diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery-indexer/cmd/mesh-delivery-indexer/main.go b/modules/mesh-delivery-indexer/cmd/mesh-delivery-indexer/main.go
index e444c15..01060f1 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-delivery-indexer/cmd/mesh-delivery-indexer/main.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery-indexer/cmd/mesh-delivery-indexer/main.go
@@ -404,15 +404,8 @@ func run(ctx context.Context, getenv func(string) string, logOut io.Writer) erro
 		// Essential: the forge's merges are what the indexer indexes.
 		return fmt.Errorf("the consumer %s_%s on %s cannot be read (%v): the indexer hears no merge without it, so it stops; where the bus refused it or did not answer, this module's consumes (made by the controller with its grant) have not reached the bus yet", cred.Node, cred.Module, forgeStream, err)
 	}
-	// A merge applied while the taken state was missing, and the gate's heads once the forge stream is applied whole, get
-	// their taken key (issue 1280): when the state appears (Ready runs once, now or then), and after each applied message.
-	ix.Drained = func(ctx context.Context) (bool, error) {
-		info, err := cons.Info(ctx)
-		if err != nil {
-			return false, err
-		}
-		return info.NumPending == 0 && info.NumAckPending == 0, nil
-	}
+	// A merge applied while the taken state was missing gets its taken key (issue 1280): when the state appears (Ready runs
+	// once, now or then), and after each applied message. The gate's source heads never move a key (issue 1126).
 	taken.Ready(func(jetstream.KeyValue) { ix.KickFill(ctx) })
 	cc, err := process.HearEvents(cons, func(m jetstream.Msg) { handle(ctx, m, ix, logger); ix.KickFill(ctx) }, logger.Printf)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery-indexer/internal/index/candidates.go b/modules/mesh-delivery-indexer/internal/index/candidates.go
index c6c82e6..2a2b6aa 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-delivery-indexer/internal/index/candidates.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery-indexer/internal/index/candidates.go
@@ -79,9 +79,6 @@ type Indexer struct {
 	ReadOpen func(ctx context.Context) ([]delivery.OpenPull, error)
 	// Say says one of the indexer's events (placement-changed); nil says none.
 	Say func(event string, body any) error
-	// Drained says whether the indexer has applied every message of the forge stream (the consumer has none pending and none
-	// unacknowledged); FillTaken writes the source's heads only then. Nil fills none from the source (taken.go).
-	Drained func(ctx context.Context) (bool, error)
 
 	mu         sync.Mutex // guards source, toolchains and previews, which the watches and the forge messages all reach
 	source     sourceNow
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery-indexer/internal/index/modules_test.go b/modules/mesh-delivery-indexer/internal/index/modules_test.go
index 8369a2e..1936672 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-delivery-indexer/internal/index/modules_test.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery-indexer/internal/index/modules_test.go
@@ -139,31 +139,29 @@ func TestAnUnchangedModuleWritesNothing(t *testing.T) { // 1239 (unchanged value
 		{name: "a source head whose merge was not applied is not a taken key", writes: 0, commit: map[string]string{"a": merge, "b": merge, "c": merge}, taken: "",
 			then: func(ix *Indexer) error { // the forge stream still holds the merge: the consumer is not drained
 				delete(ix.Taken.(*memStore).vals, takenKey(repo))
-				ix.Drained = func(context.Context) (bool, error) { return false, nil }
 				if err := ix.ApplySource(context.Background(), 8, sourceOf(repo, next)); err != nil {
 					return err
 				}
 				return ix.FillTaken(context.Background())
 			}},
-		{name: "a source head of a drained forge stream fills a missing key", writes: 0, commit: map[string]string{"a": merge, "b": merge, "c": merge}, taken: next,
-			then: func(ix *Indexer) error {
-				delete(ix.Taken.(*memStore).vals, takenKey(repo))
-				ix.Drained = func(context.Context) (bool, error) { return true, nil }
-				if err := ix.ApplySource(context.Background(), 8, sourceOf(repo, next)); err != nil {
-					return err
-				}
-				return ix.FillTaken(context.Background())
-			}},
-		{name: "filling from an older source head leaves a later key", writes: 0, commit: map[string]string{"a": merge, "b": merge, "c": merge}, taken: next,
+		// Issue 1126 (mesh-catalog#535): the forge bridge never wrote the merged message of 9fd9569, so the forge stream was
+		// drained with the merge not applied; the source head moved the key all the same, and the view said the merge was
+		// on the machines. A key moves only by a merge applied (ADR 0556 clause 1), never by the source's word.
