diff --git a/cmd/mesh-controller/upgrades.go b/cmd/mesh-controller/upgrades.go
index 63b5769..3476864 100644
--- a/cmd/mesh-controller/upgrades.go
+++ b/cmd/mesh-controller/upgrades.go
@@ -28,13 +28,15 @@ type following struct{ open *stores }
 func (f following) Upgraded(ctx context.Context, u link.Upgraded) error {
 	inv := f.open.inventory
 
+	// The store read first, and an outage there said as one, so the announcement is held and asked
+	// again (novox/hq issue 083). Only here: a push that fails further down is not asked again.
 	decision, err := inv.UpgradeOf(ctx, u.Module)
 	if err != nil {
-		return err
+		return notNow(err)
 	}
 	on, err := inv.Running(ctx, u.Module)
 	if err != nil {
-		return err
+		return notNow(err)
 	}
 	if len(on) == 0 {
 		fmt.Printf("%s moved to %s; no machine runs it\n", u.Module, shortCommit(u.Commit))
@@ -194,3 +196,12 @@ func (f following) Announceable(ctx context.Context) ([]link.Announcement, error
 	}
 	return out, nil
 }
+
+// notNow marks a store that could not be read right now, so the announcement is held rather than
+// lost; anything else is returned as it was.
+func notNow(err error) error {
+	if inventory.Unreachable(err) {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%w: %w", link.ErrTryAgain, err)
+	}
+	return err
+}
diff --git a/internal/inventory/inventory_test.go b/internal/inventory/inventory_test.go
index 0ace1cc..daabd80 100644
--- a/internal/inventory/inventory_test.go
+++ b/internal/inventory/inventory_test.go
@@ -383,3 +383,88 @@ func TestBeingHeardFromDoesNotChangeWhatANodeOwns(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("after a bare word that the node is here, the mesh believes it owns %v", owned)
 	}
 }
+
+// **A token is claimed, then spent** (novox/hq issue 083). A presenter may claim it again — an
+// enrolment interrupted by a restarting store asks again with the same key — while another is held
+// off until the lease lapses; and it is spent only by the one holding the claim.
+func TestATokenIsClaimedByOnePresenterAndSpentOnlyByIt(t *testing.T) {
+	inv := fresh(t)
+	ctx := t.Context()
+	if _, err := inv.AddNode(ctx, "laptop"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	issued, err := inv.IssueToken(ctx, "laptop", time.Hour)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	node, err := inv.Claim(ctx, issued.Secret, "key-a", false)
+	if err != nil || node.Name != "laptop" {
+		t.Fatalf("a fresh token was not claimed for its node: %v %q", err, node.Name)
+	}
+	if _, err := inv.Claim(ctx, issued.Secret, "key-a", false); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("the presenter holding the claim could not claim again after an interruption: %v", err)
+	}
+	if _, err := inv.Claim(ctx, issued.Secret, "key-b", false); !errors.Is(err, ErrTokenInUse) {
+		t.Fatalf("a second presenter was not held off while the claim is live: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := inv.Spend(ctx, issued.Secret, "key-b"); !errors.Is(err, ErrTokenRefused) {
+		t.Fatalf("a presenter not holding the claim spent the token: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := inv.Spend(ctx, issued.Secret, "key-a"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("the presenter holding the claim could not spend it: %v", err)
+	}
+	// Spent: nobody else may claim it, ever.
+	if _, err := inv.Claim(ctx, issued.Secret, "key-b", false); !errors.Is(err, ErrTokenRefused) {
+		t.Fatalf("a spent token was claimed by another presenter: %v", err)
+	}
+	// Nor the presenter that spent it, without proof it holds the key: a public key is no secret.
+	if _, err := inv.Claim(ctx, issued.Secret, "key-a", false); !errors.Is(err, ErrTokenRefused) {
+		t.Fatalf("a spent token was claimed again with no proof of the key: %v", err)
+	}
+	// With it, and inside the lease, it may, and spend it again: its spend reached the store and
+	// the answer did not reach the node, which asked again — refusing it would lock out a machine
+	// the mesh holds as enrolled.
+	if _, err := inv.Claim(ctx, issued.Secret, "key-a", true); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("the proven presenter whose answer was lost after its spend was refused: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := inv.Spend(ctx, issued.Secret, "key-a"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("spending again by the same presenter failed: %v", err)
+	}
+	// And not once the lease is over: then a spent token is spent to everyone, proof or not.
+	if _, err := inv.store.Pool().Exec(ctx,
+		`update enrolment_token set claimed_until = now() - interval '1 second' where secret = $1`,
+		hashSecret(issued.Secret)); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if _, err := inv.Claim(ctx, issued.Secret, "key-a", true); !errors.Is(err, ErrTokenRefused) {
+		t.Fatalf("a spent token was claimed again after its lease: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+// A claim lapses: a host that gave up and was started over, with keys of its own, is not held off
+// for longer than the lease.
+func TestAClaimThatLapsedCanBeTakenByAnotherPresenter(t *testing.T) {
+	inv := fresh(t)
+	ctx := t.Context()
+	if _, err := inv.AddNode(ctx, "laptop"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	issued, err := inv.IssueToken(ctx, "laptop", time.Hour)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if _, err := inv.Claim(ctx, issued.Secret, "key-a", false); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if _, err := inv.store.Pool().Exec(ctx,
+		`update enrolment_token set claimed_until = now() - interval '1 second' where secret = $1`,
+		hashSecret(issued.Secret)); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if _, err := inv.Claim(ctx, issued.Secret, "key-b", false); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("a lapsed claim held off a new presenter: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := inv.Spend(ctx, issued.Secret, "key-a"); !errors.Is(err, ErrTokenRefused) {
+		t.Fatalf("the presenter whose claim lapsed could still spend the token: %v", err)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/inventory/migrations/0028-a-token-is-claimed-before-it-is-spent.sql b/internal/inventory/migrations/0028-a-token-is-claimed-before-it-is-spent.sql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a1cc42c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/inventory/migrations/0028-a-token-is-claimed-before-it-is-spent.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+-- A token is claimed by the enrolment presenting it, and spent only when that enrolment has
+-- written everything it needs (novox/hq 04-ISSUES/083).
+--
+-- Spending came first and the node's keys after, in another database: a store that went away
+-- between the two left a spent token and a node with no key, and the host — which makes new keys
+-- on every attempt — could not try again. The claim holds the token for one presenter for a short
+-- lease, so an attempt that failed part-way can be made again by the same presenter, and a second
+-- presenter cannot interleave with the first.
+
+alter table enrolment_token add column claimed_by text;
+alter table enrolment_token add column claimed_until timestamptz;
diff --git a/internal/inventory/nodes.go b/internal/inventory/nodes.go
index 8cb1ccb..2b822ce 100644
--- a/internal/inventory/nodes.go
+++ b/internal/inventory/nodes.go
@@ -203,7 +203,75 @@ func (i *Inventory) IssueToken(ctx context.Context, nodeName string, validFor ti
 // token that had expired.
 var ErrTokenRefused = errors.New("that token cannot be used")
 
