSuffix(why, askWaits), "; ")
+}
+
 // errAskWaits is an ask held back by askOpenAtMost: no fault, raised once one ends.
 var errAskWaits = errors.New(askWaits)
 
@@ -1127,21 +1148,26 @@ func (h *Holder) ask(p *meshprovisionerclient.Provision, key string) error {
 	}
 	if h.openAsks() >= askOpenAtMost {
 		if !strings.Contains(p.Why, askWaits) {
-			p.Why = strings.TrimPrefix(p.Why+"; "+askWaits, "; ")
+			p.Why = strings.TrimPrefix(withoutAskNotes(p.Why)+"; "+askWaits, "; ")
 		}
 		return errAskWaits
 	}
 	now := h.Now().UTC()
-	id := "retire-" + strings.ReplaceAll(key, ".", "-") + "-" + fmt.Sprint(now.Unix())
+	id := askID(key, now)
 	a := retiringAsk(key, *p, now, id)
-	if err := occ.Check(a, now); err != nil {
+	// A refused ask is said in the key's why, where the operator reads why it stands, and on provisioner_health.
+	refused := func(err error) error {
+		p.Why = strings.TrimPrefix(withoutAskNotes(p.Why)+"; "+askRefusedNote+err.Error(), "; ")
 		return err
 	}
+	if err := occ.Check(a, now); err != nil {
+		return refused(err)
+	}
 	if err := h.Asks.Publish(oc.AcceptSubjectAsk(Module), a, id); err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("the retiring ask of %s could not be published: %w", key, err)
+		return refused(fmt.Errorf("the retiring ask of %s could not be published: %w", key, err))
 	}
 	p.Ask = id
-	p.Why = strings.TrimSuffix(strings.TrimSuffix(p.Why, askWaits), "; ")
+	p.Why = withoutAskNotes(p.Why)
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -1372,6 +1398,22 @@ func (h *Holder) Faults() map[string]string {
 	return out
 }
 
+// RefusedAsks is each retiring key whose ask the router's rules refuse, as its key with its why: read from the keys
+// themselves, so a restart keeps it (ask).
+func (h *Holder) RefusedAsks() map[string]string {
+	out := map[string]string{}
+	keys, _ := h.Store.Keys(ProvisionsState)
+	for _, k := range keys {
+		if e, err := h.Store.Get(ProvisionsState, k); err == nil && e != nil {
+			if p, err := meshprovisionerclient.Decode(e.Value); err == nil && p.State == meshprovisionerclient.Retiring &&
+				p.Ask == "" && strings.Contains(p.Why, askRefusedNote) {
+				out[k] = p.Why
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
 // LastingHolds is each module held unpublished at one build for longer than unpublishedFor, as "<node>.<module>" with
 // the hold's words, which name its build, and since when.
 func (h *Holder) LastingHolds() map[string]string {
@@ -1546,8 +1588,8 @@ func orSaid(words ...string) string {
 // builds a module is read at the fingerprint keptAt names, else at the indexer's newest (FP2); at the newest, each placed
 // module at FP2. A key whose engine refused the module holds it with the engine's words; a key not published yet holds
 // it at its wanted build (its last plan kept, as for a refusal) and at its newest too (issue 1966), whose build the engine
-// writes once it is done (ADR 0593 §6), and says it unpublished, so the pass judges no retirement on the node (issue
-// 940). A placed module no build of which is known is held too. A plan absent from a key is a module that hands the
+// writes once it is done (ADR 0593 §6), and says it unpublished, so only that module's own plan and keys are kept as they were and nothing else on the
+// node waits for it (issue 940). A placed module no build of which is known is held too. A plan absent from a key is a module that hands the
 // provisioner nothing.
 func FromCompositions(s Store) Composer {
 	return func(_ context.Context, node string, keptAt map[string]string) Composition {
diff --git a/modules/mesh-provisioner/cmd/mesh-provisioner/holder_test.go b/modules/mesh-provisioner/cmd/mesh-provisioner/holder_test.go
index f1d67b485..63376d196 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-provisioner/cmd/mesh-provisioner/holder_test.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-provisioner/cmd/mesh-provisioner/holder_test.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package main
 import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	assignerclient "git.novox.be/novox/mesh-contracts/go/clients/meshmoduleassignerclient"
 	meshseat "git.novox.be/novox/mesh-contracts/go/seats/meshmoduleassigner"
@@ -35,6 +36,8 @@ type router struct {
 	cancelled []string
 	// failCancel is a router that refuses a cancel.
 	failCancel bool
+	// refuses is a router whose rules refuse every ask, with these words.
+	refuses string
 }
 