+		{name: "a source head of a drained forge stream whose merge was never heard leaves the key", writes: 0, commit: map[string]string{"a": merge, "b": merge, "c": merge}, taken: merge,
 			then: func(ix *Indexer) error {
 				ix.Contains = func(_ context.Context, _, commit, in string) (bool, error) { return commit == merge && in == next, nil }
-				m := mergedMsg(repo, three)
-				m.Merge = next
-				if err := ix.Apply(context.Background(), m); err != nil {
+				if err := ix.ApplySource(context.Background(), 8, sourceOf(repo, next)); err != nil {
 					return err
 				}
-				ix.Drained = func(context.Context) (bool, error) { return true, nil }
-				return ix.FillTaken(context.Background()) // the source still names merge
+				return ix.FillTaken(context.Background())
+			}},
+		{name: "a source head of a drained forge stream fills no missing key", writes: 0, commit: map[string]string{"a": merge, "b": merge, "c": merge}, taken: "",
+			then: func(ix *Indexer) error {
+				delete(ix.Taken.(*memStore).vals, takenKey(repo))
+				if err := ix.ApplySource(context.Background(), 8, sourceOf(repo, next)); err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+				return ix.FillTaken(context.Background())
 			}},
 		{name: "an earlier merge heard again after a later one leaves taken", writes: 0, commit: map[string]string{"a": merge, "b": merge, "c": merge}, taken: merge,
 			then: func(ix *Indexer) error {
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery-indexer/internal/index/taken.go b/modules/mesh-delivery-indexer/internal/index/taken.go
index e8082a0..a6d97e7 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-delivery-indexer/internal/index/taken.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery-indexer/internal/index/taken.go
@@ -68,13 +68,13 @@ func (ix *Indexer) writeTaken(ctx context.Context, f delivery.Forge) error {
 	return err
 }
 
-// FillTaken writes the taken keys that were left unwritten, never a merge the indexer has not applied whole (a key names
-// a merge only after it was applied: ADR 0556 clause 1, and the view reads it as the upper bound of what is reached). Two
-// sources, both through writeTaken as a live merge does (issue 1280):
-//   - the merges applied while the state was not on the bus (kept by writeTaken), whenever the state is there;
-//   - the gate's source heads, only when Drained says the indexer has applied every message of the forge stream that was
-//     there before the heads were read. Otherwise it says so, and the next kick of the fill (after a message is applied)
-//     tries again.
+// FillTaken writes the taken keys of the merges applied while the state was not on the bus (kept by writeTaken), through
+// writeTaken as a live merge does (issue 1280), whenever the state is there. It never writes a merge the indexer has not
+// applied whole (a key names a merge only after it was applied: ADR 0556 clause 1, and the view reads it as the upper bound
+// of what is reached). The gate's source heads are not such merges: a drained forge stream does not say a merge was applied,
+// since the forge bridge may not have written its merged message yet (issue 1126: mesh-catalog#535's merged message was
+// still being retried by the bridge when the indexer started, and the source's head moved the key, so the view said the
+// merge was on the machines while the indexer held mesh-vault at the merge before).
 //
 // It is idempotent: a key naming the merge or a later one is left. A state not on the bus yet writes nothing and says
 // nothing (the fill runs again when it appears). The first error is returned after every repository was tried.
@@ -87,7 +87,6 @@ func (ix *Indexer) FillTaken(ctx context.Context) error {
 	}
 	ix.mu.Lock()
 	pending := maps.Clone(ix.untaken)
-	heads := maps.Clone(ix.source.heads)
 	ix.mu.Unlock()
 	var first error
 	note := func(repository string, err error) {
@@ -106,25 +105,6 @@ func (ix *Indexer) FillTaken(ctx context.Context) error {
 		}
 		note(repository, err)
 	}
-	if ix.Drained == nil {
-		return first
-	}
-	if len(heads) == 0 {
-		ix.logf("the source names no repository head, so no taken key is filled from it")
-		return first
-	}
-	done, err := ix.Drained(ctx)
-	if err != nil {
-		ix.logf("whether the forge stream is applied cannot be read, so no taken key is filled from the source: %v", err)
-		return first
-	}
-	if !done {
-		ix.logf("the forge stream is not applied whole yet, so no taken key is filled from the source; the next applied message tries again")
-		return first
-	}
-	for _, repository := range slices.Sorted(maps.Keys(heads)) {
-		note(repository, ix.writeTaken(ctx, delivery.Forge{Repository: repository, Merge: heads[repository]}))
-	}
 	return first
 }