-// Redeem spends a token and reports which node it was for.
+// ClaimLease is how long a claimed token is held for the one presenter that claimed it. Long
+// enough for an enrolment to be tried again through a store restart; short enough that a host
+// which gave up and was started over, with keys of its own, is not kept waiting long.
+const ClaimLease = 2 * time.Minute
+
+// ErrTokenInUse is a token another presenter holds a claim on right now. Not a refusal: the claim
+// lapses, and asking again after it is the answer.
+var ErrTokenInUse = errors.New("the token is being used by another enrolment")
+
+// Claim takes a token for one presenter — `by`, which names the key presenting it — for the length
+// of a lease, and says which node it enrols. The same presenter may claim it again, as may anyone
+// once the lease has lapsed; nothing is spent until Spend (novox/hq 04-ISSUES/083).
+//
+// A token this same presenter already spent may be claimed again when `again` says so — the
+// caller has proof the presenter holds the key's private half — and only while its claim's lease
+// is live: its spend reached the store and the answer did not reach the node, which asked again.
+// Refusing it then would lock out a machine the mesh holds as enrolled. Without the proof a spent
+// token stays spent to everyone, as ADR 0004 says.
+func (i *Inventory) Claim(ctx context.Context, secret, by string, again bool) (Node, error) {
+	var id string
+	err := i.store.Pool().QueryRow(ctx,
+		`update enrolment_token set claimed_by = $2,
+		        claimed_until = case when redeemed is null then now() + $3::interval else claimed_until end
+		  where secret = $1 and expires > now()
+		    and ((redeemed is null and (claimed_by is null or claimed_by = $2 or claimed_until < now()))
+		      or (redeemed is not null and $4 and claimed_by = $2 and claimed_until > now()))
+		  returning node`, hashSecret(secret), by, ClaimLease.String(), again).Scan(&id)
+	if errors.Is(err, pgx.ErrNoRows) {
+		// Unusable, or held by someone else — told apart, because the second passes.
+		var held bool
+		probe := i.store.Pool().QueryRow(ctx,
+			`select true from enrolment_token
+			  where secret = $1 and redeemed is null and expires > now()`, hashSecret(secret)).Scan(&held)
+		switch {
+		case probe == nil && held:
+			return Node{}, ErrTokenInUse
+		case probe != nil && !errors.Is(probe, pgx.ErrNoRows):
+			// The store went away between the two questions: "not now", not a refusal.
+			return Node{}, probe
+		}
+		return Node{}, ErrTokenRefused
+	}
+	if err != nil {
+		return Node{}, err
+	}
+	var n Node
+	err = i.store.Pool().QueryRow(ctx,
+		`select id, name, created from node where id = $1`, id).Scan(&n.ID, &n.Name, &n.Created)
+	return n, err
+}
+
+// Spend makes a claimed token used, only for the presenter holding the claim. The last write to the
+// store in an enrolment, so a token is spent exactly when the node it enrolled is complete. Spent
+// again by the same presenter is not an error: an answer lost after the first spend.
+func (i *Inventory) Spend(ctx context.Context, secret, by string) error {
+	tag, err := i.store.Pool().Exec(ctx,
+		`update enrolment_token set redeemed = coalesce(redeemed, now())
+		  where secret = $1 and claimed_by = $2`, hashSecret(secret), by)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if tag.RowsAffected() == 0 {
+		return ErrTokenRefused
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// Redeem spends a token in one step and reports which node it was for. Enrolment claims and then
+// spends (Claim, Spend); this is the one-step form, kept for what spends a token outright.
 //
 // It does not issue an identity. What a node presents afterwards to prove it is that node is not
 // decided anywhere (novox/hq ADR 0004 names the property, not the mechanism), and guessing at it
diff --git a/internal/link/enrol_claim_test.go b/internal/link/enrol_claim_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0d4eafd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/link/enrol_claim_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+package link_test
+
+import (
+	"crypto/ed25519"
+	"crypto/rand"
+	"crypto/sha256"
+	"encoding/hex"
+	"errors"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/inventory"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/link"
+)
+
+// A token another enrolment holds for the moment is "not now", not a refusal: the node asks again
+// with the same request, and nothing is spent (novox/hq issue 083).
+func TestAnEnrolmentMetByAHeldTokenIsAskedToTryAgain(t *testing.T) {
+	inv := inventory.ForTest(t)
+	ctx := t.Context()
+	if _, err := inv.AddNode(ctx, "laptop"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	issued, err := inv.IssueToken(ctx, "laptop", time.Hour)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if _, err := inv.Claim(ctx, issued.Secret, "another enrolment's key", false); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	public, _, err := ed25519.GenerateKey(rand.Reader)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	_, err = link.Enrolment{Inventory: inv}.Enrol(ctx, link.EnrolRequest{
+		Node: "laptop", Secret: issued.Secret, PublicKey: public})
+	if !errors.Is(err, link.ErrTryAgain) {
+		t.Fatalf("an enrolment met by a held token was not asked to try again: %v", err)
+	}
+	// And a token that cannot be used at all is still refused outright.
+	_, err = link.Enrolment{Inventory: inv}.Enrol(ctx, link.EnrolRequest{
+		Node: "laptop", Secret: "not-a-token", PublicKey: public})
+	if err == nil || errors.Is(err, link.ErrTryAgain) {
+		t.Fatalf("a token that cannot be used was not refused outright: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+// **A spent token cannot be replayed with a node's public key** (novox/hq issue 083, on review). A
+// public key is no secret: finishing an enrolment whose token that key spent takes proof the
+// presenter holds its private half, and a proof made with another key — or for another request —
+// is refused outright.
+func TestASpentTokenCannotBeReplayedWithAPublicKeyAlone(t *testing.T) {
+	inv := inventory.ForTest(t)
+	ctx := t.Context()
+	if _, err := inv.AddNode(ctx, "laptop"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	issued, err := inv.IssueToken(ctx, "laptop", time.Hour)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	victim, victimPrivate, err := ed25519.GenerateKey(rand.Reader)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	// The victim's enrolment spent the token.
+	by := claimantOf(victim)
+	if _, err := inv.Claim(ctx, issued.Secret, by, false); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if err := inv.Spend(ctx, issued.Secret, by); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	// Someone with the leaked token and the victim's public key, and no proof.
+	_, err = link.Enrolment{Inventory: inv}.Enrol(ctx, link.EnrolRequest{
+		Node: "laptop", Secret: issued.Secret, PublicKey: victim, SealingKey: "the attacker's"})
+	if err == nil || errors.Is(err, link.ErrTryAgain) {
+		t.Fatalf("a spent token was taken again with a public key alone: %v", err)
+	}
+	// With a proof made by another key.
+	_, forger, err := ed25519.GenerateKey(rand.Reader)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	forged := ed25519.Sign(forger, link.EnrolProof(issued.Secret, victim, "", "the attacker's", ""))
+	_, err = link.Enrolment{Inventory: inv}.Enrol(ctx, link.EnrolRequest{
+		Node: "laptop", Secret: issued.Secret, PublicKey: victim, SealingKey: "the attacker's", Proof: forged})
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("a spent token was taken again with a proof made by another key")
+	}
+	// With the victim's own proof, but for another request — keys swapped in.
+	theirs := ed25519.Sign(victimPrivate, link.EnrolProof(issued.Secret, victim, "", "the victim's", ""))
+	_, err = link.Enrolment{Inventory: inv}.Enrol(ctx, link.EnrolRequest{
+		Node: "laptop", Secret: issued.Secret, PublicKey: victim, SealingKey: "the attacker's", Proof: theirs})
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("a spent token was taken again with a proof made for another request")
+	}
+	// And the victim's own, proven request is not honoured when the broker redelivered it: the
+	// first delivery may already have been answered.
+	_, err = link.Enrolment{Inventory: inv}.Enrol(ctx, link.EnrolRequest{
+		Node: "laptop", Secret: issued.Secret, PublicKey: victim, SealingKey: "the victim's",
+		Proof: theirs, Redelivered: true})
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("a redelivered request finished an enrolment already spent")
+	}
+}
+
+// claimantOf is the claimant the enrolment derives from a key, recomputed here.
+func claimantOf(public ed25519.PublicKey) string {
+	sum := sha256.Sum256(public)
+	return hex.EncodeToString(sum[:])
+}
diff --git a/internal/link/enrol_proof_test.go b/internal/link/enrol_proof_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..727197f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/link/enrol_proof_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+package link
+
+import "testing"
+
+// The bytes a node signs when it enrols, built here to check its signature. The host builds the
+// same bytes in another repository; this known answer is repeated in its test, so the two cannot
+// drift apart without one of them failing (novox/hq issue 083).
+func TestWhatAnEnrollingNodeSignsIsFixed(t *testing.T) {
+	got := string(EnrolProof("s", []byte{1, 2, 3}, "o", "e", "v"))
+	if want := "novox-mesh-enrol\x00s\x00AQID\x00o\x00e\x00v"; got != want {
+		t.Fatalf("the enrolment proof's message changed: %q, want %q", got, want)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/link/enrolment.go b/internal/link/enrolment.go
index b7975bb..f39bc52 100644
--- a/internal/link/enrolment.go
+++ b/internal/link/enrolment.go
@@ -4,7 +4,9 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"crypto/ed25519"
 	"crypto/rand"
+	"crypto/sha256"
 	"encoding/base64"
+	"encoding/hex"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"log"
@@ -28,32 +30,57 @@ type Enrolment struct {
 	Broker     broker.Broker
 }
 