 func (r *router) Publish(subject string, body any, id string) error {
@@ -49,6 +52,9 @@ func (r *router) Publish(subject string, body any, id string) error {
 		delete(r.records, c.ID)
 		return nil
 	}
+	if r.refuses != "" {
+		return errors.New(r.refuses)
+	}
 	r.asked[id] = body.(oc.Ask)
 	if !r.drop {
 		r.records[id], _ = json.Marshal(map[string]any{"state": "open", "ask": body})
@@ -870,3 +876,33 @@ func TestAnAskTheRouterDoesNotHoldIsRaisedAgain(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+// Issue 1966, U7 (design 47 fix-unpublished-placed-module): a retiring ask's id is bounded and made from the key, so a
+// long key is asked; an ask the router refuses is said in the key's why and in provisioner_health, and the key is
+// asked once the refusal ends.
+func TestARetiringAskIsBoundedAndARefusedOneIsSaid(t *testing.T) {
+	m := newMesh()
+	long := "claude-licence-manager-ab" // with this key the old id "retire-g14-...-<unix>" is 65 characters
+	key := "g14." + long + ".postgres-database"
+	m.atWant["g14"] = map[string]catalogue.Plan{long: planOf(pgDB), "dunst": planOf(oidc)}
+	m.compose(t, "g14")
+	m.atWant["g14"] = map[string]catalogue.Plan{"dunst": planOf(oidc)}
+	m.r.refuses = "its id is refused"
+	c := m.compose(t, "g14")
+	p := m.state(t, key)
+	if p.Ask != "" || !strings.Contains(p.Why, askRefusedNote) || !strings.Contains(p.Why, "its id is refused") || !strings.Contains(strings.Join(c.Problems, " "), "its id is refused") {
+		t.Errorf("a refused ask: ask %q, why %q, problems %v", p.Ask, p.Why, c.Problems)
+	}
+	if a := m.h.health(); a.Healthy || !strings.Contains(a.Why, key) || !strings.Contains(a.Why, "its id is refused") {
+		t.Errorf("health with a refused ask: %+v", a)
+	}
+	m.r.refuses = ""
+	m.compose(t, "g14")
+	p = m.state(t, key)
+	if len(p.Ask) == 0 || len(p.Ask) > 64 || !occ.UsableID(p.Ask) || strings.Contains(p.Why, askRefusedNote) {
+		t.Errorf("the ask once the refusal ends: %q, why %q", p.Ask, p.Why)
+	}
+	if a := m.h.health(); !a.Healthy {
+		t.Errorf("health once the ask is raised: %+v", a)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/modules/mesh-provisioner/cmd/mesh-provisioner/holdertools.go b/modules/mesh-provisioner/cmd/mesh-provisioner/holdertools.go
index 778e488f2..227695642 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-provisioner/cmd/mesh-provisioner/holdertools.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-provisioner/cmd/mesh-provisioner/holdertools.go
@@ -91,17 +91,17 @@ func holderTools(h *Holder) []stdio.Tool {
 				"a pass held back a retirement of most of a node's consumers at once as a fault of the mesh (issue 940), " +
 				"naming the node, the consumers and the likely cause, or while a module's composition has stayed " +
 				"unpublished at one build, wanted or newest, for longer than 45 minutes (longer than a build takes), naming the module, " +
-				"the build and since when.",
+				"the build and since when, or while a retiring provision's ask is refused by the operator channel's rules, naming the key and the refusal.",
 			Run: func(map[string]any) (any, error) { return h.health(), nil }},
 	}
 }
 
 // health is the holder's runtime health: unhealthy while a retirement is held back as a fault of the mesh.
 func (h *Holder) health() health.Answer {
-	faults, holds := h.Faults(), h.LastingHolds()
-	if len(faults)+len(holds) == 0 {
+	faults, holds, refused := h.Faults(), h.LastingHolds(), h.RefusedAsks()
+	if len(faults)+len(holds)+len(refused) == 0 {
 		return health.Healthy("No pass holds back a retirement of most of a node's consumers, and no module's " +
-			"composition has stayed unpublished at one build for longer than " + unpublishedFor.String() + ".")
+			"composition has stayed unpublished at one build for longer than " + unpublishedFor.String() + ", and no retiring ask is refused.")
 	}
 	var said []string
 	for _, n := range sortedKeys(faults) {
@@ -110,6 +110,9 @@ func (h *Holder) health() health.Answer {
 	for _, k := range sortedKeys(holds) {
 		said = append(said, k+": "+holds[k]+"; its plan and its provisions are kept as they were.")
 	}
+	for _, k := range sortedKeys(refused) {
+		said = append(said, k+" is retiring and "+refused[k]+".")
+	}
 	return health.Unhealthy(strings.Join(said, " "))
 }