-// Enrol spends the token and records what the node presented.
+// Enrol records what the node presented and spends the token.
 //
-// Order matters and it is the order things become irreversible. The token is spent first, in a
-// single statement that both finds and marks it, so two machines racing on one secret produce one
-// winner. Only then is a key recorded — because recording a key for a node whose token turned out
-// to be spent would leave the mesh believing a machine that never had the right to join.
-func (e Enrolment) Enrol(ctx context.Context, request EnrolRequest) (EnrolReply, error) {
+// Order matters and it is the order things become irreversible (novox/hq issue 083). The token is
+// claimed first, in a single statement that both finds it and holds it for this presenter's key, so
+// two machines racing on one secret produce one holder. Then everything the node presented is
+// written — each write an overwrite, so an attempt interrupted by the store going away can be made
+// again by the same presenter. Then the token is spent. Last, the token's secret stops being the
+// node's broker password: done after the spend, because a password replaced by an attempt that
+// then failed would be one nobody holds, and the node could not even log in to ask again.
+func (e Enrolment) Enrol(ctx context.Context, request EnrolRequest) (reply EnrolReply, err error) {
 	secret, public, profile := request.Secret, ed25519.PublicKey(request.PublicKey), request.Profile
 
+	// A store that could not be asked right now, or a token another presenter holds for the
+	// moment, is "not now": the node asks again with the same request (novox/hq issue 083).
+	defer func() {
+		if inventory.Unreachable(err) || errors.Is(err, inventory.ErrTokenInUse) ||
+			errors.Is(err, context.Canceled) {
+			err = fmt.Errorf("%w: %w", ErrTryAgain, err)
+		}
+	}()
+
 	if len(public) != ed25519.PublicKeySize {
 		return EnrolReply{}, fmt.Errorf("a node presented a %d-byte key, and an identity is %d",
 			len(public), ed25519.PublicKeySize)
 	}
 
-	node, err := e.Inventory.Redeem(ctx, secret)
+	// Claimed, not spent: the token is held for this presenter while the node is written, and
+	// spent only as the last write. The node's identity lives in another database than the
+	// token, so the two cannot be one transaction; a failure between them used to leave a spent
+	// token and a node with no key, which the host — making new keys on every attempt — could not
+	// recover from. Every write below overwrites, so an attempt made again is safe.
+	// A proof that does not verify is refused outright: it was made with another key, or for
+	// another request. One that verifies lets this presenter finish an enrolment whose token it
+	// already spent — never a request the broker handed over a second time, which may already
+	// have been answered.
+	proven := false
+	if len(request.Proof) > 0 {
+		if !ed25519.Verify(public, EnrolProof(secret, public, request.OverlayKey, request.SealingKey,
+			request.ServingKey), request.Proof) {
+			return EnrolReply{}, errors.New("the enrolment's proof does not match the key it presents")
+		}
+		proven = true
+	}
+	by := claimant(public)
+	node, err := e.Inventory.Claim(ctx, secret, by, proven && !request.Redelivered)
 	if err != nil {
 		return EnrolReply{}, err
 	}
 
-	// From here the token is gone whatever happens next, so anything that fails leaves a node
-	// record with no live key — which is visible and fixable with a new token, where a spent
-	// token believed to be unspent is neither.
 	if _, err := e.Identity.RecordNodeKey(ctx, node.ID, public); err != nil {
-		return EnrolReply{}, fmt.Errorf(
-			"the token was spent and the key could not be recorded, so %s has no identity and "+
-				"needs a new token: %w", node.Name, err)
+		return EnrolReply{}, fmt.Errorf("%s's key could not be recorded: %w", node.Name, err)
 	}
 
 	key, err := e.Identity.Active(ctx)
@@ -61,7 +88,7 @@ func (e Enrolment) Enrol(ctx context.Context, request EnrolRequest) (EnrolReply,
 		return EnrolReply{}, err
 	}
 
-	reply := EnrolReply{
+	reply = EnrolReply{
 		Accepted:    true,
 		Node:        node.Name,
 		Queue:       QueueFor(node.Name),
@@ -70,22 +97,6 @@ func (e Enrolment) Enrol(ctx context.Context, request EnrolRequest) (EnrolReply,
 		Signer:      key.Public,
 	}
 
-	// The token's secret was the broker password up to this moment, which is what let this
-	// connection exist at all. It is replaced now, so the one-time thing stays one-time and the
-	// credential the node keeps for years is not the one that was pasted into a terminal.
-	if e.Management != nil {
-		password, err := freshPassword()
-		if err != nil {
-			return EnrolReply{}, err
-		}
-		if err := e.Management.CreateNodeAccount(ctx, node.Name, password); err != nil {
-			return EnrolReply{}, fmt.Errorf(
-				"the token was spent and %s's broker password could not be replaced: %w",
-				node.Name, err)
-		}
-		reply.Password = password
-	}
-
 	// Recorded before the profile because the overlay is the first declaration this node will
 	// receive, and without this key the mesh cannot compose one. A node enrolled with no overlay
 	// key is a node the graph skips — an ordinary in-between state, and one worth leaving as
@@ -98,21 +109,43 @@ func (e Enrolment) Enrol(ctx context.Context, request EnrolRequest) (EnrolReply,
 	if request.ServingKey != "" {
 		if err := e.Identity.RecordServingKey(ctx, node.ID, request.ServingKey); err != nil {
 			return EnrolReply{}, fmt.Errorf(
-				"the token was spent and %s's serving key could not be recorded: %w",
-				node.Name, err)
+				"%s's serving key could not be recorded: %w", node.Name, err)
 		}
 	}
 	if request.SealingKey != "" {
 		if err := e.Inventory.RecordSealingKey(ctx, node.ID, request.SealingKey); err != nil {
 			return EnrolReply{}, fmt.Errorf(
-				"the token was spent and %s's sealing key could not be recorded: %w",
-				node.Name, err)
+				"%s's sealing key could not be recorded: %w", node.Name, err)
 		}
 	}
 	if request.OverlayKey != "" {
 		if err := e.Inventory.RecordOverlayKey(ctx, node.ID, request.OverlayKey); err != nil {
 			return EnrolReply{}, fmt.Errorf(
-				"the token was spent and %s's overlay key could not be recorded: %w", node.Name, err)
+				"%s's overlay key could not be recorded: %w", node.Name, err)
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Spent once the node is complete in the store.
+	if err := e.Inventory.Spend(ctx, secret, by); err != nil {
+		return EnrolReply{}, fmt.Errorf("%s was written and its token could not be spent: %w", node.Name, err)
+	}
+
+	// The token's secret was the broker password up to this moment, which is what let this
+	// connection exist at all. It is replaced now, so the one-time thing stays one-time and the
+	// credential the node keeps for years is not the one that was pasted into a terminal. After
+	// the spend and not before: a replaced password on an attempt that failed would be held by
+	// nobody. If the broker will not take it now, the enrolment still stands — the node keeps
+	// the token's secret as its password, which it is told, and which is said here.
+	if e.Management != nil {
+		password, err := freshPassword()
+		if err != nil {
+			return EnrolReply{}, err
+		}
+		if err := e.Management.CreateNodeAccount(ctx, node.Name, password); err != nil {
+			log.Printf("%s is enrolled and its broker password could not be replaced, so it keeps "+
+				"the token's secret as its password: %v", node.Name, err)
+		} else {
+			reply.Password = password
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -125,6 +158,12 @@ func (e Enrolment) Enrol(ctx context.Context, request EnrolRequest) (EnrolReply,
 	return reply, nil
 }
 
+// claimant names the key presenting a token, so a claim can be held for it alone.
+func claimant(public ed25519.PublicKey) string {
+	sum := sha256.Sum256(public)
+	return hex.EncodeToString(sum[:])
+}
+
 // freshPassword is the node's own broker credential from enrolment onward.
 func freshPassword() (string, error) {
 	raw := make([]byte, 32)
diff --git a/internal/link/protocol.go b/internal/link/protocol.go
index efac2ca..ba6dd7c 100644
--- a/internal/link/protocol.go
+++ b/internal/link/protocol.go
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 // traffic between them, each receiving half of what it expects. That has happened here before.
 package link
 
+import "encoding/base64"
+
 // Exchange is where nodes publish everything they have to say.
 const Exchange = "mesh"
 
@@ -58,6 +60,18 @@ type EnrolRequest struct {
 	// Profile is what this machine can be asked to do. The control plane cannot decide what a
 	// node should run without it, so it arrives with enrolment rather than being asked for after.
 	Profile map[string]any `json:"profile,omitempty"`
+
+	// Proof is the node's identity key signing EnrolProof over this request: that the presenter
+	// holds the private half of PublicKey, not only knows the public one. Required to finish an
+	// enrolment whose token this key already spent — the case of an answer lost after the spend —
+	// because a public key is no secret, and without it anyone holding a leaked token and a
+	// node's public key could replay the spent token (novox/hq issue 083, on review).
+	Proof []byte `json:"proof,omitempty"`
+
+	// Redelivered is set by the control plane, never sent: the broker handed this request over a
+	// second time. Such a request does not finish an enrolment already spent — the first time may
+	// have answered, and the node holds what it was told.
+	Redelivered bool `json:"-"`
 }
 
 // Signed is a declaration and the signature over it.
@@ -109,6 +123,11 @@ type EnrolReply struct {
 	// Accepted says whether the node is now known.
 	Accepted bool `json:"accepted"`
 
+	// TryAgain says the mesh cannot answer right now — its store is restarting, or the token is
+	// held for a moment by another enrolment — and the node should ask again with the same
+	// request. Nothing was spent (novox/hq issue 083).
+	TryAgain bool `json:"try_again,omitempty"`
+
 	// Node is the name the mesh has for this machine, which settles any disagreement: the token
 	// was issued for a node record, and that record's name wins over what the machine called
 	// itself.
@@ -132,3 +151,10 @@ type EnrolReply struct {
 	// token can fail — unknown, spent, expired — so that guessing learns nothing.
 	Refusal string `json:"refusal,omitempty"`
 }
+
+// EnrolProof is what a node signs with its identity key when it enrols: the token and every key it
+// presents, so a proof cannot be moved to another request.
+func EnrolProof(secret string, public []byte, overlay, sealing, serving string) []byte {
+	return []byte("novox-mesh-enrol\x00" + secret + "\x00" + base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString(public) +
+		"\x00" + overlay + "\x00" + sealing + "\x00" + serving)
+}
diff --git a/internal/link/report_retry_test.go b/internal/link/report_retry_test.go
index 7e2f61e..8a175d7 100644
--- a/internal/link/report_retry_test.go
+++ b/internal/link/report_retry_test.go
@@ -20,85 +20,85 @@ func (a *saidTo) Nack(_ uint64, _ bool, requeue bool) error {
 	return nil
 }
 func (a *saidTo) Reject(uint64, bool) error { return nil }
+func (a *saidTo) unsettled() bool           { return !a.acked && !a.nacked }
 
 type heardWith struct{ err error }
 
 func (h heardWith) Heard(context.Context, Report) error { return h.err }
 
-func aReport(t *testing.T, to *saidTo) amqp.Delivery {
+// switchable answers with whatever it is set to — the store away, then back.
+type switchable struct{ err error }
+
+func (h *switchable) Heard(context.Context, Report) error { return h.err }
+
+var tag uint64
+
+func aReport(t *testing.T, to *saidTo, node, declared string) amqp.Delivery {
 	t.Helper()
-	body, err := json.Marshal(Report{Node: "anchor", Applied: []string{"store"}})
+	body, err := json.Marshal(Report{Node: node, Declared: declared, Applied: []string{"store"}})
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
-	return amqp.Delivery{Acknowledger: to, RoutingKey: KeyReport, Body: body}
+	tag++
+	return amqp.Delivery{Acknowledger: to, RoutingKey: KeyReport, Body: body, DeliveryTag: tag}
 }
 
-// A report the store could not take right now goes back to the broker to be asked again; one the
-// store answered no to is acknowledged, or it would come back for ever (novox/hq issue 082).
-func TestAReportTheStoreCouldNotTakeIsKeptAndOneItRefusedIsNot(t *testing.T) {
-	quiet := log.New(io.Discard, "", 0)
+func quiet() *log.Logger { return log.New(io.Discard, "", 0) }
 
-	notNow := &saidTo{}
-	s := &Server{listener: heardWith{err: errors.Join(ErrTryAgain, errors.New("starting up"))}, log: quiet, again: 1}
-	s.handleReport(context.Background(), aReport(t, notNow))
-	if notNow.acked || !notNow.nacked || !notNow.requeued {
-		t.Fatalf("a report the store could not take yet was not handed back to be asked again: %+v", notNow)
+// A report the store could not take right now is held, unsettled, and recorded when the store is
+// back; one the store answered no to is acknowledged; one recorded is acknowledged (issue 082, 083).
+func TestAReportTheStoreCouldNotTakeIsHeldAndOneItRefusedIsNot(t *testing.T) {
+	store := &switchable{err: errors.Join(ErrTryAgain, errors.New("starting up"))}
+	s := &Server{listener: store, log: quiet()}
+	held := &saidTo{}
+	s.handleReport(context.Background(), aReport(t, held, "anchor", "d1"))
+	if !held.unsettled() || len(s.parked) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("a report the store could not take was not held: %+v, %d held", held, len(s.parked))
+	}
+	store.err = nil
+	s.retryHeld(context.Background())
+	if !held.acked || len(s.parked) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("a held report was not recorded once the store was back: %+v, %d held", held, len(s.parked))
 	}
 
 	refused := &saidTo{}
-	s = &Server{listener: heardWith{err: errors.New("a report named no node")}, log: quiet, again: 1}
-	s.handleReport(context.Background(), aReport(t, refused))
+	s = &Server{listener: heardWith{err: errors.New("a report named no node")}, log: quiet()}
+	s.handleReport(context.Background(), aReport(t, refused, "anchor", "d1"))
 	if !refused.acked || refused.nacked {
-		t.Fatalf("a report the store answered no to was not acknowledged, so it would spin: %+v", refused)
+		t.Fatalf("a report the store answered no to was not acknowledged: %+v", refused)
 	}
+}
 
-	recorded := &saidTo{}
-	s = &Server{listener: heardWith{}, log: quiet}
-	s.handleReport(context.Background(), aReport(t, recorded))
-	if !recorded.acked || recorded.nacked {
-		t.Fatalf("a recorded report was not acknowledged: %+v", recorded)
+// A newer report from the same node supersedes one of its reports still held: recorded after the
+// newer, the older would overwrite what the node is doing now.
+func TestANewerReportSupersedesAHeldOneFromTheSameNode(t *testing.T) {
+	s := &Server{listener: heardWith{err: errors.Join(ErrTryAgain, errors.New("starting up"))}, log: quiet()}
+	older, newer, other := &saidTo{}, &saidTo{}, &saidTo{}
+	s.handleReport(context.Background(), aReport(t, older, "anchor", "d1"))
+	s.handleReport(context.Background(), aReport(t, other, "laptop", "d7"))
+	s.handleReport(context.Background(), aReport(t, newer, "anchor", "d2"))
+	if !older.acked {
+		t.Fatalf("the older report was not set aside by the newer: %+v", older)
+	}
+	if !newer.unsettled() || !other.unsettled() || len(s.parked) != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("the newer report and another node's were not both held: newer %+v other %+v, %d held",
+			newer, other, len(s.parked))
 	}
 }
 
 // A store that has not come back within the bound is not restarting: the report is let go, loudly,
-// rather than holding every enrolment and report behind it for ever (novox/hq issue 082, review).
+// rather than held for ever.
 func TestAReportIsLetGoOnceTheStoreHasBeenGoneTooLong(t *testing.T) {
-	quiet := log.New(io.Discard, "", 0)
 	s := &Server{listener: heardWith{err: errors.Join(ErrTryAgain, errors.New("connection refused"))},
-		log: quiet, again: 1, giveUp: time.Millisecond}
-
-	first := &saidTo{}
-	s.handleReport(context.Background(), aReport(t, first))
-	if !first.requeued {
-		t.Fatalf("the first failure was not handed back: %+v", first)
+		log: quiet(), giveUp: time.Millisecond}
+	held := &saidTo{}
+	s.handleReport(context.Background(), aReport(t, held, "anchor", "d1"))
+	if !held.unsettled() {
+		t.Fatalf("the first failure was not held: %+v", held)
 	}
 	time.Sleep(5 * time.Millisecond)
-	later := &saidTo{}
-	s.handleReport(context.Background(), aReport(t, later))
-	if !later.acked || later.nacked {
-		t.Fatalf("a report past the bound was not let go, so it would hold the queue for ever: %+v", later)
-	}
-	// Let go, and forgotten: the same report arriving fresh starts a new clock.
-	again := &saidTo{}
-	s.handleReport(context.Background(), aReport(t, again))
-	if !again.requeued {
-		t.Fatalf("a report let go was not forgotten, so its next arrival is given no chance: %+v", again)
-	}
-}
-
-// Shutting down does not wait out the pause.
-func TestAReportBeingTriedAgainDoesNotHoldUpShutdown(t *testing.T) {
-	quiet := log.New(io.Discard, "", 0)
-	s := &Server{listener: heardWith{err: errors.Join(ErrTryAgain, errors.New("starting up"))},
-		log: quiet, again: time.Hour}
-	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
-	cancel()
-	done := make(chan struct{})
-	go func() { s.handleReport(ctx, aReport(t, &saidTo{})); close(done) }()
-	select {
-	case <-done:
-	case <-time.After(5 * time.Second):
-		t.Fatal("a cancelled context still waited out the pause")
+	s.retryHeld(context.Background())
+	if !held.acked || len(s.parked) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("a report past the bound was not let go: %+v, %d held", held, len(s.parked))
 	}
 }
diff --git a/internal/link/serve.go b/internal/link/serve.go
index a3c7f9c..3bc2d76 100644
--- a/internal/link/serve.go
+++ b/internal/link/serve.go
@@ -2,10 +2,13 @@ package link
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"crypto/sha256"
+	"encoding/hex"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/envfile"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/inventory"
 	"log"
 	"os"
 	"time"
@@ -52,29 +55,44 @@ type Server struct {
 	log      *log.Logger
 	upgrader Upgrader
 	replayer Replayer
-	// again is how long a report the store could not take waits before it is handed back to
-	// the broker; zero means TryAgainAfter. giveUp is how long one report is kept trying before
-	// it is let go; zero means GiveUpAfter. waiting is when each report still trying first failed.
-	again   time.Duration
-	giveUp  time.Duration
-	waiting map[string]time.Time
+	// Messages the store could not take right now, held unacknowledged and tried again on a
+	// ticker, by subject (novox/hq issues 082, 083). again is the ticker's interval, zero meaning
+	// TryAgainAfter; giveUp is how long one is kept, zero meaning GiveUpAfter.
+	again  time.Duration
+	giveUp time.Duration
+	parked map[string]*held
+}
+
+// held is one message the store could not take, kept to be tried again.
+type held struct {
+	delivery amqp.Delivery
+	retry    func(context.Context, amqp.Delivery)
+	what     string
+	first    time.Time
 }
 
 // ErrTryAgain marks a listener's failure as "not now": what it was given is worth keeping and
 // asking again, as when the store is restarting (novox/hq issue 082).
 var ErrTryAgain = errors.New("not now, try again")
 
-// TryAgainAfter is the pause before a report the store could not take goes back to the broker.
-// The consumer takes one message at a time, so without it a restarting store would be asked in
-// a tight loop; a store comes back in seconds, and a report a few seconds late is still current.
+// TryAgainAfter is how often messages the store could not take are tried again. A store comes
+// back in seconds, and a report a few seconds late is still current.
 const TryAgainAfter = 2 * time.Second
 
-// GiveUpAfter bounds how long one report holds the queue. The consumer takes one message at a
-// time, so a report being tried again holds every enrolment, build result and other report
-// behind it; a store that has not come back in this long is not restarting, and holding the
-// mesh's control queue for it would turn one lost report into a mesh that answers nothing.
+// GiveUpAfter bounds how long one message is kept trying. A store that has not come back in this
+// long is not restarting, and the message is let go with a line saying it was lost.
 const GiveUpAfter = 2 * time.Minute
 
+// Prefetch is how many messages the broker hands the control plane before it has settled them.
+// More than one because a message the store could not take is held, unsettled, while the loop goes
+// on answering others — an enrolment above all, which a host is waiting on (novox/hq issue 083).
+// Bounded, because what is held is also what the broker has not kept on its own disk as pending.
+const Prefetch = 64
+
+// PrefetchHeadroom is how much of the prefetch is never held, so the loop always has messages to
+// answer — an enrolment above all — while others wait for the store.
+const PrefetchHeadroom = 8
+
 // Records tells the server where to keep build results.
 //
 // Set after Connect rather than passed to it, because a control plane that only publishes — the
@@ -91,7 +109,8 @@ type Upgrader interface {
 	// Upgraded is told which module moved and between which commits. An error is logged and the
 	// message is not requeued: an upgrade the control plane could not act on is not one it will
 	// act on by being handed the same message again, and a poison message on a durable queue
-	// would stop every upgrade behind it.
+	// would stop every upgrade behind it — except the store unreachable for the moment, which is
+	// asked again for a bounded time (novox/hq issue 083).
 	Upgraded(ctx context.Context, u Upgraded) error
 }
 
@@ -202,10 +221,11 @@ func (s *Server) Close() {
 // receive half of what it expects — a fault this project has already had, between a module's
 // daemon and its capability server.
 func (s *Server) Serve(ctx context.Context) error {
-	// Prefetch of one. The control plane writes to a database per message, and a burst of
-	// enrolments delivered all at once would be held in memory rather than left on the broker,
-	// which is the one place they survive a restart.
-	if err := s.channel.Qos(1, 0, false); err != nil {
+	// A bounded prefetch rather than one. The loop still takes messages one at a time; what the
+	// prefetch buys is that a message the store could not take can be held while the loop goes on
+	// to the next, instead of every enrolment waiting behind it (novox/hq issue 083). Anything held
+	// goes back to the broker if the control plane stops, because nothing held is acknowledged.
+	if err := s.channel.Qos(Prefetch, 0, false); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 
@@ -246,10 +266,22 @@ func (s *Server) Serve(ctx context.Context) error {
 		s.log.Printf("consuming %s, bound to %s/%s", UpgradeQueue, EventsExchange, KeyModuleUpgraded)
 	}
 
+	again := s.again
+	if again == 0 {
+		again = TryAgainAfter
+	}
+	ticker := time.NewTicker(again)
+	defer ticker.Stop()
+
 	for {
 		select {
 		case <-ctx.Done():
 			return nil
+		case <-ticker.C:
+			if ctx.Err() != nil {
+				return nil
+			}
+			s.retryHeld(ctx)
 		case delivery, ok := <-catchups:
 			if !ok {
 				if catchups != nil {
@@ -330,29 +362,19 @@ func (s *Server) handleReport(ctx context.Context, delivery amqp.Delivery) {
 		_ = delivery.Reject(false)
 		return
 	}
+	// A node's newer report supersedes one of its older reports still held: the older is its
+	// past, and recorded after the newer it would overwrite what the node is doing now.
+	subject := "report " + report.Node
+	s.supersede(subject, delivery)
 	if s.listener != nil {
 		if err := s.listener.Heard(context.Background(), report); err != nil {
-			if errors.Is(err, ErrTryAgain) && s.keepTrying(report) {
-				// Kept, not acknowledged. The node reports an apply once, and a report lost here
-				// is a node the mesh never hears from again: the store restarting under the
-				// adoption that node just applied lost exactly that (novox/hq issue 082).
-				again := s.again
-				if again == 0 {
-					again = TryAgainAfter
-				}
-				s.log.Printf("could not record %s's report yet, and will again in %s: %v", report.Node, again, err)
-				select {
-				case <-ctx.Done():
-				case <-time.After(again):
-				}
-				_ = delivery.Nack(false, true)
+			// Held, not acknowledged, while the store cannot take it: the node reports an apply
+			// once, and a report lost here is a node the mesh never hears from again — the store
+			// restarting under the adoption that node just applied lost exactly that (issue 082).
+			what := fmt.Sprintf("%s's report of declaration %s", report.Node, report.Declared)
+			if s.tryLater(ctx, delivery, subject, what, err, s.handle) {
 				return
 			}
-			if errors.Is(err, ErrTryAgain) {
-				s.log.Printf("LOST %s's report of declaration %s: the store has not come back in %s, "+
-					"and the control queue cannot wait longer — the node is current but the mesh will "+
-					"read it as unanswered until its next push: %v", report.Node, report.Declared, s.giveUpAfter(), err)
-			}
 			// Said rather than swallowed. A report the mesh heard and failed to write down is a
 			// node whose recovery copy is silently older than it looks.
 			s.log.Printf("could not record %s's report: %v", report.Node, err)
@@ -367,26 +389,96 @@ func (s *Server) handleReport(ctx context.Context, delivery amqp.Delivery) {
 	default:
 		s.log.Printf("%s applied %d resource(s)", report.Node, len(report.Applied))
 	}
-	s.stopTrying(report)
+	s.settled(subject, delivery)
 	_ = delivery.Ack(false)
 }
 
-// keepTrying says whether a report the store could not take is still within the time it may hold
-// the queue, starting that clock on its first failure.
-func (s *Server) keepTrying(r Report) bool {
-	if s.waiting == nil {
-		s.waiting = map[string]time.Time{}
-	}
-	key := r.Node + " " + r.Declared
-	first, seen := s.waiting[key]
-	if !seen {
-		s.waiting[key] = time.Now()
+// tryLater holds a message the store could not take right now, to be tried again on the ticker,
+// and says whether it did (novox/hq issues 082, 083).
+//
+// "Right now" is the store unreachable or restarting — ErrTryAgain from a listener, or an error the
+// inventory reads as an outage. Anything else is an answer, and is left to the caller to settle.
+// Held means unacknowledged and set aside: the loop goes on to the next message, so an enrolment a
+// host is waiting on is answered while a report waits for the store. One message is held at most
+// giveUpAfter; past it, it is let go with a line saying it was lost, and the caller settles it.
+func (s *Server) tryLater(ctx context.Context, delivery amqp.Delivery, subject, what string, err error,
+	retry func(context.Context, amqp.Delivery)) bool {
+	// Shutting down: nothing is settled. Unsettled, the broker hands the message to whatever
+	// consumes next — a cancelled context is not an answer about the message (issue 083, review).
+	if ctx.Err() != nil {
 		return true
 	}
-	return time.Since(first) < s.giveUpAfter()
+	if !errors.Is(err, ErrTryAgain) && !inventory.Unreachable(err) {
+		return false
+	}
+	if s.parked == nil {
+		s.parked = map[string]*held{}
+	}
+	h, ok := s.parked[subject]
+	if !ok || h.delivery.DeliveryTag != delivery.DeliveryTag {
+		// Held no further than the prefetch leaves room: past it, the broker would hand the loop
+		// nothing new — enrolments included — until something held was let go.
+		if !ok && len(s.parked) >= Prefetch-PrefetchHeadroom {
+			s.log.Printf("LOST %s: %d messages are already held for the store, and holding more "+
+				"would stop the queue: %v", what, len(s.parked), err)
+			return false
+		}
+		h = &held{delivery: delivery, retry: retry, what: what, first: time.Now()}
+		s.parked[subject] = h
+		s.log.Printf("could not keep %s yet; holding it to try again: %v", what, err)
+		return true
+	}
+	if time.Since(h.first) >= s.giveUpAfter() {
+		delete(s.parked, subject)
+		s.log.Printf("LOST %s: the store has not come back in %s: %v", what, s.giveUpAfter(), err)
+		return false
+	}
+	return true
 }
 
-func (s *Server) stopTrying(r Report) { delete(s.waiting, r.Node+" "+r.Declared) }
+// supersede drops a message held for a subject when a newer one for it arrives: the older is
+// acknowledged, because acting on it after the newer would undo the newer.
+func (s *Server) supersede(subject string, newer amqp.Delivery) {
+	h, ok := s.parked[subject]
+	if !ok || h.delivery.DeliveryTag == newer.DeliveryTag {
+		return
+	}
+	delete(s.parked, subject)
+	s.log.Printf("set aside %s: a newer one arrived", h.what)
+	_ = h.delivery.Ack(false)
+}
+
+// settled forgets a message once it has been handled either way.
+func (s *Server) settled(subject string, delivery amqp.Delivery) {
+	if h, ok := s.parked[subject]; ok && h.delivery.DeliveryTag == delivery.DeliveryTag {
+		delete(s.parked, subject)
+	}
+}
+
+// digest names a message by its content.
+func digest(body []byte) string {
+	sum := sha256.Sum256(body)
+	return hex.EncodeToString(sum[:])
+}
+
+// retryHeld tries every held message again. Each handler holds it again, settles it, or lets it
+// go past the bound.
+func (s *Server) retryHeld(ctx context.Context) {
+	for _, h := range s.snapshot() {
+		if ctx.Err() != nil {
+			return
+		}
+		h.retry(ctx, h.delivery)
+	}
+}
+
+func (s *Server) snapshot() []*held {
+	out := make([]*held, 0, len(s.parked))
+	for _, h := range s.parked {
+		out = append(out, h)
+	}
+	return out
+}
 
 func (s *Server) giveUpAfter() time.Duration {
 	if s.giveUp == 0 {
@@ -402,12 +494,27 @@ func (s *Server) handleEnrol(ctx context.Context, delivery amqp.Delivery) {
 	if err := json.Unmarshal(delivery.Body, &request); err != nil {
 		s.log.Printf("an enrolment request could not be read: %v", err)
 	} else {
+		request.Redelivered = delivery.Redelivered
 		accepted, err := s.enroller.Enrol(ctx, request)
-		if err != nil {
+		switch {
+		case errors.Is(err, ErrTryAgain):
+			// Not a refusal: nothing was spent, and the same request asked again will be
+			// answered. Replied at once rather than held, so the node — which is waiting on
+			// this answer — decides when to ask, and the queue behind it moves (issue 083).
+			reply = EnrolReply{TryAgain: true, Refusal: "the mesh cannot answer right now; ask again"}
+			s.log.Printf("asked %q to enrol again shortly: %v", request.Node, err)
+		case err != nil && request.Redelivered:
+			// Said as what it most likely is: the broker handed this request over again after
+			// the control plane stopped mid-answer, and an enrolment already spent is not
+			// finished a second time. The node may need a new token.
+			s.log.Printf("refusing a redelivered enrolment for %q — it may have finished before "+
+				"the control plane stopped, and if the node did not get its answer it needs a new "+
+				"token: %v", request.Node, err)
+		case err != nil:
 			// Logged in full here, where an operator can see it; sent back as one refusal, so
 			// that somebody guessing learns nothing from which reason came back.
 			s.log.Printf("refusing enrolment for %q: %v", request.Node, err)
-		} else {
+		default:
 			reply = accepted
 			s.log.Printf("enrolled %s", accepted.Node)
 		}
@@ -416,9 +523,8 @@ func (s *Server) handleEnrol(ctx context.Context, delivery amqp.Delivery) {
 	s.reply(ctx, delivery, reply)
 
 	// Acknowledged after the reply is sent, so a control plane that dies mid-answer leaves the
-	// request on the broker rather than having consumed it silently. Enrolment is idempotent
-	// only in the sense that the token is spent — a redelivery gets the refusal, which is
-	// correct and visible, where a lost request is neither.
+	// request on the broker rather than having consumed it silently. Asked again by the same
+	// presenter, an enrolment finishes: the token is held for its key and spent last (issue 083).
 	_ = delivery.Ack(false)
 }
 
@@ -464,11 +570,21 @@ func (s *Server) handleBuilt(ctx context.Context, delivery amqp.Delivery) {
 		_ = delivery.Reject(false)
 		return
 	}
+	// Each build result its own subject: none supersedes another, and recording one twice is
+	// harmless — the build is kept by its id.
+	subject := "build " + digest(delivery.Body)
+	s.supersede(subject, delivery)
 	if err := s.recorder.Built(ctx, result); err != nil {
+		// Held while the store cannot take it: a build result lost here is never announced (083).
+		if s.tryLater(ctx, delivery, subject, fmt.Sprintf("a build result from %s", result.On), err, s.handle) {
+			return
+		}
 		s.log.Printf("cannot keep a build result from %s: %v", result.On, err)
+		s.settled(subject, delivery)
 		_ = delivery.Reject(false)
 		return
 	}
+	s.settled(subject, delivery)
 	switch {
 	case result.Failed != "":
 		s.log.Printf("%s could not build %s", result.On, result.Repository)
@@ -478,26 +594,33 @@ func (s *Server) handleBuilt(ctx context.Context, delivery amqp.Delivery) {
 	_ = delivery.Ack(false)
 }
 
-// upgraded hands one announcement to whatever is following them.
-//
-// **Acknowledged whatever happens.** A failure here is the control plane being unable to act on an
-// upgrade — a machine that cannot be resolved, a broker that will not take a declaration — and
-// none of those get better by being handed the same message again. Requeuing would put a poison
-// message at the head of a durable queue and stop every upgrade behind it, which turns one module
-// nobody can push into a mesh that stops following its own catalogue.
 // catchingUp answers a catalogue that has just started and may have missed builds.
 //
-// Acknowledged before the work, deliberately: a replay that fails is not one that succeeds by
-// being handed the same request again, and the catalogue asks every time it starts. Requeueing a
-// poison request would stop every later catch-up behind it.
+// Acknowledged after the work. A replay that fails for a reason other than the store is not one
+// that succeeds by being handed the same request again, so that is acknowledged and said; but a
+// store that could not be read right now is held and asked again, bounded, rather than the
+// request lost until the catalogue next restarts (issue 083). One request stands for all: a newer
+// one supersedes one still held.
 func (s *Server) catchingUp(ctx context.Context, delivery amqp.Delivery) {
-	defer func() { _ = delivery.Ack(false) }()
+	const subject = "catch-up"
+	s.supersede(subject, delivery)
+	holding := false
+	defer func() {
+		if !holding {
+			s.settled(subject, delivery)
+			_ = delivery.Ack(false)
+		}
+	}()
 	if s.replayer == nil {
 		s.log.Printf("a catalogue asked to catch up and this control plane has nothing to replay")
 		return
 	}
 	announcements, err := s.replayer.Announceable(ctx)
 	if err != nil {
+		if s.tryLater(ctx, delivery, subject, "a catalogue's request to catch up", err, s.catchingUp) {
+			holding = true
+			return
+		}
 		s.log.Printf("a catalogue asked to catch up and the mesh could not read its builds: %v", err)
 		return
 	}
@@ -516,9 +639,28 @@ func (s *Server) catchingUp(ctx context.Context, delivery amqp.Delivery) {
 	s.log.Printf("a catalogue asked to catch up; re-announced %d build(s)", sent)
 }
 
+// upgraded hands one announcement to whatever is following them.
+//
+// **Acknowledged whatever happens, but one thing.** A failure here is usually the control plane
+// being unable to act on an upgrade — a machine that cannot be resolved, a broker that will not
+// take a declaration — and none of those get better by being handed the same message again. The
+// one exception is the upgrader saying the store could not be read for the moment (ErrTryAgain):
+// that is held and asked again, bounded (novox/hq issue 083). Only the upgrader's word counts
+// here, not an error that merely looks like an outage — a push that timed out on the second
+// machine is not asked again, or the first would be pushed every few seconds for two minutes.
+// A newer move of the same module supersedes one still held.
 func (s *Server) upgraded(ctx context.Context, delivery amqp.Delivery) {
-	defer func() { _ = delivery.Ack(false) }()
 	var u Upgraded
+	_ = json.Unmarshal(delivery.Body, &u)
+	subject := "upgrade " + u.Module
+	s.supersede(subject, delivery)
+	holding := false
+	defer func() {
+		if !holding {
+			s.settled(subject, delivery)
+			_ = delivery.Ack(false)
+		}
+	}()
 	if err := json.Unmarshal(delivery.Body, &u); err != nil {
 		s.log.Printf("an upgrade announcement could not be read: %v", err)
 		return
@@ -528,6 +670,16 @@ func (s *Server) upgraded(ctx context.Context, delivery amqp.Delivery) {
 		return
 	}
 	if err := s.upgrader.Upgraded(ctx, u); err != nil {
+		// Shutting down is not an answer about the announcement: left for the broker.
+		if ctx.Err() != nil {
+			holding = true
+			return
+		}
+		if errors.Is(err, ErrTryAgain) &&
+			s.tryLater(ctx, delivery, subject, fmt.Sprintf("%s's move to %s", u.Module, short(u.Commit)), err, s.upgraded) {
+			holding = true
+			return
+		}
 		s.log.Printf("%s moved to %s and the mesh could not act on it: %v",
 			u.Module, short(u.Commit), err)
 	}
diff --git a/internal/link/store_window_test.go b/internal/link/store_window_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f0fcd2d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/link/store_window_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,181 @@
+package link
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"log"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/jackc/pgx/v5/pgconn"
+	amqp "github.com/rabbitmq/amqp091-go"
+)
+
+// What a store restarting under an adoption answers with (novox/hq issues 082, 083).
+var restarting = &pgconn.PgError{Code: "57P03", Message: "the database system is starting up"}
+
+type recordsWith struct{ err error }
+
+func (r recordsWith) Built(context.Context, BuildResult) error { return r.err }
+
+type upgradesWith struct{ err error }
+
+func (u upgradesWith) Upgraded(context.Context, Upgraded) error { return u.err }
+
+type replaysWith struct{ err error }
+
+func (r replaysWith) Announceable(context.Context) ([]Announcement, error) { return nil, r.err }
+
+type settledAs struct{ acked, nacked, requeued, rejected bool }
+
+func (a *settledAs) Ack(uint64, bool) error { a.acked = true; return nil }
+func (a *settledAs) Nack(_ uint64, _ bool, requeue bool) error {
+	a.nacked, a.requeued = true, requeue
+	return nil
+}
+func (a *settledAs) Reject(uint64, bool) error { a.rejected = true; return nil }
+
+func a(t *testing.T, to *settledAs, key string, v any) amqp.Delivery {
+	t.Helper()
+	body, err := json.Marshal(v)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	tag++
+	return amqp.Delivery{Acknowledger: to, RoutingKey: key, Body: body, DeliveryTag: tag}
+}
+
+func quietServer() *Server { return &Server{log: log.New(io.Discard, "", 0)} }
+
+func (a *settledAs) held() bool { return !a.acked && !a.nacked && !a.rejected }
+
+// A build result the store could not take right now is handed back; one it refused is rejected,
+// as before; one it kept is acknowledged.
+func TestABuildResultWaitsOutARestartingStore(t *testing.T) {
+	built := BuildResult{On: "anchor", Repository: "/r", Commit: "abc"}
+	for _, c := range []struct {
+		what string
+		err  error
+		want func(*settledAs) bool
+	}{
+		{"restarting", restarting, func(s *settledAs) bool { return s.held() }},
+		{"refused", errors.New("no such module"), func(s *settledAs) bool { return s.rejected && !s.nacked }},
+		{"kept", nil, func(s *settledAs) bool { return s.acked && !s.nacked }},
+	} {
+		s := quietServer()
+		s.recorder = recordsWith{err: c.err}
+		to := &settledAs{}
+		s.handleBuilt(context.Background(), a(t, to, KeyBuilt, built))
+		if !c.want(to) {
+			t.Errorf("%s: a build result was settled as %+v", c.what, *to)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// An upgrade announcement arriving while the store restarts is asked again; any other failure is
+// acknowledged, so it cannot stop every upgrade behind it.
+func TestAnUpgradeWaitsOutARestartingStoreAndNothingElse(t *testing.T) {
+	moved := Upgraded{Module: "gitea", Commit: "abcdef0123"}
+	for _, c := range []struct {
+		what string
+		err  error
+		want func(*settledAs) bool
+	}{
+		{"the store away, said by the upgrader", errors.Join(ErrTryAgain, restarting), func(s *settledAs) bool { return s.held() }},
+		{"a push that timed out", context.DeadlineExceeded, func(s *settledAs) bool { return s.acked && !s.nacked }},
+		{"cannot act", errors.New("anchor cannot be resolved"), func(s *settledAs) bool { return s.acked && !s.nacked }},
+		{"acted", nil, func(s *settledAs) bool { return s.acked && !s.nacked }},
+	} {
+		s := quietServer()
+		s.upgrader = upgradesWith{err: c.err}
+		to := &settledAs{}
+		s.upgraded(context.Background(), a(t, to, "upgraded", moved))
+		if !c.want(to) {
+			t.Errorf("%s: an upgrade was settled as %+v", c.what, *to)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// A catalogue's request to catch up is acknowledged after the work, and asked again while the
+// store cannot be read — not lost until the catalogue next restarts.
+func TestACatchUpWaitsOutARestartingStore(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, c := range []struct {
+		what string
+		err  error
+		want func(*settledAs) bool
+	}{
+		{"restarting", restarting, func(s *settledAs) bool { return s.held() }},
+		{"unreadable", errors.New("a build row is malformed"), func(s *settledAs) bool { return s.acked && !s.nacked }},
+		{"nothing to replay", nil, func(s *settledAs) bool { return s.acked && !s.nacked }},
+	} {
+		s := quietServer()
+		s.replayer = replaysWith{err: c.err}
+		to := &settledAs{}
+		s.catchingUp(context.Background(), a(t, to, "catch-up", map[string]string{}))
+		if !c.want(to) {
+			t.Errorf("%s: a catch-up request was settled as %+v", c.what, *to)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// Shutting down is not an answer about a message: one handled with a cancelled context is left
+// unsettled, for the broker to hand to whatever consumes next (issue 083, review).
+func TestAMessageHandledDuringShutdownIsLeftForTheBroker(t *testing.T) {
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
+	cancel()
+	s := quietServer()
+	s.recorder = recordsWith{err: context.Canceled}
+	to := &settledAs{}
+	s.handleBuilt(ctx, a(t, to, KeyBuilt, BuildResult{On: "anchor", Repository: "/r", Commit: "abc"}))
+	if !to.held() {
+		t.Fatalf("a build result handled during shutdown was settled, and so lost: %+v", *to)
+	}
+}
+
+// Two identical build results: the newer sets the older aside rather than leaving it unsettled
+// for ever, holding a place in the prefetch.
+func TestAnIdenticalBuildResultSetsTheHeldOneAside(t *testing.T) {
+	s := quietServer()
+	s.recorder = recordsWith{err: restarting}
+	built := BuildResult{On: "anchor", Repository: "/r", Commit: "abc"}
+	first, second := &settledAs{}, &settledAs{}
+	s.handleBuilt(context.Background(), a(t, first, KeyBuilt, built))
+	s.handleBuilt(context.Background(), a(t, second, KeyBuilt, built))
+	if !first.acked || !second.held() || len(s.parked) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("an identical build result did not set the held one aside: first %+v second %+v, %d held",
+			*first, *second, len(s.parked))
+	}
+}
+
+// What is held stops short of the prefetch, so the loop always has room to answer an enrolment.
+func TestWhatIsHeldLeavesRoomInThePrefetch(t *testing.T) {
+	s := quietServer()
+	s.recorder = recordsWith{err: restarting}
+	var last *settledAs
+	for i := 0; i < Prefetch; i++ {
+		last = &settledAs{}
+		s.handleBuilt(context.Background(), a(t, last, KeyBuilt, BuildResult{On: "anchor", Commit: fmt.Sprint(i)}))
+	}
+	if len(s.parked) != Prefetch-PrefetchHeadroom {
+		t.Fatalf("%d messages were held; the ceiling is %d", len(s.parked), Prefetch-PrefetchHeadroom)
+	}
+	if last.held() {
+		t.Fatalf("a message past the ceiling was held: %+v", *last)
+	}
+}
+
+// An upgrade handled during shutdown is left for the broker too — the upgrader's error is the
+// cancelled context, which is no answer about the announcement.
+func TestAnUpgradeHandledDuringShutdownIsLeftForTheBroker(t *testing.T) {
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
+	cancel()
+	s := quietServer()
+	s.upgrader = upgradesWith{err: context.Canceled}
+	to := &settledAs{}
+	s.upgraded(ctx, a(t, to, "upgraded", Upgraded{Module: "gitea", Commit: "abcdef0123"}))
+	if !to.held() {
+		t.Fatalf("an upgrade handled during shutdown was settled, and so lost: %+v", *to)
+	}
+}